Samantha Niblett

The answer to question UIN 106240 was issued by the Church Commissioners on the 27th January 2026 and can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-01-15/106240/

It is for the General Synod, as the elected assembly of the Church of England, to decide matters of doctrine rather than Parliament.

More widely, churches and other religious organisations are required to comply with the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 relating to direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

As one of the Church of England’s National Church Institutions (NCIs), the Archbishops’ Council, in consultation with the other NCIs, manages the Living in Love and Faith programme. The Archbishops’ Council, as part of its standard operations, maintains a risk register for the programme, and relevant NCIs monitor the risks and opportunities arising from this and other matters. This register is kept under regular review.

Eligibility for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme is informed by the Government’s Industrial Strategy and by the recent consultation on scheme eligibility.

Decisions on eligibility have been taken to drive economic growth in line with the Industrial Strategy, by targeting manufacturing frontier industries within its growth sectors, as well as manufacturing foundational industries that provide important inputs to them, where electricity costs most directly affect international competitiveness.

Farming and food production are therefore not within the scope of the Scheme.

The Department for Business and Trade has not made a specific assessment of this issue. Competition issues in the veterinary services market are currently being examined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of its market investigation into veterinary services for household pets. The CMA’s initial analysis of a potential cap on prescription fees can be found in its provisional decision report. It is expected to publish its final decision by March.

The UK’s framework for occupational regulation upholds public protection, while ensuring regulatory burdens on industry are proportionate. Although the locksmithing profession is not subject to statutory regulation, several self-regulating trade associations and accreditation schemes exist within the industry and provide training, conduct criminal record checks, and inspect their members.

The government keeps the occupational regulation regime under review and continues to monitor any concerns raised by the public or the industry, including those related to locksmithing.

The Department does not hold this information in the format requested. We do not routinely capture or report expenditure on Microsoft software licences and services split between new service implementations and renewal or maintenance of existing systems. A year-on-year comparison is therefore not available.

Ministers regularly meet with businesses of all sizes.

Government is committed to delivering a competitive and prosperous digital economy. That is why we implemented the new digital markets regime on 1 January 2025. The Competition and Markets Authority now has bespoke powers to increase competition in digital markets.

The CMA is currently conducting a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets. The final report is expected early next year and will set out the actions the CMA has decided to take.

As the UK’s independent competition authority, the CMA is responsible for decisions relating to its investigations, including on remedies.

Responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues, including vertical integration, falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as the UK’s independent competition authority.

The CMA is currently conducting a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets.

The Competition and Markets Authority’s market investigation into veterinary services for household pets is on-going. The final report is expected early next year and will set out the actions the CMA has decided to take.

As the UK’s independent competition authority, the CMA is responsible for decisions relating to its investigations, including on remedies.

Responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues, including consolidation, falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as the UK’s independent competition authority.

The CMA is currently conducting a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets.

The Department for Business and Trade has spent £4.8m on software licences from Microsoft in the last 12 months, December 2024 to November 2025. This represents 5% of the Department's total Digital, Data & Technology spend.

There are currently no plans to make such an assessment by the Department. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is examining software licensing practices as part of its market investigation into cloud services. Its final report must be published by 4 August and Government will review the CMA's findings.

The June Spending Review set out the CMA's budget from 2026/27. The CMA has embarked on an operational transformation programme to ensure it can continue to deliver impactful outcomes, including in digital markets, while operating within its multi-year funding envelope.

The CMA's priorities across its work are set out in its Annual Plan 2025/26, which commits to using the new digital markets competition regime flexibly, proportionately and collaboratively to unlock opportunities for growth across the UK tech sector and the wider economy.

The Employment Rights Bill will make flexible working the default, including for working parents. Employers will have to accept flexible working requests unless not reasonably feasible and explain their decision if rejecting requests.

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from direct discrimination “by association”.

The Dedicated Schools Grant funds special educational and alternative provision. Local authorities distribute SEN Inclusion Funding. Disability Access Funding (DAF) is designed to support disabled children's access to entitlements. In 2025-26, DAF funding will increase to £938 per eligible child. The Government is reviewing SEN funding, looking at funding arrangements and considering whether changes are needed.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has empowered the Competition and Markets Authority to designate firms which exert significant control in respect of digital activities with “Strategic Market Status” (SMS), following an evidence-based assessment.

The CMA can carry out investigations to determine the most appropriate remedies for a specific competition concern. Remedies will ensure designated firms treat businesses and consumers fairly, promote more dynamic markets and help new competitors enter the market. The CMA has already exercised its new powers by launching three SMS investigations into large technology firms in January this year.

The Competition and Markets Authority has been awarded enhanced powers by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCC”) Act 2024 to protect UK consumers and businesses from unfair or harmful practices by the very largest technology firms.

The DMCC Act enables the CMA to provide opportunities to encourage the benefits of investment and innovation from the largest digital firms, while ensuring a level playing-field for the many start-ups and scale-ups across the UK tech sector. This should promote greater innovation, more choice and more competitive process across the sector benefiting UK businesses, consumers and government.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has enhanced the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to promote competition in digital markets for the benefit of businesses and consumers.

Government software procurement is negotiated on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the new Procurement Act 2023, which came into effect in February of this year. The new rules under the Act increase flexibility, transparency and accountability.

The Government expects directors to act lawfully and responsibly in respect of the companies they run and that includes ensuring that liabilities and other obligations are discharged before they apply for a company's voluntary dissolution. Those who fail to do so lay themselves open to the risk of personal liability, director disqualification and, potentially, imprisonment. The Government made a commitment in the Autumn Statement 2024 to increase collaboration between HMRC, Companies House, and the Insolvency Service to tackle those using contrived corporate insolvencies and dissolutions to exploit and defraud customers and creditors.

We intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including those on the high street, from 2026-27. This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but include the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.

Ahead of these changes being made, we have prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.

We are also working with businesses to understand their barriers to growth and High Streets will be a key pillar of our forthcoming Small Business Strategy.

The Department for Business and Trade works with the private sector led Invest in Women, with the shared ambition to make the UK a great place to be a female business founder. On Monday 25th November, the Taskforce celebrated successfully raising over £250 million for its funding pool for women-led businesses.

The Government is determined to harness the talent and creativity of every woman in the country. The plan to 'Make Work Pay' will transform the lives of working women, including by strengthening rights to equal pay and providing protections from maternity and menopause discrimination and sexual harassment.

Pubs and hospitality businesses, including those in rural areas and South Derbyshire, are at the heart of our communities and are vital for economic growth. That is why the Government is creating a fairer business rate system by introducing permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses from 2026-27 and extending the current relief for 1 year at 40%.

The government is also reducing alcohol duty on qualifying draught products, representing an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year.

We will also transform the apprenticeship levy into a more flexible growth and skills levy to support business, including in the hospitality industry and boost opportunity.

Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are addressing strategic issues for the sector related to high street regeneration, skills, sustainability, and productivity.

Last year, the government published a working paper setting out proposals for mandatory community benefits for low carbon energy infrastructure projects.

We are in the process of reviewing responses and intend to publish a response setting out our next steps in due course.

I met the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees in February to discuss their proposals. We have jointly commissioned analysis which we are considering and we are working towards reaching agreement on future scheme arrangements.

I met the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees in February to discuss their proposals. We have jointly commissioned analysis which we are considering and we are working towards reaching agreement on future scheme arrangements.

I met the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees in February to discuss their proposals. We have jointly commissioned analysis which we are considering and we are working towards reaching agreement on future scheme arrangements.

I met the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme Trustees in February to discuss their proposals. We have jointly commissioned analysis which we are considering and we are working towards reaching agreement on future scheme arrangements.

Ofgem, as the independent regulator, is responsible for investigating whether companies have complied with the rules of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme and related consumer regulations.

Ofgem’s investigation into the company A Shade Greener remains open. While the Department cannot intervene in the details of that investigation, we continue to support Ofgem in exercising its consumer powers appropriately. Any decisions regarding enforcement action or consumer redress will be taken by Ofgem once its investigation has concluded in due course.

Hotels in the UK require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when they are being sold, leased, or constructed. For short-term holiday lets, an EPC is required if the property is rented for a total of four months or more in a 12-month period.

In December 2024, the government consulted on introducing a requirement for short-term rental properties to have a valid EPC at the point of being let, regardless of who is responsible for the energy costs. A response to this consultation will be published in due course.

Standing charges predominantly recover ‘fixed’ costs that do not vary by energy use. This includes supplier’s operational costs for serving each customer and the cost of essential network maintenance and upgrades, which are necessary to keep all consumers connected, minimise constraint costs, meet the capacity needed to deliver clean power by 2030, and help bring down bills for households and businesses for good.

However, we know that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on standing charges, and we are committed to ensuring that standing charges are fair to all consumers, including SMEs. As part of this, Ofgem have launched a Cost Allocation and Recovery Review (CARR) to consider how energy system costs can be recovered from consumers, including from SMEs, in a fairer and more efficient way and DESNZ will continue to engage closely with Ofgem on the work.