Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department (a) collects and (b) produces labour market information.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade is responsible for employment rights.
In order to support this, the department collects and produces labour market information through published impact assessments, and statistics on trade union membership in the UK. This is undertaken to better inform policy decisions. They can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-and-trade/about/statistics.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much her Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Following a machinery of government in February 2023, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Department for International trade were replaced by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade.
As the Department for Business and Trade did not exist between September 2021 and January 2023, we are unable to provide data on payment towards the apprenticeship levy and spend of levy funds for this period.
Since the creation of the Department for Business and Trade the apprenticeship levy account has remained shared between the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade. Therefore, the Department for Business and Trade is unable to accurately provide the amount paid in apprenticeship levy fees between February 2023 and August 2023 and is unable to accurately provide the amount spent from the levy over the same period.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what (a) schemes and (b) grants their Department administers that are open for (i) individuals, (ii) organisations and (iii) other groups in Feltham and Heston constituency to apply for as of 10 January 2024.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Department provides extensive support. Key schemes include Help to Grow: Management, the Automotive Transformation Fund and the Energy Intensive Industries Scheme.
The Government works with the British Business Bank to help SMEs access finance and the Recovery Loan Scheme helps businesses access loans and other kinds of finance. SMEs can also access guidance via the free Business Support Helpline and in England from the network of Growth Hubs.
These are some of the most relevant schemes. Interested parties may find it helpful to access the developing ‘Find a Grant’ website https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/ (more grants are being added all the time).
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to help support businesses that export to the US with complying with the enforcement regulations under the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act that come into force on 1 January 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s Export Strategy, ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’, focuses on the challenges UK businesses face when exporting. It targets barriers to trade and helps businesses at every stage of their export journey. The Department for Business and Trade continues to support companies through our network of domestic and overseas trade advisers, sector specialists and the Export Support Service.
Businesses can contact the Export Support Service if they have any export related questions.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's transparency data publication entitled DBT: spending over £25,000 for March 2023, for what purpose her Department spent at IPSOS (Market Research) Ltd (a) £45,000 on 24 March 2023, (b) £11,500 on 27 March 2023, (c) £16,850 on 27 March 2023, (d) £15,550 on 28 March 2023 and (e) £33,350 on 30 March 2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Payment b) of £11,500 and payment c) of £16,850 both relate to monitoring and evaluation of the Department for Business & Trade's (DBT) work in building resilience into the UK’s supply chains. Payment a) of £45,000 and payment d) of £15,550 both relate to research to enhance DBT's services to exporters. Payment e) of £33,350 relates to research to understand how businesses use unregistered design rights to protect their intellectual.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of potential greenwashing by businesses in relation to their environmental, social and governance practices.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises the risk that businesses can make unsubstantiated claims in relation to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. In April 2020, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published research, which found that “a high proportion of practitioners in the field of socially responsible investment feel that NFR [non-financial reporting] provided by companies is often an exercise in ‘impressions management’ or ‘greenwashing”.
The Green Finance Strategy (March 2023) set out the Government’s approach to regulating ESG disclosures, including through the UK’s adoption of International Sustainability Disclosure Standards.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her department plans to publish its Product Safety Review.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Product Safety Review consultation is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to encourage company founders from BAME backgrounds to secure venture capital funding.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I meet the Ethnic Minority Business Group regularly to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by ethnic minority entrepreneurs across the UK, including access to finance. Better data collection is key and the British Business Bank has piloted ethnicity data collection from venture capital firms, the findings from which will be published later this year.
To help founders from ethnic minority backgrounds secure venture capital funding, the British Business Bank’s Finance Hub offers impartial information to help businesses get ‘investor ready’ including articles on how businesses can identify and access the finance they need to realise their growth ambitions.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what data her Department holds for (a) enrolment and (b) completion figures in relation to the Help to Grow Management scheme, published on 9 May 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As at the end of February 2023, Help to Grow: Management has had 5,395 enrolments to the programme and 3,340 participants have completed the course. We will publish updated enrolment and completion data in the autumn.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's data entitled BEIS: spending over £500, December 2022, for what purpose her Department spent (a) £3256.87 at Appreciate Group Plc on 2 December 2022, (b) £7792.37 at Appreciate Group Plc on 7 December 2022, (c) £2364.25 at Appreciate Group Plc on 7 December 2022 and (d) £2364.25 at Appreciate Group Plc on 22 December 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The expenditure with Appreciate Group Plc was for the supply of non-cash award vouchers for the Department. These vouchers support the Department’s performance management reward process.