Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with Royal Mail on the increase in the cost of first class stamps.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider.
As an independent business, Royal Mail’s management sets the prices for its services. The government does not have a role in the company’s day-to-day commercial or operational decisions. In setting its prices however, Royal Mail must work within the regulatory framework set by Ofcom, the independent regulator for postal services.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken to ensure (a) unsafe and (b) non-compliant children's toys are not being sold.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products can be sold in the UK. Under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011, all toys placed on the market must meet essential safety requirements.
Where products are identified that do not meet these requirements, the Office for Product Safety and Standards works with local Trading Standards to bring these into compliance with the regulation, or to remove them from sale.
The growth in e-commerce has brought significant challenges to the product safety legal framework. The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill will enable regulations to be updated to better reflect modern online supply chains.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that imported products containing banned ingredients are not sold in shops in the UK.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK product safety regulations require that only safe consumer products be placed on the market. Importers must ensure their products comply with these regulations, including any requirements covering chemicals or banned substances. Distributors have a duty of care to not sell products they know, or should know, are unsafe.
National and local regulators enforce these regulations, including using data and intelligence to target checks on dangerous and non-compliant products entering the UK at the border and sold online.
The Government's Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, introduced to Parliament in September, provides powers to further strengthen the UK's product safety framework.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how their Department defines strategy.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The definition is detailed in the Functional Standards Common Glossary, which is published on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the number of jobs that were created as a result of foreign direct investment in the Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership area in the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) works closely with local authorities and investment partners to monitor and support the impact of foreign direct investment in the Berkshire area.
Official statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbt-inward-investment-results-2023-to-2024 show that Foreign Direct Investment projects created 1,270 new jobs in Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in 2021-22, 746 in 2022-23 and 399 in 2023-24.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on taking steps to help support high street businesses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Revitalising our high streets is a priority for this government. The Secretary of State and I are working with MHCLG to engage colleagues across Whitehall in delivering a cross-government approach for creating better conditions for high street businesses to thrive.
This means addressing anti-social behaviour and crime, working with the banking industry to roll out 350 banking hubs, reforming business rates, stamping out late payments, empowering communities to make the most of the vacant properties, strengthening the Post Office network, and upgrading the new apprenticeship levy.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what support his Department is providing to businesses in Slough to increase levels of exports of (a) goods and (b) services.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT supports companies like Montmartre Patisserie in Slough to export to locations such as Japan, Singapore and Spain.
UK businesses, including those in Slough, can access DBT’s wealth of export support via Great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and our wider network of support, which could include the Export Academy, our International Markets network, UK Export Finance and our International Trade Advisers, who use their experience of exporting and knowledge of SMEs to provide one-to-one tailored support to targeted businesses. Alongside this, across the UK, our Export Champions are sharing their experience of trading internationally, encouraging other businesses to export.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in Slough High Street.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This government is committed to supporting businesses and communities that make our high streets, including those in Slough, successful.
This means addressing anti-social behaviour and crime, rolling out banking hubs, stamping out late payments, empowering communities to make the most of the vacant properties, strengthening the Post Office network, reforming the apprenticeship levy, and reforming business rates.
We will also use High Street Rental Auctions, to provide local authorities in England with a tool to tackle vacancy, promote minimum letting standards for commercial units and flexible rents.
Slough council have used UK Shared Prosperity Fund money to establish a new weekly market in Slough high street. Small businesses in Slough also benefit from DBT’s Berkshire Growth Hub funding.
Our Small Business Strategy Command Paper, to be published in 2025, will set out this government’s intentions on supporting small businesses across key areas, including thriving high streets.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an estimate of the number of jobs created via foreign direct investment in Slough constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) works closely with local authorities and investment partners to monitor and support the impact of foreign direct investment in the Slough constituency.
Foreign direct investment in the Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area resulted in 33 FDI projects and the creation of 399 new jobs in 2023-24, including both single-site and multi-site projects. While this area covers Slough, specific statistics for the parliamentary constituency are not published due to confidentiality concerns.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he taking to help increase productivity within his Department through the use of (a) artificial intelligence and (b) effective use of data.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade is committed to improving its productivity, including through artificial intelligence and effective use of data.
For example, we are participating in the trial of Microsoft Copilot Pro, making secure AI tools available for staff, and continue to use machine learning in internal and external products and services. Work with the Alan Turing Institute produced a governance framework to manage and monitor AI use.
Staff have access to a range of data services under continual review including CRM, central data catalogue and a data environment with dashboards and data analysis tools along with training packages.