Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether provisions have been made for employees of The Bodyshop who were made redundant.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I understand this will be a concerning time for those impacted. The Department for Work and Pensions’ Rapid Response Service is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
The range of support may include:
Employees may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay, compensatory notice pay and holiday pay from the Insolvency Service. Further information may be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-body-shop-in-administration-information-for-employees-and-creditors.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made representations to Royal Mail on the impact of price rises on SMEs.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s commercial decisions, including the prices of stamps and other services.
In setting its prices, Royal Mail must observe the regulatory framework set by Ofcom which imposes prices controls, ‘safeguard caps’, on certain second-class products to ensure a basic universal service is available to all at affordable prices.
On 24 January 2024, following a public consultation, Ofcom announced its decisions regarding retail price caps on Royal Mail’s universal postal services to apply from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether senior officials from her Department have travelled to China since January 2019.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Senior officials have travelled to China since January 2019.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) non-compliant and (b) unsafe toys sold by third parties through the online marketplace supply chain in the UK; and when she plans to publish the Product Safety Review.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is aware of concerns relating to non-compliant and unsafe toys sold by third parties through online marketplaces. Although we have not made an assessment of specific numbers, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has acted, including increasing border checks and test purchasing and assessment of goods available on-line.
OPSS is tackling the most serious cases by requiring recalls and takedowns and where necessary, taking enforcement action to prevent unsafe products from being made available to UK consumers. I and senior officials have held meetings with the major on-line marketplaces demanding they take more action to fulfil their responsibilities for supplying safe goods.
Our Product Safety Review, including proposals to tackle unsafe products being sold through online marketplaces, is being finalised and will be published shortly.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether lenders participating in the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme are able to transfer the guarantee of that scheme to another participating lender.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Only in certain limited circumstances, and with the prior written consent of the British Business Bank, can an accredited lender transfer the guarantee of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to another accredited lender.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that data collected by his (a) Department and (b) Department’s associated arms-length bodies records biological sex as opposed to gender identity.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department already collects employee data on legal sex. Arms-length bodies are responsible for collecting data relating to their employees to review the impacts of policies and procedures and to meet statutory obligations.