Victoria Collins

In March 2025, this Government published a response to the previous Government’s consultation on tackling non-compliance in the umbrella company market, outlining our approach to regulating the sector. Responses to the call for evidence and consultation gathered data from workers, including contractors.

Through the Employment Rights Bill, we are defining the activities of umbrella companies, and allowing for their subsequent regulation and enforcement through the Fair Work Agency. We will ensure that those who work through umbrella companies receive comparable employment rights to those taken on directly by an employment business. This complements the announcement made at Autumn Budget 2024.

Hertfordshire Growth Hub provides SMEs in Harpenden and Berkhamsted with support and advice with adopting digital technology. The Government is working closely with the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce. The Taskforce brings industry stakeholders together to explore how the UK can supercharge digital adoption amongst SMEs to drive productivity. Its final report will be published this summer.

In addition, the Department for Business and Trade is working with DSIT on the Technology Adoption Review led by the Government Chief Scientific Advisor and the Government National Technology Advisor.

The Taylor Review was published in 2017 and while it continues to be a valuable contribution to the debate on working practices, this Government is focused on delivering our plan to Make Work Pay.

Once implemented, our Plan to Make Work Pay will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation. It will raise the minimum floor of employment rights, raise living standards across the country and level the playing field for those businesses that are already engaged in good practices.

Small businesses across the UK including in Harpenden and Berkhamsted are the beating heart of our high streets and communities. This Government is committed to supporting them through a fairer business rate system.

From 2026-27, we’ll introduce lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values under £500,000. RHL relief will be extended for 2025-26 at 40%, and the small business multiplier will be frozen for the same period.

The Business Secretary has also announced a new Business Growth Service to help businesses access more easily the support they need to thrive and grow and we will publish our strategy to support small businesses later this year.

We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses. That’s why the government has been focused on negotiating an economic deal with the US.

We will continue to engage with businesses to assess and understand the impact of these tariffs. On 3 April the government launched a Request for Input from businesses to help inform the UK’s response to US tariffs.

We continue to support businesses to grow and export across the world, including to the United States. Through the recently announced Business Growth Service, businesses can access export support via Great.gov.uk. including the Export Academy, International Markets Network, Growth Hubs and Help to Grow: Management scheme.

The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future, including those in the Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency. We will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation.

The Government has announced Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund in England, to support social housing providers and tenants, as well as the new Warm Homes: Local Grant to support low-income homeowners and private tenants.

The Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency. We will publish further details on the Warm Homes Plan in due course.

Neither the Secretary of State nor I will be commenting on the specifics of individual in order to avoid potentially prejudicing any future regulatory decisions the Secretary of State is required to make in relation to these projects. We remain committed to having the supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidance in place as soon as possible. Once it is published, assessments of environmental statements can resume.

The Government’s initial assessment of the challenges of building the skilled workforce to deliver the Clean Energy Superpower Mission has been outlined in the Clean Power Action Plan. The Plan includes an Evidence Annex which provides a basis for Government to better understand the 2030 workforce requirements and support targeted skills planning.

By 2030, the clean energy transition could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, benefiting communities across the UK representing the economic opportunity of the century.

The match funding between GBE and DfE announced on 21 March 2025 will enable around 200 schools in England to install solar power and complementary decarbonisation technologies, helping to drive down their energy bills. It is estimated to provide up to £140 million of savings for schools bills over the 30-year lifetime of the panels.

The Government will conduct feasibility studies for schools soon and anticipate installation work to start soon afterwards with the majority of installations happening over the 2025 School Summer holidays.

The Government has been engaging with a range of stakeholders, providing an opportunity to share their ideas and views on how government can best encourage nature positive best practice into energy infrastructure planning and development. We are working to better understand how we can integrate nature restoration through Clean Power 2030.

Following the 2017 reforms, government representatives engaged regularly with stakeholders about their impact. The changes made by the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 were consulted on and received Parliamentary scrutiny during passage of the Act. Government has no plans to conduct a formal review of the 2017 reforms before commencing sections 61-64 of the Act, which was subject to a published De Minimis Impact Assessment.

Government’s decisions on 5G policy are informed by a wide range of evidence and information. We continue to work with mobile operators to meet our 5G standalone coverage ambition by 2030.

The aim of the 2017 reforms was to encourage investment in digital networks and improve coverage and connectivity across the UK. Based on Ofcom reporting, 4G rural geographic coverage from at least one operator has increased from 88% in May 2018 to a reported 95% in the 2025 Spring Connected Nations Update. It is a similar story for geographic 5G coverage in rural areas, with coverage from at least one operator increasing from 12% in May 2022 to a reported 58% in the same update.

We continue to work with mobile operators to meet our coverage ambitions, including rural areas.

The Government is clear that universities are a key partner in research and development, which is fundamental to kickstarting economic growth and delivering the Government’s missions. DSIT values the views of universities and engages closely with them through a programme of one to one meetings, roundtables, visits, and sector group meetings, as appropriate, to develop research policies for England and the rest of the UK.

Ofcom and its advisory committees are independent of government. The design of the advisory committee’s Terms of Reference are therefore a matter for Ofcom.

The Online Safety Act includes clear requirements for the Committee’s responsibilities: advising Ofcom on how providers should address mis- and disinformation, how the regulator should exercise their transparency powers and fulfil their statutory duty to promote media literacy in relation to mis- and disinformation. These obligations are unchanged and are duly reflected in the terms of reference for the Online Information Advisory Committee.

In 2024 the Government provided £0.5 million to expand the National Literacy Trust’s ‘Empower’ and Parent Zone’s ‘Everyday Digital’ programmes.

‘Empower’ provided media literacy education to nearly 4,000 vulnerable students aged 11-16, who were excluded or at risk of exclusion, increasing critical thinking and awareness of online harms. It also trained schoolteachers to lead media literacy within their schools.

‘Everyday Digital’ reached over 60,000 parents, helping improve their understanding of media literacy, set digital boundaries and critically evaluate online content. The evaluation showed a 45% improvement in media literacy understanding.

Both organisations evaluated their programmes’ impact and will publish reports.

The Government recognises the vital importance of ensuring that all music creators, including independent artists, are appropriately compensated for their work. Many have raised legitimate concerns about remuneration from streaming platforms and we take these issues seriously. Through a dedicated working group, we are facilitating industry-led action on music streaming remuneration, with the aim of making meaningful progress.

We recognise that positive steps are being taken by parts of the industry, such as the decision by some, but not all, labels to disregard unrecouped advances in legacy contracts on a rolling basis. These are welcome moves that reflect an increasing recognition across the sector of the need for more equitable outcomes. However, there is still a clear need for further progress. Too many musicians and song writers are expected to work for a pittance. We remain committed to pursuing practical, effective solutions that empower our world-class industry and its creators to thrive.

The Government provides the majority of our funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.

In 2022/23, £5,950.00 was invested in Harpenden and Berkhamsted with 3 tennis courts at Rothamsted Park renovated directly as a result of investment from the Park Tennis Court Programme.

Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme funding is delivered through the Football Foundation in England and further detail on funded projects will be published on gov.uk in due course. Tennis/padel projects are not currently funded through the programme but at least 40% of funded projects will support non-football sports where similar pitch types/playing surfaces can be shared (such as rugby, cricket and basketball), ensuring more people can participate and get active across a variety of sports.

Future funding for grassroots facilities beyond 2025/26 is subject to the ongoing Spending Review.

The Government provides the majority of our funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.

In 2022/23, £5,950.00 was invested in Harpenden and Berkhamsted with 3 tennis courts at Rothamsted Park renovated directly as a result of investment from the Park Tennis Court Programme.

Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme funding is delivered through the Football Foundation in England and further detail on funded projects will be published on gov.uk in due course. Tennis/padel projects are not currently funded through the programme but at least 40% of funded projects will support non-football sports where similar pitch types/playing surfaces can be shared (such as rugby, cricket and basketball), ensuring more people can participate and get active across a variety of sports.

Future funding for grassroots facilities beyond 2025/26 is subject to the ongoing Spending Review.

The Government provides the majority of our funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.

In 2022/23, £5,950.00 was invested in Harpenden and Berkhamsted with 3 tennis courts at Rothamsted Park renovated directly as a result of investment from the Park Tennis Court Programme.

Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme funding is delivered through the Football Foundation in England and further detail on funded projects will be published on gov.uk in due course. Tennis/padel projects are not currently funded through the programme but at least 40% of funded projects will support non-football sports where similar pitch types/playing surfaces can be shared (such as rugby, cricket and basketball), ensuring more people can participate and get active across a variety of sports.

Future funding for grassroots facilities beyond 2025/26 is subject to the ongoing Spending Review.

The Government recognises that leisure facilities are important to communities up and down the country. High quality, inclusive facilities help people get active. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to high quality facilities and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.

The ongoing responsibility for public leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level. Local Authorities work in partnership with operators who manage leisure services. The Government and Sport England continue to work closely with Local Authorities to monitor pressures in the sector.

Sport England’s Moving Communities service provides insight which informs local authorities in making strategic decisions about the most effective investments to benefit local communities.