Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 garden centre businesses in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
From April 2026, we are introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, worth nearly £900 million a year and benefiting over 750,000 premises. In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the government has introduced £4.3 billion transitional support package, to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases.
The government and Ofgem are taking decisive action to inform and protect non-domestic energy consumers as well as improving access to redress when issues occur. Later this year, we will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy, to help reinvigorate our communities. These measures will provide meaningful, long-term support to garden centres, including those in Harpenden and Berkhamsted.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of garden centres on local employment and skills training; and what steps he is taking to support that sector.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of garden centres on local employment and skills training. However, garden centres operate across retail and horticulture and can benefit from the government’s wider support for workforce development.
This government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. That is why in March we announced almost £1bn in funding taking total investment to £2.5bn to further expand the Youth Guarantee over the next 3 years. This will fund an expansion of the Jobs Guarantee scheme to include 22–24-year-olds, hiring incentives for employers recruiting young people on Universal Credit at risk of long-term unemployment, and incentives for SMEs recruiting apprentices. This will unlock nearly 200,000 opportunities for young people to start work or an apprenticeship. To support smaller businesses, we are introducing a new £2,000 incentive when non-levy payers take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of supermarkets selling low-cost cut flowers and plants on the viability of independent garden centre businesses.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government acknowledges the important contribution of independent garden centres, which frequently differentiate themselves through expert advice, product quality, and a wider range of horticultural services.
The government recognises that competition between different retail formats can present both opportunities and challenges for businesses. Pricing and product range decisions are commercial matters for individual retailers, operating within a competitive market. We support a competitive retail environment that benefits consumers while ensuring markets operate fairly, and the Competition and Markets Authority is responsible for addressing any concerns about anti‑competitive behaviour.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK technology company acquired by foreign buyers were of (a) pre-revenue startups and (b) companies with revenues (i) under £10 million, (ii) between £10-50 million and (iii) £50 million in the last three years; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of UK scale-ups being acquired before reaching their full growth potential.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The statistics requested are not readily available. The Department for Business and Trade is supporting the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups, aiming to create the UK’s first trillion-dollar technology business by 2035. The Industrial Strategy and Digital & Technology Subsector plan set out how we will achieve this. They set out a whole-of-government approach to the sector, reforming the business environment for digital and technology companies and addressing their needs for greater investment, skills, infrastructure, regulation and access to international markets.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK technology startups and scale-ups were acquired by foreign companies in each of the last three years; and what the total value of those acquisitions was in each of the last three years.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The statistics requested are not readily available. The Department for Business and Trade is supporting the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups, aiming to create the UK’s first trillion-dollar technology business by 2035. The Industrial Strategy and Digital & Technology Subsector plan set out how we will achieve this. They set out a whole-of-government approach to the sector, reforming the business environment for digital and technology companies and addressing their needs for greater investment, skills, infrastructure, regulation and access to international markets.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the mandate is for the British Business Bank's direct investment programme in scale-up companies.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The British Business Bank’s mandate for making direct equity investments in scale-up companies is set out in the Statement of Strategic Priorities issued to the Bank by the Secretary of State and the Chancellor. This was published on 21 October 2025.
At the 2025 Spending Review, the BBB was entrusted with an additional £4 billion of capital with the goal of accelerating investment into the Industrial Strategy priority sectors.
The strategic mandate requires the Bank to “help anchor strategically significant companies in the UK, including through use of the bank’s direct investment capabilities to target priority sectors and technologies.”
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 develop standards to help with procurement and encourage AI adoption amongst SMEs.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In July, the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce published ten recommendations to help the UK’s SMEs become the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7 by 2035. We are now working to deliver these recommendations.
We have already partnered with Google on a series of events to help SME leaders around the UK explore how AI can help them.
DSIT has published AI Management Essentials to help SMEs implement responsible AI governance practices.
Also, we are prioritising SMEs in our new system to give them a fair chance at public contracts, with departmental targets and a new SME Procurement Education programme.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of overseas (a) subsidies and (b) export support on the competitiveness of UK natural stone producers; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing similar support.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting businesses, including natural stone producers, to grow and export. UK businesses can access DBT’s wealth of export support via business.gov.uk.
This support is available to all UK businesses including those that wish to export natural stone.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of providing (a) targeted grant funding and (b) export support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the natural stone industry similar to that provided by EU countries.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting businesses, including natural stone producers, to grow and export. UK businesses can access DBT’s wealth of export support via business.gov.uk.
This support is available to all UK businesses including those that wish to export natural stone.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of Companies House identity verifications have used (a) assisted and (b) non-digital routes since 1 April 2025; and what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of those routes.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The specific data is not available. Companies House has recruited significant resource and expanded and trained our customer service team to assist users in the identity verification journey. They are also establishing a specialist team to support customers who have very significant issues accessing identity verification. Companies House is also introducing a specific assisted route for people whose passport is from a country that does not issue biometric passports.
Individuals can also use the Post Office or Authorised Company Service Providers who can offer non-digital routes and further assistance.