Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, published on 23 June 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that investment in advanced manufacturing is allocated to rural communities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Deeper partnerships with mayors and devolved governments will deliver real change in local communities, ensuring Sector Plan gains across the UK.
As part of this, we will support specific city regions and clusters through a new £600 million Strategic Sites Accelerator, and by investing £160 million in each of the UK's regional Advanced Manufacturing investment zones. This targeted support will have positive spillover effects on surrounding rural and urban communities.
Government has also secured £4 billion from the British Business Bank and £27.8 billion from the National Wealth Fund to support business across the UK access the finance they need to grow.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 businesses on the S&P Global Flash UK PMI.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Details of the meetings held by Ministers of the Department for Business and Trade are available on transparency pages of gov.uk and are released as part of the Government’s transparency agenda.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he made of the potential impact of delaying the implementation of the Employment Rights Bill’s provisions on unfair dismissal protections on levels of business confidence.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There is no delay to implementation. On 1 July the Government published “Implementing the Employment Rights Bill: Roadmap”. It provides clarity for employers and workers on when Government will consult on the implementation of Bill measures, and when measures will take effect. Feedback from businesses is that this clarity has improved confidence. The Roadmap sets out our initial view that day one unfair dismissal protections will take effect in 2027, after regulations have been made and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has considered to what extent , to reflect day one rights in the Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.
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 recent steps his Department has taken to consult with rural community-owned businesses in (a) Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency and (b) Hertfordshire in the development of its planned small business strategy.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government is committed to embedding the voice of small business into policy. The Department for Business and Trade has engaged with hundreds of individual SMEs across all sectors and regions as part of co-designing our SME Strategy. This has included roundtables to address topics such as high streets, markets and access to finance.
Engagement with individual SMEs will continue to be a priority up to and after the launch of the SME Strategy to assess the impact of these policies on SMEs across the UK in all rural and urban areas.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to support small businesses in the aesthetics industry.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government recognises the immense economic and social value of the aesthetics industry. That is why we have committed to reforming business rates from 2026-27 with a permanently lower multiplier for retail, leisure and hospitality properties, including beauty clinics.
The Government will publish an SME Strategy Paper later this year that will set out the Government's vision for all small and medium size businesses. The paper will focus on boosting scale-ups across key policy areas, such as creating thriving high streets, making it easier to access finance, opening up overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment. The paper will complement the Government's Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy.
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 help support businesses to take up digital technologies in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Hertfordshire Growth Hub provides businesses in Harpenden and Berkhamsted with support and advice on adopting digital technology. More widely, the industry-led SME Digital Adoption Taskforce will soon publish its final recommendations on how Government and industry can work together to increase SME uptake of digital technology across the UK. Building these capabilities will form part of our forthcoming SME Strategy.
Our Industrial Strategy also set out ambitions, informed by the Technology Adoption Review, to increase digital adoption in eight growth-driving sectors. This includes up to £99m for the Made Smarter Adoption programme to help manufacturing SMEs adopt digital technologies.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that companies are legally obliged to prevent (a) human rights abuses and (b) environmental harms in their supply chains.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK has a range of measures in place to promote RBC across the economy. In the Trade Strategy, the Government also launched a review into the UK's approach to responsible business conduct, focused on tackling human rights and labour abuses, modern slavery, and environmental harms in global supply chains.
The review will be a neutral, objective appraisal of policy, led by departmental officials. It will consider the effectiveness of the UK's current regime and alternative means of supporting responsible business practices. To complement the review, the FCDO is conducting a National Baseline Assessment (NBA) on the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to consult tea producers for the review of Responsible Business Conduct.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
In the Trade Strategy, the Government launched a review into the UK's approach to responsible business conduct, focused on tackling human rights and labour abuses, modern slavery, and environmental harms in global supply chains. Throughout the review, we will harness the insights and expertise of businesses and investors from across the economy, as well as trade unions, academia and civil society.
Stakeholders will also be given the opportunity to feed into the National Baseline Assessment on the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which will run in parallel and inform the review.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 the Taiwan offshore wind export credit agreement on the UK energy supply chain.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) support is conditional on the inclusion of UK content. This should usually be at least 20% of the portion of the support provided by UKEF. In this instance, UKEF has issued a guarantee to commercial lenders to help secure new export opportunities for the UK, which in turn support jobs across the UK, both in those businesses with which the project contracts directly, and in their supply chains. While there will be significant UK content, above the 20% threshold, we cannot comment on individual contracts for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
UKEF support is based on confirmed contracts for the provision of specialised services and components to support the construction project. UKEF is aware of several UK sub-contractors who are bidding for roles within the various construction contracts , but such selection is an ongoing process throughout the build phase.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK-based subcontractors are expected to be impacted from the Taiwan offshore wind project backed by UK Export Finance.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) support is conditional on the inclusion of UK content. This should usually be at least 20% of the portion of the support provided by UKEF. In this instance, UKEF has issued a guarantee to commercial lenders to help secure new export opportunities for the UK, which in turn support jobs across the UK, both in those businesses with which the project contracts directly, and in their supply chains. While there will be significant UK content, above the 20% threshold, we cannot comment on individual contracts for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
UKEF support is based on confirmed contracts for the provision of specialised services and components to support the construction project. UKEF is aware of several UK sub-contractors who are bidding for roles within the various construction contracts , but such selection is an ongoing process throughout the build phase.