Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Factsheet: The Fair Work Agency, whether the agency will be specifically mandated to uphold the rights of young women in the workplace.
Answered by Justin Madders
Women and young people are less likely to get the employment rights they are entitled to than the general population. The creation of the Fair Work Agency will deliver a generational upgrade to enforcement of workers’ rights, and young women particularly stand to benefit.
Its core function will be to enforce specific employment legislation set out in Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Employment Rights Bill. The Government has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders as it has developed the Bill, and we are committed to continuing this.
The Secretary of State has discretion to appoint individuals as independent experts to the Fair Work Agency’s Advisory Board, if the Secretary of State considers them to have relevant expertise. This could include appointing individuals with expertise in relation to young women’s experience of the labour market.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether young women will be represented on the Advisory Board for the Fair Work Agency.
Answered by Justin Madders
Women and young people are less likely to get the employment rights they are entitled to than the general population. The creation of the Fair Work Agency will deliver a generational upgrade to enforcement of workers’ rights, and young women particularly stand to benefit.
Its core function will be to enforce specific employment legislation set out in Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Employment Rights Bill. The Government has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders as it has developed the Bill, and we are committed to continuing this.
The Secretary of State has discretion to appoint individuals as independent experts to the Fair Work Agency’s Advisory Board, if the Secretary of State considers them to have relevant expertise. This could include appointing individuals with expertise in relation to young women’s experience of the labour market.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will include further consultation on the scope of the Fair Work Agency in the roadmap for delivering the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Justin Madders
Women and young people are less likely to get the employment rights they are entitled to than the general population. The creation of the Fair Work Agency will deliver a generational upgrade to enforcement of workers’ rights, and young women particularly stand to benefit.
Its core function will be to enforce specific employment legislation set out in Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Employment Rights Bill. The Government has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders as it has developed the Bill, and we are committed to continuing this.
The Secretary of State has discretion to appoint individuals as independent experts to the Fair Work Agency’s Advisory Board, if the Secretary of State considers them to have relevant expertise. This could include appointing individuals with expertise in relation to young women’s experience of the labour market.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the role of a Fair Work Commissioner to ensure the independent enforcement of workers' rights.
Answered by Justin Madders
Fair Work Agency officers will be operationally independent. Additionally, the Employment Right Bill provides for effective oversight of the Fair Work Agency through the three-year enforcement strategies and annual reports, which must be laid before Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Secretary of State is also required to consult the Advisory Board, which will have equal representation from businesses, trade unions and independent experts, to ensure they benefit from a broad range of insight when developing these documents.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has held discussions with Royal Mail on the adequacy of their response times to hon. Members raising casework matters about local postal services.
Answered by Justin Madders
Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider. Royal Mail endeavours to respond to all queries about postal services in a timely manner. Specific operational arrangements continue to be an internal matter for Royal Mail as an independent business.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to include food and drinks manufacturers in the development of the forthcoming industrial strategy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Growth is the number one mission of the government. The UK's food and drink manufacturing sector plays a significant role in the UK economy, contributing £35.1bn to GVA in 2022. The UK presents many opportunities for investment right across the food and drink supply chain stages of product development.
The Industrial Strategy, alongside Sector Plans for the growth-driving sectors, will be published in Spring 2025, aligned with the multi-year Spending Review. These Sector Plans will set out the specific sub-sectors of focus, identify key barriers to growth, and describe how government and industry intend to achieve long-term growth for the sector.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether UK Government Investments has made a request to Post Office Limited to (a) proceed with moving all directly managed branches to a fully franchised model and (b) expedite the shift of directly managed branches that have previously been earmarked to be moved to a fully franchised model since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Nigel Railton, the Post Office Chair, has set out his ambitions for the future of the Post Office, which involves a reduction in central costs and other ways to deliver efficiencies, plus steps to improve the commercial future of the business in order to enable real term increases in postmaster pay. No decisions have yet been taken on the future of any individual Directly Managed Branches (DMBs) as part of this plan. The Government will continue to work closely with Post Office as they develop their transformation plan. In the meantime, we expect the Post Office to fully engage and consult with the Unions and postmaster representative bodies about future options for the DMBs.
Decisions about franchising are an operational matter for Post Office Limited. The Government is broadly supportive of POL’s transformation plan, including the aim of increasing postmaster pay, however neither the Department nor UKGI, acting as the Shareholder representative on the Board of Post Office Limited, have made the requests referred to in the question.
The Post Office will continue to deliver on the 11,500 minimum branch requirement set by Government.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made representations with the Post Office to (a) proceed with moving all directly managed branches to a fully franchised model and (b) expedite the shift of directly managed branches that have previously been earmarked to be moved to a fully franchised model since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Nigel Railton, the Post Office Chair, has set out his ambitions for the future of the Post Office, which involves a reduction in central costs and other ways to deliver efficiencies, plus steps to improve the commercial future of the business in order to enable real term increases in postmaster pay. No decisions have yet been taken on the future of any individual Directly Managed Branches (DMBs) as part of this plan. The Government will continue to work closely with Post Office as they develop their transformation plan. In the meantime, we expect the Post Office to fully engage and consult with the Unions and postmaster representative bodies about future options for the DMBs.
Decisions about franchising are an operational matter for Post Office Limited. The Government is broadly supportive of POL’s transformation plan, including the aim of increasing postmaster pay, however neither the Department nor UKGI, acting as the Shareholder representative on the Board of Post Office Limited, have made the requests referred to in the question.
The Post Office will continue to deliver on the 11,500 minimum branch requirement set by Government.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with car manufacturers on levels of disruption to supply chains for (a) temperature sensors and (b) other spare parts for electric vehicles since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Mak
HMG understands the concerns of the Automotive industry regarding the potential impact of the invasion on its business operations and supply chains worldwide. The Department for Business and Trade ministers regularly meet with sector bodies and auto manufacturers to discuss a variety of automotive related trade issues, including an understanding of any direct and indirect impacts on UK operations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring manufacturers to provide information to consumers of (a) cars and (b) other high value products on the extent to which repairs for those products are reliant on critical metals that are affected by supply-side disruption as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Mak
Currently manufacturers are only legally required to provide consumers with information on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, for new cars and vans at the point of sale. There are no obligations on manufacturers to provide information on where the materials are sourced and no assessment has been made of the potential merits of doing so. The UK Critical Minerals Strategy, published in July 2022, sets out steps for ensuring the long-term security of critical minerals like those needed for electric vehicle batteries.
The Government understands the concerns of the automotive industry regarding the potential impact of the invasion on its business operations and supply chains worldwide. We are in regular dialogue with UK auto manufacturers and business representative bodies to understand any direct and indirect impacts on UK operations, including trade related issues.