Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has powers to review substantial transfers of assets between private companies when the proposed transaction may (a) be over value and (b) present significant risks to the employees and suppliers of the company purchasing the assets.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Directors of a company must act in good faith to promote its success for the benefit of its members as a whole. When taking decisions, directors must have regard to the interests of employees and the need to foster business relationships with suppliers, customers and others.
My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has powers to appoint inspectors to conduct confidential investigations into trading companies where information suggests serious corporate abuse and such an investigation would be in the public interest. In an insolvency situation, she has powers to investigate the conduct of company directors.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Royal Mail's announcement on the rise of the cost of first class stamps, what steps her Department is taking to ensure Ofcom is fulfilling its responsibility to ensure all USO postal products are affordable for all consumers.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s objective continues to be ensuring the provision of a sustainable, accessible and affordable universal postal service. However, as the independent regulator of postal services, regulatory decisions are a matter for Ofcom in which Government is not involved.
Ofcom’s regulatory framework imposes prices controls, ‘safeguard caps’, on certain second-class products to ensure a basic universal service is available to all at affordable prices. Ofcom will conduct a public consultation in 2023-24 to inform a review of the safeguard caps that should apply from April 2024.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Seventh Report of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee of Session 2022–23, HC 1045, whether her Department plans to take steps to ensure Ofcom’s investigation into the Royal Mail (a) takes account of previous years targets and (b) accepts evidence from postal workers.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards and decide how to use its powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without good justification. The Government has no role in Ofcom’s regulatory investigations.