Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps the Department is taking to ensure that small businesses in each area can access practical support to adopt artificial intelligence safely and productively.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The government is committed to helping small businesses across the UK adopt AI safely and productively.
The industry-led SME Digital Adoption Taskforce set an ambition for the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses to be the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7 by 2035. We are working to deliver their recommendations, including pilots with small businesses in the West of England and West Yorkshire, collaboration with industry on support, and new offers through the Business Growth Service. An update was published in June 2026.
The AI Skills Boost programme is also helping workers with AI skills, including cyber security.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Department is taking to raise awareness among small businesses of the expanded role and powers of the Small Business Commissioner.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring that small businesses are aware of the Small Business Commissioner’s expanded role and powers. The Commissioner already provides advice, guidance and support through its website, outreach activity and communications channels, and these will be strengthened as new powers are introduced. The Department will work closely with the Commissioner to deliver a comprehensive communications and engagement programme, helping small businesses understand their rights, access support, and benefit from the stronger protections and enforcement measures provided by the Commercial Payments Bill.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Department is taking to ensure that the design of the UK’s electronic invoicing regime minimises costs and administrative burdens for small businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Electronic invoicing, or e-invoicing, will become mandatory for VAT transactions from April 2029. E-invoicing will help business productivity and efficiency, reduce late payments and streamline tax administration.
DBT and HMRC ran a consultation between February and May 2025 to gather views on e-invoicing from a wide range of stakeholders, including small businesses and business representative organisations.
We are now working collaboratively to co-design e-invoicing policy, including with business representative organisations and accountancy and bookkeeping networks who champion small business interests.
The government will publish an Implementation Roadmap at Budget 2026 to update on progress and set out key milestones ahead of the mandate.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Department is taking with the Cabinet Office to help innovative scale-up businesses navigate public procurement processes and secure opportunities to supply the public sector.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade is working closely with the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (including the Commercial Innovation Hub) to improve public procurement of innovation.
Through the Industrial Strategy and measures announced at Autumn Budget 2025 the government is going further to support innovative UK scale-ups to access public procurement – including through the establishment of an Innovation Marketplace, expanded use of Advance Market Commitments and appointment of Innovation Champions in all departments.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of large scale capital in the UK for late stage start up businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is taking action to improve the availability of large-scale growth capital available to UK scale-ups. Through a new strategic mandate and reforms to the British Business Bank (BBB), the BBB is increasing support for late-stage businesses, including through larger and faster investments. The government has increased BBB’s financial capacity to £25.6 billion, enabling it to invest both directly and through funds at scale, helping to mobilise private capital and ensuring late stage UK companies can access the finance they need to scale and remain in the UK.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that businesses simplify the processes of cancelling subscriptions.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 introduces new consumer protections for consumers in subscriptions. Once the new regime comes into force, businesses will be required to provide clear information before the consumer signs up, send regular reminders about renewals, and ensure it is straightforward to cancel. This includes allowing online cancellation if the consumer can sign up online. In addition, consumers will have a new 14-day renewal cooling-off period after a trial or a contract of 12 months or more auto-renews.
Government has consulted on regulatory proposals to implement the regime and the response can be found here.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress he has been made on enforcement measures relating to fake or misleading online reviews.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), online platforms must take reasonable steps to ensure consumer reviews on their sites are genuine. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance for businesses that publish reviews to help meet their legal obligations.
The DMCCA has given the CMA new direct enforcement powers to decide if certain consumer laws have been breached and to fine businesses up to 10% of annual turnover.
The CMA currently has five live investigations into businesses that may have infringed consumer law in relation to online reviews: Fake and misleading reviews: 5 businesses under CMA investigation - GOV.UK
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of competition in the grocery market in communities with limited access to large supermarkets.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government has not assessed the adequacy of competition in the grocery market in communities with limited access to large supermarkets. Responsibility for such assessments falls to the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s principal competition authority. The CMA has published several reports on competition and pricing in the groceries market.