Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether Post Office Ltd has provided his Department with estimates of the average annual financial impact of the June 2026 remuneration changes on individual postmaster incomes.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Post Office has not provided the department with estimates of the average annual financial impact of the June 2026 remuneration changes on individual postmaster incomes. Postmaster remuneration is an operational matter for Post Office. Government is providing funding to Post Office to help deliver its Transformation Plan, including up to £483 million in FY 2026/27 and 2027/28. The savings created by that plan will help put Post Office in a stronger position to increase remuneration for postmasters across the UK. While there is more to do, it is encouraging that postmaster remuneration increased by £92 million since December 2024.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to Post Office remuneration for Royal Mail parcel transactions on the income of sub-postmasters.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Post Office Ltd operates at arm’s length from Government and is responsible for its own operational matters, including commercial agreements with partners and remuneration for specific services.
Government is, however, providing funding to Post Office to help deliver its Transformation Plan, including up to £483 million in FY 2026/27 and 2027/28. The savings created by that plan will help put Post Office in a stronger position to increase remuneration for postmasters across the UK. While there is more to do, it is encouraging that between December 2024 and April 2026, Post Office increased postmaster remuneration by £92 million.
To ensure service access for rural and other communities, we will continue to monitor Post Office's performance against Government-set network requirements. These requirements mean, for instance, that 99% of the population must live within three miles of a post office.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes in remuneration for Royal Mail parcel transactions on the viability of rural Post Office branches.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Post Office Ltd operates at arm’s length from Government and is responsible for its own operational matters, including commercial agreements with partners and remuneration for specific services.
Government is, however, providing funding to Post Office to help deliver its Transformation Plan, including up to £483 million in FY 2026/27 and 2027/28. The savings created by that plan will help put Post Office in a stronger position to increase remuneration for postmasters across the UK. While there is more to do, it is encouraging that between December 2024 and April 2026, Post Office increased postmaster remuneration by £92 million.
To ensure service access for rural and other communities, we will continue to monitor Post Office's performance against Government-set network requirements. These requirements mean, for instance, that 99% of the population must live within three miles of a post office.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether he has considered the potential merits of introducing requirements for wearable recording devices, including smart glasses, to display a visual indicator when video or audio recording is taking place.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People may lawfully use smart glasses and other wearable recording technologies in public spaces, in line with rights to freedom of expression as set out in Human Rights law. However, we recognise the potential privacy and safeguarding implications of the increasing availability of wearable recording devices. If wearers of the technology use it in harmful ways, such as to cause alarm or distress or for the purpose of sexual gratification, they may be guilty of criminal offences such as harassment, stalking or voyeurism.
If recorded images are uploaded to the internet, online services that process them will be subject to the UK's data protection legislation. For example,organisations may need to respond to requests from members of the public to have their images removed.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent regulator for data protection, has recently published guidance on consumer Internet of Things products and services: Guidance for consumer Internet of Things products and services | ICO. It makes it clear that manufacturers, developers and providers of connected devices have responsibilities to make sure that there is sufficient transparency around how the technology is used. This includes making any recording obvious to users and bystanders through visible indicators or alerts, and warning users of risks of recording children or vulnerable people.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 i) the levels of the ammonia production in the UK ii) the security of supply of imported ammonia and iii) the rising costs of fertilisers as a result of the US-Israel conflict with Iran.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK does not manufacture ammonia in significant volumes. CF Fertilisers made the commercial decision to switch to an import model of ammonia in 2022. Whilst there has been a significant increase in ammonia costs due to the ongoing conflict in the Gulf, there has been no assertion yet that supply is not secure.
Recent market volatility has seen an increase in fertiliser prices, reflecting global conditions rather than any immediate supply disruption to the UK. The government is in close contact with domestic fertiliser suppliers and is monitoring overall supply and pricing in the UK.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of flexible and hybrid working arrangements on workforce participation, productivity, and retention, particularly for parents, carers, disabled workers, and employees facing long commutes or high transport costs.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government recognises that flexible working helps people achieve a better work life balance, which can lead to happier, healthier and more productive employees. Flexible working arrangements, including hybrid working, can be particularly valuable for those with health conditions, caring responsibilities or significant travel-to-work requirements.
The post-implementation review of the 2014 flexible working reforms, which can be found on Gov.uk website, considers how access to flexibility has supported labour market participation among groups who face barriers to entering and staying in work. The Government will continue to monitor the impacts of recent and upcoming reforms to the flexible working framework.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to help SMEs adopt digital technology.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
To support more small businesses’ digitisation efforts, we announced at Budget 2024 that we would extend the work of the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce. The Taskforce is made up of industry experts and focuses on addressing the challenge of how to support SMEs to adopt and implement productivity-enhancing technologies, such as customer relationship management, accountancy, and resource planning software. We intend to publish a summary of the Taskforce’s draft recommendations soon and their full report will be published later this year.
We will be announcing further measures shortly.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increases in domestic excise duty on Scotch whisky on discussions to reduce tariffs and excise duty on that whisky in international markets.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
This Government is supporting Scotch Whisky. We have provided a series of cuts and freezes to alcohol duties in the past decade. The most recent alcohol duty freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represented a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next four years.
The Government is seeking improvement in market access, through negotiating ambitious Free Trade Agreements, including our recent accession to the CPTPP, and with other trade partners. We are also seeking to reduce non-tariff barriers through conversations with various other partners globally.