Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 14 July 2026, to Question HL1905, on Department for Business and Trade: Buildings, and further to the Cabinet Office data, Monthly Average HQ Building Occupancy, what is the occupancy rate of the Old Admiralty Building expressed as a proportion of the assigned workforce attending the office rather than the proportion of desks occupied.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The occupancy rate of the Old Admiralty Building based on the proportion of the assigned workforce attending the building is 21.6% (April 2026 – July 2026).
Working days at other non-home locations including other government offices, visiting businesses and attending meetings are not included. In July, 67% of Department for Business and Trade staff worked at least 40% of their time from an office or other work-related location.
Note that staff assigned to the Old Admiralty Building have the option of working from Caxton House, London. Accurate daily usage figures for Caxton House are not available and are excluded.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2026, to Question 18049, on Government Departments: Greater Manchester, and to the answer of 14 July 2026, to Question 14979, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Darlington, what was the average percentage attendance rate of assigned ACAS staff at 3 Piccadilly Place 3 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 3BN in the most recent working week for which figures are available, expressed as a percentage of assigned staff attending the workplace and in absolute terms.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Acas do not collect data in a way that enables us to determine the average percentage attendance rate for our estate. 162 staff are assigned to the Manchester office at 3 Piccadilly Place. During the period 7 to 11 September 2026 Acas recorded 96 attendance instances, but we cannot verify how many individuals that equates to. The current Acas office attendance expectation is that employees attend an Acas office, or undertake qualifying off-site work e.g. delivering off site training, for an average of 20% of their working time, subject to any agreed workplace adjustments or flexible working arrangements.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
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 compliance requirements relating to sanctions, export controls and anti-money-laundering rules do not have a disproportionate effect on defence SMEs.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
DBT operates a clear, proportionate, and robust system of export controls and sanctions, promoting both UK prosperity and national and global security. DBT supports all exporters with their compliance obligations through a suite of regularly updated guidance, coupled with stakeholder outreach. This is intended to make our regulations less costly and easier to implement.
Access to finance can be a significant issue for defence firms, particularly SMEs. HMG is actively engaging with banks to ensure they understand the importance of the defence sector. Through the Defence Finance and Investment Strategy, MOD is exploring how it can improve the investability of the sector, including by considering the role of the MOD relative to compliance checks carried out by the investor community.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Policy paper entitled Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan of 17 March 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a 14-day cooling-off period on the effectiveness of local and regional news publishers in adopting a digital-first and sustainable future.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK. We have launched a Local Media Action Plan to help local newsrooms across the country innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news.
We have consulted on how the subscriptions regime will be implemented and Ministers and officials have engaged with representatives from the news media sector. We are working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to reflect on the issues raised and a Government Response will be published in due course.
The impact assessment for the subscriptions chapter in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act can be found here: Subscription traps: annex 2 impact assessment. Together, the subscription measures are anticipated to provide £400m of consumer benefits per year and the estimated net direct cost to businesses is £171m per year.
Sector-specific analysis has not been conducted.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when his Department plans to engage with stakeholders on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
This government is committed to protecting consumers who enter subscription contracts. We have consulted on the implementation of the new subscriptions regime (Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime - GOV.UK) which included meeting with interested stakeholders. After carefully analysing responses a full Government Response is to be published in due course.
We have engaged with consumer advocacy groups, enforcers and business representatives from across the economy and will continue to do so in advance of the regime’s commencement.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
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 potential impact of the cooling-off period proposals in section 267 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on printed news products.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government has consulted on how refunds should work when consumers exercise their statutory cooling-off rights (Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime). We are analysing all the responses, including in relation to digital platform fees and views from the printed news sector.
The impact assessment for the subscriptions chapter in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act can be found here: Subscription traps: annex 2 impact assessment. Together the subscription measures are anticipated to provide £400m of consumer benefits per year and the estimated net direct cost to businesses is £171m per year. Sector-specific analysis has not been conducted.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of section 267 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on platform fees for digital subscriptions.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Government has consulted on how refunds should work when consumers exercise their statutory cooling-off rights (Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime). We are analysing all the responses, including in relation to digital platform fees and views from the printed news sector.
The impact assessment for the subscriptions chapter in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act can be found here: Subscription traps: annex 2 impact assessment. Together the subscription measures are anticipated to provide £400m of consumer benefits per year and the estimated net direct cost to businesses is £171m per year. Sector-specific analysis has not been conducted.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the number of postmasters convicted as a result of failures in the Capture software; and how many of those convictions have been quashed.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
There is no definitive number or record of the number of convictions related to Capture. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received 31 pre-Horizon applications to date. Incomplete due to the passage of time complicates confirming they are Capture-related. To support the CCRC, we commissioned the Post Office to review its branch files for the period from 1992 to 2000 for potential prosecutions. 448 potential cases have been reviewed with 31 confirmed Capture-related cases. The findings have been sent to the CCRC. If convictions related to Capture are overturned by the courts, we will provide appropriate redress.
For non-convicted postmasters, the Government announced the Capture scheme design on 19 June. We expect to launch in Autumn, starting with an initial 150 claimants before broader rollout.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans his Department has to review the convictions of postmasters affected by Capture errors in instances where those convictions have not already been quashed.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
There is no definitive number or record of the number of convictions related to Capture. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received 31 pre-Horizon applications to date. Incomplete due to the passage of time complicates confirming they are Capture-related. To support the CCRC, we commissioned the Post Office to review its branch files for the period from 1992 to 2000 for potential prosecutions. 448 potential cases have been reviewed with 31 confirmed Capture-related cases. The findings have been sent to the CCRC. If convictions related to Capture are overturned by the courts, we will provide appropriate redress.
For non-convicted postmasters, the Government announced the Capture scheme design on 19 June. We expect to launch in Autumn, starting with an initial 150 claimants before broader rollout.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress he has made on providing (a) redress and (b) justice for people affected by Capture software.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
There is no definitive number or record of the number of convictions related to Capture. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received 31 pre-Horizon applications to date. Incomplete due to the passage of time complicates confirming they are Capture-related. To support the CCRC, we commissioned the Post Office to review its branch files for the period from 1992 to 2000 for potential prosecutions. 448 potential cases have been reviewed with 31 confirmed Capture-related cases. The findings have been sent to the CCRC. If convictions related to Capture are overturned by the courts, we will provide appropriate redress.
For non-convicted postmasters, the Government announced the Capture scheme design on 19 June. We expect to launch in Autumn, starting with an initial 150 claimants before broader rollout.