Asked by: Lauren Edwards (Labour - Rochester and Strood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) transparency and (b) awareness of health support in workplaces.
Answered by Justin Madders
To support health in the workplace, the landmark Employment Rights Bill will boost access to Statutory Sick Pay and make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted. We have published our Plan for Small Businesses, which provides positive and practical support to small and medium size businesses and employers across the UK.
In recognition of employers’ vital role in workplace health, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have commissioned the Keep Britain Working independent review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, who is expected to produce a final report with recommendations in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Lauren Edwards (Labour - Rochester and Strood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to incentivise businesses to support the health of their workforce.
Answered by Justin Madders
To support health in the workplace, the landmark Employment Rights Bill will boost access to Statutory Sick Pay and make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted. We have published our Plan for Small Businesses, which provides positive and practical support to small and medium size businesses and employers across the UK.
In recognition of employers’ vital role in workplace health, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have commissioned the Keep Britain Working independent review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, who is expected to produce a final report with recommendations in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Lauren Edwards (Labour - Rochester and Strood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure SMEs can access (a) robust and (b) high-quality mental health training for staff.
Answered by Justin Madders
To support health in the workplace, the landmark Employment Rights Bill will boost access to Statutory Sick Pay and make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted. We have published our Plan for Small Businesses, which provides positive and practical support to small and medium size businesses and employers across the UK.
In recognition of employers’ vital role in workplace health, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have commissioned the Keep Britain Working independent review, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, who is expected to produce a final report with recommendations in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Lauren Edwards (Labour - Rochester and Strood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of British Business Bank funding is dedicated to supporting female entrepreneurs by sector.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The British Business Bank delivers most programmes via third parties, limiting data on gender and sectoral breakdowns, however it aims to increase gender data in 2025.
The Start Up Loans programme is an example of where gender data is held, and since 2012, it has delivered over 118,000 loans totalling more than £1.1 billion, with 40% going to female founders.
As a founding signatory of the Investing in Women Code, the Bank supports women entrepreneurs by improving access to the tools, resources and finance they need. The Bank also collects data on equity finance for female entrepreneurs and is committed to enhancing data collection of its own equity finance activities.
The Bank has also invested £50 million through existing programmes, supporting the Invest in Women Taskforce.