Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21859, on Flexible Working Taskforce, on what dates that taskforce met in each year from 2018 to 2022.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Flexible Working Taskforce met on fourteen occasions between 2018 and 2022.
The dates of these meetings were:
29 March 2018; 09 May 2018; 11 July 2018; 12 September 2018; 16 November 2018; 16 January 2019; 27 March 2019; 02 July 2019; 22 September 2020; 14 April 2021; 27 April 2021; 07 July 2021; 13 October 2021; 07 February 2022.
The Government is committed to regular engagement with stakeholders on the topic of flexible working and other related issues.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 20334 on Flexible Working, on what dates the Flexible Working Taskforce met in 2023.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Flexible Working Taskforce met once in 2023, on April 24th. The government has continued to engage with stakeholders on a regular basis to discuss flexible working and related issues.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the Office for Statistics Regulation's publication entitled OSR’s statement on the Labour Force Survey-derived estimates and Annual Population Survey-derived estimates, published on 12 December 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders
Putting the best evidence at the heart of policy development is critical to achieving the Department’s objective of supporting businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country.
The Department has been engaging with the Office for Statistics Regulation on quality concerns with the Labour Force Survey, so have noted their statement and welcome the clarity it provides. We will continue to work closely with the OSR and the ONS on their next steps to ensure that our labour market data is as strong as possible.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, which organisations are represented on his Department's Flexible Working Taskforce; and on what dates that taskforce has met.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Flexible Working Taskforce last met on 26 Jan 2024. It was comprised of business groups, charities and trade unions and was co-chaired by the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) and the government. It met at regular intervals between 2018 and 2024.
The Government is committed to engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that policy works for businesses, workers, and the wider economy. That is why we continue to meet with stakeholders on a regular basis to discuss flexible working and related issues.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of producing impact assessments for the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Justin Madders
The publication of Impact Assessments for the Employment Rights Bill meets our requirements under the Better Regulation Framework to provide analysis of the impacts on businesses, households, and the wider economy. This is important to support ministerial decision making, enable parliamentary scrutiny and ensure transparency.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) does not routinely collate information on the specific departmental cost of producing impact assessments. Information on civil servants employed by DBT and payroll data are available at: DBT’s headcount and payroll data for March 2024 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2024 to Question 10062 on Animal Welfare: Fireworks, what the Government’s planned timetable is for reviewing the existing policy.
Answered by Justin Madders
To inform any future decisions on fireworks policy I intend to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities shortly after the fireworks season to gather evidence on the issues and impacts with fireworks. Officials regularly meet and correspond with charities to listen to and understand their views.
The Government has recently launched an awareness campaign on the Gov.uk and are working closely with some animal and veteran charities to help amplify their campaign messages.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2024 to Question 10062 on Animal Welfare: Fireworks, what form of engagement the Government plans to undertake with charities on its review of existing policy.
Answered by Justin Madders
To inform any future decisions on fireworks policy I intend to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities shortly after the fireworks season to gather evidence on the issues and impacts with fireworks. Officials regularly meet and correspond with charities to listen to and understand their views.
The Government has recently launched an awareness campaign on the Gov.uk and are working closely with some animal and veteran charities to help amplify their campaign messages.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the report by the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills entitled Workplace Employment Relations Study, published on 23 January 2013, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning a new workplace employment relations study.
Answered by Justin Madders
There are currently no plans to undertake a new Workplace Employee Relations Study (WERS). The survey methodology is challenging to replicate as it relies on sampling via the employer which is harder to obtain due to increased privacy concerns in recent years.
WERS was co-sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Acas, the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
The Department undertook the Management and Wellbeing Practices Survey in 2018/19 which provides evidence on employment relations and management practices in British workplaces.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill will contain measures to improve the quality of the auditing of public sector bodies.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Government's manifesto committed to overhaul the local audit system to provide high quality, timely assurance to taxpayers. On 30 July, Jim McMahon, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, outlined to Parliament immediate actions to address the local audit backlog in England. Longer-term, he committed to reviewing the evidence (including external review recommendations) and to update the House this autumn.
The draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill will tackle bad financial reporting through a strengthened regulator. It will uphold standards and independent scrutiny of companies' accounts, supporting investment and economic security.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Retention payments in the construction industry, published on 24 October 2017, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the policies proposed in that consultation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Small businesses are essential to our economic success.
This Government is committed to take action on late payments to ensure small businesses and the self-employed are paid on time. The practice of cash retentions can create problems for contractors in the construction supply chain, due to late and non-payment. Any policy solution must be a sustainable one that works for the industry.