Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking with Acas under the new Resolve and Manage priorities in its 2025–30 strategy to help support victims of harassment and discrimination following the planned introduction of the ban on non-disclosure agreements.
Answered by Justin Madders
Clause 24 of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill will void any agreement, such as a contract of employment or settlement agreement, between a worker and their employer that prevents a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment or discrimination. These agreements are often referred to as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
The Government will work with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) on updates to its guidance on NDAs to ensure that workers and employers understand the changes to the law when they come into force.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking with Acas under the Prevent strand of its 2025–30 strategy to ensure that employers do not issue non-disclosure agreements in cases of (a) harassment and (b) discrimination.
Answered by Justin Madders
Clause 24 of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill will void any agreement, such as a contract of employment or settlement agreement, between a worker and their employer that prevents a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment or discrimination. These agreements are often referred to as non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
The Government will work with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) on updates to its guidance on NDAs to ensure that workers and employers understand the changes to the law when they come into force.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department made payments to (a) P&O Ferries and (b) DP World (i) for Departmental business travel and (ii) on Government Procurement Cards in the period between 17 March 2022 and February 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands
Neither the former Department for International Trade nor the Department for Business & Trade have made any payments of the types requested to P&O Ferries or DP World.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to monitor the potential supply of Russian crude oil via third parties into the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The UK, alongside our international allies, has imposed sanctions on Russia to limit its ability to wage war. Sanctions have curtailed total Russian goods imports to the UK by 94%.
The Government continues to monitor the effectiveness of all sanctions, including on crude oil, leading the international effort to counter circumvention alongside our partners. The Government is committed to ensuring that third countries are not used by Russia to evade sanctions.
It is a criminal offence to contravene, or to enable or facilitate contravention of, UK sanctions on Russia including those on Russian oil and oil products. Oil and oil products may be subject to forfeiture if the importer cannot prove they do not originate from Russia.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the extent to which the Royal Mail is meeting its universal service obligation.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards and decide how to respond should Royal Mail fail to meet its obligations.
On 15 May 2023, Ofcom announced it would investigate Royal Mail’s quality of service performance for 2022-23.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government will take action against P&O EUROPEAN FERRIES (PORTSMOUTH) LIMITED for failing to submit accounts on time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
I am not able to comment on individual cases.
All limited companies must file their accounts at Companies House each year. Failure to do so is an offence and can result in a criminal prosecution of the company's directors. The law imposes an automatic civil penalty on a company if the accounts are filed late, although a company may apply to extend this period in certain circumstances. The penalty amount depends on how late the accounts are when delivered. Penalties are doubled if the accounts are filed late in consecutive years.
The Registrar will proceed with action to remove a company from the register where the accounts remain overdue, and to bring prosecution proceedings where it is in the public interest to do so.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government will take action against P&O EUROPEAN FERRIES (IRISH SEA) LIMITED for failing to submit accounts on time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
I am not able to comment on individual cases.
All limited companies must file their accounts at Companies House each year. Failure to do so is an offence and can result in a criminal prosecution of the company's directors. The law imposes an automatic civil penalty on a company if the accounts are filed late, although a company may apply to extend this period in certain circumstances. The penalty amount depends on how late the accounts are when delivered. Penalties are doubled if the accounts are filed late in consecutive years.
The Registrar will proceed with action to remove a company from the register where the accounts remain overdue, and to bring prosecution proceedings where it is in the public interest to do so.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government will take action against P&O SHORT SEA FERRIES LIMITED for failing to submit accounts on time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
I am not able to comment on individual cases.
All limited companies must file their accounts at Companies House each year. Failure to do so is an offence and can result in a criminal prosecution of the company's directors. The law imposes an automatic civil penalty on a company if the accounts are filed late, although a company may apply to extend this period in certain circumstances. The penalty amount depends on how late the accounts are when delivered. Penalties are doubled if the accounts are filed late in consecutive years.
The Registrar will proceed with action to remove a company from the register where the accounts remain overdue, and to bring prosecution proceedings where it is in the public interest to do so.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government will take action against P&O NORTH SEA FERRIES LIMITED for failing to submit accounts on time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
I am not able to comment on individual cases.
All limited companies must file their accounts at Companies House each year. Failure to do so is an offence and can result in a criminal prosecution of the company's directors. The law imposes an automatic civil penalty on a company if the accounts are filed late, although a company may apply to extend this period in certain circumstances. The penalty amount depends on how late the accounts are when delivered. Penalties are doubled if the accounts are filed late in consecutive years.
The Registrar will proceed with action to remove a company from the register where the accounts remain overdue, and to bring prosecution proceedings where it is in the public interest to do so.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government will take action against P&O FERRYMASTERS LIMITED for failing to submit accounts on time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake
I am not able to comment on individual cases.
All limited companies must file their accounts at Companies House each year. Failure to do so is an offence and can result in a criminal prosecution of the company's directors. The law imposes an automatic civil penalty on a company if the accounts are filed late, although a company may apply to extend this period in certain circumstances. The penalty amount depends on how late the accounts are when delivered. Penalties are doubled if the accounts are filed late in consecutive years.
The Registrar will proceed with action to remove a company from the register where the accounts remain overdue, and to bring prosecution proceedings where it is in the public interest to do so.