Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2025, to Question 86250, on NHS: Industrial Disputes, whether (a) his Department and (b) the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has provided guidance to employers on trade union representative access to the building of the employer on strike days.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has issued a range of guidance, available on Gov.UK, for employers, workers, and trade unions, on handling industrial disputes. Acas provides joint employer-worker guidance on industrial action. Neither the Department, or Acas, have issued specific employer guidance on trade union representatives’ access to the employers’ building on strike days.
Trade union representatives may have a right of access if a recognition agreement provides it, but responsibility for managing access to buildings during industrial action rests with individual employers, who are best placed to assess local circumstances and ensure arrangements align with operational needs, agreements, and legal obligations.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Media Buying contract with MANNING GOTTLIEB OMD, for what reason the requirement to promote diversity, inclusion and social mobility is a key performance indicator.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The KPI is intended to incentivise the supplier to address issues of workforce inequality.
In line with Government procurement policy on social value, and because we are required to include a related KPI, this KPI was selected from an approved list in the Social Value Model linked to the policy.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s annual report 2024-25, published December 2025, Appendix: direct appointments, what the business case was for appointing a non-executive director for three years without open and fair competition; and if he will publish relevant correspondence to and from the Public Appointments Commissioner.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The rationale for appointing without competition was made public at the time of announcement, following consultation with the Commissioner. A fair and open competition was undertaken with a strong applicant field. However, it needed to be strengthened further by the appointment of Nita Clarke, who is bringing vital skills in employee engagement, partnership and employee voices in the workplace drawn from a distinguished career including as Vice President for Employee Relations at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish emails and documents from 2009-10 held by Integrated Corporate Service containing the words Jeffery Epstein.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
A search has been conducted by Integrated Corporate Service containing the words “Jeffrey Epstein” and no records were found. In compliance with the Public Records Act, the Department has no plans to publish emails and documents from 2009-10 held by Integrated Corporate Service.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Freedom of Information Act disclosure, reference FOI2025/09531, of 16 September 2025.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I’ve given him on 29 January 2026 for question UIN 107051. Given that the information the hon. Member seeks has been published in that answer, I have no plans to place a copy of the Freedom of Information disclosure he mentions in the Library.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2025, to Question 86249, on Department for Business and Trade: Social Media, if he will name the specific social media influencers who were commissioned by the department to undertake paid advertising for the department for the National Minimum and Living Wage campaign.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Influencer marketing is a credible promotional channel, which is considered for government advertising campaigns and can be an effective way to reach audiences that the Government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.
The activity aimed to raise awareness of the new National Minimum and Living Wage rates to ensure audiences such as young people, part-time female workers, ethnic minorities and disabled groups are paid correctly.
Six influencers were used as part of the Department for Business and Trade’s 2025 National Minimum and Living Wage campaign. They were:
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the regulated public appointment, Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) - Committee Members - 5 roles, with application deadline of 23 October 2024, who was the Advisory Assessment Independent Panel Member listed on gov.uk as "To be confirmed".
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Independent Panel Member for this public appointment was Dr Alison Walker-Fraser. Alison is a business consultant and Chair of Trustees at Anaphylaxis UK. She is an experienced IPM for non-executive recruitment campaigns.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what departmental receptions have taken place in the offices of consultant lobbying firms since 4 July 2024, and what was the rationale in each case.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade hosted an Industrial Strategy Business reception at the offices of FGS Global on 23 June 2025. The Department had worked with several businesses to find a suitable central London business location to host the reception.
The Department does not hold a centralised list of every Departmental reception event. This event is the only reception at a consultant lobbying firm that the department has a record of taking place since June 2024.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2025 to Question 92594 on Cabinet Office: Public Expenditure, whether any types of regulation are excluded from the regulation reduction target; and whether taxation measures which create regulation are counted.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have committed to reduce the administrative burden of regulation on businesses by £5.6bn by the end of this Parliament.
As set out in the Regulation Action plan progress update in October 2025, Taxes, duties, levies and charges administered by HMRC are not included within the baseline and target. Mirroring the approach taken in the successful 2005-10 Administrative Burden Reduction Programme, HMRC will take a complimentary approach to reduce the administrative burden of taxation. Building Safety provisions relating to the safety of tenants, residents and building occupants, are also exempt, to enable the Government’s response to the Grenfell Tragedy.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 10 November 2025, to Question HL11348, on Industrial Disputes: Trade Unions, whether the Government will take steps to revise the Code of Practice on picketing to ban leverage tactics during industrial disputes.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government has laid a revised Code of Practice on Picketing before Parliament, that reflects legislative updates made by the Employment Rights Act 2025. We also intend to consult publicly on wider updates to the Code of Practice on Picketing in due course, noting that this Code has not been substantively updated for some time. We encourage all interested parties to respond to that consultation, with their views on the content of the Code.