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 11 September 2025 to Question 73349, on Unite: Conference Centres and Hotels, if he will publish a copy of the report that the Certification Officer received in the Library.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Certification Officer has no plans at present to publish the report authored by BDO auditors due to ongoing work. The report was provided to him in order to assist him in delivering his statutory obligations.
The Certification Officer has appointed an inspector to investigate the financial affairs of Unite the Union, including in respect of certain matters raised in the report referred to. Upon conclusion of the inspection, the Certification Officer will publish the inspector's report on his website.
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 11 September 2025 to Question 73348 on Companies: Registration, for what reason Companies House recognised Palestinian as a nationality before the UK Government formally recognised the state of Palestine; and what is the wider policy of Companies House for what nationalities are recognised where there is no formal recognition by the UK Government.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
‘Palestinian’ has been included in the Companies House list of nationalities for many years. This guidance was last reviewed in 2017, at which point Palestinian was retained on the list.
Nationalities and countries for company filings - GOV.UK
The current policy is to accept a nationality which matches a nationality on this list.
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, whether any Ministers from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills were involved in the disposal of RBS Sempra Commodities to JP Morgan in the 2009-10 financial year.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Any such information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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 any correspondence between his Department and the Commissioner for Public Appointments relating to public appointments without open and fair competition since 1 July 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders
Under the Governance Code for Public Appointments there is no requirement to publish correspondence between the Department and the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
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 list the names of the six digital influencers who were funded by his Department to promote the Living Wage and Minimum Wage.
Answered by Justin Madders
I refer the member to the answer I gave on 2nd July 2025 to question 62768 (Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament) and the answer I gave on 11th July to question 64918 (Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament).
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 31 March 2025 to Question 40580 on Trade Union Officials: Facilities Agreements, whether he plans to revoke the The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 following the passage of the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The Trade Union Facility Time Publication Requirements Regulations 2017 will be automatically revoked when section 13 of the Trade Union Act 2016 is repealed pursuant to clause 63 of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill, as they were made under powers included in that section.
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 1 April 2025 to Question 40907 on Business: Regulation, what metric is used for the 25% reduction from 2005 to 2010; whether it was gross or net of EU regulation; and if he will provide a relevant hyperlink or source to that reduction.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Administrative Burden Reduction Programme of 2005-10, which delivered a total reduction of 26.62% by May 2010, defined the administrative costs of regulation as “the annual recurring costs of administrative activities that businesses and the third sector are required to perform, in order to comply with the obligations that are imposed through central government regulation.” The programme calculated these administrative costs net of EU regulation. The final report is available at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplifying-regulation-and-administration-of-businesses-final-report
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 steps his Department is taking to uphold the Nolan principles on standards in public life in public appointments.
Answered by Justin Madders
All appointments are made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments which states that all public appointees uphold the standards of conduct set out in the Seven Principles of Public Life. All terms of appointment specify that individuals adhere to the Nolan Principles throughout their appointment and compliance is monitored on an ongoing basis.
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, how many (a) total and (b) full-time equivalent trade union representatives in his Department receive trade union facility time; how many trade union representatives spend over 50% of their working hours on facility time; what the cost of facility time was to his Department in the latest period for which data is available; what proportion of his Department's paybill was spent on facility time (i) since July 2024 and (ii) in the equivalent period in the 2023-24 financial year; and whether he has had discussions with trade unions on these arrangements.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) provides annual data to Cabinet Office on facilities time for its employees who are Trade Union representatives. The report for 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 has not yet been published.
Within the last reporting return period, 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 DBT had 16 FTEs employees who were Trade Union Representatives. Of these, zero claimed over 50% facility time. The cost of facility time was 0.01% of DBT’s pay bill.
Specific Information from July 2024 is not available as this is reported on annually.
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 meetings his Department has had with Lowick since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders
Details of Ministerial and Senior Civil Servant meetings with external organisations are published routinely on Gov.uk as part of the Government’s transparency agenda. The latest returns can be found here for Ministers: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbt-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-july-to-september-2024 and here for Senior Civil Servants: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbt-senior-officials-business-expenses-hospitality-and-meetings-july-to-september-2024