Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what training his Department provides on AI; and (a) how many hours and (b) what topics and skills are covered by such training.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Department provides a monthly AI learning offer, including introductory sessions on AI tools, guidance and getting started, alongside sessions on Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel and Teams.
The current rolling programme totals approximately 3.5 hours of AI training, covering sessions from 30 to 90 minutes. Training includes practical use cases, prompting frameworks, risks such as hallucinations, tool selection and best practice. Intermediate and advanced sessions cover simple agent creation, use of context and more sophisticated agentic capabilities.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of potential impact for his Department's policies of Kinship's policy paper entitled Designing a new right to paid leave for kinship carers.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
For both UIN 10721 and UIN 10720, I refer the Member to the answer I gave to UIN 9441 on 16 June 2026.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential economic impact of introducing paid leave for kinship carers.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
For both UIN 10721 and UIN 10720, I refer the Member to the answer I gave to UIN 9441 on 16 June 2026.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Notice 'General Trade Licence for sanctioned processed oil products', published on 19 May 2026, whether his Department produced an impact assessment, volume estimate, and Russian tax-revenue estimate before the licence was signed.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The UK Government published an Impact Assessment alongside the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. This Impact Assessment is publicly available on legislation.gov.uk.
The General Licence for sanctioned processed oil products was published alongside the legislation. This licence is designed as a temporary measure to support flexibility in UK supply as the measure is phased in. The Government does not publish impact assessments specifically for General Licences.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Notice 'General Trade Licence for sanctioned processed oil products', published on 19 May 2026, if he will commit to a specific revocation date sooner than the four-month notice stated in the licence.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The General Trade Licence for certain sanctioned processed oil products was published alongside legislation to introduce a new ban on the import of refined oil processed in a third country from Russian crude on 19 May 2026. The Licence is a temporary measure introduced to manage potential impacts on UK supply while the measures were phased in.
On 12 June 2026, the Government set an end date of 1 January 2027 for the refined licence. The Government will continue to review the licence regularly with the objective of lifting it at the earliest possible date.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Notice 'General Trade Licence for sanctioned processed oil products', published on 19 May 2026, if he will announce any extension or replacement of the licence in the House.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The General Trade Licence for certain sanctioned processed oil products was published alongside legislation to introduce a new ban on the import of refined oil processed in a third country from Russian crude on 19 May 2026. The Licence is a temporary measure introduced to manage potential impacts on UK supply while the measures were phased in.
On 12 June 2026, the Government set an end date of 1 January 2027 for the refined licence. The Government will continue to review the licence regularly with the objective of lifting it at the earliest possible date.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will include post offices in the proposed High Streets Strategy.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government will be publishing a new High Streets Strategy later this year. Government is working closely with businesses, local authorities and other partners to develop this strategy, this includes input from Post Office Ltd.
The anchoring role of post offices plays a vital role on high streets across the country. In July 2025, the Department for Business and Trade published a green paper outlining the government’s vision for the Post Office. This included an objective for the Post Office network to support high streets, acting as a stimulant and visible sign of incremental economic activity. We published our response to public consultation on this green paper in February: Government response: Future of the Post Office - GOV.UK
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 address consumer protection concerns in the locksmith sector.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK’s framework for occupational regulation upholds public protection, while ensuring regulatory burdens on industry are proportionate. Although the locksmithing profession is not subject to statutory regulation, several self-regulating trade associations and accreditation schemes exist within the industry and provide training, conduct criminal record checks, and inspect their members.
The Government encourages consumers to use providers that operate under a regulated trusted trader scheme, such as the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA), which has a Police Crime Prevention-approved licensing scheme in place to ensure approved locksmiths are appropriately vetted, inspected and qualified.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the current regulatory framework for the locksmith industry.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK’s framework for occupational regulation upholds public protection, while ensuring regulatory burdens on industry are proportionate. Although the locksmithing profession is not subject to statutory regulation, several self-regulating trade associations and accreditation schemes exist within the industry and provide training, conduct criminal record checks, and inspect their members.
The government keeps the occupational regulation regime under review and continues to monitor any concerns raised by the public or the industry, including those related to locksmithing.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support access to postal services for small businesses.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government recognises that small businesses are critical to our communities and essential to our economic success. We are committed to hardwiring the voice of small business into everything we do and collaborating with businesses and workers to kickstart and rebuild our economy.
The universal postal service ensures that SMEs have access to an affordable service, both in the UK and internationally.
Ofcom, as independent regulator for the postal sector, is responsible for securing the provision of a universal postal service. In its 2023-24 Post Monitoring Report, Ofcom found that overall three-quarters (74%) of SMEs were satisfied with the quality of service they receive from Royal Mail, while overall satisfaction with other providers stood at 81%.