Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 ensure that employers correctly implement Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance in relation to the rights of transgender employees, including protections from discrimination, harassment and unfair treatment in the workplace.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the independent equality regulator and ensures compliance with the Equality Act 2010. Their draft Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations (“the Code”) covers all nine protected characteristics and the steps the EHRC considers service providers should take into account when ascertaining how to comply with the law.
The approach as set out in the Code of Practice on Services reflects the Supreme Court Ruling in April 2025. The EHRC are considering how best to provide further guidance on employment and will provide updates in due course.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that Covid era Build Back Loan repayment programmes do not contribute to business closures and liquidations.
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)
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), is a fully delegated scheme. Under the Scheme’s rules and guidance, lenders are expected to pursue recovery activity in a proportionate way, treating borrowers fairly while providing value to the taxpayer.
To make sure that BBLS borrowers are treated fairly, “Pay As You Grow” was introduced, giving borrowers the flexibility to extend loan terms to ten years, make interest-only repayments for six-months, or request a six-month repayment holiday once during the term of the loan.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether changes to alcohol duty have increased revenue.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
At Budget 2025 the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty would be kept constant in real terms by uprating it in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) on 1 February 2026. The government does not expect this to increase revenue in excess of the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast, which assumes that alcohol duty will be uprated annually.
HMRC’s alcohol duty receipts bulletin can be found here:
Alcohol Bulletin commentary (February 2026 to April 2026) - GOV.UK
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered reducing taxation such as business rates for small businesses liable for Extended Producer Responsibility.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The Government believes it is right that the costs of dealing with household packaging waste are moved away from taxpayers and onto the businesses that place packaging on the market. The Government has designed the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme to be proportionate, with the smallest producers exempt and small producers subject only to light-touch requirements. The government engaged extensively with businesses over many years on the design of EPR and is continuing to do so through its implementation.
The Government has also extended Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) to support small businesses to grow and expand, by giving them an additional two years of SBRR when they open a second premise. Around a third of properties already pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent SBRR, with an additional 85,000 benefiting from reduced bills as this relief tapers. SMEs in rural areas may also be eligible for Rural Rates Relief if they meet certain conditions.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will consider allowing the Housing Ombudsman to issue fines for maladministration by housing providers to recompense tenants, ensure implementation of recommendations and to cover some costs of ombudsman activities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Housing Ombudsman is an independent and impartial adjudicator, investigating and resolving individual complaints between social housing residents and their landlords.
To maintain that independence and fairness, it is not appropriate for the Ombudsman to take enforcement action against landlords.
Instead, where it identifies evidence of a failure at the landlord level, it can refer matters to the independent Regulator of Social Housing, which is responsible for setting standards that landlords are required to meet and assessing how far landlords are delivering the outcomes of those standards. The Regulator can take regulatory or enforcement action where necessary.