Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps to ensure that the hospitality and retail sectors equip their staff with transferable skills.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
We regularly meet with businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors to identify and address skills needs.
Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are working with businesses to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, training, and retention.
The Retail Sector Council recently published a discussion document, Retail – The Great Enabler, inviting comments on the key challenges for the sector including skills and employment.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to encourage (a) small retail and hospitality and (b) other small business to (i) take on apprentices and (ii) work as a consortium to support an apprentice.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Government is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. This will support apprenticeships across all employers, including SMEs where we continue to pay at least 95% of their training costs. The Department for Education has removed the limit of funding 10 apprentices a year in SMEs and made it easier to register to take on an apprentice.
Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are working with businesses to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, training, and retention.
The Retail Sector Council recently published a discussion document, Retail – The Great Enabler, inviting comments on the key challenges for the sector including skills and employment.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many companies were prosecuted for selling imported goods that did not meet UK safety standards in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) funds enforcement at the border to prevent millions of unsafe goods entering the UK and reaching consumers. In 2021-22, OPSS-funded local authority teams denied entry to around 2.5 million unsafe or non-compliant products.
OPSS publishes details of all enforcement actions it has taken on gov.uk every six months, including prosecutions.
Local Authority Trading Standards also have powers to undertake prosecutions for product safety offences.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of what proportion of imported (a) consumer electronics and (b) electrical goods sold online meet relevant UK safety standards.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
All products must comply with the essential safety requirements before they can be legally placed on the market. We do not have an estimate of the proportion of imported electronic goods sold online that meet UK safety requirements. However, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), has prioritised activities to target unsafe products sold online including by requiring recalls and takedowns and, where necessary, taking enforcement action to prevent unsafe products being available to UK consumers.
The Government is also consulting on proposals that will modernise responsibilities in online supply chains as part of the Product Safety Review.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to increase consumer awareness of (a) UK Conformity Assessed marking and (b) how to verify that products bought online comply with UK safety standards.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking is a conformity marking to show manufactured products comply with the appropriate requirements to be placed onto Great Britain’s market. UKCA is not intended as a consumer marking. My officials are developing the Government’s future approach to UKCA, alongside extensive engagement with external stakeholders.
Furthermore, our recently published Product Safety Review consultation contains proposals for increased consumer information on online product listings. This could include, for example, warnings to consumers, clear indications of whether the product has been listed by a third-party seller, and details of which checks have been carried out on the product.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with major online retailers to help ensure products sold to UK consumers on their platforms meet UK safety standards.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Through the Office for Product Safety and Standards as the national product regulator, my Department engages regularly with online marketplaces to help ensure the safety of products sold online. This includes take downs and recalls based on intelligence, including from test purchases.
Senior officials and I have held meetings with the major on-line marketplaces demanding they take more action to fulfil their responsibilities for supplying safe goods. The Government is currently consulting on a Product Safety Review, including proposals to modernise responsibilities in online supply chains.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help ensure that sickness absences caused by bullying at work are tackled in good time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Any form of bullying and harassment is unacceptable and has no place in today’s workplace.
The Government has published guidance on the steps that employees can take if they are experiencing bullying or harassment at work, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment.
Acas provides free and impartial advice for employers and employees on a variety of employment matters, including managing sickness absence and the return to work. Acas has recently updated its guidance on how to deal with bullying in the workplace. This includes how to best support an employee’s mental health and wellbeing, and is available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/bullying-at-work
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the TUC report entitled Bullying at Work, published February 2019, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of that report’s findings on the prevalence of workplace bullying.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Any form of bullying and harassment is unacceptable and has no place in today’s workplace.
Bullying is not itself illegal, and the Government believes that the best way to address bad behaviour in the workplace is through cultural change.
The Government has published guidance that sets out the steps that employees can take if they are experiencing bullying or harassment at work, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment
Acas provides free and impartial advice for employers and employees and has recently updated its guidance on how to deal with bullying in the workplace. This is available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/bullying-at-work
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of trends in (a) the level of economic activity on the high street and (b) the rate of (i) retail and (ii) hospitality outlets closing.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
My Department monitors high street economic activity closely. Sales data from BDO High Street tracker[1] show that total in-store sales grew 5.1% in June 2023, driven by strong fashion sales (+7.2%), with in-store sales now 14.8% above June 2022 levels. Data from the British Retail Consortium[2] show that high-street footfall increased by 0.6% in June 2023 compared with the same month in the previous year, up from -0.5% in May.
ONS data[3] show that in 2022, both the hospitality and retail sectors had a business death rate of 15%.[4] More recently, business deaths increased in hospitality (+44%) and retail (+20%) in Quarter 1 2023 compared with the previous quarter. However, business creations in both sectors also increased over the same period, with creations in the hospitality and retail sectors up 30% and 16% respectively.
Government recognises the pressures faced by high street businesses, which is why the Autumn Statement 2022 announced a package of changes to business rates worth £13.6bn over the next 5 years in lower bills. This is in addition to the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.
[1] https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb/high-street-sales-tracker/previous-reports
[2] https://brc.org.uk/news/corporate-affairs/footfall-slowed-during-june-heatwave/
[4] Business deaths as the proportion of the total number of businesses in each sector. Business counts data taken from ONS business counts data here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/ukbusinessactivitysizeandlocation
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what guidance her Department provides workers on the legal protections available to them in cases of workplace (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) discrimination.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Government has published guidance on the steps that employees can take if they are experiencing bullying or harassment at work, available at: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment.
Acas provides free and impartial advice for employers and employees and has published guidance on discrimination, bullying and harassment, available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/discrimination-bullying-and-harassment
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a statutory code of practice covering the law on discrimination and harassment at work, available at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/employment-statutory-code-practice
The Equality Advisory and Support Service, provides free bespoke advice, in-depth support and alternative informal dispute resolution to individuals with discrimination concerns, available at: www.equalityadvisoryservice.com.