Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he intends to respond to the emails of 7 October 2025 and 5 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG10331, on a constituent's issue with their Bounce Back Loan.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade aims to respond to correspondence within 15 working days, but in some instances it can take longer. A response to the correspondence of 5 January has now been sent to Tom Gordon MP. The department apologises for not responding to the original correspondence of 7 October.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to protect delivery drivers from exploitative working practices.
Answered by Justin Madders
Our Plan to Make Work Pay represents the biggest upgrade of workers' rights in a generation.
The Government does not condone the exploitation of workers in any form and we are committed to strengthening protections for workers. Individuals' entitlement to employment rights is determined by their employment status. Delivery drivers can fall under any one of the three statuses: employee, limb (b) worker, or self-employed.
This Government recognises the complexity of the current employment status framework and we remain committed to reviewing it.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with delivery firms on ensuring that delivery drivers are adequately compensated.
Answered by Justin Madders
This Government believes that hard work deserves fair pay and is determined to deliver a genuine living wage for all that takes account the impact on business, competitiveness, the labour market, the wider economy and the cost of living.
Our Ministers value feedback received from businesses across the country, details of the meetings held by Ministers of the Department for Business and Trade and its predecessor the Department for International trade are available on transparency pages of gov.uk and are released as part of the Government's transparency agenda.