Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether guidance will be issued for (a) employees and (b) legal advisers on interpreting confidentiality clauses under the new regime under Clause 22A of the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government will work with organisations such as the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service on updates to their guidance on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), also known as confidentiality clauses, to ensure that workers and employers understand the changes to the law in relation to NDAs that are introduced through the Employment Rights Bill. The Government will also liaise with employer groups, the legal industry and unions about updates to their guidance and information on NDAs.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is is taking to increase awareness among workers of their proposed new rights under Clause 22A of the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government will work with organisations such as the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service on updates to their guidance on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), also known as confidentiality clauses, to ensure that workers and employers understand the changes to the law in relation to NDAs that are introduced through the Employment Rights Bill. The Government will also liaise with employer groups, the legal industry and unions about updates to their guidance and information on NDAs.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce delays in processing times for deputyship applications by the Court of Protection.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS is working to increase overall system capacity to decrease processing times across all types of applications. Measures taken include a targeted action plan to allocate additional administrative resources in response to higher demand, as well as training and upskilling new staff. Additional judicial sitting days have been added to support performance improvement. HMCTS has also adopted new digital systems, including an updated case management system, to help reduce overall end-to-end processing times.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to promote the UK sugar beet industry in international trade negotiations.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government recognises the importance of the UK sugar beet industry. In all our trade negotiations we seek to open up new markets for British agricultural, food and drink exports, including UK-produced sugars.
The UK is also an active member of the International Sugar Organization, a body that facilitates global dialogue on sugar trade, production and sustainability.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help prevent decline in Atlantic salmon populations in (a) the River Lynher and (b) other rivers in the South West (i) in general and (ii) by commercial mackerel fishing vessels inadvertently catching salmon smolts.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) manages salmon fisheries in England. They use a combination of local and national Byelaws and Net Limitation Orders to prevent commercial salmon fishing and to minimise recreational pressures on salmon. For the South West, this includes protections on 13 principal salmon rivers; the Hampshire Avon, Frome, Exe, Teign, Dart, Tavy, Tamar, Lynher, Fowey, Camel, Taw, Torridge, and Lyn and on 20 recovering salmon rivers; the Allen, Avill, Blakeney Brook, Bristol Avon, Brit, Doniford, Fal, Harbourne, Heddon, Lerryn, Looe, Meon, Otter, Par, Parrett, Porth, Seaton, Sid, Valency and Washford. In 2023, anglers reported releasing 95% of salmon caught, across England and Wales. Additionally, the EA works collaboratively with many local organisations to implement other environmental improvement actions that benefit salmon within the River Lynher and neighbouring catchments. Defra is working with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) to better understand the risk of salmon bycatch in commercial pelagic fisheries, including mackerel fisheries.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with (a) experts and (b) representatives of (i) traditional and (ii) vertical farming sectors on improving the (A) fairness and (B) reliability of supermarket supply contracts.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Using the 'Fair Dealings' powers in the Agriculture Act 2020, we can introduce regulations to increase transparency and protect growers, across the range of horticultural production systems, from unfair commercial practices.
We are currently developing ‘Fair Dealing’ regulations for the fresh produce sector, which will cover growers that sell directly to retail. These regulations are designed to strengthen supply chain fairness and ensure all horticulture producers have clear and balanced contracts, which may include prohibiting practices such as cancelling orders at short notice.
As part of this work, we are engaging with retailers, producers, experts and other representatives of the horticulture sector to ensure the regulations are workable and effective.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with supermarkets on (a) the adequacy of the prices they pay to producers and (b) the potential merits of buying more produce from vertical farms.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Using the 'Fair Dealings' powers in the Agriculture Act 2020, we can introduce regulations to increase transparency and protect growers, across the range of horticultural production systems, from unfair commercial practices.
We are currently developing ‘Fair Dealing’ regulations for the fresh produce sector, which will cover growers that sell directly to retail. These regulations are designed to strengthen supply chain fairness and ensure all horticulture producers have clear and balanced contracts, which may include prohibiting practices such as cancelling orders at short notice.
As part of this work, we are engaging with retailers, producers, experts and other representatives of the horticulture sector to ensure the regulations are workable and effective.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to prevent supermarkets from cancelling orders from vertical farms at short notice.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Using the 'Fair Dealings' powers in the Agriculture Act 2020, we can introduce regulations to increase transparency and protect growers, across the range of horticultural production systems, from unfair commercial practices.
We are currently developing ‘Fair Dealing’ regulations for the fresh produce sector, which will cover growers that sell directly to retail. These regulations are designed to strengthen supply chain fairness and ensure all horticulture producers have clear and balanced contracts, which may include prohibiting practices such as cancelling orders at short notice.
As part of this work, we are engaging with retailers, producers, experts and other representatives of the horticulture sector to ensure the regulations are workable and effective.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional income was raised from the (a) increase in the National Insurance rate in April 2025 and (b) lowering of the National Insurance threshold.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Estimates for the additional static revenue expected to be raised from the employer NICs changes, announced at Autumn Budget 2024 and which came into force in April 2025, can be found in the OBR Supplementary forecast information on static costing of changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions.
Further information, including on behavioural impacts can be found in Chapter 3.8 of the OBR Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make a comparative assessment of the average processing times for (a) VAT and (b) Corporation Tax registration by (i) HMRC and (ii) other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is not able to provide a comparative assessment of the average processing times for (a) VAT and (b) Corporation Tax registration by (i) HMRC and (ii) other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The OECD do not publish information of this nature.