Written questions by Wilkinson.

What assessment has his department made of the role of flexible office spaces in facilitating the activities and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Department for Business and Trade recognises that flexible office spaces can support small and medium sized enterprises by reducing fixed costs, enabling collaboration and allowing businesses to scale as they grow.While the Department has not made a specific assessment of flexible office spaces, it considers access to a range of workspace options an important part of a strong business environment for SMEs.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring online retailers to offer a choice of delivery couriers.

The department currently has no plans to require retailers to offer a choice of delivery couriers to consumers. This is a commercial decision for the business to make. Consumers are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions to businesses directly. This encourages businesses to adapt and fairly compete based on demand. Under consumer legislation, the trader is liable if anything goes wrong with the consumer’s parcel including goods arriving in a damaged condition and late or lost deliveries.

How the Fair Work Agency will assist migrant domestic workers experiencing abuse in private households.

The Fair Work Agency will enhance the UK's ability to respond to exploitation of migrant domestic workers. It will bring together labour market enforcement functions and include new powers to investigate and take action against offences under the Fraud Act 2006. These powers, when operational, will allow the FWA to pursue certain cases of deception, abuse of position or withholding pay, where conduct does not meet the higher modern slavery threshold.

If he will publish a schedule of differences between the trade deal with South Korea announced on 15 December 2025 and the previous trade deal with South Korea which applied when the UK was a Member State of the EU.

As part of this negotiation the UK and the Republic of Korea have agreed a range of improvements to the existing agreement. These cover goods and services trade, in addition to underpinning broader cooperation between the UK and Republic of Korea on a variety of topics. A summary of the key changes is included in the “UK-Republic of Korea trade deal: conclusion summary” published on Gov.uk at conclusion. We will publish further documentation and the full legal text, alongside a full assessment of the economic impact of the UK-Korea FTA, when the agreement is formally signed.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential cumulative impact of the UK's trade agreements with South Korea, India and the United States on GDP in the next ten years.

Our impact assessments, published on gov.uk, set out the potential long-run impacts of new FTAs on the United Kingdom’s GDP. It would not make sense to agglomerate the estimates published in individual impact assessments for these deals as the analyses are not directly comparable due to differences in model structure, data, and scenarios.Our assessments of trade agreements with India and South Korea suggest the deals are expected to have significant benefits for the UK economy. Negotiations with the US are ongoing, and we will publish our analysis of that as soon as practicable after signature.

If he plans to take legislative steps to place a statutory duty on leaders in the (a) public and (b) private sectors to embed (i) inclusive governance and (ii) protective leadership practices.

The Companies Act 2006 requires directors to have regard to employee interests and to the impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment. The UK Corporate Governance Code includes provisions that support inclusive governance, including mechanisms to enable the workforce to engage with directors and for workers to raise concerns in confidence. The Public Sector Equality Duty in the Equality Act 2010 requires public authorities, and those carrying out public functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of whistleblower protections.

The Government recognises that the whistleblowing framework in the Employment Rights Act 1996 may not be operating as effectively as intended. My Department in July published an independent review into the framework, which did not make formal recommendations for reform but did provide some useful analyses on the functioning of the framework based on stakeholder engagement and a literature review.The review is a helpful contribution to the governments ongoing assessment of the framework, and the Government welcomes the continued engagement of parliamentarians and stakeholders on this important area of public policy.

Which Department will present the bill on regulating secondary ticketing markets.

The government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of live events by clamping down on exploitative practices in the ticket resale market. We ran a consultation earlier this year to seek views on a range of proposals, including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold.We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to our consultation. We will set out our plans in the government response, which we intend to publish in the coming weeks.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the contribution of secondary ticketing platforms to the economy.

Earlier this year, the government consulted on the resale of live events tickets to seek views on a range of proposals aimed at improving fairness for consumers – including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold. In the consultation document, we set out our assessment of the beneficial role of the secondary ticketing market and ongoing issues relating to how it currently operates. We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to the consultation and we intend to publish the government response later this summer.

How many meetings ministers in his Department have had with secondary ticketing platforms since July 2024.

Details of the Department for Business and Trade’s ministerial meetings can be found at Gov.uk.

What assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of regional investment groups introduced under the SME Finance Charter.

The SME Finance Charter was an awareness-raising initiative introduced in 2019 and updated in 2022 following the Covid-19 pandemic.The British Business Bank's Nations and Regions Investment Funds provide debt and equity finance to businesses outside London. They are designed to support business growth in local communities by crowding in additional private investment for areas that have historically been underserved. The success of these funds to date was recognised at Spending Review with funding confirmed to allow for expansion.

What assessment his Department has made of the role of the hospitality industry in the upcoming industrial strategy.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper identified eight growth-driving sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services. All sectors will benefit from wider policy reform through the Industrial Strategy’s cross-cutting policies alongside the broader Growth Mission. This will help create the pro-business environment for all businesses to invest and employ, and consumers to spend with confidence.Government launched a licensing taskforce to reduce red tape and barriers that too often hold businesses back and we intend to introduce permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value less than £500,000.Additionally, we’ve announced a £1.5 million Hospitality Support Scheme to co-fund projects that align with Department for Business and Trade and Hospitality Sector Council Priorities, this will include helping those furthest from the jobs market into work and improving business productivity.

Whether the cyber security sector will be included in the industrial strategy.

The Industrial Strategy will focus on eight growth-driving sectors. Digital and Technologies has been identified as one of those eight sectors, the UK being the third country in the world to have a tech sector valued at over $1trillion. Within those growth sectors, the Government will prioritise sub-sectors that meet our objectives and where there is evidence that policy can address barriers to growth.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Golden Valley development in Cheltenham on growth in the defence sector in the industrial strategy.

The Government’s Industrial Strategy will be published shortly. Defence has been identified as a priority growth-driving sector within the Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Defence is developing a sector plan - the Defence Industrial Strategy - to ensure we seize the opportunities.The Golden Valley Development in Cheltenham is a nationally significant, £1billion investment in the UK’s cyber security sector. By co-locating industry, innovators, academia, and government agencies adjacent to GCHQ, it will accelerate the development of sovereign cyber capabilities, supporting national security and economic growth and resilience. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology continues to work to encourage further growth in the sector.

How many couples claimed shared parental pay in each of the last five years.

Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP). This data provides a broad indication of SPL take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid Shared Parental Leave. Table 1: Individuals in receipt of ShPP by gender, 2019/20 to 2023/24 (the latest year for which full year data is available)Year (April to March)No. of Individuals in receipt of ShPPWomenMenTotal2019-202,90010,20013,0002020-212,6008,60011,2002021-223,2009,80013,0002022-234,10010,20014,2002023-246,60010,60017,200Data is collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and is subject to revision.Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.Figures are based on the total number of individuals in a given year, irrespective of when the payment first started. Some individuals will be counted across two years.