Written questions by Brickell.

What assurances his Department can provide that NHS letters will continue to be prioritised for delivery by the Royal Mail over Christmas period.

The government recognises the importance of timely delivery of NHS letters. Royal Mail has introduced an NHS barcode to assist NHS units that continue to rely on post to communicate with patients. In addition, NHS England and NHS Providers have produced guidance for NHS organisations, including a case study, to increase awareness and uptake of the variety of Royal Mail services for the timely delivery of letters.

What recent estimate his Department has made of the proportion of goods labelled as originating from within Israel’s pre-1967 borders which actually originate from Israeli settlements.

HMRC are responsible for the conduct of origin verification checks on imported goods. Where there are doubts about the declared origin of goods, HMRC will undertake checks to verify the origin of those goods to ensure fiscal compliance. Data on imports from Israel is available on www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the ability of newly formed companies to access finance.

The Government works with the British Business Bank to improve the access to finance landscape for smaller businesses. An example of the Bank’s interventions is the Start Up Loans programme which provides personal loans to start up a new business or develop an existing early-stage business. The programme also offers pre-application support and post-loan mentoring advice. Programme evaluation in December 2024 found just over two-thirds of the finance provided by Start Up Loans would not have been provided by mainstream providers. In addition, a call for evidence has been launched by the Department on small business access to finance, seeking views on how far existing policies meet business needs, and where we may be able to go further.

If he will take steps to update whistleblowing laws.

The Government is updating whistleblowing laws through the Employment Rights Bill which will strengthen the protections for whistleblowers, by making it explicit that sexual harassment can be the basis for a protected disclosure.

How much the late filing penalties from companies failing to file their annual accounts within the deadline were in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2023-24.

Official statistics on the value of collected late filing penalties are published in the annual report of Companies House. We have excerpted and reproduced the relevant figures for companies failing to file their annual accounts within the deadline below: 2018-19£95,972,0002019-20£95,728,0002020-21£96,695,0002021-22£173,673,8252022-23£164,663,0422023-24£158,479,669 Expenditure for the LFP scheme activity is not funded through fees. Penalties collected in respect of company accounts filed late with Companies House are paid to HMT, net of costs incurred in running the scheme.

What his planned timetable is for the review of the whistleblowing framework.

The Employment Rights Bill delivers on the government's commitment to strengthening protections for whistleblowers, by updating protections for women who report sexual harassment at work. The Government is keen to work with organisations and individuals who have ideas on how to strengthen the whistleblowing framework and we will consider options to review the whistleblowing framework in due course.

If he will expand the list of prescribed people for whistleblowing to include (a) job applicants, (b) trustees, (c) independent contractors and (d) trade union representatives.

The whistleblowing framework enables workers to seek redress if they are dismissed or suffer detriment because they have made a ‘protected disclosure’. The standard employment law definition of worker has been extended to provide whistleblowing protections to NHS job applicants and other categories of worker such as trainees, agency workers and certain NHS workers. The government has no plans to extend the protections more generally but to qualify for protection, the worker must make their disclosure in accordance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, which can include making it to a ‘prescribed person’. DBT regularly updates the list of prescribed persons.