Justin Madders MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2025 · Whistleblowers · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Turner. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) on securing this debate on the contribution of whistleblowers. I thank all the Members who have contributed to it. I join my hon. Friend’s tribute to those who blow the whistle, and I acknowledge the comments from various Members that the whistleblowing framework may not be operating as effectively as it could be. I welcome the many views expressed on potential reforms. Whistleblowers play a valuable role in shining a light on wrongdoing. Workers who blow the whistle deserve to be taken seriously and not treated poorly by their employers for doing the right thing. The Public Interest Disclosure Act was considered world leading in 1998, when it amended the Employment Rights Act 1996 to introduce protections for whistleblowers. Those protections ensure that workers who blow the whistle on certain types of wrongdoing are protected from dismissal or detriment if certain conditions are met. That is known as a protected disclosure. For a worker to receive protection, they must reasonably believe that a disclosure is in the public interest; the disclosure must concern one or more of the types of wrongdoing listed in the Act, such as a criminal offence or a danger to health and safety, and the worker must make the disclosure to their employer, another responsible person or one of the organisations prescribed in legislation. There are more than 90 prescribed persons that a worker may make a protective disclosure to, including many regulators that we are familiar with, such as the Financial Conduct Authority and the Health and Safety Executive. The list of prescribed persons is regularly updated and has been updated in the past 12 months. I hope that allays the concern of the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith), who said that we are rolling back on these issues. Our protections are strong, but it is fair to say that, after a quarter of a century, there is work to be done to modernise the framework. A whole range of issues have been raised about how we may improve things. For example, my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset asked whether there should be a duty on employers to investigate when a disclosure is made. Currently, there is no legal requirement for employers to investigate protected disclosures, which sadly enables some employers to ignore a disclosure or to fail to take the necessary corrective actions to address whistleblowing reports, although, as I have mentioned, there are a great number of external bodies that whistleblowers can report matters to, should their employer not take action. We should acknowledge that many employers have policies and procedures in place that they follow in good faith to ensure that action is taken. That is particularly the case in some of the sectors that are heavily regulated. A general duty to investigate does raise questions about what that would actually entail: what would a good duty look like? Disclosures can be made on a wide range of issues, so we need to think carefully about how such a duty would work in practice. One of the structural issues with the legislation is that a disclosure can be made and investigated, but that does not prevent detrimental treatment or dismissal for the individual. The protections are effectively retrospective in their application, but that is an important point that we will consider further. My hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset proposed adopting the US model of financial incentives, and my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) raised a similar issue. We will certainly consider those matters. Hon. Members may be aware from the autumn Budget, as reaffirmed at the spring statement by the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing North (James Murray), that the Government will strengthen HMRC’s scheme for rewarding informants to encourage reporting of high-value tax fraud and tax avoidance. A new scheme will launch later this year, which will look to target serious non-compliance by large companies, wealthy individuals, and offshore avoidance schemes. It will take some inspiration from successful US and Canadian models, which were referenced by my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West. He mentioned that $50.4 billion had been recovered thanks to whistleblowers in the US. I am sure that the Chancellor would be very receptive to that kind of figure finding its way into her coffers. I will look at the recommendations made by the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, which my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West mentioned. Importantly, he pointed out that companies facing a disclosure often look at it as a reputational threat rather than a wrong to be corrected. That is a very wise observation about the current deficiencies in the scheme. Actually, that issue is often about the culture in organisations rather than the legal framework. The hon. Member for Torbay (Steve Darling) referred to the profound and effective cultural shift in the airline safety sector, which has helped people to feel empowered to speak up. As always, the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) made a strong contribution. He mentioned his friend Brian, as he has done previously. He said that for Brian, doing the right thing was the natural thing to do, but that does not mean it was any less courageous. I pay tribute to Brian and the hon. Member for Strangford for raising his issues. He astutely observed that the clue is in the name—these are protected disclosures, and at the moment, protection does not always follow disclosure. The contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Sarah Russell), as we would expect, drew heavily on her legal experience, for which I am always grateful. She mentioned a recent EU directive about expanding the definition of those covered by whistleblowing. A number of arguments are being put forward to expand the current legal definition beyond workers, including calls to include the self-employed—as we know, there are a whole range of employment protections for which the self-employed do not have parity with workers or directly employed individuals—but also non-executive directors and charity trustees. I recognise that Protect has been working and campaigning on this issue for a good period of time. I met representatives of Protect earlier this year, and my officials will continue to engage with them on these important issues. My hon. Friend the Member for Congleton also mentioned the question of legal tests. There is awareness in government that employers sometimes rely on reasons that are not, on the face of it, directly related to protected disclosure but are, as my hon. Friend articulately set out, very much related to that when we get underneath into the detail. That particularly relates to the idea that providing unwelcome advice is being classed as a performance issue. I recognise the characterisation of irretrievable breakdowns in the workplace, which can happen for a number of reasons, including when a whistleblower does not feel that their voice is being heard. I recognise those concerns. Another point we need to reflect on is that there is not enough public awareness and knowledge of how whistleblowing legislation works. Many workers are unsure of their rights or how to make disclosures within the current framework. Indeed, when I was in practice, I recall telling individuals who had talked to me about their situation at work that they had probably made a protected disclosure. They had never thought about what they did in those terms, but the law was there to protect them. The framework entitles people to bring employment tribunal cases to seek a remedy following dismissal or detrimental treatment, but that is often a slow, costly and complex method of redress. I was concerned to hear the statistics my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset gave about the success rates for those claims. If an individual is in an employment tribunal having made a protected disclosure, it is almost certain that that employment relationship has come to an end anyway. I also recognise that the framework does not actually require confidentiality or anonymity for whistleblowers, which can sometimes deter people for fear of retribution. A number of Members asked whether we should have an office of the whistleblower. As the shadow Minister says, proposals have been made in the other place. My understanding is that such an office would not only protect whistleblowers, oversee whistleblowing processes and enforce compliance and reporting standards, but establish new criminal sanctions for non-compliance. It would be a significant change to the existing framework. There are a number of different suggestions about how it would operate in practice, but it is something we are taking an interest in. The shadow Minister asked about the Grant Thornton review, which began under the Conservative Government. I can commit to that report being realised very shortly. It does not make recommendations for reform, but it provides some observations and insights into how the current framework operates. As one would expect, it has obtained stakeholder feedback and there has been a literature review. We will be able to build on it moving forward. The shadow Minister also characterised—I think unfairly—our approach as regressive. He will know that the Employment Rights Bill includes additional protections for whistleblowers and those who speak up about sexual harassment. I do not expect he will support the Bill, even though it includes those measures. He mentioned the changes in the NHS framework. The freedom to speak up process still applies in the NHS. On the armed forces suggestions, the whole purpose of the Bill is to give a framework for people to be able to speak up about their treatment, including families of those in the armed forces. The protections in the Bill, which is now in the other place, will signal to employers that workers who make protected disclosures about sexual harassment in particular must be treated fairly. Workers will have legal recourse if their employer subjects them to detriment for speaking up about sexual harassment. We have also committed to implementing professional standards for NHS managers to hold them accountable for silencing whistleblowers or endangering patients through misconduct. As we heard from the Prime Minister earlier today, we remain fully committed to introducing a Hillsborough law, which will include a legal duty of candour for public servants and sanctions for those who refuse to comply. The recent Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) (Amendment) Order 2025 allows workers to make protected disclosures to relevant Government Departments or on suspected breaches of sanctions. These changes will help workers to qualify for employment protections when disclosing to Government information relating to financial, transport and certain trade sanctions, and seek redress should they suffer detriment or dismissal at work due to making a protected disclosure. I appreciate that we need to consider many issues. A range of ideas has been put forward, and it is important that we take the opportunity to explore them further, so that we find the right solutions that work for everyone in the economy, and give whistleblowers the protection that everyone agrees they need.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Draft Subsidy Control (Subsidies and Schemes of Interest or Particular Interest) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I note the shadow Minister’s comments and his position on this. I will try to give him some reassurance. The reason no impact assessment has been prepared is that the regulations are below the de minimis threshold for an impact assessment. They are merely about the familiarisation that public bodies will need to undergo to assess whether the referral process would apply to a particular subsidy. His concern that the regulations will lead to no scrutiny of public subsidies rather misses the point. A wide range of these public bodies have their own scrutiny processes, and lots of the referrals are from local authorities, which have well-established scrutiny processes. There will also be a CMA report next year that sets out the detail of how the scheme has operated in its first three years. The shadow Minister is right to question the threshold. I am sure that he would expect me, as the Minister, to grill officials—on a hot day like this, grilling is appropriate—on whether the large increase is right. What I have gleaned from that is that the number of referrals to the CMA is significantly higher than was anticipated when the 2022 Act was brought in. Some of the subsidies that have been referred are not the sort that the CMA needs to be concerned about. For example, leisure centres and Arts Council England subsidies to the English National Opera are not matters that I consider to be of particular relevance to the CMA’s actions, and will certainly not distort international investment flows. A wide range of bodies responded to the consultation, including local authorities, employers, business organisations and the British Chambers of Commerce. The suggestions made have been considered. As the shadow Minister pointed out, a number of different suggestions were made about the threshold—some were as high as £100 million. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would be even more concerned if we had gone as high as that. We think we have struck the right balance to modernise and update the subsidy threshold. It goes without saying that construction costs have gone up year on year. This increase is not intended to be annual, so there is an element of future-proofing. As I said, the CMA will produce its monitoring report this year, which will give us all an opportunity to see how this has worked in practice. The shadow Minister made fair challenges. I hope that I have given him some reassurance that we considered this matter carefully before bringing forward the regulations. I commend them to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Draft Subsidy Control (Subsidies and Schemes of Interest or Particular Interest) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Subsidy Control (Subsidies and Schemes of Interest or Particular Interest) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Mr Turner. The regulations were laid in draft before the House on 2 June. The Subsidy Control Act 2022 came into force in January 2023. It was designed to balance the need for streamlined processes to ensure that public authorities can quickly and effectively give subsidies to support businesses where it matters with the need to ensure that subsidies are proportionate, represent good value for the taxpayer and do not unduly impact competition and investment. The Act also ensures that our international obligations on subsidy control are reflected in our domestic legislation. When this Government were elected last year, we were keen to test whether the legislation had achieved the correct balance, or whether changes could be made to improve the functioning of the UK subsidy control regime. Following discussions with officials, feedback from affected public authorities and a public consultation, we have decided to amend the legislation. The regulations set out which subsidies face mandatory referral for scrutiny by the Competition and Markets Authority’s subsidy advice unit and which may be voluntarily referred. The CMA review process is designed to capture the larger subsidies, which have the greatest risk of distorting competition or investment. Once the CMA has accepted a referral, it must publish a non-binding report on the assessment of the subsidy’s compliance with the Subsidy Control Act within 30 working days. Using feedback from the CMA’s report, the public authority awarding the subsidy should improve the design of its subsidy or its assessment of compliance, thus reducing the potential harm caused by the subsidy. As the CMA’s reports are published, the referral process improves the transparency of subsidy giving, offering competitors the opportunity to better understand when their rivals are receiving subsidies and when they may wish to challenge an unfair subsidy. The regulations update the existing regulations, changing the definition of a subsidy or scheme of particular interest, to which I will now refer as a SSoPI. A SSoPI requires mandatory referral to the CMA for scrutiny. The amendment to the definition of a SSoPI increases the threshold at which a subsidy attracts mandatory scrutiny. Currently, that is set at £10 million for non-sensitive sectors; the amendment moves it to £25 million. This is being done in response to stakeholder feedback that the £10 million threshold was too low and captured subsidies that posed only a low risk of distortion, including subsidies for leisure centres and wellbeing hubs, which pose a comparatively low risk of harming competition or investment in the UK or trade and investment internationally. The new £25 million threshold represents a proportionate approach that will allow the CMA to focus its resources on the effective scrutiny of the larger subsidies that pose the greatest risk to the UK’s internal market and to international trade. While we are adjusting the mandatory referral threshold, the voluntary referral threshold, currently set at £5 million, will remain the same. That will allow public authorities to voluntarily refer subsidies that would previously have faced mandatory referral if they consider that the subsidies would benefit from additional scrutiny. The rules around accumulating related subsidies will also remain the same, ensuring that the cumulative distortive effect of subsidies to a particular enterprise is still captured and scrutinised. We will retain the existing list of sensitive sectors and the lower £5 million threshold at which subsidies in new sectors face mandatory CMA referrals. There is a strong rationale for effective scrutiny of those subsidies to mitigate the risk of trade distortion and international challenge. Scrutiny by the CMA does not prevent the awarding of those subsidies, but will give public authorities the chance to strengthen their assessment of compliance as well as their subsidy, and mitigate any risks. These sectors were previously deemed to pose a higher risk of international challenge, and at present there is little evidence to support amending the list. On balance, the evidence provided in response to our recent consultation did not point towards any amendment of it. As I hope is clear, the intention behind the regulations is to update the thresholds for CMA scrutiny in a measured and proportionate way, reducing administration while retaining effective scrutiny where it matters most. I commend the regulations and invite the Committee to support the passage of this instrument.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  I take it that the shadow Minister is not in support of the review. May I correct him on a few points? Of course it is not a coincidence that this is being announced today; our manifesto was clear that we would launch the review within one year of taking office, and, of course, this week we do celebrate that astounding election victory. On his point about statutory paternity pay, it is £187.18. We know from representations that we have already received that many do not think that that is the right level. He mentioned how Tony Blair and Gordon Brown refused to open this box, but it was their Government who gave us the right to statutory paternity pay and a number of other family-friendly rights, of which the shadow Minister himself has taken advantage. I think we know where the Conservative party stands on these issues when their leader says that maternity pay has gone too far. I do not quite know what she meant by that, but I think it means that the Conservatives would be rolling back some of the well-earned gains in family-friendly policies. The shadow Minister, as I would expect, does not miss an opportunity to mention the Employment Rights Bill. May I suggest that he has a word with his shadow Secretary of State who clearly has not read it? I refer to his recent open letter to businesses in which he mentioned a number of issues with the Bill. First, he complained that we are creating the fair work agency, conveniently forgetting that in both the 2017 and 2019 Conservative party manifestos, there was a similar pledge to create a single enforcement body. He referred to an introductory measure on electronic industrial action balloting. The Conservatives, of course, will be big fans of electronic voting given the number of leadership elections in which they have taken part in recent years. The shadow Minister needs to inform his shadow Secretary of State that that is not in the Bill. I do not know where he thinks that has come from. We are going to introduce electronic balloting, but it is not in the Employment Rights Bill, because we already have existing powers to implement it. In that open letter, the shadow Secretary of State mentions, most curiously, that the Bill will include “a trade union ‘right to roam’”. I do not know if he was searching for a new mobile phone contract at the time, but no such right exists. The shadow Minister talked about the effects on appointments, but he needs to keep up to date: the latest Lloyds business barometer says that business confidence is now at a nine-year high and that 60% of firms expect higher staffing levels in the next year. That is a sign that this Government are getting things done.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  May I thank my hon. Friend for her question and for her consistent campaigning on this issue? She is right to point out that the Employment Rights Bill has important advances in that area. The review will also, I hope, have a positive impact on the gender pay gap. In particular, the review’s second objective is to ensure that we enable parents “to stay in work and advance in their careers after starting a family”. That will focus in particular on the women’s labour market and its outcomes, and of course on tackling the gender pay gap.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  Yes, I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend’s proposition. Indeed, we have consistently said through the passage of the Employment Rights Bill that treating the workforce well, giving them proper support and ensuring security at work, is the way to prosperity in this country.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  I thank the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee for her contribution. She raises an important point and we are studying her Committee’s recent report on the issue with interest. It is important that we look at how people in different forms of employment are able to take advantage of parental leave, in one form or another. That is important not just for providing physical assistance in the circumstances that my hon. Friend mentioned, but because the parent should be there, if they can, to bond with the child in those early weeks, and the review will definitely consider that.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  With permission, I will make a statement on the Government’s manifesto commitment to review the system of entitlements to parental leave. This Government are dedicated to delivering more for working families, and our plan to make work pay is central to achieving that, with the mission to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all. It will help people to stay in work, improve job security and boost living standards, which includes helping working parents and supporting them to balance their work and home lives. Parental leave and pay entitlements play a key role in that. We know that the arrival of a child, whether through birth or adoption, is a transformative time in a family’s life. We also know that the current parental leave system does not support modern, diverse working families as well as it could. Parents’ groups and campaigners have long argued that our paternity leave is too short and compares poorly with other countries. While shared parental leave is available to families where fathers and partners want to take a longer period of leave, evidence shows that take-up is very low, with the parental rights survey reporting that 1% of mothers and 4% of fathers use this entitlement. The survey also showed that 35% of fathers do not take paternity leave for financial reasons. We are committed to improving the parental leave system and are already taking action. Improving the system will have the added benefit of increasing workforce participation by helping employers to fill vacancies and will contribute to increased productivity, benefiting the economy. The Employment Rights Bill is one vehicle through which we are improving the parental leave system. The Bill makes paternity leave and parental leave day one rights, meaning that employees will be eligible to give notice of their intent to take leave from their first day of employment. It contains a number of other measures that will improve the support that working families receive. It will put in place legislation that makes it unlawful to dismiss pregnant women, mothers on maternity leave and mothers who come back to work for a six-month period after they return, except in specific circumstances. It will also make flexible working the default, except where it is not reasonably feasible, and requires that all large employers produce action plans that contribute to closing the gender pay gap. I am pleased to announce that the Government are going further and taking another step forward in delivering improvements for working families. I am pleased to launch the parental leave review today, fulfilling our commitment in the plan to make work pay to review the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. The review is part of delivering the plan for change, and links two of the Government’s missions: kick-starting economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity. The work of the review will support the Government’s commitments to raise living standards and give children the best start in life, and links to work being undertaken to alleviate child poverty. It presents a much-needed opportunity to consider our approach to the system of parental leave and pay, giving due consideration to balancing costs and benefits to both businesses and the Exchequer. I welcome the opportunity today to provide the House with more detail on the review. The review will be co-led by the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Work and Pensions, the two Departments with the main responsibility for the current parental leave framework. There will, however, be close working across Government to deliver this review to reflect the wide influence the parental leave system has on policies in other Departments. The current system has grown up gradually over time. The first maternity arrangements were set out in the Factory and Workshop Act 1891, which introduced the idea that women who work in factories cannot work for four weeks after giving birth. Subsequent entitlements have been added to support specific groups as needs have emerged, which has created a framework that does not always work cohesively as a whole. This piecemeal approach to parental leave and pay means that the system has never had an overarching set of objectives that it should deliver. This review presents an opportunity to reset our approach to and understanding of parental leave and pay, and what we want the system to achieve. We will use the review to establish what Britain needs from a parental leave and pay system to support our modern economy and deliver improvements for working families. We have set out four objectives as our starting point, which we intend to test as we progress the review to ensure we are truly reflecting the needs of the nation. Our first objective is to support the physical and mental health of women during pregnancy and after giving birth to a child. Our second objective is to support economic growth by enabling more parents to stay in work and advance in their careers after starting a family. This will focus on improving both women’s labour market outcomes and tackling the gender pay gap. Our third objective is to ensure that there are sufficient resources and time away from work to support new and expectant parents’ wellbeing. This will include facilitating the best start in life for babies and young children, and supporting health and development outcomes. Our fourth objective is to support parents to make balanced childcare choices that work for their family situation, including enabling co-parenting, and providing flexibility to reflect the realities of modern work and childcare needs. Three cross-cutting considerations will also be factored into our review. The first is to build a fair parental leave system between parents within a family, different types of parents and parents with different employment statuses. The second consideration is to balance costs and benefits to businesses and the Exchequer, as well as to examine how the system can support economic opportunities for businesses and families. As part of this, the review will consider opportunities to make the process surrounding parental leave simpler for both businesses and parents. The final cross-cutting consideration focuses on improving our society—for example, by supporting the child poverty strategy, and by shifting social and gender norms, including around paternal childcare. All current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements will be in the scope of the review. This will enable us to consider how the parental leave and pay system should operate as a complete system to improve the support available for working families. This broad scope means that the review will consider the individual existing entitlements, and how best to ensure improvements can be delivered for working families, as well as related wider issues and themes. For example, the review will consider whether the support available meets the needs of other working families who do not qualify for existing statutory leave and pay entitlements, such as kinship carers and self-employed parents. It will also consider how the pay system works more broadly. This will be an evidence-based review that reflects and considers the perspectives and experiences of those who engage with the parental leave and pay system. We welcome views from, and intend to engage constructively with, a wide range of external stakeholders, including groups such as trade unions that represent both parents and families, and employers or employer representatives. There will be opportunities for stakeholders to contribute views and expertise throughout the review, including through a call for evidence, which launches today. This call for evidence seeks initial evidence specifically in relation to the objectives that will set the foundation for what we want our system to deliver. The review launches today. We expect it to run for a period of 18 months. The Government will conclude the review with a set of findings and a road map, including next steps for taking any potential reforms forward to implementation. This is an important step forward to ensure that our workplaces are fit for the 21st century, and I commend this statement to the House.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  I am of course happy to meet the APPG as part of the review. The hon. Member said that there was no explicit reference to fathers in the four objectives, but I suggest that our general references to parents do include fathers. For example, the second objective is to support economic growth by enabling more parents to stay in work, and the fourth objective is to support parents to make balanced childcare choices that work for their family situation, including by enabling co-parenting. I believe that clearly addresses his point.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Parental Leave Review · Hansard source

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  If I was to accept specific recommendations at this point, that would be rather pre-empting the review, but I do hear the arguments that have been made. Obviously, the other place will decide how it wants to proceed with various amendments to the Employment Rights Bill—I just hope that it hurries up with it.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Draft Protection and Disclosure of Personal Information (Amendment) Regulations 2025 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Protection and Disclosure of Personal Information (Amendment) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair today, Mrs Hobhouse. The regulations are part of a secondary legislation programme implementing the reforms of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Combating economic crime remains a priority for the Government. At the same time, it is crucial that we ensure that the UK lives up to its reputation as a country in which legitimate businesses can thrive. The reforms in the 2023 Act strike that balance. As the implementation of the 2023 Act continues at pace, I am pleased to present the Committee with these new regulations as part of the next wave of reforms. As a quid pro quo for running a limited liability company, those controlling them have to register their details publicly at Companies House. That provides transparency for members of the public, so they can find out who those people are. At the same time, it means that the owners and controllers of the company can be held to account for the company’s affairs. However, the Government are conscious that by having personal information on the public companies register, individuals can be subject to increased risk of harm, including the risk of fraud and identity theft, and other matters such as stalking. The regulations aim to ensure that the register does not become a tool for abuse, and to strike the right balance between transparency and privacy. Currently, it is possible for an individual to protect their residential address from the public register in certain limited cases. When I say protect, I mean that the register cannot display the addresses publicly. That does not mean that the address has gone away entirely; Companies House retains the address and can share it with those who have functions of a public nature, such as law enforcement, if required to do so. The new regulations deliver another instalment of the reforms to enhance the protection of personal information on the register. They build on regulations that came into force on 27 January this year. The previous regulations expanded the circumstances in which an individual can apply to protect their residential address from the public register. The regulations will expand that existing protection regime further still. They will allow individuals to apply to protect their business occupation, signature and date of birth. They will also make it possible to protect a residential address in even more cases than is already allowed. The only exceptions will be where it is not possible because the company names make it so, and in certain charge-related filings. That is because of the importance of those filings for due diligence purposes. The Government will keep those exceptions under review. We believe that the reforms align with the Government’s mission to kick-start economic growth. They will encourage enterprise and entrepreneurship, giving prospective directors greater confidence that their personal information can be protected if they decide to start a company or accept an appointment as a director. The regulations will also remove the requirement for certain community interests, company documents and statements of solvency to be signed. That means that those documents can be authenticated via printed name, bringing them in line with other company-related filings. By reducing the number of signatures on the public register, the measure will reduce misuse of the register for fraudulent purposes, including identity theft. In addition, the regulations will remove the requirement for directors of overseas companies to provide a business occupation. As the 2023 Act will remove the requirement for UK company directors to provide their business occupation, the regulations ensure consistency with the requirements for overseas company directors. Further, the regulations expand an existing protection mechanism for people with significant control. They can currently make an application to request that the registrar refrains from disclosing their usual residential address to a credit reference agency. The regulations allow a person with significant control over a company to make applications in more cases—for example, where they are at risk as a result of being a partner of a limited partnership. The regulations make other minor amendments to secondary legislation relating to people with significant control, which are applied to limited liability partnerships and eligible Scottish partnerships. The regulations apply the changes that they make to company law to the law governing LLPs and unregistered companies, such as companies formed by royal charter. This will ensure that the framework for other entities aligns with that of standard companies. I reiterate that the regulations strike the right balance between privacy and transparency. They mark a further step towards the successful implementation of the 2023 Act, and I therefore hope that the Committee will support them.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Employment Costs · Hansard source

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  The Employment Rights Bill is the next phase of delivering our plan to make work pay. The Bill is both pro-worker and pro-business, and will see significant benefits for employers. For example, increased worker wellbeing could be worth billions of pounds a year. The Bill will also reduce workplace conflict, which, according to a report published by ACAS in 2021, costs employers around £30 billion a year. The Bill will level the playing field so that those employers who are engaged in good business practice are not forced into a race to the bottom.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Employment Costs · Hansard source

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  Again, it is interesting that those on the Conservative Front Bench do not seem to be in agreement with their own leader any more about the national insurance hikes. I will just point out some statistics to the hon. Member: the International Monetary Fund has predicted that growth will increase this year and the Lloyds business barometer found that business confidence was up. We are putting money back into people’s pockets and investing in this country. We are doing things that the Conservatives failed to do for 14 years and that is why they are out of power.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Employment Costs · Hansard source

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  I can certainly name a number. I also refer the hon. Member to Hansard on Tuesday 11 March, column 953, where I named a small business. A number of other businesses have been in support: Centrica, Co-op, Richer Sounds, Nationwide, Adept, One+All, Pedal Me, Inkwell—there are many businesses that we talk to on a regular basis and that understand that treating staff well is a good thing for those businesses. It is a pro-growth, pro-worker measure.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Employment Costs · Hansard source

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  I am very sorry to hear the news from the hon. Lady’s constituency. It is the case that 667,000 more people are in work compared with this time last year, and 300,000 fewer people are economically inactive. I am rather surprised that she mentions the national insurance hike, because the Leader of the Opposition was on the radio this morning and was repeatedly asked to confirm whether that hike would be reversed. She failed to do so, and it seems to me that the Opposition are in opposition to themselves.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Employment Costs · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right: there are so many echoes of the minimum wage debate, it is uncanny. As time has shown, the minimum wage has raised living standards in this country and it is something we are very proud to have implemented. We are looking to bring more investment across the economy. Recent surveys have shown that business confidence is increasing as a result of decisions made by this Labour Government.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. This Bill will help to preserve the United Kingdom’s position as a global leader in product regulation, supporting businesses, protecting consumers and ensuring a fair and level playing field across our economy, whether on the high street or on online marketplaces. It is designed to future-proof our approach to product regulation and metrology, ensuring that we can respond effectively to emerging technologies, tackle modern-day safety challenges and create the conditions for safe innovation and sustainable economic growth. By strengthening the system that underpins confidence in our goods market, we are reinforcing one of the core pillars of a productive and competitive economy. As hon. Members will know, the majority of the UK’s product safety and metrology laws have their roots in EU legislation developed over the past 40 years. That framework served us well in many respects, but, of course, we have left the European Union, so we have a responsibility and an opportunity to tailor our rules to the UK’s own needs, circumstances and ambitions.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention—he has certainly got the measure of this Bill. [Hon. Members: “Oh.”] I will not give up the day job—and we will not have a Division on that, either. This is a framework that supports businesses by reducing unnecessary burdens, supports consumers by keeping dangerous goods off the market and supports the UK economy by making our regulatory system more agile, more responsive and more transparent. In short, the Bill will help to ensure that every product on the UK market, whether made in the United Kingdom or imported from abroad, meets the expectations of safety, fairness and quality that the public rightly demand.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I thank all hon. Members for contributing to the debate—my hon. Friends the Members for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell), for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee), for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), for Harlow (Chris Vince), for Erewash (Adam Thompson), the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister), the Liberal Democrat spokesperson the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) and the shadow Minister the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Dame Harriett Baldwin). I will address many of the points they raised during the debate. I welcome the Liberal Democrat spokesperson to her new role. I do not know whether it is a promotion or demotion, but I welcome her all the same. As always, it was a pleasure to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash and his great technical insight. Indeed, we have our own Professor Yaffle in his House—those of a certain age will know who I am referring to. His expertise was greatly appreciated in Bill Committee and again today. Amendments 9, 11 and 12 would remove clause 1(1) from the Bill. Of course, that is the central power to keep consumers safe and our product regulations updated. As I said in Committee, our product regulation framework is extensive. We have hundreds of often technical regulations. Removing clause 1(1) would freeze our regulations in time. We would be unable to respond to new risks, products or business models. I cannot accept an amendment that would stop us from protecting consumers and businesses from product-related harm.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right; indeed, this goes well beyond the measures in place when we were in the EU when it comes to parliamentary involvement. I will briefly refer to contributions made by hon. Members during the passage of the Bill. I thank my counterpart in the other place, Lord Leong, for shepherding the Bill through the Lords, with support from Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. I also thank the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, who has been alongside us throughout the passage of this Bill in the Public Bill Committee. The hon. Members for Wokingham (Clive Jones), for Chippenham and for Richmond Park, who represented the Liberal Democrats in Committee and in the Chamber, are a trio that we will never forget. I hope that the short passage of this Bill is not a reflection of the high turnover in Liberal Democrat spokespeople—they have engaged with the Bill in a constructive manner. I thank hon. Members who engaged in the Bill Committee and the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Walsall and Bloxwich (Valerie Vaz), who chaired that Committee with great expertise. It is probably worth mentioning my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central again. He has championed the ceramics industry both today and on Second Reading, and we recognise his great contributions. Finally, I pay special tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Adam Thompson), who, as the first elected metrologist to this House, has brought a deeply technical and knowledgeable perspective to our debates, which we all appreciate—although I do not think we could ever be asked to take a quiz on the finer details of his work.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I am sure that Ministers across Government will have heard the important points that my hon. Friend has made today. Amendment 7 on consumer protection could have unintended consequences as product safety is not one-dimensional; it requires consideration of multiple risks and consumer and business needs. For example, we are undertaking a significant programme of work considering furniture safety and the balance between fire risks and the possible effects of exposure to chemical flame retardants. Were the amendment adopted, we would be open to challenge by any interest groups unhappy with how regulations balance those factors. Indeed, when I gave that example in Committee, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chippenham (Sarah Gibson), said that it was a compelling reason for not accepting the amendment, so I hope the hon. Member for Richmond Park will not move that amendment.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  I suspect that my hon. Friend would be far better at doing that himself. His speech on Second Reading was a fantastic example of how we explain legislation matters and practice. It is important that we have certainty and consistency in how we measure things and that we have a clear legislative framework for the measurements that underpins all science. He gave us a historical sweep of those issues when he spoke on Second Reading. It is important for me to pass on my gratitude to all those officials who have supported us in the passage of the Bill, as well as the parliamentary staff who have enabled it to come through swiftly and smoothly. It will return to the other place for consideration of the amendments we have made in this place, and I am confident that—in the spirit of constructive scrutiny and co-operation that has characterised its progress so far—it will continue on its way. This legislation is an important step in strengthening our domestic regulatory regime and ensuring that it is robust, future-facing and fit for purpose in a post-Brexit economy. I look forward to working with colleagues in the other place to ensure that the Bill finally reaches the statute book as swiftly as possible.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  Indeed, the Bill does secure the great British pint; thanks to an amendment in the other place, it will hopefully be enshrined in law. I look forward to joining my hon. Friend in enjoying one at some point in the not-too-distant future. The pace of change in both consumer behaviour and product innovation is only accelerating. From connected devices and artificial intelligence to new materials and manufacturing methods, the nature of risk and regulation is constantly shifting. We must ensure that our regulators are equipped with the right tools to act quickly and proportionately so that we can both manage and harness the hazards and the economic potential of new technologies. The Bill provides the powers to do just that. It gives Parliament the ability to update and strengthen product regulation and legal metrology in a coherent, consistent way.

• 15 May 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] (Third sitting) · Hansard source

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  It is right that hon. Members have raised this matter, which is one of the primary drivers behind the Bill. We recognise that the safety of products containing lithium-ion batteries is an increasingly pressing issue, and I welcome the opportunity to speak about what the Government are doing. We are fully aware of the risks that are posed, particularly by products such as e-bikes and e-scooters, and we have already taken meaningful steps to protect consumers and uphold product safety standards. The Office for Product Safety and Standards has worked closely with colleagues across Government, industry partners and technical experts to identify the root causes of the safety issues that we are seeing. That includes addressing faulty design, poor manufacturing standards and issues with battery compatibility and charging systems. Alongside regulatory oversight, we have engaged directly with UK businesses to help them to comply with existing safety regulations. We want to ensure that good businesses who act responsibly are not undercut by unscrupulous traders who place unsafe products on the UK market. We have also built strong relationships with fire and rescue services, which are often the first to see the consequences of battery failures in the home or in public spaces. Their expertise and intelligence-gathering skills have been instrumental in helping us to identify high-risk products and take appropriate enforcement action. Since 2022, these efforts have resulted in 20 product recalls and 22 enforcement actions targeting unsafe or non-compliant e-bikes and e-scooters. In one notable case, the OPSS issued 26 withdrawal notices relating to two dangerous e-bike battery models manufactured overseas by Unit Pack Power. Those batteries had been linked to incidents investigated by fire and rescue services, and action was taken to halt their sale across eight online marketplaces, as well as against two manufacturers and 16 individual sellers. However, we recognise that enforcement alone is not enough. Regulatory reform is needed to ensure that harmful products are stopped at the border or prevented from entering the market in the first place. At the same time, we must avoid placing disproportionate burdens on responsible businesses. Regulation must be effective, proportionate and targeted. This will protect the public without stifling innovation or fair competition. The Bill has been drafted to provide those powers across a wide range of product categories, including lithium-ion battery products. While I fully recognise the concerns raised about batteries, the Bill does not and should not single out individual product types. To do so would risk narrowing its scope and limiting our ability to act effectively across the product landscape, including when new products are introduced. I think we all understand how technologies are evolving and that we need broad powers to keep up to date. A requirement to report in three months would cause some challenges for timelines. There is normally a 12-week period for Government consultations, and that would obviously not fit into the three months suggested by the new clause. At this stage, we are actively exploring what regulatory changes might make the greatest difference on lithium-ion batteries. To support that, the Department commissioned research from the Warwick Manufacturing Group to deepen our understanding of the risks posed by these batteries, including issues of compatibility, design and failure patterns. This research has now been published—I am happy to provide a copy to the hon. Member for Wokingham if he wishes to see it—and will help us to identify where interventions are most needed through regulatory standards, clearer compliance pathways or improved consumer guidance. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that we are committed to tackling the safety challenges associated with lithium-ion batteries. We will continue to work closely with all stakeholders—from industry to fire services, and from standards bodies to consumer groups—to develop solutions that are effective, evidence-based and proportionate. We understand the urgency of the issue. I have met victims of lithium-ion battery fires, and they understand that we are doing everything we can to get the measures on the statute book so that we can develop regulations to prevent such tragedies from happening again. It is important that we recognise new dangers and act to protect the public. I hope the hon. Gentleman is reassured that we will take action and are doing what we can at this stage.

• 15 May 2025 · Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] (Third sitting) · Hansard source

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  I thank Committee members for their contributions on this group of amendments. The Government are committed to supporting businesses and growing the economy. New clause 6 would specify that the Secretary of State must produce and maintain guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises on how to comply with any provisions made by regulations under the Bill. I say to the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Wokingham, that I welcome the intent behind the amendment. It is vital that businesses, particularly SMEs, understand and have good notice of any new legal requirements, to allow them to take timely action. In the other place, the Government introduced a statutory duty to consult before making regulations. That will ensure that SMEs and other stakeholders are involved, at an early stage, in helping to shape any regulations. The Government already provide online guidance to help businesses understand new and existing legal requirements, and any actions that they must take. Ministerial colleagues, my officials and I regularly meet businesses. Hearing from them directly is vital to make sure that our regulations protect consumers and support growth. I have outlined how the intent of new clause 6 is already being met, and we will continue to work closely with SMEs as they are of course a crucial part of the economy. I respectfully suggest that the new clause be withdrawn. The hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton described the Bill as “convoluted,” yet earlier she described it as “skeletal.” I hope she eventually decides her position on the Bill. She seems to be suggesting that we should not legislate at all in this area. The idea of having no legal structure for product safety and metrology is, I think, very dangerous. It is important to protect consumers and to ensure a level playing field for businesses, both of which we are doing with this Bill.