Department for Business and Trade written question – answered at on 12 February 2026.
Jayne Kirkham
Labour/Co-operative, Truro and Falmouth
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of financial support for new parents who are (a) self-employed and (b) limited company directors.
Kate Dearden
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government launched the Parental Leave and Pay Review in July 2025, as part of the Plan to Make Work Pay. The Review is exploring how the system can better support working families, including those where parents are self-employed, and reflect the realities of modern work. It provides a much-needed opportunity to consider our overall approach to parental leave and pay, with all current and upcoming entitlements in scope.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
