diff --git a/src/parameter_update.sh b/src/parameter_update.sh
index 2c4fbc8..d67084e 100755
--- a/src/parameter_update.sh
+++ b/src/parameter_update.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
             exit 1
         fi
 
-        PARAMETER_PAYLOAD=$(echo "$MESSAGE" | jq ".operation.${TYPE}")
+        PARAMETER_PAYLOAD=$(echo "$MESSAGE" | jq ".operation.\"${TYPE}\"")
 
         echo :::begin-tedge:::
         printf '{"type":"%s","parameters":%s}\n' "$TYPE" "$PARAMETER_PAYLOAD"
diff --git a/src/plugins/flow_params b/src/plugins/flow_params
index e322dce..1930680 100755
--- a/src/plugins/flow_params
+++ b/src/plugins/flow_params
@@ -21,11 +21,14 @@ update_parameters() {
 
     # convert json to key/value and write it to the params.toml file
     echo "Writing to the flows params.toml file. path=$FLOW_DIR/params.toml" >&2
-    echo "$MESSAGE" | jq -r 'to_entries|map("\(.key) = \(.value|tojson)")|.[]' | sudo tedge-write "$FLOW_DIR/params.toml"
+    CONTENTS=$(echo "$MESSAGE" | jq -r 'to_entries|map("\(.key) = \(.value|tojson)")|.[]')
+    if [ -n "$CONTENTS" ] && [ "$CONTENTS" != "null" ]; then
+        echo "$MESSAGE" | jq -r 'to_entries|map("\(.key) = \(.value|tojson)")|.[]' | sudo tedge-write "$FLOW_DIR/params.toml"
 
-    # Note: manually update the digital twin property though normally this is done by the Device Parameter microservice
-    # as sending the 408 message is actually harder than just updating the digital twin value
-    tedge mqtt pub -r "te/device/main///twin/$MESSAGE_TYPE" "${MESSAGE}"
+        # Note: manually update the digital twin property though normally this is done by the Device Parameter microservice
+        # as sending the 408 message is actually harder than just updating the digital twin value
+        tedge mqtt pub -r "te/device/main///twin/$MESSAGE_TYPE" "${MESSAGE}"
+    fi
 }
 
 get() {