Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of fashion watchdog.

The Office for Responsible Business Conduct promotes the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct and provides a non-judicial grievance mechanism for complaints of non-observance by UK businesses. The government also launched a review, through the Trade Strategy, of the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct, focusing on tackling human rights and labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains, including those in the fashion industry.

While concerns have been raised about unfair practices, there are currently no plans to introduce a Fashion Watchdog. However, other measures are being considered as part of the responsible business conduct review. We will update the House once the review is complete.