Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to review the (a) accreditation and (b) certification processes for renewable energy installers to ensure that they are accessible for small and medium enterprises.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) sponsors the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) as the national accreditation body. UKAS is independent of government, however DBT is working with UKAS to seek out and assess opportunities for supporting SMEs' participation in and use of accreditation. Certification processes are based on international standards and UKAS accredits to these standards to ensure certification bodies are fit for purpose. Where certification schemes exist, these are initially assessed by UKAS and reviewed on a regular basis by UKAS with the scheme provider.