Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has estimated the number of jobs at risk in the event that the Government grants European Economic Area intellectual property practitioners unrestricted access to the UK Intellectual Property Office without reciprocal access for UK practitioners to the EU Intellectual Property Office at the end of the transition period.

The Government is aware that this is an important issue for stake holders, in particular UK-based patent and trade mark attorneys.

Officials at the Intellectual Property Office are having ongoing conversations with representative bodies over how to best address this matter once the transition period ends.