Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to (a) restrict and (b) regulate unsolicited doorstep cold calling in residential areas.

Conducted properly, trading from door to door or conducting business in a consumer’s home can be a legitimate form of business, provided traders observe the legislation regulating the practice.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 updates existing protections that prohibit traders from engaging in aggressive or misleading commercial practices, including harassment, high pressure-selling techniques, coercion or undue influence against consumers. Traders are banned from ignoring a request from a consumer to leave or not return to the consumer’s home.

Residents can collectively ask their local Trading Standards services to set up ‘No cold calling zones’, which are designed to prohibit uninvited callers.