Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many regulations affecting SMEs are under review as part of the SME Regulation Review.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister announced that government will cut administrative costs of regulation to all business, including SMEs, by 25% by the end of this Parliament. We are working across government to deliver this target to make it easier to do business in the UK. The target focuses on reducing the overall burden of regulation rather than the number of regulations. Whilst there is no SME-specific target, we will be considering where regulation has a disproportionate impact upon SMEs and should be removed, supporting the aims of the plan for Small and Medium sized Businesses.