Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make a comparative assessment of the Pubs Code in (a) Scotland and (b) England and Wales.

The third statutory review of the Pubs Code will commence following the end of the current three-year review period on 31 March 2025. It will consider the extent to which the Code is consistent with the principles of fair and lawful dealing of tied pub tenants by pub-owning businesses and that those tenants should not be worse off than they would be if they were not subject to any product or service tie.

The review will consider a range of evidence and notes that the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates and the Campaign for Real Ale raised the issue of guest beers in their responses to the last statutory review. The Government also notes that the Pubs Code in Scotland will not come into force until March 2025.