Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what (a) mechanism and (b) resources his Department is allocating to (i) monitor, (ii) evaluate and (iii) manage (A) passive and (B) active regulatory divergence between the UK and EU to minimise the impact on UK (1) businesses and (2) consumers.

This Government continues to follow EU regulatory developments with interest, engaging with the EU on key regulatory developments via TCA structures. I also recognise the importance of maintaining an effective dialogue with UK industry leaders and civil society to understand the passive impacts.

DBT’s Assimilated Law Dashboard and Report captures changes to UK legislation inherited from the EU which will create active UK-EU divergence. These are updated biannually per requirements of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023.

Government departments proposing regulatory reform consider the impact of those changes through impact assessments or proportionate analysis.