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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) new powers, and (2) opportunities for regulatory autonomy, will be available to regulators following the passage of the Professional Qualifications Bill.

The Professional Qualifications Bill will ensure that regulators can determine whether individuals with overseas qualifications can practise in the UK, where this will enable demand for the services of a profession to be met.

The Bill also contains a power which will enable an appropriate national authority to authorise regulators to enter into recognition agreements with counterparts from other countries where they do not already have the power to do so. Recognition agreements, agreed by regulators, will ensure that UK professionals are able to seize the opportunities of international trade.

It is the Government’s intention that the Bill will not interfere with regulators’ autonomy to determine independently which overseas qualified professionals can practise in the UK.