Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Jones of Whitchurchon 10 March (HL5234 and HL5235), whether they have taken account of the fact that the House of Commons Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee's report The Future of Audit, published on 26 March 2019, concluded that international accounting standards were defective compared to the requirements of company law.

The Government announced in the King's Speech its intention to publish a draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill that will transition the FRC to a new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority and provide it with relevant powers. The Government will consider the recommendations of the report, including relating to the Government and FRC producing definitions and guidance on what constitutes distributable profits, as work progresses.