Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has (a) made an assessment of the implications for her policies of (i) trends in the level of fee increases and (ii) other business practices of holiday parks and (b) had recent discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on those issues.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Caravan park owners and operators are subject to consumer protection legislation. They are also subject to planning and site licensing rules overseen by local authorities.
We believe the existing consumer protection legislation provides the tools necessary for tackling rogue practices in this sector. However, we have announced our intention to strengthen consumer enforcement and have brought forward additional measures as part of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.
The department has not discussed these issues with the Competition and Markets Authority recently.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of keeping the UK on British Summer Time.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government believes the current daylight-saving arrangements represent the optimal use of the available daylight across the UK.
While there is the potential for some benefits from a change in the current arrangements, there is also a real risk of negative impacts. A change to permanent summertime or double summertime may also have significant impacts on certain sectors and businesses.
Given the potential scale of impacts involved, an exceptionally wide-ranging cost benefit analysis would need to be performed to inform a decision on changing the current system.