Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to regulate pub-owning companies and breweries with fewer than 500 tied tenants.

The Government currently has no plans to consider regulating pub owning companies with less than 500 tied tenants, or to regulate breweries. Pub owning businesses that don’t meet the qualifying threshold for the Pubs Code can, however, join a voluntary scheme administered by the Pub Governing Body. This scheme, also known as the Voluntary Pubs Code, provides signatories with a dispute resolution service and fair methods of determining rent by an independent expert.