Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implications of the Home Office report on the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 for small businesses operating scrap metal dealerships.

We have not undertaken an assessment of the implications of the Home Office report. The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 introduced a regulatory regime for the metal recycling sector in order to tackle the trade in stolen metal. Making it more difficult for unscrupulous dealers to trade benefits all legitimate scrap metal dealers, whatever the size of their business. We will publish our report on the findings of our review of the Act later this year and we will continue to work with partners through the National Metal Theft Working Group to support legitimate dealers.