Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to take ensure that any consultations with pubs include independent publicans.

We recognise the valuable contributions of independent publicans in the pubs consultation process.

Ministers and officials from my Department regularly meet with independent publicans and their trade association representatives at the British Institute of Innkeeping and are represented on the Hospitality Sector Council. Last month, I met with pub landlords at a roundtable organised by the British Institute for Innkeeping, attended by several of their members.

We always encourage them to engage with all consultations such as the recent ones on licensing reforms, market access for local beers, the Pubs Code Adjudicator and on the forthcoming review of the rateable valuation methodology for pubs.