Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential economic merits for (a) the Treasury and (b) UK businesses of the UK joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention.

In the UK’s Trade Strategy, the government recognised the potential merits and impacts of UK accession to the Pan-Euro Mediterranean Convention (PEM) and committed to engaging business further. The government ran a five-week call for evidence from November to December last year to understand the potential impacts of accession on businesses. The Government will publish the findings in due course.