Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the Regulatory Policy Committee’s red rating of the Government’s impact assessment for the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill.

Our legislation is sensible and proportionate and is designed to protect lives and livelihoods.

The Department is grateful for the Regulatory Policy Committee's feedback on the Impact Assessment and is currently taking their opinion into consideration, particularly the assessment of the impacts of the Bill on small and micro businesses - the only red-rated aspect of the analysis.

As stated previously, individual impact assessments will accompany consultations on the specific minimum service level for each relevant service which will be better able to assess the impacts on SMEs.