Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will increase the funding available for National Trading Standards investigations into secondary ticket abuse.

The Government is committed to tackling fraudulent practices in secondary ticketing. The department works closely with National Trading Standards to ensure they have adequate funding to tackle consumer detriment in the secondary ticketing market.

As a result of this work, earlier this month two individuals from London were found guilty of fraudulently and dishonestly buying and reselling tickets for high-profile music and entertainment events. They have now been sentenced to a combined six and a half years in jail. This landmark case marks the first successful prosecution against the fraudulent reselling of tickets on a large scale. This is directly a result of the work of National Trading Standards, North Yorkshire County Council, and City of York Council.