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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the the Independent Experts Committee on Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 and its meeting of September 2020, for what reasons that Committee's membership did not comprise existing stakeholders who had worked on the review for more than 10 years; and if he will publish details of the research that the Independent Experts Committee decided necessary for a review of (a) the overall regulations and (b) children's products.

In July 2019, the Government announced it would develop a new approach to the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988.

The Government does not have an ‘Independent Experts Committee’ advising on the review of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. The Government seeks independent expert input and advice from a range of individuals and organisations.

As part of the formulation of Government policy, it is essential that officials are able to seek advice from external parties with relevant knowledge and experience. Third parties must feel that they can provide Government with candid views without fear that that information will be made public, particularly when those views relate to sensitive and ongoing issues. As such, the Government does not intend to publish the individual pieces of advice received from independent experts on this topic. All completed research relating to product safety is published on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/product-safety-research). This is updated periodically with details of further commissioned research.