Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the impact on each sector of the differences between the regulatory regimes which apply to (a) the B&B and Guest House sector and (b) the short term holiday let sector.

We committed to consult on a possible Short Term Accommodation Registration Scheme in England in June 2021’s Tourism Recovery Plan.

Due to the lack of robust data, firstly we want to build an evidence base about the short term tourist accommodation sector. The sharing economy has brought many benefits to the tourism sector and wider economy, as well as creating an additional income stream for homeowners.

On 29 June we published a call for evidence, seeking views and data on the size and shape of the market, as well as the positive and negative impacts of short term lets. This information will enable us to develop proportionate, evidence-based policy options for future consultation

This call for evidence is open to everyone and will run for 12 weeks until 21 September. We then intend to consult on specific policy options later in 2022.