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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on establishing and appointing a Small Business Commissioner under the Enterprise Act 2016; and what the timescale is for the appointment of that Commissioner.

We expect to appoint the Commissioner in 2017 and we are completing the rest of the implementation in parallel. This includes consulting on, preparing and laying secondary legislation on the Commissioner’s complaints handling function. Our public consultation on these Regulations closed in December and we are preparing the Government Response. Work is also ongoing to setup the Commissioner’s office and create a web presence.