Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken in response to the 5,793 upholsterers who called for an end to chemical flame-retardant treatments in response to their 2023 consultation, Smarter Regulation: Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture.

Following the 2023 consultation ‘Smarter Regulation: Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’, the Government engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders, including manufacturers and upholsterers to build our evidence base, including on the costs associated with chemical flame retardant use.

This engagement led to the consultation ‘Product regulation: fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’ with amended proposals, including ending mandatory open-flame testing and moving to a smoulder-based test consistent with the approaches adopted internationally, and removing re-upholstery and repair from the scope of the regulations so that it is more proportionately regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations.