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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports in The Times on 4 April that domestic chemical flame‑retardant requirements increase the cost of UK sofas compared with EU and global markets by up to 30 per cent.

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.