To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason it is his Department's policy that intellectual property practitioners who represent businesses before the Intellectual Property Office are not required to be regulated in the UK.

The Government supports appropriate regulation of intellectual property practitioners where this is necessary to ensure that applicants and rights holders are effectively represented.

We have not seen a need to change the current regulatory framework. The Government continues to welcome evidence from practitioners and consumers if they consider there to be deficiencies in the current system.