Written questions by Farnsworth.

What steps she has taken to appoint a Retail and Hospitality Envoy.

The Government will make an announcement on the appointment of the Retail and Hospitality Envoy in the coming weeks.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of aligning the duty rates applied to textile footwear with other textile-based safety equipment.

The UK’s Tariff schedule, known as the UK Global Tariff (UKGT), adheres to global classification standards. We continue to monitor the UKGT to ensure our Most Favoured Nation tariff schedule functions as effectively as possible, supports domestic priorities, and provides a stable operating environment for businesses. Businesses are welcome to request partial or full liberalisation of the import duty applied to the products under this commodity code, including textile footwear and textile-based safety equipment, either through the online feedback form or the next business suspensions window. There will be further opportunities to apply for tariff suspensions in due course. Further information, including dates of the application window, guidance, and methods to apply, will be announced on GOV.UK.

If she will take legislative steps to create new commodity codes under Section 64 of the UK Global Tariff to include the use of sustainable materials in safety footwear.

UK customs commodity codes are matched to the EU’s, to enable the Windsor Framework in NI and facilitate trade with the EU. However, other mechanisms can be used to provide different tariff treatment for goods. If businesses would like to propose a lower rate of duty on a product, they can make a duty suspension application to the Department for Business and Trade.