There is a growing concern about the health and environmental impacts of some chemical flame retardants, including tris(chloropropyl) phosphate. In June 2025, the Environment Agency published a scoping review of flame retardants relevant to the GB market. This year the Health and Safety Executive added several flame retardants to the UK REACH Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern, signalling their potential for further regulatory control.

The Government takes the safety of baby products seriously and has robust regulations requiring that all products placed on the UK market are safe, with specific controls addressing chemical exposure from plastic baby products. These requirements are kept under review.

The Government's consultation on reforming the core Product Safety Framework closed on 23 June 2026. We are considering all feedback received including any evidence presented on the regulation of these products. The Government also launched a Call for Evidence on toy safety on 6 July, to ensure protections keep pace with emerging risks.

UK product safety law is clear: all products must be safe, including those sold online. My Department’s Office for Product Safety and Standards takes action to address non-compliant products online, including monitoring marketplaces, test purchasing and taking appropriate enforcement action.

In addition, Government recently consulted on reforming the product safety framework to ensure it works for modern supply chains and addresses new risks. This included proposals for clear duties on online marketplaces to take proactive steps to identify, prevent and remove unsafe products from their sites. We are now considering feedback and will set out our response in due course.

The Government recognises the importance of clear, evidence-based advice on safer sleep for babies and ensuring that baby sleep products placed on the market are safe.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements all early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe.

For parents and carers, we promote evidence-based advice on safer sleep from the National Health Service and trusted organisations such as The Lullaby Trust.

Under United Kingdom law, businesses are responsible for only placing safe baby sleep products on the market, and must provide all necessary information, warnings, and instructions to ensure they can be used safely and appropriately. The product regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, has previously issued a Safety Alert for certain dangerous baby sleep pillows and published messaging to raise consumer awareness of hazards.

The Government takes the safety of baby products seriously and has robust regulations in place requiring that all products placed on the UK market are safe. Specific rules exist under product safety and chemicals regulations, to address chemical exposure from plastic baby products, and these are kept under review.

More generally, the Government's consultation on reforming the core Product Safety Framework closed on 23 June 2026, and we will be considering all feedback received as part of that process, including any evidence presented on the regulation of these products.

Under UK law, businesses are responsible for placing safe baby sleep products on the market, including where sold online. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) carries out market surveillance and has powers to require unsafe products be withdrawn from sale, and can seek prosecution or fines where businesses fail to act.

Targeted OPSS testing of baby sleep products in 2025 identified non-compliant or unsafe items online, and OPSS acted to ensure platforms removed listings and identified problem sellers. OPSS previously issued a Safety Alert for dangerous baby sleep pillows and published messaging to raise consumer awareness of hazards.

The department considers the current consumer protection framework to be adequate in providing protection against unfair practices.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods or digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for a particular purpose and as described by the seller. A trader can upgrade, fix, and improve the features of, or add new features to, digital content so long as it continues to match any description given by the trader. It must also continue to conform with any pre-contract information as to main characteristics, functionality, and compatibility provided by the trader.

Government has also recently given the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new powers to ensure designated digital firms provide services on fair and reasonable terms. These powers focus on the most powerful firms, supporting competition and tackling harmful practices in UK digital markets. In May, the CMA launched a Strategic Market Status designation investigation into Microsoft's business software, including cloud. This investigation is expected to conclude in February 2027.

The department considers the current consumer protection framework to be adequate in providing protection against unfair practices.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods or digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for a particular purpose and as described by the seller. A trader can upgrade, fix, and improve the features of, or add new features to, digital content so long as it continues to match any description given by the trader. It must also continue to conform with any pre-contract information as to main characteristics, functionality, and compatibility provided by the trader.

Government has also recently given the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new powers to ensure designated digital firms provide services on fair and reasonable terms. These powers focus on the most powerful firms, supporting competition and tackling harmful practices in UK digital markets. In May, the CMA launched a Strategic Market Status designation investigation into Microsoft's business software, including cloud. This investigation is expected to conclude in February 2027.

The requested information is available in Figure 3 of the annual Carbon Footprint statistics published by Defra here.

Annual totals and year-on-year percentage changes for the ten years up to 2022 are provided below:

In their 2025 Progress in Reducing Emissions Report, the independent Climate Change Committee stated that the UK's reduction in territorial emissions from 1990-2022 significantly outweighs the increase in emissions from imports over that period, reflecting the fact that emission reductions in the UK and progress on our targets have largely occurred without offshoring emissions. We are committed to continuing to reduce both UK emissions and global emissions. For more information, Defra publishes estimates of imported emissions in their Carbon Footprint statistics here.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on a range of issues, including international trade.

The UK–GCC Free Trade Agreement will make trade cheaper, faster and more predictable, supporting exports and imports of food and consumer goods.

The Gulf imports 80% of its food and drink. The agreement will reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, enabling goods to move more smoothly through borders and supporting more resilient supply chains. The government will continue to uphold the UK’s high food safety standards, and nothing in the agreement changes these. The government will publish a full impact assessment alongside signature which will set out the impacts of the UK – GCC FTA on sectors, regions, and protected characteristics.

HM Revenue and Customs does not hold an estimate of the volume of retail goods purchased in Northern Ireland and subsequently transported by consumers into the Republic of Ireland.

There is no routine data collection on the movement of retail goods carried by individual consumers across the land border, and such movements are not subject to customs declarations.

The requested information is available in the annual Carbon Footprint statistics published by Defra here.

Latest estimates show that in 2022, imported goods and services consumed in the UK accounted for emissions of 404 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e).

The UK Government has not discussed legislative proposals on this issue with the incoming Scottish Government. It is unlikely this policy would interact with the UK Internal Market (UKIM) Act, and any interaction would depend on how the legislation is designed. The UKIM Act does not prevent the Scottish Government from introducing legislation – it is for the Scottish Government to design this policy and ensure that any legislation is within its competence.

Trade Envoys are briefed on each of the Industrial Strategy priority sectors, including the objectives of the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, and the UK's strengths in these supply chains. Prior to a market visit, Trade Envoys are briefed on the key objectives and sectors outlined in each Country Trade Plan.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

We are committed to ensuring the UK is the leading adopter of AI in the G7, empowering British workers and businesses to seize its benefits by creating more rewarding jobs, increasing productivity and driving growth in our leading sectors.

AI assurance enables consumers to be confident that the products they buy will work as intended, which is why the Government is taking steps to build the AI assurance ecosystem that underpins safe deployment of AI, as set out in the Roadmap to Trusted Third-Party AI Assurance. This includes establishing the Centre for AI Measurement, led by the National Physical Laboratory, to accelerate the development of new, innovative AI assurance techniques.

The law also requires that all consumer products must be safe before they are placed on the market. The Office for Product Safety and Standards and local authority trading standards have enforcement powers across product safety regulations to take non-compliant or unsafe products off the UK market. The product safety framework will better respond to emerging risks posed by digital technologies, including AI-enabled and smart products, ensuring innovation does not come at the expense of consumer safety.