Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to regulate the (a) listing and (b) sale of unsafe toys on online marketplaces.
Answered by Paul Scully
Existing product safety legislation places obligations on manufacturers, importers and distributors to ensure that consumer products are safe before they can be placed on the UK market. This includes retailers selling toys via online marketplaces.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), which is within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, is taking forward a programme of work to help ensure the safety of products sold online. Where products are identified online that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements, OPSS works with colleagues in local Trading Standards to take action and expects online platforms to act quickly to remove them from sale. Since April 2021, OPSS interventions have led to the withdrawal of more than 10,000 unsafe products, including toys, previously listed and available in the UK via online marketplaces.
In addition, OPSS continues to run regular campaigns to improve consumer awareness of safety issues, including a Christmas Toys product safety information campaign which will run from 15th November 2021 until 17th December 2021.
OPSS is also currently conducting a review of the UK’s product safety framework to ensure it remains robust and is future-proofed so that it continues to protect consumers while enabling businesses to safely innovate and grow. This includes reviewing the impact of the changes brought by eCommerce to the product safety framework to ensure that there is appropriate accountability and clear responsibilities throughout the supply chain. The Government has analysed submissions to the product safety review Call for Evidence and is now finalising its response, which will be published in due course. We will consider a full range of options to address the challenges identified by stakeholders and any proposals for legislative change would be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support Trading Standards Scotland after the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP), of which the department and Trading Standards Scotland are members, regularly meet to discuss consumer protection issues. The CPP brings together consumer protection organisations from across the UK jointly to identify and prioritise areas where there is greatest risk of harm to consumers and to agree and coordinate collective action to tackle detriment, making use of all available tools at the disposal of each member. This includes any EU Exit related issues.
In addition, BEIS officials hold regular discussions with Trading Standards Scotland to identify challenges any emerging areas of consumer harm.
In July 2021, the Department published the Reforming Competition and Consumer Policy consultation. The Department is currently analysing the responses and will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for the enforcement of trading standards following the impact of the (a) UK's departure from the EU and (b) recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for local Trading Standards services. Local authorities are independent from central government and are responsible for determining their resourcing priorities in accordance with the needs of the local electorate. The budget process of the Scottish and Welsh Governments results in the determination of the local government finance settlement which sets out the government grant. The Department for the Economy funds the Trading Standards Service in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to undertake a review of the enforcement powers of (a) National Trading Standards and (b) Trading Standards Scotland.
Answered by Paul Scully
Local Trading Standards Services are funded solely by local authorities, which are independent from central government. These authorities are responsible for determining their spending priorities and they are accountable to their local electorate. Funding is not ringfenced, so local authorities make decisions according to their individual needs.
The Department provides funding to National Trading Standards (NTS) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), to enable local authorities to take coordinated action specifically on consumer harm issues that cross local authority boundaries; for instance, doorstep crime and mass-marketing scams. We have provided a single enforcement grant of £12,027,000 to National Trading Standards and £1,215,000 to Trading Standards Scotland for financial year 2021/22. We keep the funding needs of both organisations under constant review.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will provide additional funding to (a) National Trading Standards and (b) Trading Standards Scotland.
Answered by Paul Scully
Local Trading Standards Services are funded solely by local authorities, which are independent from central government. These authorities are responsible for determining their spending priorities and they are accountable to their local electorate. Funding is not ringfenced, so local authorities make decisions according to their individual needs.
The Department provides funding to National Trading Standards (NTS) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), to enable local authorities to take coordinated action specifically on consumer harm issues that cross local authority boundaries; for instance, doorstep crime and mass-marketing scams. We have provided a single enforcement grant of £12,027,000 to National Trading Standards and £1,215,000 to Trading Standards Scotland for financial year 2021/22. We keep the funding needs of both organisations under constant review.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with (a) National Trading Standards and (b) Trading Standards Scotland on tackling unsafe toys on online marketplaces.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) works closely with colleagues in local authority trading standards services to take action where products, including toys, are identified online that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements. This work includes sharing intelligence with the National Trading Standards regional intelligence network and Trading Standards Scotland, as well as working directly with the local authorities that have enforcement responsibilities for product safety, including at the ports.
OPSS is currently conducting a review of the UK’s product safety framework to ensure consumers continue to be protected and that businesses are able to safely innovate and grow. As part of the review, officials have engaged with representatives from trading standards from across the UK, including Scotland. Representatives from trading standards have recently taken part in six roundtable events, which included reporting their experience of enforcement issues with online marketplaces. We will continue to engage with them and a wide range of other stakeholders as the review progresses.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with (a) National Trading Standards and (b) Trading Standards Scotland on tackling unsafe toys on online marketplaces.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) works closely with colleagues in local authority trading standards services to take action where products, including toys, are identified online that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements. This work includes sharing intelligence with the National Trading Standards regional intelligence network and Trading Standards Scotland, as well as working directly with the local authorities that have enforcement responsibilities for product safety, including at the ports.
OPSS is currently conducting a review of the UK’s product safety framework to ensure consumers continue to be protected and that businesses are able to safely innovate and grow. As part of the review, officials have engaged with representatives from trading standards from across the UK, including Scotland. Representatives from trading standards have recently taken part in six roundtable events, which included reporting their experience of enforcement issues with online marketplaces. We will continue to engage with them and a wide range of other stakeholders as the review progresses.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to undertake a review of the enforcement powers of (a) National Trading Standards and (b) Trading Standards Scotland.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department provides funding to National Trading Standards (NTS) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), to enable local authorities to take coordinated action specifically on consumer harm issues that cross local authority boundaries; for instance, doorstep crime and mass-marketing scams. We have provided a single enforcement grant of £12,027,000 to National Trading Standards and £1,215,000 to Trading Standards Scotland for financial year 2021/22. We keep the funding needs of both organisations under constant review.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will provide additional funding to (a) National Trading Standards and (b) Trading Standards Scotland.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department provides funding to National Trading Standards (NTS) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), to enable local authorities to take coordinated action specifically on consumer harm issues that cross local authority boundaries; for instance, doorstep crime and mass-marketing scams. We have provided a single enforcement grant of £12,027,000 to National Trading Standards and £1,215,000 to Trading Standards Scotland for financial year 2021/22. We keep the funding needs of both organisations under constant review.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for the enforcement of trading standards.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department provides funding to National Trading Standards (NTS) and Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), to enable local authorities to take coordinated action specifically on consumer harm issues that cross local authority boundaries; for instance, doorstep crime and mass-marketing scams. We have provided a single enforcement grant of £12,027,000 to National Trading Standards and £1,215,000 to Trading Standards Scotland for financial year 2021/22. We keep the funding needs of both organisations under constant review.