Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of enforcement powers available to Trading Standards authorities at county level to take action against premises engaged in persistent breaches of consumer protection and trading laws; whether he has considered devolving powers to county-level Trading Standards authorities to enable them to apply for the closure of premises in cases of serious or repeat offending; and what discussions he has had with the (a) Home Office and (b) Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on aligning enforcement powers between licensing authorities, the police, and county-level enforcement bodies.

Local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for delivering trading standards services, aiming to ensure fair trading and safeguard both consumers and reputable businesses. Trading standards services operate independently from central government and enforce a wide range of laws, tailored to local needs.

Where issues impact on a wider group of consumers or businesses, or the detriment is particularly high, other regulators have power to take action. For instance, National Trading Standards plays a role in delivery of broader national and regional enforcement issues, supported by local trading standards services.

We keep this system under review, and the Department for Business and Trade is reviewing the current duties of Trading Standards to ensure that consumers remain protected from harm. My department is working with the Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Whitehall Departments in this work.

The Business Secretary and the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister recently wrote jointly to Cabinet colleagues to ask them to set out what further action they plan to take in this Parliament to address consumer harms in their areas, including on toughening enforcement actions against conduct and businesses that do the most harm to the community.

We will report back on this work in due course.