Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff are planned to work within the Office for Product Safety and Standards; and what proportion of those staff will be (a) newly recruited and (b) transferred from within his Department.

When fully staffed the Office for Product Safety and Standards will employ around 290 people. This includes approximately 180 existing staff covering pre-existing functions and up to 110 new posts specifically for product safety. The new posts will enable the Office to significantly increase national capacity in scientific, technical, enforcement and other product safety functions. Recruitment to those posts has already begun and positions are being filled by a mix of internal and external recruitment to ensure the Office has the specialist expertise it needs.