Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason consumers in England are not able to deal directly with Trading Standards services; and whether he plans to review this approach.

Trading Standards are provided by local authorities who operate independently from central government and make enforcement decisions according to local need.

Trading Standards act in the collective interest of consumers rather than resolving individual matters. In most cases, Trading Standards will not need to contact a complainant directly but will use information provided to prioritise intervention or enforcement action against rogue traders causing the most harm.

Citizens Advice consumer service received over 827,000 contacts in 2023-24. Every contact received by Citizens Advice is logged on a national database, which is accessible by consumer enforcement agencies, including local Trading Standards, to analyse trends and inform their enforcement activities.