Recommendation 5

The regulatory system is lacking capacity and skills to meet the challenges it faces. Regulators need enough resources and the right mix of capabilities to be effective. Local authority Trading Standards services are a key element of the regime, as they still conduct most investigation and enforcement of product safety regulations. But they face significant resourcing challenges. For example, in England they have had Protecting consumers from unsafe products 7 a 39% real-terms reduction in spending between 2010–11 and 2019–20. This has impacted the consistency of local product safety enforcement throughout the UK, as some services struggle to undertake any product safety regulation work which mean some consumers are at more risk of harm from dangerous products. The OPSS is a new and relatively small regulator facing multiple new challenges: EU Exit means new regulatory functions for the OPSS and additional goods to check at the border; UK regulators need to adapt to technological changes and new risks; and in 2022 the OPSS will be taking on new duties for regulating construction products on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. Tackling these issues, and ensuring it will be an effective product safety regulator for the future, will require new capacity and skills, particularly in software, engineering and science. Recommendation: The Department and OPSS should evaluate the regulatory resource needed for the future of the regulatory regime. This should reflect the impacts of product checks at the UK border, the OPSS’s new duties on construction products and the loss of resource at local Trading Standards services.