Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 13
13
There is a gap in the coordination between local and national regulation.
Conclusion
There is a gap in the coordination between local and national regulation. The OPSS does not have a full picture of investigation and enforcement activity undertaken by local Trading Standards services, and is therefore unable to align its work with local intervention.23 The OPSS recognised it has more work to do to improve coordination with local regulators, and described some of the recent work it has done in this area. It introduced a new Product Safety Database to better share data within the regulatory system and told us this has led to a 600% increase in the number of data entries from local authorities, compared with the previous system. The OPSS has also introduced new forms of support to local authorities. This includes funding to ensure all services have free access to product standards from the British Standards Institution, and providing 4,000 officer days of training across 200 local authorities in the last three years.24 17 Qq 26, 37 18 Q 34; C&AG’s Report, para 2.9 19 Q 19 20 London Fire Brigade submission, page 1 21 Q 35 22 Q 23, 25 23 C&AG’s Report, para 3.13 24 Q 23 Protecting consumers from unsafe products 11
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
3: PAC conclusion: There is insufficient coordination between the OPSS, local authorities and other parts of government. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 3.2 OPSS recognises the fundamental role that local Trading Standards services play in product safety regulation and the importance of attracting new people into the profession. OPSS provides national capability to supplement and enhance the effectiveness of local authority enforcement activity. This includes: provision of scientific and technical capability; intelligence and risk capability to provide a national risk picture; national incident management capability; and Trading Standards capability building. OPSS engages with local authorities and Trading Standards bodies and their views and feedback inform OPSS’ delivery. OPSS is currently clarifying its offer to Trading Standards to facilitate greater understanding and co- operation. 3.4 The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (the department) currently provides £12 million funding to National Trading Standards (NTS) and £1.25 million to Trading Standards Scotland per annum to add specialist expertise and to support trading standards to enforce cases that stretch beyond local boundaries. OPSS also supports Trading Standards through funding testing laboratories, training, national co-ordination and intelligence such as the Product Safety Database, sharing information on unsafe or non-compliant products, with 1,300 local authority users and 9 national regulators. Local authority regulatory services are funded from each local authority’s budget, in line with local decision-making, but OPSS will continue to inform central government discussions on maintaining the effectiveness of Trading Standards Services.