Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Responding to the key challenges the regulatory system faces requires collaboration with other government departments.
Conclusion
Responding to the key challenges the regulatory system faces requires collaboration with other government departments. For example, the Department told us of its engagement with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport regarding cyber- security threats in products that contain software. It also noted that it is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to mitigate resource constraints experienced by local Trading Standards services. It hopes this work will help government to better prioritise local regulatory services’ time and resource.25
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 3.4 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.