Recommendation 10

Though we welcomed the establishment of the OPSS, we note that only £14.9 million of its current £34.9 million operating budget is dedicated to product safety. The introduction of OPSS also did not change the roles and responsibilities of Local Trading Standards (LTS) or other market surveillance authorities. In our previous report, we noted that LTS budgets had been significantly cut and their services in many cases severely diminished. We are therefore concerned that while money has been invested in a national product safety body, as we recommended, this has not been accompanied by additional funding for LTS, who are the eyes and ears of the OPSS. While LTS now have access to OPSS support in areas such as training and research, their funding problems have not been addressed. This questions their ability to carry out surveillance and enforcement activities at a local level and to feedback data and information to the OPSS. We recommend that the Government review the funding of LTS and their current ability to carry out surveillance and enforcement activities at a local level and contribute to data sharing at a national level.