Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has his Department made of the potential impact of local government reorganisation on future recruitment and retention of Trading Standards Officers.

Trading standards is a statutory local authority function, and councils are responsible for ensuring they are able to discharge their duties. During local government reorganisation, the expectation is staff employed by existing local authorities, such as Trading Standards Officers, will transfer to a new unitary council set up for the area.