Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to include the harm caused to consumers by unsafe toys sold on online marketplaces in the Government’s online harms framework.

The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products are sold to UK consumers, particularly for vulnerable consumers including children. There are stringent requirements for manufacturers to ensure products placed on the market are safe. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has been established to provide leadership of the consumer product safety system and is undertaking a programme of work on the safety of products sold online.

The Online Harms White Paper states that the scope of the regulatory framework and duty of care "will include companies from a range of sectors, including social media companies, public discussion forums and retailers that allow users to review products online". It also includes the sale of illegal goods and services on the open internet as a proposed area in scope of regulatory activity.

We are currently analysing all responses to the White Paper's public consultation, and considering the issues raised. The Government will publish its response to the consultation in the coming months, following that, we will publish draft legislation for pre-legislative scrutiny.