Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support Trading Standards Scotland after the UK's departure from the EU.

The Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP), of which the department and Trading Standards Scotland are members, regularly meet to discuss consumer protection issues. The CPP brings together consumer protection organisations from across the UK jointly to identify and prioritise areas where there is greatest risk of harm to consumers and to agree and coordinate collective action to tackle detriment, making use of all available tools at the disposal of each member. This includes any EU Exit related issues.

In addition, BEIS officials hold regular discussions with Trading Standards Scotland to identify challenges any emerging areas of consumer harm.

In July 2021, the Department published the Reforming Competition and Consumer Policy consultation. The Department is currently analysing the responses and will respond to the consultation in due course.