Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding his Department has allocated to Trading Standards services in (a) Scotland, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Wales and (d) England to tackle counterfeit electrical goods being imported into the UK in each of the last five years.
National Trading Standards receive £13.25 million per year from BEIS to prioritise and coordinate national and cross-local authority boundary enforcement in England and Wales, including action to stop the sale of counterfeit electrical goods. Trading Standards Scotland receive £1.25m for similar activity in Scotland.
National Trading Standards ‘Operation Jasper’ resulted in the seizure of over £1m in counterfeit goods including luxury brands, dangerous electrical equipment and unsafe cosmetic products in 2016/17.