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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 1 February (HL4906), whether the Consumer Green Paper will address the level of staffing in local authorities which is deemed sufficient to enforce consumer protection.

Dangerous goods, poor quality services and criminal scams damage consumer confidence and legitimate businesses – a strong protection system benefits everyone.

There has been significant progress to improve coordination of consumer protection since 2011 but more needs to be done, particularly in light of the reductions in resource at local authorities. We are examining the consumer protection regime and will consider proposals for the Consumer Green Paper in Spring 2017.