Given the wide variety of legislation which Trading Standards can enforce, I am limiting my answer to consumer law.<\/p>
<\/p>
Where a company has committed a criminal breach of consumer law under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008), Trading Standards can prosecute in the criminal court and the court can impose a fine or imprisonment for a serious offence.<\/p>
<\/p>
However, there are no equivalent sanctions available to Trading Standards in the civil courts and the Government has therefore committed to introducing court based civil sanctions for breaches of civil law. We are also considering further options to ensure that our system of consumer protection provides a robust response to both local and national threats following the Modernising Consumer Markets Green Paper in 2018.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-05-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-05-20T16:05:50.93Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-05-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Trading Standards: Unfair Practices"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what sanctions Trading Standards is able to apply to companies which are found to be operating in unacceptable ways; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/253", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Tewkesbury"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Laurence Robertson"} ], "uin" : "254724"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1126492", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1126492/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The 38 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEPs) areas are Black Country; Buckinghamshire Thames Valley; Cambridge and Peterborough; Cheshire & Warrington; Coast to Capital LEP; Cornwall & Isles of Scilly; Coventry and Warwickshire; Cumbria; Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (D2N2); Dorset LEP; Enterprise M3; Gloucestershire (GFirst) LEP; Greater Birmingham and Solihull; Greater Lincolnshire; Greater Manchester; Heart of the South West; Hertfordshire; Humber LEP; Lancashire LEP; Leeds City Region; Leicester & Leicestershire; Liverpool City Region LEP; London; New Anglia LEP; North East LEP; Oxfordshire LEP; Sheffield City Region LEP; Solent LEP; South East LEP; South East Midlands LEP; Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP; Swindon and Wiltshire LEP; Tees Valley LEP; Thames Valley Berkshire; The Marches; West of England LEP; Worcestershire LEP and York and North Yorkshire LEP.<\/p>
<\/p>
The following 12 LEPs have appointed a board member with an explicit responsibility for rural issues: Cheshire & Warrington; Cornwall & Isles of Scilly; Dorset LEP; Enterprise M3; Heart of the South West; New Anglia LEP; North East LEP; South East LEP; South East Midlands LEP; Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP; Swindon and Wiltshire LEP; and York and North Yorkshire LEP.<\/p>
<\/p>
Other Local Enterprise Partnerships manage rural issues in a variety of ways, for example in Gloucestershire (GFirst) there is a member of the LEP agri-food & rural business sector group on the board, by the appointment of an agri-food champion (The Marches), through engagement at SME boards (Coventry and Warwickshire) and by drawing on the expertise of rural organisations (Worcestershire).<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-05-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-05-20T16:04:27.75Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-05-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Local Enterprise Partnerships: Rural Areas"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the names are of each Local Enterprise Partnership; and which partnerships have appointed a board member with responsibility for rural issues.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/252", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr David Drew"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stroud"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr David Drew"} ], "uin" : "254102"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1126576", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1126576/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government has no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit owners of caravan holiday home parks to be able to make assessments of potential purchasers of caravans. However, we are engaging with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government about a range of issues relating to caravan parks and consumers.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4487", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rochester and Strood"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kelly Tolhurst"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-05-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-05-20T16:05:15.847Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-05-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Caravan Sites"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question, 251894 on Caravan Sites, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit owners of caravan holiday home parks from being able to make assessments of potential purchasers of caravans before granting authority for that sale; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/253", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Tewkesbury"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mr Laurence Robertson"} ], "uin" : "254114"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1126008", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1126008/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "