Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:52 pm on 9 October 2019.
Well, I've no idea of the detail of the cases that Janet Finch-Saunders is setting out. If you want to write in, that's fine. But, first of all, trading standards is a non-devolved service provided by our local authorities, and, secondly, it's very difficult to make a general statement about the efficacy or otherwise of a prosecution policy off the back of three cases that I've just heard about. So, if you want to write in and tell me the detail of that, I'm happy to look at it.
In general, though, local authorities are very restrained in taking court action because it's a huge use of their resources in constrained circumstances. But I'll be more than happy to look at the specifics of the cases that she raised.