A former SNP minister has raised the alarm over the future of Scotland's struggling trading standards service.
Fiona Hyslop said the authority, which is supposed to enforce consumer protection legislation, is struggling to recruit new staff amid budget cut-backs imposed by the UK Government.
Trading Standards Scotland is funded directly by Whitehall and delivered by COSLA, the convention of local authorities north of the Border.
But local trading standards services are the responsibility of councils already struggling amid wider budget cuts.
The UK Government cut funding to Trading Standards Scotland from £34.7 million in 2010/11 to £32.8 million in 2020/21 and the service has seen a 32 per cent drop in staffing levels over the last nine years.
Hyslop has written to COSLA and the Scottish Funding Council to discuss possible improvements that can be made in training and recruitment.
The SNP MSP said: "Two years on from Scotland being dragged out the EU, trade changes and the damaging impacts are continuing to pile up as many of the changes that have been delayed start to take effect.
"Trading Standards has an ageing workforce and reduced numbers at a time when Brexit and other issues – like environmental standards and providing Covid compliance support for health and safety colleagues – are an ever-increasing burden.
"The Tories have not only cut their budget by around £2 million, but they are demanding more from the service to manage the impacts of Brexit.
"We, as consumers, are the ones who get hit by the effects of this under resourcing.
"The UK Government must take responsibility for the effect of Brexit, which the people of Scotland did not vote for, and the impact of their underfunding of the service.
"It is clear as day that there are not enough officers to cope with the level of work so if we want Trading Standards Scotland to be effective in the essential work they carry out then the UK government must urgently increase funding for the service.”
A spokeswoman for COSLA said it was "working with partners" to address workforce issues faced by the trading standards service.
They added: "Scottish local government is taking the issues facing the service seriously, albeit within broader resource constraints.
"From a COSLA perspective, we will also continue to have discussions about the future of the service with Scottish Government and UK Government, in order to ensure that there is proper recognition there of the importance of the service and the severity of the problems it is facing.
"Ultimately however it rightly remains a matter for each local authority to determine its funding levels for trading standards within their particular budgeting constraints."
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