To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will encourage chief constables to ensure that police forces involve trading standards officers in the examination of vehicles. [17157]

The extent to which police forces develop links with trading standards officers for law enforcement purposes is an operational matter for individual chief officers. There are no plans to issue any specific Home office guidance on the subject. However, a good level of co-operation exists across the country as a whole. Trading standards officers assist the police and other agencies at multi-agency vehicle checks, for example by checking wheel and axle weights and looking for goods with counterfeit trade marks. They are also frequently involved, in conjunction with the police, in examining cars and other vehicles of uncertain origin and condition, with the aim of detecting offences under the Trades Descriptions Act 1968.