Regulation of Face Coverings - Find a freedom of information request

Request for Chief of Trading Standards, I considered that my communication - both a provision of information to and request (under the FOIA) for information from the Council - may have been a little confusing for your FOI team to untangle. In order to avoid any undue delay in considering and responding to my communication I have attempted to clarify this below.

My email and pages 1 - 6 of 'FOIA - Regulation of Face Coverings' is a complaint to the Council's Trading Standards team, raising safety concerns with some types of face covering and other safety concerns affecting all types of face covering. I appreciate these concerns are national in scope, but these are breaches of legislation that the Council's Trading Standards team enforce. As the body responsible for considering and investigating unsafe products in the locality, it is important you are aware of these concerns and of the need to take appropriate measures.

Pages 7 - 9 of 'FOIA - Regulation of Face Coverings' was my request for records from the Council. For the reasons given under 'Clarification of FOI request' below I have re-drafted and reduced the questions and data request posed to the Council. The following replaces the original FOI request. I hope this is much clearer now.

Clarification of FOI request

I am inexperienced at making a FOI request and just noted this in the FOI guidance: 'Your request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, but the authority does not have to answer your question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded.'

The Council may not hold written records to provide a response to all of my questions. Naturally, my desire is to receive the answers to the questions - it is irrelevant to me whether you utilise the FOI mechanism or provide it voluntarily as part of handling my complaint. My preference would be to avoid you or myself trawling through records to answer what seems like simple questions for Trading Standards to answer. Therefore, can I make the following suggestion. Where possible, the Trading Standards officer who considers my complaint attempts to answer the following questions. For those questions that remain unanswered, I have included a request for records that seeks to obtain the same.

NB: 'face coverings' below refers to community face coverings and surgical face masks worn outside of healthcare activities, so not those defined as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or a medical device.

1. Is it true that anyone can set up a business in the UK to make or sell face coverings, without any prior requirement to demonstrate experience or knowledge of textiles or product safety laws to an independent body? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section.

2. Is it true that face coverings made in the UK are not required to be independently safety tested at the point of manufacture? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section.

3. Is it true that businesses can import face coverings into the UK from anywhere in the world, without a requirement for the importer to evidence their experience or knowledge of textiles or product safety laws to an independent body? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section.

4. Is it true that UK retailers are not required to provide trading standards with evidence of the safety of the face coverings they are retailing before they are made available to the public? If there is a legal requirement, please advise the relevant law and section

Only if Trading Standards has not answered questions 1-4, I would be grateful to receive a copy of the records relating to one retailer and one manufacturer where they have provided evidence to Trading Standards, detailing their experience or knowledge of textiles and product safety laws. You may remove the name/address of the business so they are not identifiable

5. In 2020, over 70,000 new companies registered to make or sell face coverings. There has been a rush by businesses to profit from the virus. Noting this and the sudden national need for face coverings, please can you confirm what steps the Council's Trading Standards team took to identify whether any new (and potentially inexperienced) businesses, operating in the area, began manufacturing or retailing face coverings after December 2019.

6. Noting that face coverings are associated with a risk of fainting, collapsed lung, cardiac arrest and death when undertaking physical activity (point 5 at Harms from Face Coverings), does consumer protection law require suitable warnings (e.g. in regards to physical exercise, driving or use of heavy machinery) to appear on the product?

Only if Trading Standards has not answered question 6, I would be grateful to receive a record of a communication Trading Standards has issued to three Face Covering manufacturers/suppliers regarding the need for Face Coverings to be accompanied by particular warnings or safety instructions. You may remove the name/address of the business so they are not identifiable

7. Please can you provide records (name and address) of local businesses that began manufacturing face coverings for the first time after December 2019 and whether a visit has been undertaken to that business to verify the safety of their face coverings.

8. Since April 2020, please can you confirm what actions the Council's Trading Standards team have taken to determine whether face coverings accessible to residents from websites with sellers from outside the European Union (e.g. Amazon, Alibaba and eBay etc) are safe?

Only if Trading Standards has not answered question 8, I would be grateful to receive a copy of any advice/warnings the Council has issued to the public about the potential dangers of particular types or brands of face covering or of buying these products from sellers on marketplace websites.

9. Please can you provide records of the number of samples of locally manufactured face coverings that the Council's Trading Standards team has sent for analysis. Please advise the results of that analysis, numbers containing harmful substances; what those substances were; action taken or planned to be taken. (Details of the company under investigation are not necessary, so the information is not protected by the FOIA 'commercial secrets' or 'criminal investigation' exemptions and may be disclosed). Please provide separate data for the periods April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - present.

10. How many samples of face coverings being locally retailed has the Council's Trading Standards team sent for analysis? Please provide separate data for the periods April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - present.

11. I note that following concerns by the Canadian health authorities, the Spanish Regulator took action regarding the face coverings of concern, suggesting an information exchange between countries. What information has Government provided to the Council about potentially harmful substances that may be contained on face coverings? Please provide a copy of such advice.

12. What guidance has Government provided Trading Standards on the necessity to conduct sampling of face coverings or particular substances to test for? Please provide a copy of that information and the date it was provided.

13. Since April 2020, what funds have been offered to, and what funds provided to, the Council's Trading Standards team from Government specifically to cover the cost of sampling face coverings?

Only if question 13 has not been answered, please provide a copy of any communications with the words 'face covering' or 'face mask' in combination with 'fund' or 'funding' in the same paragraph.

As part of Trading Standards' investigation into the safety of these products, I would be grateful if your department can:

a. Explore whether a ban on the manufacturer and/or marketing of face coverings to children 11 years and younger (i.e. younger than the age Government considered to be at clinical risk from the virus) is proportionate.

b. Noting the serious inherent safety concerns associated with these products, explore whether the purchase of face coverings should be restricted to adults (as shops do with alcohol and cigarettes). The enclosed safety concerns suggest that face coverings pose a greater risk to a 12-year old child's safety and well-being than watching a 15 age rated movie, which they are legally banned from purchasing.

c. Explore whether there ought to be some national agreement for prominent warnings to appear on masks about known risks e.g. collapsed lung, cardiac arrest and death during exercise; fainting whilst driving.

d. Explore whether there ought to be some national agreement for prominent warnings to appear on disposable masks until a given brand has been tested by a lab and given the 'all clear'. I would highlight that disposable face coverings are a different risk from, say, scarves and other clothing items one may use as a mask, as the hazardous substances found on masks are less likely to be found on clothing. Re-useable face coverings may pose less of a risk if a typical machine wash removes the various toxins that have been found on face coverings.

Government is creating Covid laws quickly so it ought to be possible to quickly legislate for this if there is a proven risk to children's health. As a minimum, national guidance can be quickly issued where appropriate.

I look forward to your earliest response and a reassurance that the enclosed concerns will be properly considered.

1. Yes.

2. Face coverings which are sold must meet the existing requirements of the General Product Safety Regulations (GPSRs) 2005. Further details can be found in the Office for Product and Safety Standards (OPSS) guidance for manufacturers and makers of face coverings.

3. Yes.

4. Yes.

5. Lincolnshire County Council undertook a sampling project looking at PPE in the form of masks and hand sanitiser. 23 samples were taken, seven relating to masks and 16 relating to hand sanitiser. Where non-compliance was identified the business was advised and brought into compliance. Where necessary, goods were removed from the market until compliant. Nationally intelligence concerning non-compliant products and businesses was shared with other Trading Standards Services and the Office of Product Safety daily.

6. Under GPSR warnings appropriate to the product must be given but Lincolnshire County Council are not aware that these are recognised issues, The Council have had no notification to that effect. The Council appreciate your concerns have been shared with the relevant government regulator for national safety matters, the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).

7. Lincolnshire County Council does not hold this information. Businesses are not required to register with The Council. Limited businesses must register with Companies House, however, it is not possible to identify all businesses relevant to this question from Companies House data. The registration data would not always be specific to the manufactured item(s).

8. This is not within Lincolnshire County Council’s jurisdiction. The Council cannot take enforcement action against businesses who do not have a UK presence. Amazon, eBay etc. are platforms not traders and are not directly responsible for the products listed).

9. Seven samples (consisting of 122 items) were taken of masks. All were internally analysed by Lincolnshire County Council, none were submitted to the Public Analyst for testing for harmful substances. Unsatisfactory results related product labelling.

10. Please see above.

11. Nothing to the best of The Council’s knowledge. Please refer to your response from the Office of Product Safety and Standards. Lincolnshire County Council are aware they have also received this FOI and are responding regarding national issues. They also operate the OPSS database for unsafe product alerts, received from all market surveillance authorities in the UK.

12. Please see above.

13. £0.

a. Not within Lincolnshire County Council’s remit to legislate. Please refer to your response from the Office of Product Safety and Standards.

b. Not within Lincolnshire County Council’s remit to legislate. Please refer to your response from the Office of Product Safety and Standards.

c. Not within Lincolnshire County Council’s remit to legislate. Please refer to your response from the Office of Product Safety and Standards.

d. Not within Lincolnshire County Council’s remit to legislate. Please refer to your response from the Office of Product Safety and Standards.