PS23211 Population Baseline Pilot Survey OPSS (RAF011/2324)

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) was created in January 2018 by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) now known as the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence.

OPSS wants to conduct a household survey which aims to gather data on the number of OPSS related products in people's homes. The survey will enable us to answer the question 'how many OPSS related products are in people's homes' directly, instead of relying on a proxy figure such as sales data. As an evidence-led organisation, it is important for OPSS to understand the markets for which it holds regulatory responsibility and subsequently for producing market analysis for purposes such as policy development, impact assessments, regulatory delivery and context setting in spending reviews. To produce an accurate and effective market analysis, it is essential to have access to information on the kind of products that are used by consumers in UK households and the buying patterns of consumers to understand the market in depth.

The aim of the survey is to directly support market analysis and feed into the following workstreams of OPSS: 1. In cases when a non-compliant or unsafe product is recalled, having a number on the population of the product will help estimate the impact on society. 2. Having data on the number of users, age of an item and frequency of use of an item is essential for conducting risk assessments. 3. The population number will also help OPSS understand the profile of users of certain products 4. Knowing the route of purchase (gift, direct purchase new, direct purchase second hand etc) is important for understanding the profile of the typical owners, some of whom might be at increased risk and vulnerable which will support our consumer awareness campaigns 5. We need further insights and breakdown of products on what is bought from online marketplaces for OPSS to ensure that people are buying safe products from online marketplaces 6. Detailed information on where items are bought will give us analytical power to delve deep into the sources of harm and break it down by source of purchase. 7. Important for risk assessment as the frequency of use and age of item will help inform risk probability as this is a calculation based on the life-time of a product.

We are seeking to understand market interest to potentially undertake a further competition W/C 17th September 2023.

Attached to this notice we have provided a full scope of services and some questions that we would be grateful for response to from interested parties.

Additional information: Responses to the Prior Information Notice document attached are requested no later than Friday, 08th September at 17:00.

Please return to [email protected].

Quoting Reference - PS23211 Population Baseline Pilot Survey OPSS (RAF011/2324).