Agenda item

Presentation of the Cabinet Member for Communities

The Cabinet Member for Economic Growth introduced the presentation on the Staffordshire Trading Standards Service on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Communities. The County Commissioner, Regulatory Services and Community Safety then updated Members on the Service, which worked to protect the citizens, business, and environment of Staffordshire from harm and to ensure statutory obligations were fulfilled. Whilst the Service was responsible for the enforcement of over 260 pieces of legislation, 25 of these were key pieces that supported Council priorities. The work was intelligence led which enabled focused and best use of resources.

The Service worked with a number of partners including Health, Safeguarding teams, Police, HMRC, Regional and National Trading Standards (NTS), District and Borough Councils. Areas of work included:

·         protecting vulnerable adults from scams and rogue traders;

·         prosecuting frauds and doorstep criminals;

·         protecting children from age restricted products;

·         keeping citizens safe from dangerous goods and services;

·         animal health and welfare;

·         ensuring food is described correctly with safe ingredients; and

·         supporting business and policing a fair and competitive trade environment.

The Service had a budget of £1.7m and last year generated an income of 11% of the budget. External funding opportunities through, for example, NTS and Defra were explored, with an example shared where Defra jointly funded a TB related case to support prosecution. The Service also took the opportunity to seize PoCA monies (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002) which, where successful, enabled the Service to receive a proportion of the seized funds. Members noted that this funding was against a backdrop of a £648,000 MTFS reduction to the service since 2016.

On measuring the Service’s impact during 2018/19, £3,658,000 detriment for victims had been prevented. There had been: 40 successful prosecutions; 1,248,464 illegal products prevented from entering the market; 54 food related breaches, including allergens; 800 businesses had requested and received advice, resulting in a 98% rate of compliance; and intel led test purchasing resulting in 45% tobacco failure and 21% alcohol.

When measuring outcomes 53% of victims felt safer in their home following interventions from the Service. £43,000 had been saved for 36 scam victims over the year. 20 call blocker devices had been fitted and been successful in eliminating unwanted calls. The Service had been responsible for 11% of all the positive County Council media coverage during 2018/19. They had 100% successful high-profile prosecutions and had saved over twice the amount of the cost of the Service, and Members heard details of some of these. During 2018/19 £77,000 had been received as a result of PoCA.

The Select Committee queried what follow-up was undertaken with businesses found to sell tobacco, alcohol and knives illegally to those underage. Businesses were allowed one mistake before being prosecuted. Members heard that the Service worked closely with Police and HMRC, with the Police leading on most investigations.

Online checks for knife purchase in Staffordshire had resulted in one knife being bought from a chain store, which was being address by the key Trading Standards Authority for that chain store. The Select Committee were informed that Croydon Trading Standards had targeted work in this area, with a number of successful prosecutions. Interestingly outside of Croydon level of sentencing were not mirrored and the sentence guideline team had been contacted to help achieve more consistent approach.

Members queried the impact of closing the in-house testing laboratory last year and heard that Staffordshire had spent £15,000 on sampling, which was slightly less than they had in the previous year. The Kent and Hampshire laboratory had been used for some food sampling, particularly around allergens, and Worcester had been used for toy safety testing.

The Select Committee noted that prior to prosecution the Staffordshire County Council legal team would consider proposed cases and determine whether there was enough evidence to take the case forward. In cases where they found this not to be the case the Service would look at what other possible charges could be brought.

The use of intelligence to target the work of the Service effectively was welcomed by Members. Staffordshire Trading Standards Service was part of the regional and central trading standards authorities and used the work of the regional analyst in helping to target their work. Information sharing arrangements were in place with partner organisations and Staffordshire Trading Standards Officers were also part of the Trading Standards Regional Intelligence Group.

Members noted the funding gained from PoCA and, though this was impressive, they asked whether all opportunities for being awarded this funding were taken. Whilst more could always be done there was a need to be reasonably confident that funding would be awarded before the process was followed. Financial investigation work was undertaken to establish if there was a case, with this work either undertaken on an hourly rate or as a percentage of the final settlement, depending and the nature of the work and the type of settlement likely to be awarded.

The success of call-blocker devises was excellent, and Members wanted to explore ways to extend their use. Trading Standards had a number of devises they loaned for a period of time to individuals who were suffering from persistent scam phone calls. A range of similar devises were available to buy at a cost of around £100 and it was suggested that the use of these devices should be promoted. The Cabinet Member agreed to raise this with the Cabinet Member for Communities.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    the content of the presentation be noted and Staffordshire Trading Standards Service be congratulated on their impressive work; and

b)    the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth be asked to raise the promotion and awareness raising of call blocker devices with the Cabinet Member for Communities.