Agenda item
Trading Standards Annual report 2015/16
This report details the work of the Trading Standards Consortium for 2015/16.
Minutes:
Simon Legg, Service Manager, introduced the Annual Report, which summarised the work and outcomes achieved by Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service (The Trading Standards Consortium) for the financial year 2015/16.
The officer updated the Board on work undertaken in the past year and particular attention was drawn to the following:
- two formal complaints of dissatisfaction had been received about the Service which was a low figure in view of the high number of transactions carried out by the Service each year. One complaint was from a trader who is subject to a Court trial in January 2017;
- the officers were trying to engage more with the business community in both Councils in connection with the national Primary Authority Scheme by means of a link on the website, advertising and an article in the NWL business newsletter. Although three new businesses had been recruited to the scheme, there had been an overall reduction in the number of hours worked under the scheme compared to the previous year. This had partly been caused by existing Primary Authority customers not requiring much longer term support once an initial period of work had been completed;
- three members of staff had achieved the status of Chartered Trading Standards Practitioner, at that time an award obtained by just seven officers in London. It was reported that one of the qualified staff was due to leave the Service having accepted employment with another London Borough;
- 15 confiscation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act totalling £1,721,773 had been secured in 2015/16 which was much higher than the previous year’s total of £445,387
Members asked questions about content of the report and the officer responded as follows:
- landlord license schemes had been implemented in two wards in Harrow and an extension to the scheme was under consideration. Trading Standards officers attend the Harrow Landlord Forum but not the one in Brent which had a different format although the officer was willing to support and attend the group’s next meeting;
- training regarding the new Consumer Rights Act was provided at no cost to the consortium other than officer time as this was hosted nationally by the Trading Standards Institute.. Two successful bids had been made to London Trading Standards last year to fund a general criminal law update training course in addition to specific training in the subject area of the new cosmetic safety regulations;
- with regard to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), contact had been made with Harrow’s planning service to encourage an increased use of the legislation and the consortium’s financial investigators and there had been a significant imbalance regarding the number of cases arising for investigation from each borough. One current Harrow investigation was continuing but difficulty had been experienced in identifying assets or where legitimate money had been mixed with illegal funds which could result in no confiscation order taking place;
- Brent had made good progress with regard to the control of shisha and illicit tobacco seizures/prosecutions, including use of a specially trained sniffer dog to search businesses hiding illegal tobacco. There was concern that prosecutions in Brent had resulted in the offenders trading in neighbouring areas as evidenced by an increase in numbers in Harrow. A joint workshop had been held with traders in Brent and Harrow to raise the awareness of the rules and how businesses must comply with the law. Traders were warned that after a suitable interval to make the required changes enforcement would take place. Work in Brent was being replicated in Harrow with regard to planning breaches for outside structures, smoking in an enclosed space, and recognition that the shisha itself was not classified as anything different to cigarettes;
- with regard to the Harrow trader who had received a third warning in three years, sanctions available included reviewing the conditions of the licence or revoking the alcohol premises licences. It was noted that traders considered sale of illegal tobacco and alcohol as low risk activity which increased profits and therefore took a chance. In order to revoke a licence, it was necessary to prove to the Licensing Panel that the terms of the licence had been breached and that the action was appropriate as it was a major step to remove a licence. Intelligence was shared with other regulatory teams to enable breaches in different areas to be followed up.
The officer was thanked for an informative and interesting report which highlighted the diverse range of duties performed by the Trading Standards team..
RESOLVED: That the report be noted.
Supporting documents: