Agenda item

This report provides Members with information concerning the proposed level of fees and charges to be made by the Brent & Harrow Trading Standards Service during 2023/24.

The Boardreceived areport presentedby Simon Legg (Head of Regulatory Service, Brent Council) which detailed the proposed level of fees and charges to be made by the Service during the 2023/2024 financial year.

In accordance with paragraph 13(f) of the Consortium Agreement between the London Borough of Brent and the London Borough of Harrow, the Joint Advisory Board “should consider and make recommendations on the level of fees and charges to be made to the public in respect of any part of the service, for consideration by whoever is authorised to make fees and charges decisions by each respective council’s constitution.”

According to Brent Council’s Fees and Charges policy, the Strategic Director had delegated powers, in conjunction with the Chief Executive, to vary fees in certain circumstances. This was without the need to bring reports before Cabinet or other decision making bodies. When appropriate circumstances provided, the Service shall utilise the policy to maximise income opportunities.

Brent was the host authority for the Consortium. Therefore, the fee structure and charges were applied at the same level to each borough.

Trading Standards fees fell into the following categories:

1)    Statutory fees (set by legislation, although some offered discretion to

vary the amount up to a maximum value);

2)    Retail Price Index (RPI) linked fees (agreed previously by Brent’s Executive); and

3)    Discretionary fees (there was discretion to vary the value charged).

Statutory fees were set nationwide by the Government. Generally, local authorities had no discretion to change the fees. Although on occasions, the legislation would permit a fee to be set locally up to a maximum value. Due to the fluctuating, and high inflation rates, fees had increased by 7.5%, rather than the RPI. It is predicted that inflation will come down during this year.

The following issues were then raised by members of the Board in response to thereport:

§  Who the service users were, and whether the revenue from fees and charges was deposited separately between the two boroughs;

§  Whether the fees were charged on time spent by staff in dealing with cases;

§  If premises selling fire-works had increased or decreased;

§  Whether there were any under-age sales of fire-works reported; and

§  Whether the financial investigative fee also applied to the London Borough of Harrow, and if this had changed in the recent past. How was the Service’s Proceeds of Crime/Financial Investigation work being paid for, particularly in relation to Harrow?

In response, Officers advised as follows:

§  Some service-users were retailers, as well as a mix of other businesses within the two boroughs and outside. There was a clear split of fees collected, and deposited, between Harrow and Brent and these were separately budgeted for between each borough team ;

§  Fees and charges were calculated at an hourly rate of staff time;

§  The number of premises selling fire-works was usually about  the same from year to year. Some had annual licenses, whilst others could have 5 year licences. About 20 premises in Harrow had licences to sell fire-works;

§  There were about 30 cases of under-age sales test purchases of fire-works, and a breakdown could be provided at the next meeting; and

§  Two years ago, Harrow had requested for a significant cut to cover the cost of investigations for the Service’s Proceeds of Crime/Financial Investigation work. Brent was now paying the full officer costs which is the reason for Harrow now no longer being able to access this service without agreeing to fund the work. Updates could be provided at future meetings on how this could re-arranged. A previous Board report encouraging Harrow to make better use of the Service’s Financial Investigations team, would be shared with members after the meeting.

Having considered the report, the Board RESOLVED to note the fees and charges for 2023-2024.