TRADING STANDARDS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Trading Standards professionals have given a cautious welcome 
to a report published today by the Accounts Commission that 
encourages Scottish councils to join up their trading standards 
services.  The report is the end product of an independent 
audit by external auditors on the performance of all 32 trading 
standards services in Scotland.

Chair of the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in 
Scotland Bill Cassie, says 
"We are pleased to see that that the audits have not thrown up 
any glaring examples of poorly performing services, and are 
delighted to see the Commission highlighting many examples of 
best practice, including some first-class examples of collaborative 
working.  However, we also recognise that many smaller services 
struggle to deliver the range of services needed by local businesses 
and consumers.  Hopefully, those authorities in particular will pay 
close attention to the conclusions of the report and set about finding 
local solutions to the problem of delivering good quality trading 
standards services to their communities.  But the larger authorities 
also cannot afford to ignore the report as it reveals that there are 
some real and substantial inequalities in the level of finance and 
other resources put into the service.  On its own joining-up services 
will not bring about the necessary improvement.  It needs to be 
accompanied by a lot of new resource going into what is a small, 
but vitally important service."

Among the examples of good collaborative working identified in the 
report are -

* The Scottish Motor Vehicle Testing Unit, a joint venture between 12 
councils to help drive up standards in the car industry and catch 
the rogues through forecourt checks of used cars and mystery shopping 
of MOT and car repairs and servicing
* The Weighbridge Test Unit operated by a consortium of 16 authorities 
that is capable of testing weighbridges up to 60 tonnes in capacity
* An E-commerce training initiative between 16 councils and the Scottish 
Enterprise Network that helped over 1000 businesses to learn about the 
legal requirements for on-line trading

Ron Gainsford, Chief Executive of the Trading Standards Institute, the 
professional body for trading standards echoes the call to authorities 
to consider and act upon the report.  He says "Trading Standards is a 
small service but has a high impact on the everyday lives and success 
of consumers and businesses. To operate efficiently it needs the right 
level of resource going into it.  Yes, by all means let's make better 
use of the small pot of money that is there at present - as professionals 
we would all support that aim.  However, to drive up the quality and 
consistency of services, and give professional officers the right tools 
to do the job, we need to see substantial new investment by local and 
central government in trading standards.  For too many years now new 
burdens have been put on trading standards without new resource to 
support the work."