Council meeting In this feature l commercial opportunities l chartered status l upcoming events An open dialogue TSI chairman Mark McGinty welcomed council members and guests to TSIs autumn council meeting in London. Louise Baxter presents the highlights of the many discussions that took place N ew chairman of the TSI board, Carol Brady, gave a summary of her objectives at the autumn council meeting, which took place at theHilton hotel, in London Docklands, inOctober. Brady spoke about business awareness, and how we can make the commercial side of our organisation more focused. She referred to Andy Fosters departure from the institute, praising his commitment over the past five years and discussed the creation of two new roles that will be involved with the board and the council: policy director and commercial director. Mark McGinty, TSI chairman, on council Chief executives update discussions covering TSI chief executive Leon Livermore gave his update, focusing on Local Government Regulation (LGR), the Liverpool judicial review, and making TSI more cohesive and inclusive. Livermore highlighted a policy gap around legal opinions and guidance. While TSI will not be replacing LGRs function with a like-forlike model, he recognises that TSI has responsibility for business advice and interpretation of the legislation, and will now offer formal opinions on certain areas, in the best interest of members. Tap to listen chartered status and how TSI is organised Upcoming events Livermore also gave an update on the Young Consumers of the Year competition, which is getting a new-look final away from TSI Conference to be staged in London. The hope is that this will generate additional sponsors and press coverage, and encourage a larger number of students to take part. National Consumer Week went live on 3 November, with the message: Good Neighbours Stop Rogue Traders. There is also a lot of work going on to organise next years Scams Awareness Month, to engage consumer groups and fit it in around the election. Livermore revealed that 700 people got involved with the National Trading Standards Conversation, and showed that a broad range of MPs are now engaging with the institute. Efforts continue to be made to connect with others, and inform them of the work of trading standards. debaTeS The Liverpool judicial review Breakout sessions sparked debate The review has revealed that there is a real lack of understanding about the statutory functions of local trading standards of which there are 250. Attention has been focused on one in particular the duty to have due regard for vulnerable consumers under the Unfair Commercial PracticesDirective. There was detailed discussion at the meeting about creating a cohesive blueprint of What consumer protection looks like in the UK; this approach was supported by council. Full minutes of the meeting can be found here. Credits Published Louise Baxter manages the National 25 November, 2014 on: l What does council want from the executive and the board? l Chartered status, and how to proceed in future, now this has been achieved l Behaviours and expectations of council representatives To share this page, click on in the toolbar Trading Standards Scams Team. Images: Igor Kisselev / Shutterstock TS TODAY "