Plenary 1 Conference 2015

In this feature l restructure l workforce survey l local government CONFERENCE 2015 The right move? Question time sparked fierce debate among delegates and panellists alike when CTSIs plans for the restructuring of trading standards were discussed during the opening session. Carina Bailey reports C TSIs proposed restructure of trading standards dominated the debate during the opening plenary at Bournemouth International Centre last month. Melissa Dring, policy director at CTSI, told delegates that the profession, in its current form, was broken, with some services operating with just one part-time officer. Everyone in the room knows the figures: our Workforce Survey last year showed a 40 per cent average cut in trading standards services and a 45 per cent cut in staff and those figures are a year old, Dring said. We have seen ever-worse cuts to trading standards across the UK. Liverpool is just one authority [which has made deep cuts] there are plenty of other authorities going through the same issues. Dring said this has led to a postcode lottery across the country, with some areas better served by trading standards than others. Yes, the system is broken, she concluded. Other panellists, however, argued that the system is creaking, but not yet dysfunctional. Pete Moorey a consumer champion at Which?, disagreed with Drings perception of the profession: From a trading standards perspective, it certainly feels like its starting to break, but I wouldnt go as far as to say its broken right now. We see, on a weekly basis, trading standards taking some fantastic action against firms clearly breaking the rules, butthere are also many occasions when we find action is not being taken where we feel it should be. Facilitator: Leon Livermore, However, Moorey felt it was more important to grasp how the CTSI chief executive consumer landscape is organised in the next six months to a year, rather than debate a restructure of the profession. Panellists: Andy Foster, director of regulatory services at Capita, said it was Melissa Dring, CTSI policy important to look at the context: Theres almost a perfect storm director l Pete Moorey, of falling central government funding at the same time as rising head of campaigns and demand, particularly as the adult population is getting older. lead spokesperson for [Trading standards] probably still is working as we sit here right Which? l Sophie Linden, now. But how do we prevent future demand and reduce operating deputy mayor of Hackney, costs? Is there anything we are missing? Efficiencies we havent with responsibility for crime and anti-social behaviour, thought of yet? families, human resources During the debate, one delegate described as utterly and legal and democratic fanciful CTSIs expectation that there would be any form of services. She is also a member reorganisation of local government in the current financial of the Local Government climate, and asked: Have we done enough to engage local Associations safer communities members? board l Andy Foster, director of The question of narrative and relevance to a local authoritys regulatory services, Capita priorities appeared key to delegates and some panellists, with one questioners point receiving a round of applause: Shouldnt we be forming stories about what trading standards does and what it means, locally and nationally? Were jumping to structures and finances, and thats worrying for me. I think we should be speaking about relevance. We are part of the national policing system. Its a really important local discussion to understand that it affects the national system. To have a vibrant economy, we need to explain the national policing system for regulation across the country; we cant have a postcode lottery. The questioner cited food fraud as an example of where resilience was needed, nationally. He told CTSIs Dring and Leon Livermore, Andy Foster (above) and Sophie Linden (right) Leon Livermore, CTSI chief executive, explains the idea behind the institutes new vision for the profession theinstitutes chief executive and plenary facilitator, that he thought their focus should be on forming the story about trading standards relevance to the national economy and making that case to central and local government. He said: If weve not got the fire service or the police, then weve got chaos. Trading standards is part of that national system, and Id like to see that story told in a much better way, to give people here the tools to go back and fight for those services. In answer, Dring said it was something that CTSI already does with stakeholders and the government, but stressed the difficulty in forming a narrative that covers 250 pieces of legislation, particularly when priorities differ between each local authority. However, she conceded that telling the story of trading standards relevance to local authority priorities was perhaps something we do need to pay a bit more attention to and we would make a plea for you to do that with all your councillors, too. Sophie Linden, deputy mayor of Hackney and a member of the Local Government Associations (LGAs) safer communities board, told the audience that central government shouldnt be imposing a structure on local government particularly in this era of devolution. She added: Itisnt just about trading standards; its about consumer protection as a whole. Linden said that, in the LGAs eyes, regulatory services expertise would still be required, but it believed that, in the future, there would be more generic roles at a local level. For businesses, anumber of different professionals coming through the door for an individual trader is an incredible challenge to meet, she added. Moorey agreed that a much stronger narrative needed to be formed to show the relevance of trading standards to a persons life, to enable them to see the bigger picture before a debate about the structure of trading standards could even begin. Ring-fenced funding was also put forward as an option by the British Retail Consortium to protect the funding of Primary Authority schemes, but Linden warned delegates that ring-fencing strikes fear in local authorities hearts. This was why she found CTSIs new vision concerning, because it would reintroduce into local authority budgets more central and regional control of where money is spent. Defending CTSIs proposed vision, Dring reminded delegates of thestrategic importance of having trading standards leaders sitting at theright level within a local authority, so that they can influence the budget-setters and decision-makers. She said: In some larger authorities, where heads of service sit at a higher tier, it may be easier to get access to your elected members but, in some authorities, the head of service is a team leader sitting at tier six, which makes it very, very difficult to project these messages up to your lead members. Dring also cited a survey of portfolio holders that found each and every one of them placed trading standards at the bottom of their list of priorities of unprotected services. Livermore told delegates that he knew writing the vision was a risk: One-third of our membership dont like our vision we knew that when we wrote it. But we need to move forward with the majority, while giving a voice to the minority. All we are doing is asking a question. Im not sure the vision is 100 per cent the right answer, but its trying to move the debate forward. During the four-day Conference, Livermore and Dring made themselves available at CTSIs stand in the exhibition hall to answer questions on the institutes proposed restructure of trading standards. Melissa Dring (above) and Pete Moorey (left) wErE STILL STANDINg Baroness Christine Crawley opened from further financial pain. She said: Its up conference by celebrating the fact that to us to grasp this opportunity to form as trading standards is still standing, after five proactive a relationship as possible with tough years of budget cuts and heavy the new government. Weve got to press our staff losses before issuing a warning to cause that the future cannot reflect the government that the profession will not past five years. roll over to further cuts. After the General Election in May, which Baroness Crawley said budget cuts and the loss of half the workforce had left the brought about a new, all-Conservative profession in jeopardy, and described government, Baroness Crawley gave a CTSIs new vision a proposed restructure rallying call to trading standards officers to of the profession as a plan to create a seize the chance to save their profession sustainable future for trading standards. Credits Published You might also like Carina Bailey is editor of TS Today. Monday 3 August, 2015 Consumer Affairs and Trading Standards Images: Sam Atkins Conference and Exhibition 2014 August 2014 To share this page, click on in the toolbar Rewind. Reset. Restart, cover story, Page 18 of TS Review, May 2015.