The Impact of Local Authority Trading Standards in Challenging Times
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THE IMPACT OF LOCAL AUTHORITY TRADING STANDARDS IN CHALLENGING TIMES Research Report by John Raine, Catherine Mangan and Peter Watt. University of Birmingham Institute of Local Government Studies Commissioned by The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and The Trading Standards Institute MARCH 2015 Contents Summary................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4 What is the current state of trading standards? ................................................... 4 Assessing the value of trading standards interventions ....................................... 7 Conclusions and recommendations ..................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Background ........................................................................................ 12 Chapter 2: The State of Trading Standards in 2014 ............................................. 16 The Diminishing Resource Base for Local Authority Trading Standards ........... 16 The Pursuit of Greater Efficiency and Effectiveness .......................................... 23 Towards More Collaborative Working – The Drivers and the Obstacles. ........... 26 New Service Priorities ........................................................................................ 31 Supporting Business to Ensure Compliance ...................................................... 33 Measuring and Evaluating the Impact of Trading Standards Work .................... 34 Chapter 3: Policy Contexts and Conceptual Perspectives. ................................... 37 Business Advice ................................................................................................ 39 Food Standards ................................................................................................. 41 Animal Health and Welfare ................................................................................ 43 Product Safety ................................................................................................... 44 Metrology ........................................................................................................... 45 Doorstep Crime .................................................................................................. 47 Age-Restricted Sales ......................................................................................... 49 E-Crime ............................................................................................................. 50 Chapter 4: Applying the Logic Model to the Case Studies ................................... 52 Overview Case-Study No. 1 .............................................................................. 52 Overview Case-Study No. 2 .............................................................................. 62 Overview Case-Study No. 3. ............................................................................. 71 Overview Case-Study No. 4. ............................................................................. 78 Specialist Case-Study No. 1: Business Advice. ................................................. 81 Specialist Case-Study No. 2: Food Standards. .................................................. 86 2 Specialist Case-Study No. 3: Animal Health and Welfare .................................. 91 Specialist Case-Study No. 4: Product Safety. .................................................... 94 Specialist Case-Study No. 5: Metrology. ......................................................... 101 Specialist Case-Study No. 6: Doorstep Crime ................................................. 105 Specialist Case-Study No. 7: Age-Restricted Sales. ........................................ 109 Specialist Case-Study No. 8: E-Crime ............................................................. 113 Chapter 5: Assessing the Value of Trading Standards’ Activities ....................... 122 Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................ 128 References .......................................................................................................... 143 Acknowledgements This has been a most fascinating and absorbing research project to undertake, and we would like to express our gratitude to ours sponsors, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Trading Standards Institute (TSI). In particular, our thanks go to Joanna Rodin and Alex Lochead of BIS and Melissa Dring of TSI for their positive support and encouragement throughout the project. We are also extremely grateful for the input of our colleague, Abena D’Adze Arthur with regard to the review of literature, and also of Simon Wilkes and Margaret Humphreys of the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers (ACTSO) in relation to the organisation of the national survey of trading standards departments. We have also greatly appreciated the contributions of the many other trading standards personnel who helped us in the course of the research, both by responding to the survey and, in the case of the twelve case-study departments, by welcoming us on our visits and sharing their time and expertise with us in the interviews we conducted. We hope that our report does justice to all such contributions and that it proves helpful to the continuing development and good work of trading standards services. Any errors of fact, misunderstandings or misinterpretations in the succeeding pages are ours alone. John Raine, Catherine Mangan and Peter Watt. 3 Summary Introduction This research report was commissioned jointly by the UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) with the following terms of reference: 1. To paint a clearer picture of the benefits that trading standards work contributes to local and national priorities and its benefits to the public purse; 2. To develop a logic model of trading standards processes; 3. To develop case studies that describe and estimate the benefits of trading standards services; 4. To build an evidence base on the impact of budget cuts to local trading standards services in recent years; 5. To test the efficiency and effectiveness of trading standards services across England, Scotland and Wales; and 6. To identify any current or potential future enforcement gaps. The research involved the conduct of a national survey of trading standards departments across England, Scotland and Wales to which 127 responses were received, and detailed follow-up work with twelve departments selected as case- studies – four of which covered the full range of functions being undertaken while the other eight each focused on a particular function (business advice, food standards, animal health and welfare, product safety, metrology, doorstep crime, age-restricted sales, and e-crime.) What is the current state of trading standards? Six key themes arose from the survey and case studies: 1. The Diminishing Resource Base for Local Authority Trading Standards. 2. The Pursuit of Greater Efficiency and Effectiveness. 3. Towards More Collaborative Working - The Drivers and the Obstacles. 4. New Service Priorities. 5. Supporting Business and Ensuring Compliance 6. The Measurement and Evaluation of Impact 1. The Diminishing Resource Base for Local Authority Trading Standards • Over the past few years almost all trading standards departments have experienced sharp cuts in their budgets and most now operate with about half the number of staff that they employed five years ago. 4 • Sizable variations were noted in unit costs between different trading standards departments, with the figures for Scottish departments all being significantly higher than those for their English counterparts, and those in Wales were also slightly higher. Unsurprisingly unit costs were found to be highest in the lesser populated and more geographically extensive local authority areas while the costs for some of the UK’s largest population centres (or where two neighbouring departments were working together through a shared service arrangement) were among the lowest, suggesting the prevalence of economies of scale. • The contraction in budgets and staffing levels have led to changed ways of working and priorities and a reduced portfolio which has resulted in areas stopping various special initiatives, such as the administration of ‘proof of age’ and ‘approved trader’ schemes, reduced product testing and fewer enforcement projects. • There has been a shift from proactivity and prevention to a more reactive and responsive approach. The tradition of routine inspections and sampling work to check compliance levels among businesses has largely given way to a work pattern that is much more driven by referred complaints from consumers and other intelligence reports. • There has been much loss of expertise and experience through voluntary redundancy programmes, departments have lost much of their resilience, and there is less emphasis on specialisation, with most staff working more flexibly together. • A combination of the above has led to a relatively weak, and probably diminishing, profile of trading standards, both within the public eye and within the local authority context. 2. The Pursuit of Greater Efficiency and Effectiveness. Departments have taken a range of approaches to achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness, including: • service change, • redefining