Regulatory Services Best Value Review

Options for new Projects

1) Purchase and staffing of a roadshow trailer.

This could be used for various purposes including:

· promotional roadshow to shopping centres, retail parks, etc. to raise the profile of the County Council and Trading Standards services in particular, and provide the public with educational information on consumer issues. It could also be used to target groups of the community currently not reached, such as young people and those who work full time.

· attendance at current events such as Junior Citizen, Electric Blanket Testing, Car Seat Safety Checks

· providing consumer education to the Key Stage 2 pupils (7-11 years) who are not currently covered by Junior Citizen as their schools do not participate

· providing a mobile advice service to get to the hard to reach areas such as New Forest.

2) House of Horrors

To tie in with intelligence-led enforcement proposals for the Fair Trading team and to help address concerns arising from the Citizens Panel. Consideration could be given to setting up a house of horrors and requesting visits from trade sectors and tradesmen that cause the most level of complaint. This could be work such as boiler servicing, repairs to electrical goods, plumbing and drains work. Visits could also be covertly requested from Buy With Confidence members as an additional check on the service they provide following their admittance to the scheme.

Two officers from Hampshire Trading Standards Service recently visited the House of Horrors set up by Surrey Trading Standards in order to learn from their experiences. Surrey TS have estimated that a 6 month long project cost approximately £25000. This, however, included renting a private property for a minimum of 6 months at a cost of £1000. Surrey made 71 appointments for traders to call, 52 of them turned up and 1 in 4 companies committed criminal offences. Further information can be provided should it be required.

3) Image Gen Software Reporting.

Hampshire Trading Standards enforces legislation that tries to prevent traders from acting as private individuals in order to avoid their liabilities under civil law. A consumer does not have the same civil rights if they buy goods from a private individual as opposed to a trade or business. This is an aspect of criminal legislation that has not been proactively enforced due its resource intensity. The car trade is the main sector where traders routinely pose as private individuals who operate from home. However, this project could also include those dealing in electrical goods, counterfeit goods, baby goods, etc. In many pieces of legislation that this Service enforces there is an onus to show that a person is acting in the course of a trade or business in order to prove any offence.

The Image Gen Reporting System is a hardware/software mechanism that helps identify those traders who pose as private individuals. Its initial cost is expensive. Whilst £30,000 would go long way toward this, other funding would have to be secured, e.g. from the Department of Trade and Industry or partner organisations. The on-going costs would primarily be staffing. The system does have income capabilities could be offered for use by other Trading Standards authorities, Inland Revenue, HM Customs and Excise, Benefits Agency, Police. Income could be generated on a regular contractual basis or a one off basis. Further information on this product can be provided if required.

4) Protecting the vulnerable with emphasis on the older person.

To fund a projects officer to warn older people and other vulnerable individuals of the dangers of doorstep sellers and rogue traders. The officer will work in partnership with the District Community Safety Partnerships, including the Police, Neighbourhood Watch and others to ensure that clear message gets across to the vulnerable older people to put them on their guard. This new role would promote the Buy with Confidence Scheme, the Safe and Sound Booklet and build on the successful pilot initiative of the New Milton Doorstep Sellers Scheme.

5) Under-age Sales and Product Safety

The Trading Standards Safety team protects the health and welfare of young people by ensuring compliance with laws on under-age sales. These include cigarettes, alcohol, videos, fireworks, solvents and butane gas lighters. Solvent abuse causes more than one death a week, mainly in the 14 to 18 age group - five times greater than deaths related to ecstasy. Butane gas lighters are the biggest cause of deaths. Recent checks by Trading Standards found one in three shops selling butane gas refills to 16 year olds. The age limit is 18. The Service operates a Responsible Tobacconist scheme, with 150 business members, that trains retailers and staff to prevent sales of tobacco to children. Every day 400 children start smoking in the UK. An additional member of staff would enable the scheme to be extended across the county and developed to include all age-restricted products, including solvents. The extra resource would also help to check compliance with age restrictions on the sale of lottery tickets and knives; an area not enforced at present in Hampshire.

6) Develop the Lifesmart Educational Package for all key stage 2 pupils (aged 7 to 11)

This would again put Hampshire at the forefront of Consumer Education for schools. The ideal provision as suggested by the Education service would be twofold -

· An "educational experience" which would be taken to all primary and junior schools each year.

· A package, similar to the existing Lifesmart package, for this age group. This would support the above and would specify which activities could be done before and after the Experience. It would include -

1. Background information for teachers covering the basic facts.

2. Activities based on IT.

3. Interactive experiences that can be worked on in groups of three or four children.