Sue Payne, having stepped down from the Chairmanship of NfCG explains that life this summer has not all been moving house and gin and tonics in the new garden:
When you stop being Chairman of NfCG people ask "What are you doing with all of that spare time?" Well I haven’t noticed much spare time because, happily, I have been asked to become involved in some new things. Perhaps the most interesting has meant this summer, during the heat wave, I was either shut in a darkened room studying or out travelling to visit one of five Trading Standards Departments in towns around the country.
I have been one of the Assessors in the Office of Fair Trading Excellence in Trading Standards Award Scheme. I, and my fellow assessors, have been working hard at ‘weighing-up’ the evidence and ‘measuring’ the accomplishments in order to offer a balanced view of each Department that applied.
At the Conference of the Institute of Trading Standards Administration in June 1996 the Director General of the Office of Fair Trading, John Bridgeman, announced the introduction of an award to recognise ‘Excellence in Trading Standards’. It is intended not only to reward Local Authorities which provide services of the highest quality, but also to raise the profile of Trading Standards work generally and encourage other Local Authorities to emulate the best.
Trading Standards Departments were invited to apply and demonstrate their ability to meet certain set criteria. The Criteria covered management, services, regulation and interaction. This includes the political and management areas of planning processes; resourcing and quality assurance systems; the important work of providing services to protect, advise, educate and inform consumers; also supporting, assisting, informing, and influencing the business community and policies to regulate business and working relationships with external bodies.
Fifteen Departments applied, not a high number from a possible 160, but many departments are in various stages of reorganisation so perhaps decided to wait a year.
The first stage was the assessment of the initial applications by two teams, three Chief Trading Standards Officers, now retired and three ‘others’, a chief executive, a businessman and a consumer representative. The second stage was a visit to each Department by one of each team. This enabled Assessors to question further and meet the staff and view facilities.
A final meeting of the two teams was held to discuss overall scores, good practices and varying styles. The Assessment Teams provided comment and recommendations to the Selection Panel.
The Selection Panel included Deirdre Hutton of the Scottish Consumer Council, Ann Abrahams of the Citizens Advice Bureau, Harold Gay of the Boos company, Ron Taylor of the British Chambers of Commerce and Richard Thomas of Clifford Chance, the legal company. They will make the final recommendation to the Director General and a presentation will take place in the Autumn. Look out for the winners announcement knowing that NfCG was closely involved in the assessment process.
Whilst visiting the Departments it was interesting to note how local community involvement is encouraged. Where Consumer Groups exist they are valued as offering a valid view of local circumstances. Several of the ‘best practices’ which the Assessors noted were instances of priorities formed by and with local people to aid consumer protection.
Sue Payne
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