Agenda and draft minutes
PDF 98 KBVenue: County Hall, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 1UA
Contact: Ben Cullimore 020 8213 2782
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
To receive any apologies for absence and substitutions. Minutes: There were no apologies.
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 28 MARCH 2019
To agree the minutes of the previous meeting. Minutes: The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting.
The minutes were signed by the Chairman.
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter:
(i) Any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or (ii) Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this meeting NOTES:
· Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest · As well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is living as a spouse or civil partner) · Members with a significant personal interest may participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial Minutes: There were none. |
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PROCEDURAL ITEMS
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Members' Questions
The deadline for Members’ questions is 12pm four working days before the meeting (19 September 2019). Minutes: There were none. |
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Public Questions
The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (18 September 2019). Minutes: There were none. |
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Petitions
The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting and none have been received. Minutes: There were none. |
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FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
The Committee is asked to review and agree its Forward Work Programme. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest:
There were none.
Key points from the discussion:
RESOLVED: The Committee agreed the Forward Work Programme.
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ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER
The tracker allows Joint Committee Members to monitor responses, actions and outcomes against their recommendations or requests for further actions. The tracker is updated following each Joint Committee meeting. Once an action has been completed and reported to the Joint Committee, it will be removed from the tracker. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest:
There were none.
Key points from the discussion:
RESOLVED: The Committee agreed the actions tracker.
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PERFORMANCE AND JOINT SERVICE BUDGET
The Joint Committee is asked to note the performance of the service for the financial year from April 2018 to March 2019, and quarter one of the current financial year from April 2019 to June 2019. The information provided covers performance against the seven high level indicators agreed by this Joint Committee and in relation to the service budget. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest: There were none.
Witnesses: Amanda Poole, Assistant Head of Trading Standards Steven Ruddy, Head of Trading Standards
Key points from the discussion:
1. Officers introduced the report and provided a brief summary. Members noted the following points:
· The report related to the performance for 2018/19 plus the performance for Q1 of 2019/20. · All the key performance indicators (KPIs) with numerical targets were met in 2018/19. · The other key performance indicators showed how well the service was performing against priority areas. · A wide volatility range was evident in KPI 2 – Protect residents by stopping rogue traders operating in Buckinghamshire and Surrey.
2. In regards to KPI 2, Members asked if the trend was seasonally driven. Officers stated that it was not seasonally driven; some offences happened all year round whereas for some there was a slight seasonal variation e.g. the spring time showed a rise, however this did not correlate to the outcomes after investigation and the court process as there is wide variation in how long this takes. Members stated it would be useful to have a chart showing when an issue took place and when it was brought to trial to see if there was pattern of offending. The officer explained that an increasing number of cases tended to have multiple elements such as fraud and money laundering.
3. The number of volunteer hours had increased in 2018/19 and was high in Q1 of 2019/20. The officers had been in discussion with the Fire Service in Surrey with the aim of encouraging further volunteer engagement. Surrey County Council posted volunteering roles as a job opportunity and found that volunteers who were engaged tended to return, particularly if they had a specialist interest. Buckinghamshire County Council tended to recruit volunteers through local events e.g. illicit tobacco roadshows and anti-scam talks. It was noted that members of the street associations were only counted in the volunteering hours if they had been involved in certain tasks e.g. providing a scam awareness talk. The officer explained that they were keen to increase the number of volunteer hours devoted to priority areas rather than increase the number of volunteers; the preference was for quality rather than quantity.
4. The KPIs would be reviewed post-Brexit and would tie in with the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers (ACTSO) Impacts and Outcomes Framework.
5. Trading Standards Inputs and Outcomes Data Return - ACTSO was encouraging a voluntary approach across the country to focus on three objectives which fitted with local authority priorities. Local authorities were being asked to collect data and a national data summary would be published, possibly in November 2019, depending on the Brexit situation. The officers requested feedback on what was thought to be useful or not useful in the report. A Member commented that objective 2 – Supporting the Local Economy, should be more specific, e.g. the non-commercial local economy, as a huge part of the economy did not pay any taxes. The report mentioned that “…. services ... view the full minutes text for item 22/19 |
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TRADING STANDARDS TOBACCO WORK
The Children and Young Person’s (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 requires local authorities to consider, at least once in every period of 12 months, the extent to which it is appropriate to carry out enforcement action to ensure that the provisions of the Children and Young Persons 1933 Act are effected. Minutes: Declarations of interest:
There were none.
Witnesses: Amanda Poole, Assistant Head of Trading Standards Steven Ruddy, Head of Trading Standards
Key points from the discussion:
· Tackling the sale of illicit tobacco was a high priority due to the public health implications. · The link between the Trading Standards Service and the Public Health led strategies on smoking reduction and tobacco control. · The recent legislation on vaping. · The work carried out during 2018/19; i.e. the number of visits to premises in Surrey and Buckinghamshire and the number of illicit tobacco roadshows. Sniffer dogs were sometimes used when visiting premise as some traders went to significant lengths to hide the illicit tobacco. The illicit tobacco roadshows raised awareness that anyone buying illicit tobacco was fuelling the economy; people were encouraged to tell Trading Standards Officers where they obtained their illicit tobacco.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
Officers to consider running illicit tobacco roadshows at summer fetes.
RESOLVED:
The Trading Standards Joint Committee:
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EMERGING ISSUES FOR TRADING STANDARDS
It is recommended that the Joint Committee endorses the approaches regarding the selling of knives to under 18s and the enforcement of road weight restrictions, as laid out in the reports. Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest:
There were none.
Witnesses: Amanda Poole, Assistant Head of Trading Standards Steven Ruddy, Head of Trading Standards
Key points from the discussion:
a. Sales of Knives to Under 18s
· The Committee had been briefed previously on, the police led, Operation Sceptre and the level of sales of knives to persons under the age of 18. · It was noted that a date had been arranged in October 2019 to carry out an operation with the Police in Surrey, but the location was unknown at the time of the meeting. Officers reported that last year Trading Standards was reliant on the Police approaching them with information. Operation Sceptre was now more established but a Member felt the service needed to be more proactive on acting on intelligence and having input into the area to be targeted. The Member also commented that the sale of knives to persons under 18 was an established issue rather than an emerging issue. Officers explained that the focus had moved from the sales of cigarettes to the sale of knives.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
Officers to investigate the areas to target in Surrey and liaise with the Youth Offending Service.
RESOLVED:
The Trading Standards Joint Committee endorsed Trading Standards working with the police on this issue and to carry out the test purchase operations as suggested in the report.
b. Enforcement of Road Weight Restrictions
Key points from the discussion:
· Neither the Trading Standards Service nor the police had engaged actively in this area for a number of years due to a lack of resources. · There were local concerns over heavy weight vehicles causing harm to bridges and damaging infrastructure. · Officers had worked ... view the full minutes text for item 24/19 |
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DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Buckinghamshire County Council and Surry County Council Joint Trading Standards Service Committee will be held on 28 March 2020. Minutes: The Committee noted that its next meeting will be held on 25 March 2020.
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