Councillors and committees

Agenda item

PERFORMANCE AND JOINT SERVICE BUDGET

The Buckinghamshire County Council and Surrey County Council Trading Standards Service Joint Committee is asked to note the performance of the service for the financial year April 2019 to March 2020 (Annex A), and quarter 1 of 2020-21 (April to June) (Annex B). The information provided for the 19-20 year covers performance against the seven high level indicators agreed by this Joint Committee and in relation to the service budget. The Quarter 1 information is provided against key indicators agreed by the Trading Standards Board.

 

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 the financial year April 2019 to March 2020, and quarter 1 of 2020-21 (April to June).

·         Overall the Service was performing well across the range of indicators and delivered some excellent results against key performance indicators.

·         The Joint Service budget was slightly overspent at the end of the 19-20 year (by 0.8%) due to pressures on the budget caused by EU Exit.

·         It was important to note the volatility of the performance outcomes, particularly in relation to KPI’s 1 and 2. Individual case outcomes, which often have been preceded by months or years of work, significantly affect the overall performance. Wide scale closure of courts and jury trials during the Coronavirus pandemic has emphasised this volatility, with the Service having no convictions in Q1.

·         The growth in the use of volunteers had continued to be strong and increased significantly in 19-20. The Service had around 50 volunteers actively supporting the priorities of the service. They gave 5380 hours of their time during 19-20, more than doubling the hours contributed in 18-19 (2585 hours).

·         16 people/entities were convicted following prosecution in 19-20, leading to over 21 years of immediate prison sentences (a significant increase on recent years) and £28,364 of fines.

·         Through national calculations the Service saved £2 million last year with work carried out to help prevent vulnerable adults being a victim of scams.

 

2.    In regards to KPI 1 and 2, a Member asked how the courts were addressing their backlog. The officer explained that courts were under severe pressure but that they were now undertaking court hearings virtually where possible. The Service has two approaches to coping with the backlog, one is continuing to carefully consider whether a case should be prosecuted which is done in line with the Service Enforcement Policy and taking into account the current court situation. It is still appropriate to prosecute cases for serious crimes such as fraud and money laundering. The second approach is to focus on preventative work with partners with more direct interventions with vulnerable people such as call blockers. In terms of fraud and money laundering work had been undertaken dependent on intelligence, risk and the impact of crimes on industry and society. They had also focussed on raising awareness of scams including training members of the public to be “Friends Against Scams” to be able to easily spot the signs of scams. Members thanked officers for their work with the vulnerable and asked that further information be provided at a future meeting on data sharing with partners and to identify if there were any gaps in the data. Members referred not just the financial cost to the vulnerable but also impact on their mental health.

 

3.    In terms of the covid-19 pandemic and tackling the import of unsafe products through transit sites for Heathrow the activity in this area spiked significantly during April, May and June of 2020 as the Country urgently needed supplies of PPE so air freight was used to a much greater extent than normal to speed supplies into the Country. During this time officers reviewed over 4.5 million products, the majority of which were face masks, with smaller quantities of hand sanitiser. The Service stopped over 700,000 unsafe or non-compliant items from being released into the marketplace. However, if the product could be re-purposed then it would be utilised. Supporting businesses to operate effectively and appropriately, and in accordance with rapidly introduced legislation, through the Covid Pandemic has been a significant priority. This has included providing advice on how businesses can diversify (for example to produce hand sanitiser or face coverings) or how they can alter their business model, for example to provide safe home delivery services. The Service had been working with the Association of Convenience Stores to provide advice on home deliveries so that shops could respond to local need.

 

4.    Members discussed the draft Trading Standards key performance indicators 2020/21 which were closely linked to service priority areas such as protecting the vulnerable, enabling businesses to get the help and support they need and improving wellbeing and public health. The new KPI’s were set out on page 63 of the agenda. New KPIs included the impact of interventions with scam victims, the number and estimated value of unsafe/non-complaint goods removed from or prevented from entering the supply chain, the number of premises tested for selling illicit or age restricted products and market surveillance projects. Members welcomed the draft KPI’s and commented that they were current and valid bearing in mind the covid-19 pandemic.

 

5.    Budget – the Trading Standards budget summary on page 24 showed that at year end there was a small budget overspend of £21,000 (0.8%). This was due to the impacts of EU Exit on income. The approved budget for 2020/21 was £2,631,000. Since this was approved there have been a number of budget pressures which include pay inflation, service specific IT costs and additional savings required (which are unachievable given service pressures experience in 2019/20). The covid-19 pandemic has also impacted the Service by causing the income to drop and some additional spend requirements. The additional spend to date has been covered by each Authorities covid grant from central government. A claim would be made against lost income with the local government compensation scheme, however this would not offset 100% of lost income (approximately 75%).  There have also been some small reductions in expenditure as a result of paused activity and operating online, for example reduced legal fees and travel expenses. The full financial impact of this was still to be determined. The Service had been holding vacant posts and reducing spend where possible to reduce the impact of budget pressures. A quarterly officer meeting between the finance teams from both partner Authorities had been arranged to monitor the budget. Members commented that the safety of residents remained the priority.

 

6.    In terms of the budget for the joint service this was set out in the original joint service business case and set out planned savings of 12% over the first 4 years of the new shared service. This has been adjusted by the Joint Committee on occasion, resulting in overall savings targets for the shared service of approximately 27% over the last five years. This had included additional income and efficiency savings, which would be impacted with recent service pressures. Officers would aim to address the three priority areas as effectively and efficiently as possible.

 

7.    A Member queried the costs of the Joint Service being divided between the partner Local Authorities in the proportion: 34% Buckinghamshire and 66% Surrey, which includes any under or over spends. An officer explained that the budget had been divided according to population size as Surrey was approximately twice the size of Buckinghamshire.

 

Actions/ further information to be provided:

 

Further information be provided at a future meeting on data sharing with partners and to identify if there were any gaps in the data.  

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Trading Standards Joint Committee:

1.       Noted the Service’s performance.

2.       Agreed the future Performance Indicators.

3.       Noted the Joint Service Budget for 2020/21 and the identified pressures that would need to be addressed in year.

 

 

Supporting documents: