About us
Who are Trading Standards?
Trading Standards is the name given to the enforcement in the UK
of a wide range of consumer related legislation, covering areas
such as product safety, fair trading, metrology, and environmental
controls.
The trading standards service is provided by over 200 local
government authorities in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern
Ireland (central government), and the Channel Islands, often as
part of a larger department. (There are presently only around 200
qualified Trading Standards Officers in Scotland, spread over the
32 local authorities).
The work aims to bring about a fair trading environment in which
reputable and responsible businesses, essential to the local
economy, can succeed.
The legislation involved is made up of numerous major Acts of
Parliament and hundreds of regulations affecting nearly all
businesses to a greater or lesser extent.
The service must be capable of dealing with all types of trade
activity and every size of business, from market stall to
multinational company.
The businesses may be based in the area or marketing their products
or services in the area.
The work involves
- visiting premises to ensure that legislation is complied
with,
- giving advice to traders and consumers,
- protecting consumers and legitimate businesses from trading
malpractices,
- investigating complaints of breaches of legislation,
- acting as Home Authority for businesses based in the area,
- forming partnerships with other enforcement bodies and
- maintaining cross border relationships with neighbouring
authorities.
How do we do it?
Trading Standards officers employ a wide range of methods,
skills and techniques to ensure compliance with legal
requirements.
Investigations range from the simple in the case of a retailer not
pricing items correctly, to complex in the case of a motor dealer
'clocking' motor vehicles.
When dealing with deliberate offences and serious frauds and scams,
officers often need to carry out full and detailed investigations
(sometimes under-cover) with a view to bringing the offender to
court.
However, considerable emphasis is placed by Trading Standards
Departments on preventative enforcement and assisting traders to
comply with the law, following the nationally recognised
Enforcement Concordat.
Prosecutions usually result because either the circumstances of the
case indicated serious fraud or negligence, or the trader
repetitively offended and ignored warnings.
The work of the Trading Standards service also assists in achieving
the authority's wider objectives, such as, Economic development,
Health & safety in the community, protecting vulnerable groups
and protecting the environment.
For our policies and service standards see
'Downloads' on the right of this page.
Our Staff
We currently have 12 staff, comprised of: a Manager, 1 Principal
trading Standards Officer, 4 Trading Standards
Officers, 2 Animal Health and Welfare Officers, 1 Animal
Feedstuffs Officer, 1 Petroleum and Explosives Officer, 1 Consumer
Advisor and 1 Enforcement Assistant.
How well do we perform?
Like many other services (see
PKC performance reports) Trading Standards
must also report on its performance levels.
Statutory Indicators of performance
| |
2007/08 |
2008/09 |
2009/10 |
2011/12 |
2013/14 |
| Consumer complaints - percentage of
complaints processed within 14 days of receipt |
96.0 |
95.9 |
96.4 |
|
|
Business advice requests - percentage of requests
dealt with within 14 days of receipt |
98.6 |
97.1 |
98.7 |
|
|
