Warrington Trading Standards

Service Description

The Division aims to create a fair safe and healthier trading environment for consumers and honest businesses through enforcement of a wide variety of consumer statutes and by offering a comprehensive advice service. The Division also has a key role in improving the health, wellbeing and safety of our local communities. Every citizen and business in Warrington is affected by the work we do often without realising it. Quantifying this level of protection can be difficult but without the work we could not guarantee the safety and quality of the food we eat or the products we buy, citizens would not be protected from scams and rogues and the safety of the workplace could not be guaranteed

The Service has achieved a great deal since its creation in 1998. Significant progress has been made in some areas of work such as significantly improving consumer engagement in our most deprived communities, reducing the impact of rogue traders, inspecting 'high-risk' businesses and tackling certain forms of underage sales. Yet there is still a great deal of work to do to ensure that we maximise the positive contribution we can have in the marketplace and our communities.

It is vital that in today's environment of diminishing resources and increasing commitments we prioritise our activities to those, which have the greatest impact on health, wellbeing, community safety and economic prosperity. Balancing these priorities can be very difficult as short term needs, such as rogues who are currently preying on the vulnerable must be balanced against other which may take a generation to resolve such as the rising levels of childhood obesity and alcohol harm.

The next year will bring new challenges such as building upon our commitments to improving public health, protecting the safety of our communities and dealing with an increasingly complex market place. It is vital for all our stakeholders that the Service continues to modernise and improve so that we can deal with these new challenges

Trading Standards Vision:

The vision of the Division through its work is to:

'Create an inclusive, fairer, safer, healthier and economically more sustainable society through Services that exceed customer expectation, have a reputation for excellence amongst competitors and provide excellent value for money'.

Achieving The Vision

In order to achieve our vision we:

Will ensure that we are first and foremost a 'prevention' service. This approach will enable consumers to make informed confident purchases and that business gets it right first time. However, we will take robust enforcement action against those who are reckless or deceive.

Will ensure that education, information and assistance form the backbone of what we do, allowing us to step outside 'traditional' methods of service delivery, to meet the needs of our citizens;

Need to ensure that we respond to the needs of the vulnerable, elderly, young and minority groups, giving priority to these Groups where possible. We will also give a greater level of support for small businesses and those whose impact extends far outside Warrington

Will use our resources as effectively as possible, challenging the basis on how we provide our service and responding to new opportunities in a creative and innovative

Will ensure that our communication networks are developed to ensure that we effectively engage with our citizens and that they are suitably empowered to exert a positive influence on the performance and development of the Service;

Will exploit the opportunities afforded to us by the information age and work towards ensuring that the advantages of 'e-commerce' do not pass over large sections of the community;

We must invest in our staff to ensure they achieve our objectives. In particular our staff will be focussed on the relevance of their roles to making a positive impact on the wellbeing of all citizens.

This Vision will be achieved through five key objectives, which encompass all our work. These objectives are intrinsically linked to the Council's Corporate Objectives and Local Strategic Plan.

Trading Standards Key Strategic Objectives

1. Consumer Engagement:
We aim to continue to improve access to high quality consumer advice, education and assistance especially amongst the vulnerable, elderly, young and minority groups;

2. Improving Public Health:
We will give increased emphasis to work, which promotes healthier communities and narrows health inequalities.

3. Creating Safer and Stronger Communities:
We will ensure that we will create safer and stronger communities by reducing crime, scams and the anti-social behaviour associated with the misuse of age restricted products.

4. Ensuring Fair Trading and Enabling Economic Prosperity:
We will help to ensure the economic prosperity and viability of the town through working with business to get it right first time and through effective enforcement.

5. Efficient, Effective and Improving Service:
We will ensure that we are an efficient, effective and continuously improving service that is amongst the best in its class.