Oxfordshire County Council
Trading Standards Service
Strategic Plan 2013/14 - 2017/18
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk
Support withConfidenceOXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
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Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Service Overview..................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Our Work.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
The National and Regional Consumer Protection Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 6
Links with Thames Valley Police ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Consumer Support.................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Business Support ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Community Support .............................................................................................................................................................................. 7
The Strategic Plan and Business Plans ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Consultation, Engagement and Service Improvement.............................................................................................................. 8
Purpose, Vision and Values................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Our Purpose .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Our Vision .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Strategic Plan 2013- 2018 .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Trading Standards within Oxfordshire County Council ............................................................................................................ 10
Trading Standards Contribution to Other County Council Services.................................................................................... 12
The Local, Regional and National Consumer Protection Landscape ................................................................................... 13
Strategic Priorities- A Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 14
Strategic Priorities in Detail ................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Equality statement................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Annex 1 – Service overview .............................................................................................................................................................. 19
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5
Introduction
Service Overview
The Trading Standards Service (‘the Service’) fulfilsthe County Council’s responsibilities for theenforcement of a wide range of consumerprotection legislation controlling the advertising,marketing, production, distribution and supply ofgoods and services throughout the manufacturing,importation, distribution and service delivery chain.
The responsibilities of the Service are widespreadand include:
• weights and measures;
• product safety;
• food safety
• trade representations and trademarks;
• unfair contract terms and unfair trading practices;
• consumer advice and assistance;
• animal health and welfare;
• price marking and price comparisons;
• supply of age restricted products;
• licensing and inspection of explosives andpetroleum storage facilities;
• safety certification of sports grounds.
In meeting these statutory responsibilities, theService provides important support to individuals,communities and businesses in Oxfordshire.
Our Work
The Trading Standards Service fundamentallyprovides two key public services for Oxfordshireconsumers, communities and businesses.
Firstly, we provide prevention services ensuring asafe, fair and legal market place so that people canpurchase goods and services securely and withconfidence and so that businesses have theinformation and support that they need to tradelegally and fairly. We also ensure legally requiredstandards for certain sectors are maintained (forexample animal welfare during transit and the safemanagement of sports stadiums).
Secondly, we are a service that people turn to forhelp when something goes wrong. We provide helpfor individuals and communities through directintervention in disputes, providing advice andguidance and through investigating malpractice.
The majority of the services that we provide arereactive. We now work in partnership with CitizensAdvice who operate the Citizens Advice ConsumerService. It is expected that this consumer helplinewill receive in excess of 8000 new consumercomplaints from Oxfordshire residents each yearand whilst the majority of these are dealt with byCitizens Advice through the provision of advicemany will be referred to us for further investigationor for additional help to be provided to theconsumer.
In addition to the core prevention and responseroles, the service fulfils functions on behalf of arange of other stakeholders and dischargesstatutory responsibilities assigned to OxfordshireCounty Council by Government Departments. Theseinclude-
• The delivery of official food controls ensuring foodsafety and food chain integrity on behalf of theFood Standards Agency.
• Enforcing livestock welfare and disease controlmeasures on behalf of the Department for theEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs.
• Monitoring the accuracy of weighing andmeasuring equipment used for trade purposes onbehalf of the National Measurement Office.
We also work in partnership with a range of otheragencies to address identified local priorities.
Annex 1 of this plan contains a diagrammaticillustration of the Trading Standards Service’spurpose, functions and performance measurementarrangements.
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The National and Regional ConsumerProtection Infrastructure
The work of each Trading Standards Service isnaturally focussed on local priorities. However, thereis also a framework that provides for coordinationon a national and regional basis to ensure that themost significant consumer protection risks areaddressed. Oxfordshire Trading Standards aims tosupport nationally and regionally coordinatedprogrammes where possible. Recent examplesinclude a regionally coordinated project to focusresources on monitoring the safety of goods at thepoint of entry into the UK rather than at the pointof retail supply and the development of a nationalintelligence database.
Oxfordshire Trading Standards is an activecontributor to the Trading Standards South Eastregional coordination group and the tri-regionenforcement project (across London, the East ofEngland and the South East). This latter projectprovides for the coordination of additionalenforcement capacity for cross-border issues.
The importance of strong links to other TradingStandards Services is emphasised by the findings ofthe National Audit Office who estimated that 73%of consumer detriment from unfair trading arisesfrom issues that cross local authority boundaries.Oxfordshire Trading Standards Service seeks totackle cross-boundary issues where they affect localconsumers and businesses but will do this in acoordinated fashion with the other authoritiesconcerned.
Links with Thames Valley Police
A key local partner for us is Thames Valley Police.Some aspects of our enforcement work rely onsupport from Thames Valley Police, such as theexecution of search warrants at properties wherecounterfeit goods are stored and exercises to testwhether shops sell alcohol to minors. In many areaswe shared common interests, in particular tacklingdoorstep crime or the sale of age restrictedproducts such as alcohol and fireworks.
We have strong local links to Thames Valley Policethrough the secondment of a Police Officer to theTrading Standards Doorstep Crime Team. Thisarrangement provides for a joint response to thisissue and the sharing of intelligence on suspects.
Consumer Support
In April 2012 Oxfordshire Trading Standards enteredinto a new partnership with Citizens Advice. CitizensAdvice now provide the first point of contact forlocal consumers seeking advice and will provide theadvice required in most instances. However, weretain a consumer advice capacity to provide adviceto consumers on complex issues, where theconsumer is vulnerable and needs additionalassistance to resolve their problem or where face toface advice is required.
To support this new relationship we have enteredinto agreements with Citizens Advice that allow forfree sharing of information and for rapid casereferral.
We also work with Citizens Advice and other localadvice providers to coordinate awareness raisingcampaigns. These campaigns are focussed on themost significant issues identified by analysis of theproblems that cause people to seek advice andsupport.
Community
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POLICE NOTICE
NO COLDCALLING ZONE
0845 051 0845TRADING STANDARDS
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Business Support
We provide a range of services that supportbusinesses. We provide advice on regulatory issuesboth through our website and on request. ForOxfordshire based businesses we offer specificservices such as a formal relationship allowing forbespoke advice and support tailored to thatbusiness. We also provide a gateway for other localauthorities to local businesses, ensuring that localbusinesses are not repeatedly contacted about thesame issue by different authorities.
In specialist areas such as the testing andverification of weighing and measuring equipmentand development of safe storage systems forhazardous substances we can provide testing andconsultancy services.
In addition, we respond to business complaintsabout unfair practices that distort the market placeand undermine fair competition.
Community Support
Many aspects of the work of the Service supportparticular communities. Where we identify that anissue is affecting a community group or a specificlocation we work with local agencies to provide ajoined up response and solution. For example, wherea community is affected by heavy goods vehiclesbreaching weight restrictions on roads we will workwith the community and the parish council toenforce the weight restriction and reduce thenumber of breaches. Where we identify that aparticular group of people might be more affectedby a problem, for example the mis-selling ofmobility aids, we will undertake work to raiseawareness of the problem with that group.
Partnership Working
The Service is also able to contribute to the deliveryof priorities and objectives of some of the strategicpartnerships in Oxfordshire. Work that we undertakecontrolling the sale of age restricted products (e.g.alcohol and cigarettes) contributes to communitysafety and health improvement initiatives. Our workto tackle certain types of crime (e.g. rogue builderstargeting older people) contributes to crimereduction and also to initiatives that support olderpeople to live independent lives. When possible, inthe planning of operational activities we considerhow our activities may support or assist otheragencies to meet their objectives (for example,when organising road traffic enforcement work wewill link with Thames Valley Police and the Vehicleand Operator Standards Agency to arrange multi-agency events).
In addition, we support some continuingprogrammes with partners. These include the JuniorCitizen programme that provides personal safetyeducation for young people and annual electricblanket testing to improve fire safety.
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The Strategic Plan and Business Plans
This plan sets out our vision for the TradingStandards Service in Oxfordshire. It highlights theinfluences driving changes to the services that weprovide and describes how we need to develop overthe next 5 years to adapt to the changingenvironment in which we work and the newpriorities that are emerging. This plan will bereviewed annually in light of changes to thelandscape in which we operate.
The Trading Standards Service will publish an annualbusiness plan which sets out the priorities andarrangements for the year. This business plan willalso explain how we identify customer needs forour services and allocate our resources to meetthese. The annual plan sits beneath this strategicplan and includes a summary of the achievementsand challenges from the previous year as well asgoals for the current year.
The business plan also contains the enforcementprogramme for food standards (including materialsand articles in contact with food), animal feeding-stuffs and on farm medicine records legislation.
Copies of the Service’s business plan are availableon request or from our website.
Consultation, Engagement and ServiceImprovement
The Service recognises that it is vitally importantthat we direct our resources towards resolving theissues that matter most to consumers, businessesand communities in Oxfordshire. Whilst the mainsource of information on the problems ourcustomers face comes from the consumercomplaints we receive, it is important that also wehave in place strong consultation, engagement andfeedback processes.
The Service’s Community Engagement Team worksto deliver events and campaigns aiming to promotegreater knowledge of consumer rights and raisingawareness of potential risks to consumers. Inaddition, this team also seeks to promote theservices we can provide and the work that we do.Where possible the team seek views from the public
on what they would want from the TradingStandards Service and what our priorities should be.They also aim to establish what consumer relatedproblems people have suffered and what theirbiggest concerns might be. We use this informationto inform our service planning.
Alongside specific consultation carried out by theCommunity Engagement Team the service alsocarries out customer satisfaction surveys quarterly.These surveys of our customers encourage feedbackon their perception of the service we have providedand provide some indication of overall servicequality. Alongside this feedback we seek to learnfrom complaints about our service in order toimprove how we work.
In planning the delivery of projects and events theService utilises socio-demographic profiling tools toensure that we target our actions towards the areasor groups most likely to need our services. We alsouse this same profiling process to identify anygroups or localities that may be using our servicesless frequently than we would expect. Thisinformation can be used to plan specific activitiesto raise awareness of our services in these groups orareas.
Our annual business plan contains an overview ofthe main consultation and engagement themes forthe year.
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Purpose, Vision and Values
We have agreed a statement of purpose which encapsulates what our customers want us to achieve.
Our Purpose
“Keeping individuals, communities, businesses andlivestock safe from harm; protecting individuals andbusinesses from financial loss and preventing unfairpractices”.
Our Vision
“To safeguard vulnerable people and supportbusinesses in Oxfordshire through a flexible andintelligence-led approach which effectively andvisibly tackles the areas of greatest potential risk toconsumers, communities, businesses and livestockin Oxfordshire.”
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Strategic Plan 2013- 2018
Trading Standards within OxfordshireCounty Council
Oxfordshire County Council’s overall ambition is todeliver ‘A Thriving Oxfordshire’. The County Councilhas identified three strategic objectives which makeup want we want to deliver –
• Building a world-class economy
• Supporting healthy and thriving communities
• Enhancing the environment
Oxfordshire County Council will achieve theseobjectives by:
• Delivering efficient public services
• Providing Leadership and enabling partnershipworking.
The Trading Standards Service’s functions providesupport to the Council’s work towards thesepriorities in a range of ways. For example, Primary
Authority Partnerships ensure that local businessesare supported with the advice that they need andthat regulatory burdens are reduced through theauthority acting as a single channel ofcommunication between the business and otherTrading Standards Services. This can be particularlyimportant for small businesses that do not have in-house legal advice, for which dealing with a range ofenquiries from other local authorities would bedistracting and costly and for whom a level playingis important to the future prospects of the business.As another example, Trading Standards work onpreventing sales of age restricted goods to thosebelow the legal minimum age can be effective indealing with local community problems andconcerns.
The Trading Standards Service contribution to thesestrategic objectives is illustrated on the next page:
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• Supporting businesses through the provision of advice and reducing regulatory burdens.
• Tackling unfair practices which distort the market place to ensure a level playing field, for example thesale of counterfeit goods or the use of illegal trading practices to gain advantage over the business’competition.
• Working with partners (e.g. other regulatory services) to provide a holistic approach to businesssupport services and regulation.
• Providing specific business support services such as testing and certificating weighing and measuringequipment.
• Enabling good businesses to distinguish themselves through business approval schemes.
• Supporting businesses to deal appropriately with incidents (e.g. failure to comply with regulatorycontrols) and regulatory challenge.
Building a World Class Economy
• Tackling issues which harm communities such as HGV breaches of weight restrictions.
• Reducing illegal sales of age restricted goods.
• Stopping harmful business practices that seek to exploit vulnerable people in society.
• Ensuring goods available to consumers are safe and accurately described.
• Reducing economic loss and providing for consumer confidence through tackling scams andmisleading business practices.
• Providing advice and education to ensure people are well informed on consumer issues and able toassess risk in the market place.
• Ensuring livestock welfare standards are met to protect the farming community and the food chain.
• Ensuring livestock disease control measures are effectively implemented to reduce the likelihood ofanimal disease outbreaks and minimise the impact if they do occur.
• Ensuring safety at sports grounds.
• Supporting work to safeguarding vulnerable people in society.
Supporting Healthy and Thriving Communities
• Ensuring the safe storage and sale of potentially unsafe or hazardous materials such as petroleum andexplosives.
• Working to reduce waste going to landfill through supporting businesses to reduce packaging waste.
• Ensuring environmental claims (e.g. those made during the marketing of products) are accurate andnot misleading.
Enhancing the Environment
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Trading Standards Contribution toOther County Council Services
As will be clear from the outline of how TradingStandards contributes to the County Council’sstrategic priorities, the work of the Service overlaps
with that of many other County Council services.Explicit links are made between these serviceswhere possible. A summary of where the Servicecontributes to other County Council services’ workfollows.
• Protects vulnerable people from incidents that may affect their abilityto continue to live independent lives.
• Supports community safety activity to tackle crime, particularlydistraction burglary.
• Linked to work to make homes safer and more secure.
Doorstep crimeand scams
• Programmes for young people (Consumer Challenge Quiz and JuniorCitizen) support development of life skills and personal safety.
• Promotes support services that assist people to live independant lives.
• Promotes home safety and reduction of fire risk (electric blankettesting).
Communityengagement
• Supports fire risk reduction.
• Reduces personal and fire safety risks arising from misuse of fireworks.
Petroleum andexplosives licensing
• Protects weak bridges and roads in the County.
• Supports community led planning.Road traffic
• Provides assurance and promotes safe choices for people with personalcare budgets.
Support withconfidence
• Supports economic growth and reduces burdens on businesses inOxfordshire.
Business support
• Supporting vulnerable people to live independent lives through assistingthem to resolve problems and helping to prevent further problems arising.
Consumer advice
• Protecting local businesses from unfair competition that underminestheir business viability.
Intellectual propertyenforcement
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The Local, Regional and NationalConsumer Protection Landscape
The Government is setting direction around TradingStandards Services’ contribution at a regional andnational level. In April 2012 the Department forBusiness, Innovation and Skills published“Empowering and Protecting Consumers” as theirresponse to the consultation on changing theconsumer protection landscape. This paper sets outhow the Government is to change the structuresand responsibilities for enforcement of consumerprotection legislation at a regional and nationallevel, as well changes to responsibilities forconsumer advice, advocacy and education.
A National Trading Standards Board is to beestablished with responsibility of coordinatingactivity to tackle the most significant regional andnational consumer protection risks. This body willsupport local authority Trading Standards Services.
As a result of these changes there will be greaterclarity on national and regional threats and risks. At alocal level we currently use a range of informationand intelligence sources to identify the biggest causesof consumer and business harm and plan the use ofsome of our resources around this assessment. Ourapproach in Oxfordshire will need to complementand take advantage of this new regional and nationalinfrastructure and these assessments.
West Oxfordshi re
Cherwell
South Oxfordshi re
Oxford
Vale of White Horse
Chipping Norton
Witney
Carterton
Banbury
Bicester
Kidlington
Abingdon
Faringdon
Wantage
Didcot
Henley-on-Thames
Wallingford
Thame
Eynsham
StantonHarcourt
Ducklington
Bampton
Burford
Shipton-under-Wychwood
Clanfield
LongHanborough
Stonesfield
Charlbury
MiddleBarton
Enstone
NorthLeigh
Woodstock
HookNorton
Bloxham
Bodicote
Deddington
Adderbury
MiddletonStoney
OTMOOR
Yarnton
Weston-on-the-Green
SteepleAston
Wolvercote
NorthHinksey
Botley
Marston
Headington
Cowley
Wheatley
Littlemore
KenningtonSandfordon Thames
Watchfield
Stanford inthe Vale
Milton
SuttonCourtenay
Steventon
Shivenham
Goring
SonningCommon
Cholsey
Benson
Watlington
Chalgrove
Dorchester
Tetsworth
Chinnor
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Strategic priorities – a summary
1) Ensuring strong and well publicised businesssupport services that enhance the plans forgrowth in Oxfordshire.
2) Ensuring a capable, efficient and customerfocussed response.
3) Influencing and supporting the national andregional consumer protection infrastructure andcapitalising on opportunities for Oxfordshire.
4) Raising our profile with stakeholders andenhancing the use of intelligence to ensure thatwe receive the information that we need inorder to fully understand and respond to theneeds of consumers, businesses andcommunities in Oxfordshire.
5) Developing stronger ties with partners, such asCitizens Advice locally, and partnerships, such asthe Health Improvement Board, to ensure aseamless customer response to consumerproblems in Oxfordshire and provide support forwider priorities in Oxfordshire.
6) Supporting and strengthening safeguardingmechanisms for vulnerable people and in thenew personalised care and support market.
7) Developing our petroleum licensing andenforcement service and legal metrology servicesfurther to extend the ‘Centre of Excellence’model.
8) Delivering an accountable, transparent servicethrough the development and publication of anannual business plan which provides informationon our objectives and performance and whichfacilities clear performance monitoring.
Taking account of the County Council and Oxfordshire partnership priorities, the wider economic and societalchanges taking place and the likely future needs from a Trading Standards Service, we have identified ourstrategic priorities as follows:
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Strategic priorities in detail
Priority 1:
Supporting Business Growth in Oxfordshire with
Strong and Well-publicised Business Support
Services
The success of the local economy is fundamental toachieving broader ambitions for Oxfordshire. Assuch, the County Council is committed to buildingthe economy of Oxfordshire. Whilst economicgrowth has to be delivered by business, the CountyCouncil has a vital role to play in providing strategicleadership and facilitating an environment thatenables business to flourish.
Trading Standards recognises the importance ofeconomic growth to Oxfordshire’s future, and therole that regulatory services can play both tosupport business growth and to reduce burdens. Wewill promote a joined up approach to regulation inOxfordshire through working with other regulators,in particular District councils.
Our goal is to ensure that we offer a range ofbusiness support services that are tailored to theneeds of Oxfordshire’s businesses, which offer realvalue and support those businesses to grow.
Priority 2:
Ensuring a Capable, Efficient and Customer
Focussed Response
Historically, every year we receive approximately3000 new consumer complaints that requireinvestigation and 1500 requests for businesssupport. This level of demand has steadily increasedover recent years.
We need to ensure that our response to requestsfor help and assistance is focussed on what thecustomer requires and meets the customer’s needin the most efficient and effective manner.
We will utilise a ‘systems’ approach that reducesdelays inherent in structures that require work to bepassed between teams and through allocationprocesses. We are refocusing our performancemeasures on what matters most to our customers.
We will ensure that we have specialist officers thatprovide expertise on complex and technical mattersas well as pools of officers capable of meeting themost frequent demands placed upon us.
Our goal is to embed working practices that arecustomer focussed, based on best practice and thatprovide a prompt, effective response that deliversthe outcome that we and our customers areseeking.
Priority 3:
Influencing and supporting the National and
Regional Consumer Protection Infrastructure
The arrangements for identifying regional andnational consumer protection priorities and forallocating resources to address these priorities arechanging. Regional and national work programmeswill complement those taking place locally and, ifthey reflect Oxfordshire’s priorities, they will addcapacity and resources to our local work.
It is vital that there is an infrastructure that enablesthe Service to escalate serious criminalinvestigations that need to be tackled on a regionalor national basis. Similarly, our work will be mosteffective if we are able to access information andintelligence held by other local authorities andother agencies. Regionally coordinated work onmatters that are of common concern to a range ofauthorities can produce much stronger outcomeswith a reduced resource drain on each authorityconcerned.
Our goal is to improve outcomes for consumersand businesses in Oxfordshire through working withother local authorities and ensuring the nationaland regional consumer protection infrastructure iseffective and supports us in delivering ourobjectives.
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Priority 4:
Raising our profile with stakeholders and
enhancing our use of intelligence to ensure that
we receive the information that we need in
order to fully understand and respond to the
needs of consumers, businesses and
communities in Oxfordshire and that people
who need our services know what help we can
provide.
It is important that we focus on resolving theproblems that cause the most harm to consumersand businesses in Oxfordshire. In order tounderstand the problems faced by people andbusinesses in Oxfordshire when buying goods andservices we need to have strong information fromconsumers, communities and businesses. We alsoneed access to intelligence from other organisationsrelated to our work and from other local authorities.Access to the right information and comprehensivepicture of the issues presenting risks, coupled withgood processes for analysing this informationshould ensure that we are able to identify problemtrade sectors and businesses, potential sources ofunsafe goods, emerging unfair practices, etc. Thisknowledge should then be used to inform decisionson how we use our resources to tackle the issues ofthe greatest potential risk to Oxfordshire.
Our goal is to ensure that we have a high profilewith our customers and stakeholders and that ourwork is well informed by the needs of thesestakeholders.
Priority 5:
Developing stronger ties with partners, such as
local Citizens Advice Bureaux, and partnerships,
such as the Health Improvement Board, to
ensure a seamless customer response to
consumer problems in Oxfordshire and provide
support for wider priorities in Oxfordshire.
From April 2012 Citizens Advice assumedresponsibility for providing a national consumeradvice service from the Office of Fair Trading. Thisservice is complemented by local Bureaux and
Trading Standards Services which will provide adviceand support on complex cases and to vulnerablepeople. In addition, Citizens Advice will lead on thecoordination of consumer education work nationallyand will need local services to support the deliveryof its campaigns. It is therefore important that wehave strong local links to the Citizens AdviceBureaux in Oxfordshire and that we work togetheron consumer issues in the County.
We also recognise that we provide importantsupport to the work of strategic partnerships inOxfordshire where their priorities overlap our work.For example, alcohol misuse is a concern to boththe Oxfordshire Safer Communities Partnership andthe Health and Wellbeing Board and we can supportwork to reduce under-age drinking.
Our goal is to ensure that the best outcomes forOxfordshire are achieved by contributing our uniquecapabilities, expertise and skills to partnership workto address Oxfordshire’s main priorities.
Priority 6:
Supporting and strengthening safeguarding
mechanisms for vulnerable people.
The proportion of older people in the population isincreasing rapidly, particularly in rural areas. By2026 forecasts indicate there will be an additional40,000 people over 65 years of age living inOxfordshire (an increase of 40% from 2011) andthe number of over 85 year olds could increase byalmost 60% to 24,300. It is forecast that by thesame time over 25% of the population of villages,hamlets or isolated homes will be over 65.
Supporting people to continue to live independentlives in their own home is an organisational priority.The County Council’s Corporate Plan states‘Prevention is also key to our approach in adultservices. We want to keep people well, helping themto live at home and avoid, reduce and delay costlyadmissions to care homes’.
The introduction of personal budgets for peoplewho need care and support services provides peoplewith greater choice in the way they lead their lives
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and how they secure the services they need tosupport them. However, with this greater choiceand freedom comes an increase in risks as manypeople will turn to providers who are unregulated.
We are probably the principal experts in Oxfordshireat preventing vulnerable people being financialexploited, abused and ‘ripped off’. We are alsoexperts in business systems and the ‘diligence’expected from businesses to ensure good customeroutcomes. These areas of expertise are particularlyimportant as more people are provided with controland choice about the care and support services thatthey receive.
Our goal is to reduce the chances that vulnerablepeople are exploited financially and to providestrong support to vulnerable people who havebecome a victim of financial exploitation or that areat risk of financial exploitation.
Priority 7:
Develop our petroleum licensing and
enforcement service and extend the ‘Centre of
Excellence’ model further.
The service already has a number of centres ofexcellence. Our Animal Health and FarmingStandards function has been designated as a centreof excellence by the Department for theEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs. We have ametrology laboratory which is used by other localauthorities and which provides trainingopportunities to officers from across the region. OurDoorstep Crime Team regularly hosts visitors fromother authorities seeking to learn how they havebeen successful in this difficult area of work.
However, we recognise that our petroleum licensingand enforcement service has scope to extend in away that could be beneficial to Oxfordshire. This is aspecialised area of work, requiring officers with
particular technical skills and qualifications. As thecapacity of Trading Standards Services reduces thisspecialism becomes harder to maintain. In additionthe reduction in local authority budgets has resultedin a reduction in specialist legal metrology facilitiesand further concentration of expertise is expected.
Our goal is to maintain our specialist technicalservices through growing these services andincreasing their customer base.
Priority 8:
Delivering an accountable, transparent service
through the development and publication of an
annual business plan which provides information
on our objectives and performance and which
facilities clear performance monitoring.
Our work is focussed on our customers. We need tobalance the different demands on our resources toensure that we provide a response to the mostsignificant issues for Oxfordshire consumers,communities and businesses. We also need tounderstand how we could improve our services andto plan for development.
Our business plan is important in ensuring that weprovide clear information on what we are seeking todo, how we make decisions on the use of ourresources and on how well we meet our objectives.It also provides the vehicle for clear performancemonitoring so that our effectiveness can be judged.This is particularly important in the absence ofspecific national targets or measures which wouldallow for our performance to be compared to thatof other services.
Our goal is to ensure our plans and objectivesreflect stakeholder needs and that we provideclarity and accountability in how we use ourresources.
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Equality statement
The Trading Standards Service uses a range ofconsultation and feedback mechanisms to ensurethat everyone has a chance to comment on theservice’s performance and priorities. In particular,feedback is sought from users of the service toenable us to assess whether we provided the servicethat they required and whether the service was ofhelp to them. The Service’s Community EngagementTeam, through their talks and presentations tocommunity groups and attendance at events,proactively seeks information from people on whatthey need from the service. This approach ensuresthat we receive information on our service, ouraccessibility and the needs of our customers.
The Service also uses demographic profilinginformation and tools to assist us identify potentialgaps in service provision (e.g. geographic areas ofOxfordshire from which we appear to review fewercomplaints than would be expected). Thisinformation is used systematically in planningspecific projects or campaigns.
From this feedback and consultation we have nogrounds for believing that this plan, and the actionsand activities detailed within, unfairly discriminateagainst any community or individual. Further, ouractivities include a number of specific actionsdirectly related to improving the service’sunderstanding of the needs of communities,supporting communities that may otherwise beunfairly discriminated against, and addressing anybarriers to accessing our services.
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ines
ses
to T
ake
Corr
ecti
veA
ctio
n
•Re
spon
ding
to
Ale
rts
and
Emer
genc
ies
•Ra
isin
g Re
ferr
als
and
Ale
rts
•Su
ppor
ting
Cor
pora
te In
itia
tive
s (e
.g.
busi
ness
gro
wth
sup
port
)
•Su
ppor
ting
Cou
nty
Part
ners
hips
(e.
g. a
lcoh
olre
duct
ion)
•D
eliv
erin
g Fo
od a
nd F
eed
cont
rols
•Li
vest
ock
Dis
ease
Con
trol
s an
d M
onit
orin
g
•Ta
cklin
g Re
gion
al a
nd N
atio
nal C
onsu
mer
Thre
ats
Cus
tom
er f
ocus
sed
supp
ort
serv
ices
for
bus
ines
ses
Cap
able
, eff
ecti
ve a
ndef
ficie
nt r
espo
nse
Hig
h le
vel o
f co
nsum
er,
busi
ness
and
sta
keho
lder
awar
enes
s of
our
ser
vice
s
Robu
st in
telli
genc
e an
din
form
atio
n ga
ther
ing
and
anal
ysis
pro
cess
es
Goo
d cu
stom
er f
eedb
ack
proc
ess
Effe
ctiv
e ris
k an
d in
telli
genc
ele
d ta
skin
g pr
oces
s
Link
ed t
o, a
nd s
uppo
rted
by,
regi
onal
and
nat
iona
lin
fras
truc
ture
Goo
d re
lati
onsh
ips
wit
hpa
rtne
rs
Stro
ng c
orpo
rate
part
ners
hips
Wel
l inf
orm
ed o
n re
leva
ntpo
licy
and
lega
lde
velo
pmen
ts
Stro
ng s
afeg
uard
ing
links
‘Cen
tres
of
Exce
llenc
e’
Stro
ng s
uppo
rt s
ervi
ces
Cap
able
and
Eff
ecti
ve R
espo
nse:
-Re
solu
tion
of
the
cust
omer
’spr
oble
m.
-Is
sues
res
olve
d fir
st t
ime.
-M
oney
sav
ed o
r re
cove
red
for
cons
umer
s.
-Su
cces
s ra
te o
n fo
rmal
acti
ons
Inte
llige
nt u
se o
f re
sour
ces:
-H
arm
ful p
ract
ices
sto
pped
.
Effic
ienc
y:
-Sp
eed
of r
espo
nse
(end
to
end
tim
es)
-O
pen
case
s in
a p
erio
d.
Cus
tom
er s
atis
fact
ion:
-Su
rvey
and
fee
dbac
kre
spon
ses.
Act
ivit
y in
dica
tors
pro
vide
prox
y m
easu
res
for:
-C
usto
mer
aw
aren
ess.
-Bu
sine
ss s
uppo
rt.
-Sa
fegu
ardi
ng
-Pa
rtne
rshi
p su
ppor
t
-Ce
ntre
s of
Exc
elle
nce
-Ed
ucat
ion
and
awar
enes
s
Purp
ose
Co
re f
un
ctio
ns
Del
iver
y m
ech
anis
mC
riti
cal s
ucc
ess
fact
ors
Rele
van
t m
easu
res
Tactical Tasking and Coordination Group
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk
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Y W I T
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CO
NF I D E N
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AD
I NG
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CE
OX
FO
R
DS
HI R E C O U N T Y
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UN
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