Issue - meetings

To inform the Cabinet Member of the government’s proposed changes to the provision of consumer information, advice, education, advocacy and enforcement and to seek approval of a response to the consultation on the proposed changes

RESOLVED:             That the Cabinet Member approves Option 1 to support the proposed changes and in particular supporting the value of a specialist Scambuster Team as set out in the consultation response at Annex 1 of the report.

REASON:                  To support the proposals to strengthen the council’s capacity to protect the residents of York and help local businesses prosper in a fair trading environment.

Consideration was given to a report which informed the Cabinet Member of the government’s proposed changes to the provision of consumer information, advice, education, advocacy and enforcement.

This was a wide-ranging consultation set out in the paper ‘Empowering and Protecting Consumers’ which aimed to simplify the confusing and overlapping provision of consumer protection.

Officers confirmed that the main issues affecting the authority were:

·         Transfer of central government funding for consumer information, advice, advocacy and education to the Citizen’s Advice Service (CA).

·         As there were no proposals to change the second stage advice, intervention and investigative work currently undertaken by the council’s trading standards service it was therefore important to establish good partnerships with CA.

·         It was likely that the investigative capacity of the Scambuster Team would be enhanced if the proposals were implemented.

Officers updated that, prior to the end of the consultation period, disaggregation of the functions had already commenced with tenders being invited for particular areas. It was confirmed that the Cabinet Member would be kept updated of developments.

The Cabinet Member queried whether consultation had been undertaken with CA and went onto suggest a minor amendment to the proposed response.

RESOLVED:             That the Cabinet Member approves Option 1 to support the proposed changes and in particular supporting the value of a specialist Scambuster Team as set out in the consultation response at Annex 1 of the report. ^1.

REASON:                  To support the proposals to strengthen the council’s capacity to protect the residents of York and help local businesses prosper in a fair trading environment.