Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point in the meeting the Cabinet Member was invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests he might have in the business on the agenda. No interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last Decision Session meeting held on 5 July 2011.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the first meeting of the Crime and Community Safety Decision Session held on 5 July 2011be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

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.

The purpose of this report is to enable the Cabinet Member to review the results of legal actions (prosecutions, cautions and fixed penalties) undertaken by Environmental Health, Trading Standards, and Licensing Services in the Communities and Neighbourhoods Directorate for the period 1^st April 2011 – 30^th June 2011 and approve the continuation of the current enforcement policy.

RESOLVED:             That the Cabinet Member approves the report and the continuation of the current enforcement policy.

REASON:                  So that the Cabinet Member reviews formal enforcement activity undertaken by Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing Services.

The Cabinet Member considered the results of legal actions which included, prosecutions, cautions and fixed penalties, undertaken by Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing Services in the Communities and Neighbourhoods Directorate for the period 1 April 2011 to 30 June 2011.

Details of the individual cases had been set out at Annex A of the report and Officers confirmed that, in accordance with the policy each case had been considered on its merits prior to legal proceedings being instituted.

The Cabinet Member questioned details of action taken and congratulated officers on their continued vigilance with these enforcements.

RESOLVED:             That the Cabinet Member approves the report and the continuation of the current enforcement policy.

REASON:                  So that the Cabinet Member reviews formal enforcement activity undertaken by Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing Services.