The purpose
of this service plan is to enable us to show what the key
priorities for Trading Standards in Suffolk are over the next two
years, and show how those activities contribute to the delivery of
key local public services and priorities. It also provides a link
to our Food Law Enforcement Service Plan that the council is
required to produce by the Food Standards Agency.
The Trading Standards Service is part of the
Public Protection, Social Inclusion and Diversity Directorate,
which is one of five Service Offices within Suffolk County
Council.
The Trading
Standards Service is part of the Public Protection, Social
Inclusion and Diversity Direcorate, which is one of five
Directorates within Suffolk County Council. The Trading Standards
Service is particularly well placed to contribute to the
Directorate’s stated ‘Ambition to make Suffolk a place where
people live safe and fulfilling lives’.
We seek to do this by inspiring and supporting communities to take
the lead themselves against unfair and rogue trading, and by
encouraging people to get involved and work together in building
consumer protection. Through such local involvement, our Service
can then target its resources at those issues which cause concern
to our local communities and which need our specialist intervention
and powers.
The County Council’s existing stated priorities, collectively know
as the
‘Suffolk Story’, are:
1.
Creating a strong and dynamic jobs market
2.
Transforming learning and skills in Suffolk
3.
Protecting vulnerable people and reducing
inequalities
4. Being the
greenest county
5.
Delivering great services at exceptional
value
For 2011/13, the Trading Standards Service will aim to make a
significant contribution to: the protection of vulnerable people
and the reduction of inequalities and the delivery of great
services at exceptional value.
In protecting vulnerable people, we will seek to strengthen
communities so that Suffolk residents are resilient to rogue
traders, scams and unfair commercial practices. We will be creative
and innovative in ensuring that our interventions make an impact,
are self-sustaining and offer deep value for the people of Suffolk.
We will also work collaboratively with partners in Suffolk’s public
and voluntary sectors to ensure that we deliver outcomes that meet
the needs of our public in the most effective and efficient
way.
The Trading Standards service will of course continue to provide
regulatory services that protect both consumers and honest
businesses, that create safer communities, and that support a fair
and safe trading environment. We will also continue to develop
collaborative activities with our colleagues in the East of England
Trading Standards Association (EETSA) in order to assure
consistency, maximise efficiency, and create capacity, and we shall
continue to be prominent contributors at national level to ensure
that Suffolk's voice remains influential in the rapidly changing UK
'consumer landscape'.
This service plan
details the outcomes we will work to achieve under these
aims.
Relevant Links and Documents