The Trading Standards Joint Advisory Board met on Thursday 6 June 2024 to review the annual report of the Trading Standards Service, discuss an analysis of service requests, and receive updates on government proposals regarding vapes and funeral directors. The Board noted the significant work undertaken by the service in the past year, including efforts to protect consumers and businesses, and discussed upcoming legislative changes.

Annual Report 2023-2024

The Board received the Annual Report for 2023-2024, which detailed the key outcomes delivered by the Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service. The report highlighted the service's work in promoting a fair and equitable trading environment for consumers and businesses, enforcing over 250 pieces of legislation. Key achievements included a 36% increase in advice provided through Primary Authority Partnerships, a 24% increase in requests for advice and information from local businesses, and 274 compliance inspections. The report also detailed successful operations, such as preventing underage sales of knives and vapes, seizing counterfeit goods, and tackling illicit tobacco. Financial investigations resulted in confiscation orders totalling over £1.1 million. The service received 4297 service requests, with 85.3% coming via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service. The report noted that used vehicles and building/renovation services were the most frequent subjects of complaints.

Analysis of Trading Standards Service Requests

An analysis of service requests received by the Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 was presented. The report aimed to identify patterns in complaints and pinpoint areas where the service's resources could be most effectively deployed. A total of 4297 service requests were received, with the majority (87%) originating from consumers. Used vehicles and building and renovation services were identified as the most complained-about goods and services, with substandard services and defective goods being the most common types of breaches reported. The analysis also highlighted postcode areas with a high concentration of complaints, suggesting a focus for future enforcement actions. Recommendations included concentrating enforcement in hotspot areas, raising public awareness about consumer rights, and cross-referencing complaint data with other crime statistics to identify wider issues.

Report on Vapes

The Board received an update on the government's proposals to ban vapes containing tobacco and broader measures related to tobacco and vape controls. The government announced plans to ban disposable vapes from April 2025 as part of efforts to tackle youth vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, introduced in March 2024, aims to regulate flavours, retail packaging, and point-of-sale displays for vapes, while also extending age restrictions to non-nicotine vapes and banning the free distribution of vapes to under-18s. The Bill also seeks to create a smokefree generation by making it an offence to sell tobacco products to those born on or after 1 January 2009 and prohibiting proxy purchasing. The government is providing £30 million in new funding annually to bolster enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards, to implement these measures. New penalties for shops selling tobacco and vapes illegally to children are also being introduced, with Trading Standards officers empowered to issue on-the-spot fixed penalty notices, with any revenue generated to be reinvested in tobacco enforcement.

Funeral Directors Report

The Board was notified of a letter sent to council Leaders and Chief Executives regarding concerns about public confidence in the funeral director profession. Following a distressing incident at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities highlighted that the sector is largely unregulated, with no statutory regulation currently in place for funeral directors. The government is planning to introduce formal regulation and will launch a call for evidence. In the interim, Trading Standards and Environmental Health officers are being asked to visit local funeral directors to assess compliance against a framework covering health and safety, operational procedures, and care of the deceased. The visits are supported by the National Association of Funeral Directors and the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, who will provide nominated points of contact. The Trading Standards Service expects these inspections to be carried out within its existing budget.