News
Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015
Posted 26/11/15
Responding to the Spending Review Melissa Dring, director of policy at the 51黑料, said it reaffirmed the need to restructure local services.
She said: 鈥淭rading standards is often the only form of support afforded to a business by its local council and as councils become increasingly reliant on business rates this presents a problem.
鈥淩obust trading standards services are essential in order to promote and enforce a fair and level playing field, for businesses and consumers, and put simply many councils do not have this capacity.听
鈥淚n the last five years budgets have already been slashed by 40 per cent which leaves about 拢130 million for all local authority trading services, while the National Trading Standards budget is less than 拢15 million.听
鈥淚n reality, some services have been hit harder still, facing cuts of up to 85 per cent, and others have been left with just one trading standards officer.
鈥淢eanwhile, intellectual property theft costs the UK economy 拢1.3 billion, mass marketing scams cost their often elderly victims more than 拢5 billion, annually, and the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak alone cost the economy 拢8 billion.
鈥淲orryingly these huge sums account for just a fraction of the growing number of statutory trading standards duties and do not illustrate the human cost of weakened regulatory services.听
鈥淓lderly scam victims are more than twice as likely to need full-time care, BSE that infected 3 million animals spread to 200 people and life-long smokers who start as children reduce their life expectancy by an average of 10 years.
鈥淲e are calling for an urgent restructure of trading standards and because this locally delivered service has a national impact the government must have oversight of the process.鈥�
