Harrow and Brent Trading Standards forced to cut services again (From Harrow Times)

Harrow and Brent Trading Standards forced to cut services again

5:30pm Monday 15th March 2010 in

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TRADING standards services in Brent and Harrow are facing cuts because swingeing budget reductions over the last four years.

Between 2006 and 2010, Brent and Harrow councils have slashed 10 per cent from the trading standards budget, forcing the service to lose 15 per cent of its staff.

The organisation, responsible for checking shops are not selling knives and booze to children, has streamlined its operation over four years, but director Nagender Bilon says the level of this year's budget will mean further cuts to frontline services.

He said: “The net effect of any cuts in the budget is you look at the work you can do, and we become more reactive rather than proactive.

“Our priority has to be responding to problems and complaints, and inevitably the proactive work we do is cut back.

“This is not only a case of reducing the budget for the next year, we have had cuts over a number of years.”

The service has drastically slashed the number inspections it does, from a pledge in 2007 to inspect nearly 10,000 premises over five years to this year guaranteeing to visit just 179 premises in a year.

Inspecting officers do not just catch out malpractising businesses, but offer much needed safety advice to help shops and companies provide a better service.

But Mr Bilon said the inspections, which are welcomed by the vast majority of premises, have had to be cut back and he added businesses deemed low risk have “no chance” of being visited by officers unless a complaint is made.

He said: “The implications of not doing inspections is you always end up with more complaints, because you are not advising businesses and you are not finding things that may be going wrong.”

Other services which may have to go are advice surgeries held by officers in public places like supermarkets, and free electric blanket tests for residents.

Nancy Ludwig, spokesman for Brent Council, said it provides funding for trading standards above the average across the capital and insisted the council is committed to helping maintain the “exceptional level of service”.

She added: “Like most local authorities, Brent does face considerable financial challenges going forward but is committed to meeting these challenges wherever possible through efficiency savings rather than by cutting front line service budgets, to minimise the impact on services such as this one and the public.”