Agenda item

The Committee considered a report which detailed the Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) Activity Data for Quarter 2 and 3, 2013/2014.

Mr. M. Kay, The Business Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) introduced the report and in doing so informed the Committee that the report was presented in the new format, which was initially introduced to the Joint Committee Members who had attended the Joint Management Board and Joint Committee workshop on 20th January 2014.

The report showed that Trading Standards complaints from the Citizens Advice Consumer Service (CACS) had remained down so far this year compared with the historical figures from Consumer Direct.  WRS officers will raise this with colleagues within the region to see if this was a common trend, suggesting a failing in the promotion of the CACS number.  The highest areas of demand remained as home improvements, second hand cars and furniture supply.  The report highlighted that a significant proportion of complaints were not linked to a district within Worcestershire.  This was partly a data issue, which WRS were looking into, but also a significant proportion of complaints had arisen from people not resident in Worcestershire or the complaints related to goods/services purchased out of the county by Worcestershire residents. 

The nuisance data showed the summer spike in complaints quite clearly, with a total of 1475 complaints being recorded between July and September. Complaints peaked at 650 per month in July and August then fell over the autumn period to 208 in December.  Previous reports had included maps showing the location of noise issues in each district. Following discussions at the Joint Management Board and Joint Committee workshop on 20th January 2014, the report now detailed a table of wards with the highest levels of complaint. Officers felt that this would enable Joint Committee Members to engage more with other members in their authorities on particular problems.

The report also provided detailed information on the food inspection programme.

The data continued to highlight the large volumes of demand coming into the service for Licensing. Officers had identified some issues with the data transfer, which would need to be rectified before the service could report more fully on licensing activity from the Uniform system.  A full update on Licensing would be provided in future reports.  The final data pages contained improved end to end time reporting, with a breakdown by various categories of complaint, as detailed on page 99 of the report.

It was noted at the end of the last report that a significant volume of casework had gone through legal process during Quarter 3.  Officers had agreed to keep Members informed of these.  The four cases were detailed on page 99 of the report.

Members agreed that the area codes used on the graph, as detailed on page 111 of the report, should be shown in full in future reports.

Councillor Mrs. L. Denham expressed her thanks to officers for taking into account the feedback from the Joint Committee Members who had attended the Joint Management Board and Joint Committee workshop on 20th January 2014.

RESOLVED that the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Activity Data Quarter 2 and 3 report be noted.