Fair Trading

Local Better Regulation Office

by Sandy Nicol

The Hampton Report, published in March 2005, concluded that streamlining the regulatory system to have fewer, larger regulators could reduce burdens on business. The report also made recommendations on improving enforcement action by making better use of risk assessments and providing business with better advice on regulations. The Government accepted all Hampton’s recommendations.

On December 5, 2005 the Chancellor published his Pre-Budget Report announcing plans to set up a single body overseeing and supporting local authority regulatory services within the areas of trading standards and environmental health.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is leading the Government’s proposals to establish the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO), and in February 2006 outlined its vision in the document: The Way Ahead.

Briefly, the DTI will work in partnership with local authorities and key regulators to create a LBRO which enshrines the principles of the 2005 Hampton Report. The LBRO will:

Ensure a co-ordinated set of national priorities across trading standards and environmental health services, with sufficient flexibility to allow local priorities as well
Help build ‘best practice’ in the risk-based delivery of services at a local level, co-ordinating support and guidance for local authorities on regulatory enforcement
Drive the move away from inspection to front-end advice, aiming to reduce the burdens on business, thereby delivering Hampton recommendations
Expand on the success of the Home Authority Principle, establishing a framework to ensure a consistent, risk-based approach to the delivery of trading standards and environmental health services for multi-site businesses.
Drive up performance standards within the wider local government performance framework, helping trading standards and environmental health officers provide a high quality service in accordance with Hampton principles.

The LBRO will deliver clear benefits to business and local authority enforcers. It will:

Provide a coordinated set of priorities and a framework for the enforcement of regulation in trading standards and environmental health
Offer a better service for businesses operating across local authority boundaries and ensure better advice is made available to business helping them comply with their regulatory responsibilities
Increase consumer protection, creating a healthy, competitive marketplace with better targeting of resources at rogue traders and criminal activities

Further Information
www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/enforcement/lbro/index.html