Minutes:
Anu Prashar (Senior Regulatory Service Manager, Brent Council) presented a report detailing the Trading Standards Brent and Harrow Mid-Year Report 2023/24 which had been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Consortium Agreement and detailed the work of the Trading Standards Service.
In considering the report the Joint Advisory Board noted:
The Service, paid for by businesses, had delivered 65 hours of tailored advice to businesses in connection with the statutory Primary Authority Scheme. This was related to physical and online compliance on clothing, electricals, and homeware covering trademarks, product safety, and fair trading. A Primary Authority business had also been advised on underage sales matters, with specific guidance on appropriate systems in place to ensure age restricted products were not available to children.
Results in Court:
A total of Four cases concluded in court during the reporting period.
The first case concerned a seizure of 350-unit packets of illicit tobacco not carrying the compliant health warning and not in the standardised packets.
The second case was a seizure of illicit tobacco from a coffee and nut roaster with 908-unit packs of cigarettes, 5-unit packs of hand-rolling tobacco, and 85 packs/tubs of shisha molasses tobacco (47.7 kg).
The third case was about a sole trader in Wealdstone who sold not one but two vapes to a 15- year-old girl. He even asked the volunteer’s age and she responded 15!
The fourth case was about a seizure of illicit tobacco from a butcher on Greenford Road, Harrow, which was found with 1,187-unit packs of cigarettes. The company and the director pleaded guilty to all charges.
Letting Agent Compliance Work:
The Service continued to pro-actively conduct online audits of agents actively advertising property rentals service as well as respond to complaints it had so far issued.
· a total of 15 Notice of Intent (NOI) to issue monetary penalties against agents that have been found not to comply in the past.
· 10 of the NOIs issued have resulted in monetary penalty notices officially known as Final Notice being issued to a total of £25,050.00 (£10,450 for Brent & Harrow £14,600)
· 1 had withdrawn and the agent has been issued with a letter of warning.
· 4 NOIs are still pending further decisions.
Age Restricted Product Sales
27 businesses have been visited with regards to checking its compliance with regards to the sale of age restricted products to minors. 19 of these have been Brent and 8 in Harrow. Out of the 8 businesses in Harrow tested 4 of these have sold to the child volunteers. This is a 50% failure rate so far.
These businesses are currently under investigation and the outcome will be reported in the annual report.
The failure rate in Brent currently is at 5.26% with only one sale out of 19 businesses visited to check compliance.
Doorstep Crime & Scams
Whilst the team is set to deliver a rapid response service to our local residents to prevent, disrupt and deter doorstep criminals, to date it has not received any Rapid Response request although it has received complaints about building and renovation services which it has looked into further.
Officers have supported residents by arranging for Building Control Inspectors and surveyors to visit and assess work conducted to assist with civil routes of redress. A local Brent business was issued a formal warning for falsely claiming Trustmark membership. Whilst in this case, it was a lapsed membership, rogue businesses know that accreditation can influence a resident’s decision on whether to appoint a business or not, so we act on this information immediately and can, where necessary, remove a website from the internet.
The following issues were then raised by Members of the Board in response to the update provided:
Following prosecution for underage selling Members questioned whether shop owners were still permitted to trade. Officers advised that shop owners could trade before and after the prosecution, but they would be subject to increased scrutiny.
The Chair sought clarification on the level of age restricted product sales. Officers advised that work with shop owners was ongoing in order to educate but more shops were selling vapes and this was increasing the number of age restricted sales.
Having considered the report, the Board
RESOLVED: That the Mid-Year Report 2023-2024 be noted.