Second report published on the Retail Enforcement Pilot
6 April 2010
Delivering a single business inspection, by one inspector, covering multiple regulatory functions, ranging from trading standards to environmental health, is a considerable challenge, according to a second report on the Retail Enforcement Pilot (REP).
LBRO worked with the assistance of the Centre for Decision Analysis and Risk Management at Middlesex University to produce the report, highlighting the experiences of 30 local authorities taking part in the pilot. It complements earlier work with the Centre for Regional Economic Development, University of Cumbria, published in October 2009.
The focus of REP was on encouraging local regulators to work collaboratively to identify and test new ways of working to meet the needs of business. The first Cumbria report focused on the impacts on business while the second Middlesex report focused on the local regulators.
The evidence from the Middlesex study highlights that the way the current system of local regulation is organised and delivered in practice makes achieving the ‘single inspection' ideal a considerable challenge.
LBRO Chairman Clive Grace said: "The Retail Enforcement Pilot was one of the early programmes of work to translate the ideas of the Hampton Review into reality, and was established to encourage new risk-based approaches to local regulation.
"The latest report draws together the experiences of those involved in operating the pilot, highlighting their challenges and successes, and we thank them for their efforts. It shows they had a common commitment to making the new approach work but faced a number of challenges which we now need to look at in more detail."
The Middlesex report found that to deliver on the aspirations of the pilot, strong partnerships were necessary and that these needed to be supported by robust mechanisms to share information through effective IT.
Most significantly, it was also clear that the new approach required a change in culture for local and national regulators. LBRO works with local authorities through the widely agreed Excellence Framework, and with national regulators, professional bodies, and local authority representatives on the World Class Coalition, and with its partners will support culture change across the system.
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