Big names offer to trade places
30 July 2010
More major businesses have added their weight to the Trading Places programme, which encourages better working relationships between regulatory officers and businesses.
The latest names signing up are Sainsbury's (London), Greggs Bakers (North East), Timpson's, pork producer Tulip (South West); supplier of private label household and personal care products, Robert McBride (Cumbria); Ginsters (Cornwall), Rachel's Organic Dairies (Wales), and One-Stop convenience stores (Midlands).
The opportunities are varied: Sainsbury's is offering a day with HQ staff at their distribution centre in North London, which Includes an overview of HQ activities and practical experience of distribution and store processes.
Timpson's is offering two-day placements, with day one spent with an area manager looking at how shops are managed, and day two spent in a Timpson's shop experiencing the challenges faced on the ground.
Local authorities and their trading standards and environmental health officers can benefit from placements arranged with commercial organisations via Trading Places, which is run by LBRO, the technical experts on better local regulation.
LBRO Chairman Clive Grace said: "These leading businesses give their time to this programme because they value developing relationships with local regulators.
"I urge every enforcement officer to sign up to Trading Places - it will enhance their experience and career profile, and help them create a regulatory culture at local level which is business savvy."
Trading Places offers the chance to gain valuable career enhancing experience in the commercial world as well as up to 10 CPD points. For the local authorities, it offers the opportunity to plug knowledge gaps in particular commercial areas.
Available in one or two-day formats, Trading Places gives enforcement officers the opportunity to see the impact of their decisions on business. Fostering understanding between local authority regulatory services and the businesses they monitor removes cultural barriers to communication, strengthens working relationships, encourages mutual trust and promotes a partnership approach to achieving compliance.
The scheme has recently been launched with national regulators including the Food Standards Agency and the Environment Agency. Trading Places is free. To find out more, email Grahaeme.dodge@lbro.org.uk
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