Working in Wales
The Welsh Government sees the role of Welsh regulatory services as protecting public interests and creating a level playing field in which citizens, consumers and businesses can thrive. To this end, the development of effective partnerships across organizational boundaries is viewed as key to success. Although substantial progress has already been made in coordinating the work of external review bodies - including regulatory services - the Welsh Government is now encouraging a more systematic approach, extending to areas such as assessment, planning, data exchange, reporting and joint working. Voluntary cooperation is felt to be the most effective way forward and is facilitated where practical by the alignment of policies and procedures across all external review bodies in Wales.
Produced by LBRO on behalf of the Welsh Regulators' Forum, the report below examines ways to reduce the administrative burden of data reporting in local authorities, foster effective data sharing across the regulatory system, and make better use of data collections in order to evidence the contribution to the national enforcement priorities for Wales.
Wales Data Collection Report Annex
The following practice example highlights the work of the Welsh partnership for trading standards.
Wales Heads of Trading Standards
The development of an internet enforcement toolkit has provided more advanced ways to protect consumers in response to the growth of online shopping.
Operations across Wales are conducted by two dedicated trading standards teams: Scambusters Wales and the Welsh Illegal Money Lending Unit. Their names indicate their remits but they tend to focus on the most demanding cases, providing specialist resources to support the work of regulatory services. Both undertake proactive, intelligence-led enforcement, liaising directly with the police and other agencies. For further details click here.