Our Teams
We have six teams within the Trading Standards Service, each specialising in their own area.
To help you understand what we do, we have provided you with a short description of the purpose of the team, and the key principle duties. This covers information on the type of work they undertake and the areas that they research into.
There are also some links to other pages within the Leicestershire County Council website and also some to external organisations.
The six teams within our service are: -
- Providing the first point of contact for complaints and enquiries from both consumers and traders, direct provision of advice and information as appropriate, and the subsequent assessment and direction of such complaints and enquiries as appropriate to the Consumer Services and Business Services Units.
- The delivery of consumer education.
- Undertaking enforcement and advice projects/surveys identified as furthering consumer protection.
- Co-ordination of the ‘Home Authority Principle’ in dealing with businesses based in Leicestershire but trading over a wider area.
Agricultural and Technical Safety
- Petroleum and explosive products are stored safely.
- The health and welfare of farmed animals is protected and they are fed appropriate feed materials.
- Zoonotic diseases are prevented from transmission to humans and that, animal by-products are properly disposed of.
- Weighbridges are accurate and that, ‘public’ attendants are correctly certified to operate them.
Business Standards and Support
- Businesses, other than those dealing with food, comply with all relevant trading standards legislation particularly in respect to the accuracy of weighing and measuring equipment, product safety, the use of trademarks and misleading descriptions.
- The care and maintenance of standards used to check the accuracy of weighing and measuring equipment in use for trade.
- Testing and verification of weighing and measuring equipment for use in trade, or under EC rules, at the premises of the manufacturer or distributor.
Community Safety and Well-being
- Investigation of product safety complaints (other than Home Authority referrals).
- Undertaking consumer safety and consumer health projects/surveys.
- Age-restricted products enforcement.
- Community safety programmes and enforcement including partnership development and multi-agency work.
Food and Service Performance
- Advise, inspect and monitor food businesses, large and small, which import, manufacture and sell food, to ensure that they comply with all relevant trading standards legislation particularly in respect of food labelling, quality, and composition.
- Investigate complaints about food labelling, composition and quality, including out-of-date food.
- Routinely sample a variety of products to check for general compliance with food standards legislation across all food businesses.
- Provide advice about food labelling, quality, and composition to those wishing to start a food business.
- Work closely with Environmental Health Departments in District Councils to ensure that Food Safety and Food Standards are maintained
- Monitoring the overall performance and quality of the Trading Standards Service and providing reports and statistical returns.
- Analysis of consumer and trader complaints.
- Undertaking enforcement projects/surveys identified using the “Intelligence-Led” approach.
- Investigation of unfair trading practices (including those identified from the complaints closed as “Inadequate Resources to Action” category).
- Development of joint enforcement action with other agencies.
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