Meeting

Purpose.

1.     The purpose of this report is to inform the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Leisure, and Sport as to how Regulatory Services (Portsmouth Trading Standards [PTS]) will approach service delivery challenges for 2024-2026. This report provides a comprehensive update since the previous report presented in September 2022.

2.     PTS' role is to protect consumers from adverse transactional experiences. This requires a transparent consumer protection system for businesses, with consumers aware of their rights alongside robust law enforcement. This is increasingly difficult to maintain due to newly emerging and complex markets, and demand pressures facing the service.

3.     Businesses also rely on advice from PTS. This area of service is also under increasing pressure as a result of high levels of enforcement necessary, particularly, to tackle rogue practices in this burgeoning area of unfair business activity as they emerge.

4.     This report highlights the current demands, service capacity and identifies the forecasted threats and challenges and implications presented by new burdens.

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Leisure & Sport

1.     Acknowledges the increasing duties and pressures facing Portsmouth Trading Standards.

2.     Acknowledges the level of resourcing currently available to Portsmouth Trading Standards is challenging when providing the protections the public should reasonably expect.

3.     Approves the way Portsmouth Trading Standards proposes to mitigate the growing threats as set out within the report, including the use of alternative enforcement measures.

The Integrated Impact Assessment will follow.

Purpose.

To illustrate and review progress against the Council's Sports Facility Strategy 2017.

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Leisure & Sport note the report.