Test weights

Quality of our Service

• Service Standards
• Prosecutions and other formal actions
• Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Consumer Complaint & Enquiry Timescales
• Inspection Performance Indicators
• Complaints & enquiries statistics
• Other Enforcement statistics
• Animal Health statistics

Service Standards (To be reviewed and revised during 2007 / 2008)

We will:

• Help North Somerset residents to deal with their consumer problems by offering relevant and accurate advice;
• Promote consumer safety by targeting unsafe goods;
• Be courteous and responsive;
• Maintain confidentiality at all times;
• Carry out inspections, investigations and other enforcement actions in a thorough, fair and professional manner;
• Provide information to North Somerset consumers and businesses in a clear and appropriate manner;
• Provide guidance material to help North Somerset businesses understand and comply with legislation.
• Help businesses based in North Somerset to comply with trading standards legislation;

Our targets:

• To carry out inspections of all high risk premises at least annually;
• To respond to and deal with all complaints & enquiries received within our specified time limits.

Consumer Complaint & Enquiry Timescales

We will endeavour to:

• answer 95% of telephone calls within 10 seconds;
• respond to 100% of all complaints, enquiries and trade requests within 5 working days and 95% within 3 working days;
• respond to all letters, within 5 working days;
• complete 75% of all complaints, enquiries and trade requests within 15 working days of receipt.

Target	2005- 2006	2006- 2007
1. Respond to 100% of complaints, enquiries and trade requests within 5 working days	92%	97%
2. Respond to all letters within 5 working days	80%	90%
3. Complete 75% of all complaints, enquiries and trade requests within 15 working days of receipt	92%	96%

Prosecutions and other formal actions

For details of legal actions undertaken by us during the year please go to the Legal Proceedings section of our 'Latest News' page.

2007 / 2008 Customer satisfaction Survey

Each year we conduct a survey of all consumers who contact us directly for advice, or to make a complaint about goods and services they have received.

We also survey local businesses who have contacted us for business advice.

The purpose of the survey is to find out what people thought of the way we dealt with their
complaint or enquiry and whether there was anything we could have done better.

Although we are required to conduct these surveys by central Government, the feedback we get from our customers is very useful and helps us to improve our service.

To view the results of the consumer survey for 2007 / 2008 click on the link/s below:-

• Consumer complaints and enquiries (pdf 42kb)
• Business advice (pdf 43kb)

Inspection Performance Indicators

Our annual target for routine inspection of trade premises is:-

• To inspect 100% of trade premises, assessed as high risk, during the year.

Trading Standards key aims	Achievement 2005 - 2006	Achievement 2006 - 2007
Inspect all high risk premises	100%	100%

Complaints and Enquiries statistics*

Activity	Total 2005 - 2006	Total 2006 - 2007
1. Consumer complaints received by North Somerset Trading Standards*	1606	478
2. General enquiries received by North Somerset Trading Standards*	354	173
3. Business advice - requests received	372	352
4. Referrals received re businesses base in North Somerset under the Home Authority System	92	62
5. Consumer complaints referred via Consumer Direct*	1492	2613
Totals	3916	3678

*August 2004 saw the start of Consumer Direct South West - a regional call centre, now jointly operated by all the Trading Standards authorities in the South West and the Office of Fair Trading

Type of complaints received by our advisors

All complaints received from consumers about goods or services they have purchased are recorded under one of the following headings. This enable Trading Standards Officers across the country to target resources towards those areas of trade that give the most cause for concern.

Type of complaint	2005- 2006	2006- 2007
1. Defective goods	16.3%	24.1%
2. Substandard services	11.1%	16.9%
3. Prices	4.6%	2.8%
4. Delivery / collection / repair	3.3%	3.3%
5. Cancellation	1.2%	0.9%
6. Selling practices	1.3%	1.7%
7. Misleading claims / omissions	10.3%	10.6%
8. Offers of inadequate redress	0.5%	0.7%
9. Terms & Conditions	0.5%	0.5%
10. Problems pursuing a claim	0.8%	0.3%
11. Business practices	1.3%	0.8%
12. Age restricted sales	0.3%	0.2%
13. Energy Selling Transactions	0.1%	0.02%
14. Food related complaints	0.8%	0.3%
15. Access to goods and services	0.1%	0.2%
16. Guarantees	0.1%	0.1%
17. Unspecified	46%	36.1%

Other enforcement statistics

A small selection of the statutory duties undertaken by Trading Standards staff:-

Activity	Total - April 2005 - March 2006	Total - April 2006 - March 2007
1. Inspection visits to trade premises	1628	1178
2. Number of Formal and undercover samples taken. For quality, composition, safety, labelling or compliance with legislation	Food - 429 Safety - 17 Agriculture - 48 Others - 2	Food - 333 Safety - 70 Agriculture - 53 Others - 4
3. Total no of items of weighing and measuring equipment tested for accuracy inc:- Scales, weights, weighbridges, petrol pumps, pub measures, person weighing machines, measures of length and capacity.	2,333	236
4. Inspection visits to fireworks retailers Compliance with British Standards, Age restricted sales, secure storage etc	47	75
5. Licences for the retail sale of poisons - issued / renewed	39	29
6. Petrol pumps tested	94	10
7. Total food premises inspected	376	234
8. Weighbridges tested	22	0

Animal Health Statistics

Activity	Total in 2005 - 2006	Total in 2006 - 2007	Total in 2007 - 2008
1. Movement records inspected	304	254	235
2. Post movement records processed onto Government's AMLS system	2,803	3,215	3,100
3. Cleansing & disinfection visits	117	108	61

Back to:-

Top of Page

• Service Standards
• Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Consumer Complaint & Enquiry Timescales
• Inspection Performance Indicators
• Complaints & enquiries statistics
• Other Enforcement statistics

North Somerset Council, Trading Standards Service, Somerset House, Oxford Street, Weston super Mare, Somerset, BS23 1TG
Telephone: 01275 884118    Fax: 01275 888683
Electronic Mail: trading.standards@n-somerset.gov.uk