Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards win two national awards

Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards has been awarded two national awards by the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The team won the national award for service excellence and the Business Team Manager won a national award for leadership.

With the award, the OPSS recognised how the whole service benefits local businesses and residents in Buckinghamshire and Surrey – while also achieving a significantly wider reach for consumer protection and business support.

Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards also supports the trading standards profession and marketplace beyond the geographical boundaries, reaching thousands of businesses and helping to upskill other regulatory officers. Many of the service activities also help to protect consumers across the country.

Examples of the wider work carried out by the service includes ports enforcement (to check the safety of products coming into the country), working as a Primary Authority for over 150 organisations offering trading standards advice, and producing guides which are used nationally by organisations including the Foods Standards Agency and the OPSS. The service also offers training for other regulators and acts as a legal backstop for the Advertising Standards Agency as well as supporting national trading standards investigations.

Mark Winn, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services, commented:

“There are a lot of regulators out there achieving some really excellent results, so it’s fantastic that Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards has been rightly recognised for being an exemplar service both at a local level and wider through its work leading the trading standards field across the country. The team can be rightly proud for delivering such a great service to protect consumers both locally and even at a national level and vulnerable residents from the threats from scams.”

Michele Manson, the Business Team Manager for Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards was recognised by the OPSS for her leadership skills. Michele is well known in the field of Primary Authority – not only does she head up the flagship Primary Authority team, but she is also Chair of the South-East Regional Primary Authority Group.

Michele said:

“Everybody in Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards can be justifiably proud of this award which recognises how the whole service working through enforcement, inspection and business advice has a much wider reach than our local residents and businesses. Our work with partners like the Association of Convenience Stores, Association for the Cannabinoid Industry, UK Vaping Industry Association and the Advertising Standards Authority to name but few meant we had a strong evidence base for our award submission. We didn’t have enough space to mention them all, but we are very proud to work with all of our partners.”

More information on Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards can be found on their website.