Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“Relevant Background Information

 

      The Government has over the last 10 years been committed to reform the regulatory regime in the UK.  In 1998 the Cabinet Office published ‘The Enforcement Concordat’ which set out principles of good enforcement. The Council recognised the importance of the Better Regulation Agenda and formally adopted the Enforcement Concordat in 2003. These good enforcement principles have formed the basis of the enforcement policies subsequently agreed by Council and have consequently influenced how the Department plans and implements it regulatory functions.

 

      More recently, the Government has renewed its focus on how to reduce costs imposed on businesses by regulators and how to make regulation more effective and efficient. Following the Hampton Report into regulatory practices and the Macrory Report into the effectiveness of regulatory sanctions, the Government gave a commitment to enact the recommendations made in these reports into UK law.

 

      In 2007, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) published The Regulators Compliance Code, a statutory code for English local authorities introducing new requirements to be used alongside the Enforcement Concordat.  The actions required by the Code reflect the principles of better regulation which state that the regulatory activities, specifically those activities related to environmental health, trading standards, licensing and fire safety, should be consistent, accountable, transparent, targeted and proportionate to risk.

 

      Furthermore, in 2008 the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) was established to work with the above regulators to improve standards and the Regulation Enforcement Sanctions Act was passed to reduce inconsistency of enforcement.  The Act also introduced the Primary Authority Principle giving businesses access to a special legal relationship with a single council that would be responsible for providing specialist advice and liaising with other authorities over inspection regimes and any enforcement action.

 

      The scope of both the Act and the compliance code is limited in the Northern Ireland context as they exclude legislation which is transferred to devolved administrations. In Northern Ireland this means Councils, with the exception of matters under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (safety of goods), are not legally obliged to observe the requirements or LBRO guidance. It also means that businesses in NI have no legal right of access to a Primary Authority.

 

      However, irrespective of these limitations, the Health and Environmental Services Department is committed to delivering the highest possible standards of regulation in respect of both its environmental health and licensing functions.  It has made and continues to make improvements to reduce the burdens on business whilst targeting the worst offenders and effectively protecting the public. These include:

 

·         Providing a confidential business advice service to help small businesses understand their responsibilities;

 

·         Improving the application of risk assessment for planning regulatory interventions to target the highest risk premises;

 

·         Combining inspections across different functions where appropriate into a single visit;

 

·         Reducing the numbers of inspections and visits where businesses are broadly compliant;

 

·         Promoting compliance through seminars, advice, resource packs and one to one consultations;

 

·         Developing ongoing communication arrangements between inspectors and organisations representing groups of businesses as well as the provision of training, customer panels, etc.

 

·         Introducing Scores on the Doors as an incentive to improve compliance with food hygiene legislation;

 

·         Taking formal action where merited in line with the principles of good enforcement and consistent with our published enforcement policies.

 

      However, not withstanding the above, it is recognised that in order to help deliver better regulation and to maximise the contribution good regulation can make to economic prosperity, councils across Northern Ireland would benefit from:

 

·         A formal relationship with LBRO;

 

·         The ability to participate in the Primary Authority Scheme, as suggested in the Council response made on the BERR consultation exercise on this scheme in November 2008; and

 

·         The formal adoption of The Regulators Compliance Code.

 

Key Issues

 

      The Northern Ireland Chief Environmental Health Officers’ Group (CEHOG) has been negotiating with LBRO and the Department of Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland (DETI) to secure a voluntary agreement between these organisations and Councils.  Councils signing up to the agreement will follow the principles and guidance produced by LBRO and will have regard to practices that are established in Great Britain affecting the work of regulators who are bound by the Regulatory Enforcement Sanctions Act and the Regulators Compliance Code.

 

      CEHOG has drafted a Memorandum of Understanding/Statement of Intent that sets out a proposed relationship between local councils in Northern Ireland, DETI and LBRO and BERR in GB. The principles of this draft document have been agreed by all of these parties, however further negotiations are still to be had with the professional liaison group representing the licensing function in Northern Ireland. In addition there will also be a need to produce a protocol or guidance on the practical arrangements for working with Primary Authorities.

 

      All district councils are now being asked to consider adopting the draft document as a policy. Subsequent to agreement across councils and with the licensing group, and to formalise the agreement at a Northern Ireland level, it has been suggested that the document should be signed by the DETI Minister and possibly the Chair of NI Local Government Association before being signed in GB by the Chair of LBRO and a senior representative of BERR.

 

Resource Implications

 

      Financial

 

      None

 

      Human Resources

 

      None

 

      Asset and Other Implications

 

      No implications

 

Recommendation

 

      The Committee is requested to agree in principle to the adoption of the draft Memorandum of Understanding/Statement of Intent which will establish the relationship between the Council and LBRO in GB in regulatory matters not otherwise covered by the Regulatory Enforcement & Sanctions Act of 2008.”

 

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the undernoted Memorandum of Understanding on Better Regulation:

 

“DRAFT MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

 

Between:  

 

Local Better Regulation Office, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, TRADING STANDARDS SERVICE AND DISTRICT COUNCILS in NOTHERN IRELAND

 

1.   INTRODUCTION

 

1.1   The intent of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions (RES) Act is to ensure high standards of regulatory activity and to minimise the burdens imposed on those businesses motivated to achieve high standards of compliance. The extent to which the Act will apply directly in Northern Ireland is limited by the exclusion of those matters which have been transferred from Westminster to the NI Assembly.

 

1.2   The regulatory functions specified in the Legislative and Regulatory Reform (Regulatory Functions) Order 2007 are those local authority functions in GB which must be exercised having regard to the Principles of Better Regulation. These currently include environmental health, trading standards, licensing and fire safety.

 

1.3   Regulators in Northern Ireland have recognised that to promote economic prosperity and to support the development of the business community, (and consequently benefit both communities and the environment), standards of enforcement and regulatory practice within Northern Ireland must be consistent with those exercised in GB and, having met the requirements of all previous guidance to this effect, intend to have regard to the Principles of Better Regulation, LBRO Guidance to Local Authorities in England and Wales and to comply with the standards of the Regulators Compliance Code.

 

1.4   The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding is to set out the principles of an agreement between Local Councils, the Trading Standards Service and the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment which will ensure that those objectives are met and provide an assurance to the business community of that commitment.

 

2.   SCOPE

 

2.1   Part 1 of the RES Act sets out LBRO’s functions and applies to local authorities in England and Wales.

 

2.2   Part 2 of the Act establishes the Primary Authority scheme which aims to promote consistency in the way that multi-site businesses are regulated by local authorities. This part will apply to Northern Ireland in respect of non-transferred matters.

 

2.3   Part 3 of the Act makes provision for regulatory sanctions and only applies in Northern Ireland in respect of non-transferred matters

 

2.4   Part 4 refers to regulatory burdens. This part applies to Northern Ireland only in respect of non-transferred matters.

 

2.5   To ensure parity of enforcement practice between Northern Ireland and GB it is therefore necessary that this MOU establishes an agreed policy for standards and practices in respect of matters that are included within the RES Act, but fall within the category of legislation that is ‘transferred’, i.e. under the control of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

 

3    IMPLEMENTATION PRINCIPLES

 

      (In the paragraphs in this section, ‘Regulators in Northern Ireland’, will be assumed to include the Trading Standards Service, the Environmental Health Service across the 26 District Councils and will include the full normal range of those functions and any associated licensing regulation carried out by those services in Northern Ireland).

 

3.1   LBRO Guidance.  Regulators in Northern Ireland agree to recognise and have regard to any guidance issued by LBRO in England and Wales wherever adoption of that guidance might impact upon or contribute to, the quality and consistency of enforcement in Northern Ireland and to the development of consistent practice when compared with equivalent functions in GB. This consideration currently applies to the Enforcement Concordat under which regulators adopted the principles of transparency, consistency, proportionality and targeting as those that exemplify good practice and will be extended to the new Regulators Compliance Code.

 

3.2   Priorities for Enforcement, Regulators in Northern Ireland will consider LBRO published enforcement priorities when allocating resources to functions. NI Regulators will also seek to contribute to discussion of, and decisions upon, those LBRO priorities.

 

3.3   Risk Assessment.  Regulators will have regard to advice and guidance from appropriate national agencies and from LBRO when adopting and maintaining systems for risk assessment of businesses subject to regulation. 

 

3.4   Burdens on Businesses.  Northern Ireland regulators will develop strategies to minimise burdens on businesses imposed by regulatory mechanisms. These strategies will be informed by consultation with businesses, with Government Departments, other regulators and with LBRO to ensure appropriate alignment of strategies and their implementation with those elsewhere.

 

3.5   Primary Authorities.  Regulators will work with local authorities in GB and with all other regulatory bodies in Northern Ireland to give effect to the general principles of the Primary Authority scheme. To this end, regulators acting as primary authorities within Northern Ireland will provide advice and information to other regulators on standards of compliance of businesses within their area of concern. Regulators will also seek similar information from other Primary Authorities when considering enforcement action against a business having a head office or decision-making centre in another area.  For this to be taken forward protocols and guidance will need to be developed.”