Yesterday I had one of those hectic days with lots of
meetings and running around - but it was also a day that I really felt that I
was becoming a chief executive. It has been a slightly strange feeling
moving from being a head of service to an organisational head, but I'm now
growing into it.
My day started with a meeting with the property
ombudsman. It was a good discussion about how we work together to help
improve standards in the sector. We also considered some of the changes
happening to the regulatory landscape in their area - it was a good reminder
that policy changes don’t just impact on regulators but also on businesses.
Then it was off to the Office of Fair Trading to talk about
the transition of business education to the Trading Standards Institute, and
about price guidance in particular. It was a really positive meeting and
helped shape our thoughts on how we might make price guidance a living document
and better engage with primary authorities. We will be progressing work
on this under the TSI banner shortly, so watch this space for more news.
Then it was off to meet Catherine Brown (CEO of the Food
Standards Agency) with Graham Jukes of the Chartered Institute for
Environmental Health. These are regular meetings and it’s good to share
thoughts and ideas in an informal way. I find the approach very
refreshing and open. Unsurprisingly topics touched upon included horsemeat and
competence. There was a real commitment from all that we need to work
together to learn lessons from the horsemeat scandal and
to ensure the continued competence of our officers.
My final meeting of the day was with Lord Curry, chairman of
the Better Regulation Executive. He has a wealth of experience that can
help guide our work and it was good to understand that we have a shared goal of
better regulation - not de-regulation. But it is equally clear that with
the resources available to us it will be a balancing act.
I got home a bit tired – but smiling.
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