Another leaving do for Ron

I can’t wait until I retire if Ron’s retirement is anything to go by.  Not only does he look really healthy but he had yet another leaving do last week.  I was in Cardiff for the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers (ACTSO) AGM last week.  On the Tuesday they had invited Ron out for dinner as a rightful way of saying thank you for his contribution to our profession.  Guy Pratt chose the venue, which unsurprisingly was a curry house and not a posh one!!!  It was good to share a couple of beers with Ron and catch up with him.  It was also nice for so many colleagues to be there.  I know Ron had a good evening and the food was really good.

Regional co-ordinators

Last week I meet with the trading standards regional coordinators in Cardiff.  As an Institute we recognise that we haven’t had enough engagement with front line services and we need to find a better way of understanding their needs.  The regional networks are assuming greater significance in these austere times and the coordinators group provides an excellent route for us get closer to services.  We had and open and refreshing discussion that included several moans (on both sides!) but a real sense on wanting to work together going forward.  As for next steps the coordinators have agreed to help us get TS Interlink right, both in terms of deliverables and price, and work closely with us on the national trading standards conversation.  A really good meeting in a very warm Cardiff

Post conference and the national conversation

I always seem to be apologising for not keeping my blog more up to date, but our members will be pleased as it is a sign that I’m busy and they are getting their money’s worth out of me.  Obviously post conference there was a fair bit of catching up to do, but not as much as there once was.  Modern technology has made it much easier to keep on top of e-mails – although it is also easier for e-mails to control your life!

Post conference has seen a great focus on the National Trading Standards Conversation and working with the team at Head Office to get that right.  The first independent challenge panel meeting, chaired by Lord Heseltine, went well.  It has certainly set us off in the right direction and you can read the press release at the following link: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/extra/news-item.cfm/newsid/1211

The hard work has really now kicked in and we are designing the enquiry stages of the conversation as we talk.  Watch this space for further details.

Friday, media, home and rest

On Friday I attended a media briefing with members of the motoring press and the Motor Codes offices.  It was a good chance to explore the issues facing consumers in the motoring sector and the role that our approved codes can play.  Once that was done and dusted it was finally time to go home.  Having been away all week it was good to get back home to Eileen (my other half) and Sam and Grace (my two kids) and a bit of peace and quiet.  Although being my birthday weekend there wasn't a huge amount of that!

Thursday

Thursday can be a funny day at conference, as it is the last day, but I thought the idea of a free branch farewell breakfast certainly encouraged a fairly good attendance.  It was also my chance to spend a bit of good quality time in the exhibition and chat to exhibitors.  It's always good to get their feedback to make sure we get our offering right.  I am very pleased by the number already booked for next year under our priority early booking scheme.  The awards were announced for best stands – many congratulations to Surrey County Council and Wragg Bros.  There was also a chance to have some photos on the TSI stand

It was then off to the main auditorium for the final session and presentation of some more hero awards.  Then a quick rush round to thank as many people as possible before heading off to London for the MJ awards.  We co sponsor the award with the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and it was real tough competition this year.  I am really pleased for colleagues from Birmingham and the Illegal Money Lending Team for their well deserved award. 

Wednesday

Up bright and early I got to the centre for about 9.  The usual running around checking that everything and everyone was OK, especially given that we had a number of guest sessions on that morning.  A quick catch up with e-mails and it was off to meet some of the panel for the day's plenary session.  Also that morning we were giving out the first set of our hero awards at the start of the session and it was truly humbling to spend some time with them before the session started.  It was also a great pleasure to say a few words about the awards and recipients. 

Once the awards had been handed out there was a quick wiz round the exhibition with Christine Heemskerk to chose the best exhibitor awards before returning for the rest of the plenary debate.  Once the session was over it was a quick thank you to the speakers and Liz Barclay before rushing off to the Holiday Inn for the West Yorkshire lunch, as usual magnificently hosted and sponsored by Status.  Again it was really pleasing to be able to say a few words about the continued support that Status provides the conference.

Unable to stay for the whole meal, I rushed back to catch the last semi-final and final of the Young Consumer of the Year competition.  It was an amazingly tight contest and the knowledge on display certainly put this old trading standards officer to shame!  Unfortunately I was not able to stay for the presentation but many congratulations to Abbey Grange Academy in Leeds.  I had to quickly go to the main auditorium for the OFT session "New landscape – new leaders" that saw a number of us set out our vision for the Consumer Protection Partnership.

Once that session had finished I had to do a quick audio interview before one last quick run round the centre.  Finding myself with an hour spare I had a quick walk along the seafront that, despite the issues with rubbish, was lovely.  Back for a quick shower before meeting others for the Trainee dinner that is supported by our friends at the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA).  It was a lovely meal and it's great to mix with future of our profession.  The meal also gave the BTHA a chance to pay tribute to my predecessor Ron in a very personal way.  Once the dinner was over it was quickly over to the party night to say hello to a few people before deciding that I'd done all my dad dancing the night and turning in with the party still in full swing.

Tuesday

Up bright and early I had breakfast and headed to the conference centre for about nine.  There was a little bit of work to be done with moving the agenda around, because of changes to the Minister's timetable.  Those amendments made it was a quick wiz round the centre and exhibition to make sure that everything was OK and all the exhibitors had all they needed.  As I was speaking within the first plenary session I had to get myself miked up with the rest of the panel, before we opened the conference debates.  Our pair of wonderful Christine's (Baroness Crawley and Heemskerk) opened the conference and launched the consumer codes approval scheme.  I had used the opportunity to say a few words about how I saw the conference developing over the next few years.  There then followed a plenary session where we looked at how we could avoid the post code lottery for consumer protection.

I then had to rush to the consumer codes stand where Baroness Crawley posed for photos with the code sponsors and cut the official codes cake. A quick glass of bubbly and then round the exhibition to make sure the exhibitors were happy and everything was running smoothly.  No time for lunch as I was participating in a min-theatre session on the future of Local Authority Approved Trader Schemes.  Straight from the mini-theatre to the Consumer Challenge Quiz – one of my favourite competitions – I watched about 20 minutes before I had to disappear to meet the Minister, Jo Swinson.  Congratulations to Kaimes School, Edinburgh on their victory.  A quick dash around the exhibition with the Minister, including a photo call with code sponsors and others before heading off to the main auditorium.  Here the Minister gave a speech on the government's vision for consumer protection and took a couple of quick questions.  I then escorted the Minister to her taxi before returning to the rest of the Institute celebrates success session.  I thought Ron was a great orator and it was really good to see and listen to Peter Denard.  After the announcement of a few awards, including my old authority Cambridgeshire winning the Primary Authority of the Year, it was good to see this graduates receive their certificates from our Chairman.  Back to the hotel for a quick shower before returning (in my dinner suit) to the venue for the awards dinner.    Again Ron was the host and it was good to see him receive his life membership and vice-presidency – both thoroughly deserved.  A number of awards were handed out on the evening and we had a little dance to the band the MP3s (www.themp3sband.co.uk).  I was going to retire to the hotel when someone suggested that we had a night cap at the party night.  This proved to be a bad idea and I apologies to all those that had to put up with my serious "dad dancing".  Far too late I ended up back in the hotel!

A few conference blogs.

 

I had intended to blog everyday from conference but for some strange reason I was quite busy.  So the next few will be a day by day account

Monday

I travelled down late morning to Brighton knowing that the team had prepared well and everything was on track.  It was an enjoyable journey and I managed to get a lot of e-mails done on the train.  I dropped my bags off and headed to the Brighton Centre mid-afternoon, excited to see how it was all going – well of course.  Having no crisis to attend to I decided to make myself useful and help out on reception.   I hope, like me, found the new electronic registration system worked well.  It was good to meet and great friends and colleagues and we were busy due to the fact that there were mini-theatre sessions running in the afternoon.  I also took the chance whilst there to look at the Playsafe entries and the TSI video booth.  Just loved the colour scheme.

The afternoon seemed to fly by and before I knew it the welcome reception was starting.  This year we decided to hold it in the exhibition space and the mixture of the buzz of the exhibition, some chilled out music and refreshments made it an excellent start to the week.  After that I shot across the road to the branch welcome drink.  Of course I was home at an extremely early hour, to make sure that I was fresh for the rest of the week.