Primary Authority was introduced to address businesses' concerns about how local authorities apply environmental health, licensing and trading standards legislation, including contradictory advice, wasted resources and duplicated efforts, and the lack of effective dispute resolution when councils disagree.
The scheme gives businesses the right to form a statutory partnership with one local authority, which then provides robust and reliable advice for other councils to take into account when carrying out inspections or dealing with non-compliance.
This entails a fundamental shift in the relationship between the regulated and the regulator to the benefit of both parties.
The principles of Primary Authority are set out in the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008. Prior to its launch, the framework was tested and refined by 13 major retailers and pilot local authorities.
All the legislation underpinning Primary Authority on the website of the Office of Public Sector Information. The relevant documents are:
Salford City Council offer Primary Authority to eligible businesses that trade in Salford and across local authority boundaries. This scheme operates on a cost recovery basis with the business agreeing to a minimum commitment of 20 hours of officer time committed to the partnership in areas of mutual agreement.
This equates to a minimum commitment of £1100 from the business at a rate of £55 per hour. Any hours over and above the minimum of 20 will be charged at the same hourly rate of £55 per hour.
If you wish to speak with an officer in relation to Primary Authority please contact email trading.standards@salford.gov.uk or call 0161 925 1097.
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