Date 13/10/2010. Date 15/10/2010. Date 17/10/10. Date. Name of TU rep. Date. Date 15/10/10. Date 13/10/10. Date 13/10/10. Date 27/10/10.

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1 DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO SUBJECT: The delegation of certain powers of Prosecution to the London Borough of Hillingdon Control sheet All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process and the signed and dated report MUST be passed to Democratic Service for publishing All reports 1. Democratic Services receive draft report 2. Democratic Services cleared draft report as being constitutionally appropriate 3. Finance clearance obtained (report author to complete) 4. Staff and other resources issues clearance obtained (report author to complete) 5. Trade Union response received (Staffing issues only) 6. Legal clearance obtained from (report author to complete) 7. Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained (report author to complete) 8. Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained (report author to complete) 9. The above process has been checked and verified by Director, Head of Service or Deputy (report author to complete) 10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copy received by Democratic Services for publishing 11. Report published by Dem Services to website Officer reports: 12. Head of Service informed report is published and can be implemented. Cabinet Member reports: Nick Musgrove 13/10/2010 Nick Musgrove 15/10/2010 Name of Fin. officer Alex Altman 17/10/10 Name of Res. officer Name of TU rep. Name of Legal officer Parina Patel 15/10/10 Name of P&P officer Andrew Nathan 13/10/10 Name of officer Julie Pal 13/10/10 Name 13. Expiry of call-in period 14. Report circulated for call-in purposes to COSC members & copied to Cabinet & Head of Service Pam Wharfe 27/10/10 2/12/10 2/12/10 2/12/10

2 ACTION TAKEN UNDER DELEGATED POWERS BY OFFICER IN CONSULTATION WITH CABINET MEMBER(S) (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION) Subject Officer taking decision The delegation of certain powers of Prosecution to the London Borough of Hillingdon Director of Environment and Operations Cabinet Member(s) Cabinet Member for Governance and Civic Affairs of decision 27 October 2010 Summary Officer Contributors This report seeks to approve the delegation of the power of prosecution under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972 in connection with alleged offences committed within the London Borough of Barnet by SAS Fire and Security Systems, and officers and managers of said company, in contravention of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Fraud Act Emma Phasey, Trading Standards and Licensing Manager Stuart Renouf, Trading Standards Enforcement Officer Status (public or exempt) Public Wards affected All Enclosures None Reason for exemption from callin (if appropriate) Contact for further information: Emma Phasey, Trading Standards and Licensing Manager, Serial No. 1197

3 1. RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS 1.1 None. 2. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 2.1 Approval of the delegation will ensure that we get best value from resources across the public sector including our people and assets and will contribute to the corporate priority of providing better services with less money. 3. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES 3.1 If the power to prosecute in relation to these alleged offences is not delegated to the London Borough of Hillingdon then the London Borough of Barnet trading standards department will need to consider prosecuting the alleged offences. As the department has had no dealings with the trader the department will need to start from the beginning with the cases and it is likely they will not be able to put together a case before the end of the statutory time limits. If the offences were prosecuted by the London Borough of Barnet the trader is likely to end up with a lesser penalty for just three offences as compared to the large number of offences the London Borough of Hillingdon are pursuing. 3.2 Any reputation risk to the department by the delegation of our powers in these cases is negated by the better use of resources and the likely higher penalties outlined above. 3.3 I consider the issue involved is unlikely to raise significant levels of public concern or give rise to policy considerations. 4. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES 4.1 In exercising any powers of investigation or prosecution the London Borough of Hillingdon will take the same equalities considerations into account and is governed by the same duties and responsibilities as the Council. 4.2 It is alleged that the company targets elderly/vulnerable people, by misrepresenting the product as free and inducing them into the contract, which they are unlikely to have entered into if they realised the charges they would be liable for. 5. USE OF RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS (Finance, Procurement, Performance & Value for Money, Staffing, IT, Property, Sustainability) 5.1 There are no resource implications for the Council. 6. LEGAL ISSUES 6.1 A Local Authority is permitted to make arrangements for the discharge of any of its functions. Section 101(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 provides as follows:

4 Subject to any express provision contained in this Act or any Act passed after this Act, a local authority may arrange for the discharge of any of its functions by a committee, a sub-committee or an officer of the authority or by any other local authority. The remainder of section 101 makes further provisions in relation to such arrangements. Notably by section 101(4) any such arrangements shall not prevent the first local authority from continuing to exercise the function itself. Section 101(12) references the discharge of functions including references to the doing of anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conductive or ancillary to, the discharge of any of those functions. Regulation 7 of the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2000 also makes specific provision for another local authority or Executive of another local authority. 7. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS 7.1 Article of the Constitution permits The Executive to delegate executive functions to another local authority. The originating power to do this lies in s101(1)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 which states '... a local authority may arrange for the discharge of any of their functions... by any other local authority' of Part 3 of the constitution allows Chief Officers to take decisions, in consultation with the Cabinet Member concerned, to discharge the functions allocated to them or dealt with by them or their staff. Under the current scheme of delegation the appropriate cabinet member is the Cabinet Member for Governance and Civic Affairs. 8. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 8.1 The trader concerned, identified in the accompanying exempt report has been under investigation by the London Borough of Hillingdon Trading Standards since June It is alleged that the company targets elderly/vulnerable people, in order to sell them alarm systems initially described as free. In reality, the consumers will need to sign up for an expensive maintenance contract. Other false statements are also alleged to be made. 8.3 During the course of the investigation by the London Borough of Hillingdon potential offences were discovered in the London Borough of Barnet. A request was made that statements be obtained from the victims within the Barnet area. 8.4 Between July 2009 and August 2009 statements were obtained relating to three offences within the London Borough of Barnet and passed to Hillingdon. 8.5 If false statements were made within the London Borough of Barnet the offence occurs there too. The power to prosecute would normally fall to the London Borough of Barnet. However, as the London Borough of Hillingdon is already proceeding with a number of offences against the trader it makes sense both financially and legally for all the offences to be taken at the same time and be heard in the same court.

5 8.6 The prosecution file is now with the London Borough of Hillingdon legal team and they would like to include these offences within their proceedings. 9. LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS 9.1 Instrument of Delegation of Discharge of Functions to another Local Authority 9.2 Any person wishing to inspect the background papers listed above should telephone Emma Phasey on CONSULTATION WITH CABINET MEMBER(S) 10.1 The Cabinet Member for Governance and Civic Affairs has been consulted and is in agreement with the decision set out below. 11. OFFICER S DECISION I authorise the following action: 11.1 The delegation to the London Borough of Hillingdon the power of prosecution under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972 in connection with alleged offences committed in the London Borough of Barnet, by a trader, in contravention of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Fraud Act The signing of the Instrument of Delegation to give effect to the delegation on behalf of the Council. Signed Pam Wharfe Interim Director of Environment and Operations 27 October 2010