Public performance reports

Environmental health and trading standards

The Council Plan Connect, outlines our objectives for 2022-27. Connect Outcomes should not be seen in isolation, they interact with each other and as we achieve success in one, we move closer to success in others. In delivering our vision to ‘improve the quality of life of everyone in South Lanarkshire’ our Priorities show how our work links with our partners including our Community Planning Partners.

For daily updates, stories and what’s going on in your area, visit our information and news website South Lanarkshire View.

Each year we produce Annual Performance Spotlights which summarise how we have performed in achieving our Connect Outcomes. To complement these, we have created a suite of individual Public Performance Reports which focus on key areas of council business. This report outlines the performance of our Environmental Health and Trading Standards Services.

South Lanarkshire Council has a statutory responsibility to protect public health and the environment. It does this through the work of our Environmental Health service, which undertakes inspection programmes and investigates complaints. Key areas of responsibility include: food safety, health and safety at work, air quality, flytipping enforcement, and nuisance investigation, such as noise pollution and pest control.

Another important role for the council is protecting consumers of goods and services through the work of our Trading Standards service. This service carries out a range of regulatory and inspection activities, offers advice and assistance to consumers experiencing problems, and helps businesses and traders comply with trading standards and other legislation.

Percentage of fly tipping complaints receiving an initial response from Environmental Health within two working days - Target - 90%
What this means	This indicator measures the council’s success in responding to complaints about fly-tipping within the target time of two working days.
Why this matters	This indicator shows how quickly we respond to complaints relating to this environmental crime and demonstrates how effectively the council is achieving its statutory purpose of protecting and improving the health, safety and the environment of the people of South Lanarkshire.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	99.0%	99.0%	99.8%	Yes
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes
How we have performed in improving this public service	A total of 3,131 complaints were received during April 2021-March 2022, 99.8% of these fly-tipping complaints were responded to within two working days, exceeding target.

Follow the link for more information on reporting fly-tipping.

Percentage of dog fouling complaints receiving an initial response from Environmental Health within two working days - Target - 95%
What this means	This indicator measures the council’s success in responding to complaints about dog fouling within the target time of two working days.
Why this matters	This indicator shows how quickly we respond to complaints relating to this environmental crime and demonstrates how effectively the council is achieving its statutory purpose of protecting and improving the health, safety and the environment of the people of South Lanarkshire.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	97.9%	96.9%	99.0%	No
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	No
How we have performed in improving this public service	A total of 597 dog fouling complaints were received during April 2021-March 2022, with 99% of all dog fouling complaints responded to within two days.

Follow the link for more information on dog fouling.

Domestic noise - average time between time of complaint and attendance on site by Environmental Health Team (in hours) - Target 1.5 hours
What this means	This indicator measures the response time when initially handling and investigating complaints of domestic noise abuse and it includes only those complaints which require attendance ‘on site’, which means at the home of the person making the complaint or the home that is the subject of the complaint.
Why this matters	This indicator shows how quickly we respond to complaints relating to this environmental crime and demonstrates how effectively the council is achieving its statutory purpose of protecting and improving the health, safety and the environment of the people of South Lanarkshire.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	33.0 minutes	36.6 minutes	34.8 minutes	Yes
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes
How we have performed in improving this public service	3,660 complaints of domestic noise were received during 2021-22, of which 1,279 required a visit by officers to assess noise levels. The average response time for complaints which required a visit was 0.58 hours (34.8 minutes).

Follow the link for more information on anti-social behaviour.

Percentage of consumer complaints completed by Trading Standards within 14 days of receipt - Target 80%
What this means	This indicator provides a measure of our efficiency in dealing with consumer complaints (irrespective of the outcome) against a target of 14 days.
Why this matters	This indicator shows how quickly the Trading Standards service responds to consumers who are experiencing problems and gives a general indication of how effectively the service is protecting consumers of goods and services in South Lanarkshire.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	82.5%	82%	81%	No
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	No
How we have performed in improving this public service	In 2021-22, 81.0% of Consumer Complaints were completed with the 14-day target timescale, which is a slight reduction on the previous year. Our Trading Standards service assists South Lanarkshire consumers who have purchased goods and services beyond our boundary and also assists non-South Lanarkshire consumers in relation to goods and services purchased from South Lanarkshire traders (including purchases via web transactions).

Follow the link for more information on trading standards.

Percentage of business advice enquiries responded to within 21 days of receipt - Target 95%
What this means	This indicator provides a measure of our efficiency in dealing with requests for advice from businesses. The indicator calculates the proportion of business enquiries responded to within the target timescale.
Why this matters	This indicator shows how efficiently we are responding to business enquiries, thereby helping businesses meet their legal obligations and at the same time achieving our statutory purpose of promoting and contributing to the maintenance of a safe, fair and equitable trading environment.
Our performance and how we compare	Comparator	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Are we improving?
	SLC	92%	97%	86%	Yes
	Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes
How we have performed in improving this public service	In 2021-22, 86% of business advice requests were completed within 21 days, against a target of 95%. During the second half of the year resources were reduced due to Officers retiring and leaving. Recruitment is ongoing but it is hoped that performance will improve in 2022-23. There are several businesses in the area which manufacture or import products and seek advice concerning legal requirements. The increasing use of the internet also adds to the complexity of the business advice sought and requires considerable research by Trading Standards staff.

Follow the link for more information on consumer advice.

Resource Plans are prepared each year by all council Resources to outline the key developments they intend to take forward in the year. Performance and actions relating to Environmental Health and Trading Standards can be found in the Community and Enterprise Resource Plan.

Twice a year, performance reports are presented to council committees on progress against the Resource Plans. In addition, reports detailing progress against the Council Plan Connect Priorities are prepared. See Quarter 2 performance reports for further information.

More information on our objectives can be found in the Council Plan Connect and also the Annual Performance Spotlights.

Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) allows councils to work together, to use performance information in a way which will help understand variations, share knowledge, expertise and good practice, with a view to making improvements. At the core of the framework is an agreed suite of performance indicators. We report the results for these indicators, over time, on the website. Additionally, you can compare our LGBF results with other councils' using the mylocalcouncil tool. Not all local authorities are alike and so family groups of eight ‘similar’ councils have been set up for comparison purposes. Workshops take place throughout the year to discuss the indicators and results – South Lanarkshire Council is actively involved in these discussions.

The information contained within this report reflects the position based on the data available at the time of publication (February 2023).