Public performance reports

Environmental health and trading standards

The Council Plan Connect, outlines our priorities and outcomes 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	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Are we improving?
SLC	99.8%	100%	99.6%	Maintaining
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes

How we have performed in improving this public service
A total of 3,066 fly tipping complaints were received during 2024/25, and 99.6% of these complaints were responded to within two working days, exceeding the council's target (90%).

See 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.

Our performance and how we compare

Comparator	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Are we improving?
SLC	99.0%	99.48%	100%	Yes
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

How we have performed in improving this public service
A total of 669 dog fouling complaints were received during 2024/25, with 100% of these complaints being responded to within two days.

See 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. It includes only those complaints that 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
How quickly we respond to complaints relating to this environmental crime demonstrates how effectively the council is achieving its statutory purpose of protecting and improving the health, safety and environment of the people of South Lanarkshire.

Our performance and how we compare

Comparator	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Are we improving?
SLC	0.59 hours	0.61 hours	0.56 hours	Yes
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

How we have performed in improving this public service
During 2024/25, 2323 domestic noise complaints were received. Of these, 915 required a visit by officers to assess noise levels. The average response time for the year was 33 minutes.

See 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 experiencing problems and gives a general indication of how effectively the service protects consumers of goods and services in South Lanarkshire.

Our performance and how we compare

Comparator	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Are we improving?
SLC	75%	85%	82%	No
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

How we have performed in improving this public service
During 2024/25, 503 consumer complaints were received. 82% of consumer complaints were completed by Trading Standards within 14 days, exceeding the 80% council target. £311,706 civil redress has been returned to citizens of South Lanarkshire as a result of this work

See 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	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Are we improving?
SLC	91%	90%	91%	Yes
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

How we have performed in improving this public service
A total of 86 business advice requests were received during 2024/25, and 91% of these requests were responded to within 21 days. The reason for not meeting the target of 95% of business advice requests completed within 21 days, is that some business advice can be quite complicated and therefore takes longer than 21 days to complete.

See 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 Resource committees on progress against the Resource Plans. In addition, reports detailing progress against the Council Plan Connect Priorities are prepared - see Quarter 2 and Quarter 4 performance reports for further information.

More information on our outcomes 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. For more information and links relating to this framework, go to the 'Benchmarking' paragraph on the Improvement and how we compare page on our website.

The information contained within this report reflects the position based on the data available at the time of publication (March 2026).