Tesco signs groundbreaking partnership to cut red tape
9 Nov 2010 09:10 AM
Tesco has joined a groundbreaking scheme that will help the retailer to comply with a plethora of locally enforced regulations across all its stores and depots.
In a unique arrangement, Hertfordshire County Council and Dacorum Borough Council are working together to provide the UK's biggest retailer with a primary authority partnership, with the full breadth of services covering age-restricted sales, consumer credit, explosives licensing, fair trading, food standards, metrology, petroleum licensing, product safety, food safety and hygiene, health and safety, and environmental protection.
Primary Authority enables businesses to enter into a legal agreement for the provision of advice, consideration of enforcement action and the formulation of inspection plans.
The Tesco partnership will provide a single point of contact for all other local authorities across the country and allows them to free up their resources for local priorities with the confidence that Tesco's corporate compliance activities are being nationally managed by the local authority partners.
Carole Payne, Operations and Standards Director for Tesco Trading Law and Technical, said: "This innovative partnership is a first for any of the major retailers. It is a one-stop shop embracing the broadest range of local authority regulation from food safety to environmental protection. The partnership fits with the Tesco values of ‘simpler, better, cheaper' ensuring that it is our customers who will benefit from a consistent risk-based approach to regulation."
Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk has asked LBRO, the technical expert in better local regulation who run Primary Authority, to examine options for strengthening the scheme with regard to inspection plans and for extending it to cover more areas of regulation.
LBRO Chairman Clive Grace said: "Tesco is a world-leading company, Britain's biggest retailer, and its primary authority partnerships are some of the most encompassing in the entire scheme.
"Its participation will signpost the way for other business to take part, and give them the reassurance that they are taking part in something that has substance and real business value.
"We should also point out the advantages to regulators, who will be able to target their resources more effectively, and to consumers who are the chief beneficiaries of local regulation and who will get enhanced protection."
There are now 421 partnerships covering 123 businesses, 29,000 premises, and 841,000 employees. Participation in Primary Authority now accounts for 73% of the food retail sector. A full, up to date list of partnerships and the regulations they cover are maintained on the LBRO website. Visit:
www.lbro.org.uk/lbro-projects-list-of-partnerships.html