A consultation on a consumer body for Scotland

The setting up of a new consumer body for Scotland is to be greatly welcomed and should help to plug the gap left by the demise of the Scottish Consumer Council and Consumer Focus Scotland.

The current consumer landscape in Scotland is a fragmented one, with bodies like Citizens Advice Scotland, local authority trading standards departments, and consultative bodies in public utilities and other services in only a limited position to formulate and co-ordinate consumer policy across the private, public and voluntary service sectors.

Consumer Scotland should not only be a platform for promoting or representing the interests of consumers of private sector goods and services but also the services of public and voluntary sector bodies, particularly in areas of devolved responsibility. These latter services impact, directly or indirectly, on the future prosperity of Scotland, for example, through educational, environmental and health outcomes.

There is a special need for Consumer Scotland to pay special attention to issues that are more pronounced in Scotland, for example, the consumer concerns of people living in very sparsely populated areas and small island communities.

Consumer Scotland should also include in its remit the taking into account the consumer concerns of disadvantaged populations, such as people living on very low incomes, with learning or other disabilities, or from ethnic/linguistic minorities.

The governing body of Consumer Scotland should comprise individuals from a wide range of backgrounds with substantial understanding of consumer issues. These could include not only individuals working in different service sectors, public and private, but also people at the "receiving end" of those services, particularly from disadvantaged communities of interest and place and nominated by voluntary-sector and other public or private organisations. They would be expected not to "represent" or "defend" their particular sector but to work to a clear set of principles underpinning consumer policy.

Consumer Scotland should be provided with sufficient "core" funding over a span of say three to five years, in the first instance, to carry out its role effectively, develop medium to long-term work programmes, commission and manage research and other investigations, and attract the appropriate calibre and number of staff. While free to generate income from other sources,

While formally accountable to ministers, Consumer Scotland should be independent of political control and be expected to engage and communicate with the providers and users from the various service sectors with which it has regular dealings, through conferences, seminars, on-line networking, etc.

Consumer Scotland should draw upon the good working practices developed by the Scottish Consumer Council and Consumer Focus Scotland over many years, as documented in the publication Championing Consumers (Peter Gibson Memorial Fund, 2016). www.pgmf.co.uk/resources/ChampioningConsumersPGMF.pdf

Consumer Scotland should also have a statutory right to be consulted and advise on any UK-wide legislation affecting consumer protection, including any legislation arising from the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Consumer Scotland should be empowered to identify and investigate markets and areas of devolved responsibility that are deemed detrimental to consumer interests, with a view to developing evidence-based solutions and promoting good practice.

A Scottish-specific consumer issue would be expected to arise from:
- the provision of devolved public services under Scottish legislation;
- trading practices and the exercise of reserved functions which are deemed to have a more detrimental impact on consumers in Scotland compared with other parts of the UK;
- the provision of legal and related services governed by Scots law ;
- the policies and practices of other Scottish institutions, in the public, private and voluntary sectors;
- consumer concerns and problems related to Scotland's geography, climate, socio-economic circumstances, etc

Consumer Scotland would be expected to have a proactive as much as a reactive role in its investigative work. Possible triggers for such work could include evidence or indications that particular policies or practices:

- put consumers at a significant disadvantage in dealings with service providers, with reference to such matters as access to information and advice, access to services, choice of goods and services, trading standards, and redress provisions when things go wrong;

- impair the socio-economic well-being, education, health and social welfare, housing, security and safety and other aspects of consumers' lives.

Consumer Scotland should be vested with statutory powers to:

- obtain information from service providers and regulators, subject to certain safeguards (e.g protection of commercial confidentiality or individual privacy/safety);
- initiate legal action to resolve issues of signficant consumer concern when other remedies have failed;
- make representations to bodies outwith Scotland whose policies or practices impact on the interests of consumers in Scotland.

Consumer advice services in Scotland should: (a) function under a funding regime that is sustainable; and (b) be developed in a co-ordinated way so as to make them more accessible to people most in need of their services. CABs, neighbourhood advice centres and local authority trading standards departments obviously perform important roles in advice provision, but given Scotland's geography, funding cutbacks, etc, it is likely that current provision remains patchy. A key initial task of Consumer Scotland could be to conduct a wide ranging review of consumer advice services in Scotland to identify and plug the main gaps.

The sustainable funding of consumer advice services should be a core component of the Scottish government budget: advice services are not only a vital source of help and support for consumers but also an important mechanism for feedback to service providers in reviewing and developing their own policies and practices. Consumer Scotland, as part of its review (see above), could work with advice agencies and funding providers to draw up a framework for the future funding of advice services, with regard to such contexts as inter-agency working, funding of the voluntary sector, and the social economy.

The development of " a single priority register for vulnerable consumers" and "consumer scoreboard" sound like worthwhile initiatives and deserve to be carried forward by Consumer Scotland.

These and related initiatives should be supported by ongoing research monitoring the impacts of consumer policies and practices of different service sectors on vulnerable groups, such as very low income households, disability groups, and people living in sparsly populated areas.

Public authorities should be under a statutory duty to assess the impact of their policies and practices on consumers, having regard to the requirement of local authorities to engage with local communities in community planning processes and deliver best value.
Such a duty should form an essential element of outcome agreements drawn up by public bodies.

The Scotttish Government should commit resources to:

- secure medium to long-term core funding of Consumer Scotland in order to facilitate a strategic and evidence-based approach to consumer policy development in Scotland.

- enhance its support for inter-agency partnership working at national, regional and local levels in Scotland

- promote a culture across service sectors that places the interests of consumers at the heart of policy and decision making

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