Made to Measure

To mark National Apprenticeship Week, we hear about how CTSI is supporting the Regulatory Compliance Officer apprenticeship scheme, and about how apprenticeships are a valuable way of making the trading standards profession more welcoming and diverse.

To coincide with Black History Month, in this episode CTSI Chief Executive John Herriman, HR Manager Shanaz Syeda, and Race & Equalities Working Group member Giles Speid discuss why the trading standards profession needs to become more representative of the society it serves.

We speak to Alison Farrar, one of CTSI’s Lead Officers for Property and Lettings about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the UK’s housing sector and the potential issues arising from the associated growth in home-working.

We speak to Trading Standards Scotland’s Diane Bryson, Mike Flynn of the Scottish SPCA, and CTSI Lead Officers Steph Young and David MacKenzie about the cruelty, mistreatment and large-scale organised crime which lies behind many online puppy sales.

We speak to CTSI’s newly appointed Chief Executive, John Herriman, about the challenges facing the institute and the wider profession, including the long-term effects of Covid-19, the impact of EU Exit and the need to push for more diversity and inclusion.

We speak to chartered environmental health practitioner Helen Buckingham, British Hair and Beauty Federation Chief Executive Richard Lambert and nail industry expert Marian Newman about the impact of COVID-19 on the hair and beauty industries.

As CTSI looks ahead to a 2021 outside the EU, we speak with Interim Executive Director Paul Ramsden about the Institute’s aims and priorities for the coming year - including its aims for improving inclusivity - and look back to 2020, a year defined by COVID-19.

We speak to CTSI Lead Officer for age-restricted sales, Brandon Cook and ServeLegal co-founder Ed Heaver about the challenges of enforcement in the age of coronavirus and what businesses and trading standards professionals need to do to prepare.