The chief executive of ITSA isn't a trading standards officer, he's the former deputy chief constable for West Yorkshire. Allan Charlesworth explains to Cathy Savage just how he has transferred his skills to put the trading standards institute in order

ITSA isn't the easiest of places to find, tucked in the south of Essex just along from Southend-on-Sea. Allan Charlesworth's office presents a bit of a challenge too, hidden in a maze of mini-offices and partitions. "All these are coming down" he says cheerfully, which is no surprise, as Allan makes a point of demanding openness in all things.

The "former copper", as he modestly describes himself, has been at the head of ITSA since last May, when he left the police service he had served for 30 years. "You reach a stage in your career where you think, is it onwards and upwards or something else? People persuaded me that I had transferable skills, and then I saw the ad in The Guardian. It was very much competency based and the hints about modernisation made me think they might consider an outsider, so I thought 'why not have a go?'"
He turned out to be just what they were looking for - and vice versa. Taking on "an old fashioned regime" has given Allan a challenge which, boosted by the freedom he has as an outsider, has brought a wealth of opportunity.
"It's good to come into somewhere that's ripe for change, especially if you have no baggage or preconceived ideas," says Allan. His lack of experience as a TSO has allowed him to ask obvious and difficult questions without constraint.
"When you're up to your armpits in water and crocodiles are around you, it's hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp," says Allan with a smile. "Fortunately I didn't see the crocodiles, so I could get on with it."

The ability to organise an operation must be Allan's strongest practical talent. Indeed ITSA must seem like a walk in the park after the West Yorkshire police service, where he had day-to-day responsibility for 2.2 million members of the public, 8,500 employees and a £300m budget. Co-ordinating police during the miners' strikes in the 1980s (and, as the socialist son of a former miner, he had a lot of sympathy for them) and dealing with the fire at Bradford football ground were two of his toughest tasks.
But he denies it's been easy going at ITSA. Not all TSOs were happy at the idea of an ex-copper running their show.
"At first there was quite a bit of mistrust and the first year has been mainly about establishing credibility. I'm not here for my sake, but for the public," he stresses. "I want to make sure that the public get a fair deal from trading standards and I can help that by making sure members are competent and well-informed.
"Fundamentally I have a service ethos," he explains. "I like being around people and I have no difficulty at all in saying that I have spent my career serving the public."

But this traditional sounding view is misleading, Allan is no traditionalist. He is a staunch supporter of best value and was extolling the virtues of the business excellence model long before it emerged in common parlance.
"The only way to produce a decent service is to recognise the public as a customer," he says with conviction. "When I joined the police it had a real 'we know best' attitude and one of the main contributions I have made has been to turn that around and say 'no you don't'.
"What I have tried to demonstrate here is that like any other organisation, ITSA needs direction and leadership."
This approach, and his faith in management tools and techniques, are underpinned by a determination to bring out the best in those around him. "Processes are means by which you harness talents of people," he explains. "You can have all the objectives in the world, but if you can't win people's hearts and minds - if you can't capture people with bit of passion and imagination - then you've lost."

A Mori Poll conducted for ITSA in 1996 suggested that TSOs' hearts and minds may need winning back. ITSA was seen as something run by chief officers for chief officers. "Members didn't trust the leadership and felt communication between the leadership and members was poor, so my first point of call is to do something about it," says Allan. "The important thing is to build trust."
Most of his first year in office has been about building this trust, but major structural changes have taken place too. The secretariat has been reorganised to pull the two separate companies which make up ITSA back into a homogenous unit, he has re-emphasised the support for members and refocused efforts on competence and information.

Allan has set himself a three-year plan. In best-value speak, he describes his first year as "consult and compare"; he expects the second to be "challenge" - developing his role, enhancing the role of ITSA and building partnerships - and the third to complete the four Cs with "compete".
The catalyst for change at ITSA was the trading standards white paper, and, although many TSOs may be wary of the modernised service the Government envisages, Allan believes the future is full of promise. "It's important to see every threat as an opportunity," he claims.
"The paper looks at enhanced powers for trading standards, but it looks beyond weights and measures and members must do the same. The future is consumer affairs - the white paper says the consumer must be at the heart of the operation. The consumer wants advice and information and business wants help rather than regulation."

Allan offers an example of how important the consumer side is. "If you go to a petrol station, you fill the car up, buy oil, and test your tyres; which is more important - whether or not the measures of petrol and oil are exact, or whether the tyre test works properly? The tyres could mean the difference between life or death," he explains. "What people really care about is being safe, but at the moment, the emphasis is on the measurements."
Allan wants to get it right. "Proper accreditation, competence, recruitment, education programmes - these are things I want to focus on." He'd also like to see the institute move closer to London and its natural allies, the CIEH and Lacots.
"It's no good talking collaboration, you have to live it," he affirms. "Petty politics and jealousy between regulatory services are an anachronism, we need memoranda of understanding between the different services - health, building control, the works."

But that's not to say that he would compromise the institute's independence. While he's very interested in the idea of jointly accrediting a service management course, he's keen to be clear about what each body does as a core task.
"ITSA is a professional organisation," he explains. "It's about members, recruitment, training, development and accreditation. Delivering and co-ordinating services - that's Lacots' area." In the CIEH, Allan sees much to emulate, not least in the structure. He would like ITSA to produce a qualification on a par for popularity and respect with the CIEH's food hygiene certificate. Still mulling over collaboration he adds: "Maybe even something together on food? After all we deal with regulations and labelling, maybe there's the potential for an overarching food certificate..."

This suggestion seems typical Charlesworth - practical, open, no baggage, and optimistic about any opportunity.
"I am an optimist," he says. "It's important to use every threat as an opportunity. I don't believe everything is rosy, but I do believe if you work hard then you find a solution."
Unsurprisingly then, he thrives on positive criticism, but is quick to put down any negative thinking.
His attitude is a result of what he calls his "humble roots". His Dad, a former miner, worked at a chocolate factory, while his mother was a barmaid and usherette. "I know that it's important to make the most of what's on offer, and to accept whatever contribution anyone makes, at whatever level."
When he's asked to name the biggest reward of his long and successful career, he still goes back to his first few months as a constable, when he was called out to a single mum whose baby had just died. It was a cot death, and the house was fairly rough. "I remember thinking, what the hell can I do?" he says ruefully. "It was fairly grim there, and she offered me a cup of tea in a jam jar, but I said yes and tried my best. Then in the local paper's in memoriam section, there was a note about the baby, and on the end it said "grateful thanks to PC Charlesworth for his compassion", he still looks moved by the memory.

He is, he readily admits, not a typical example of a policeman; he's a Guardian reader, a socialist and broad-minded. Unusually for a high-flying policeman - especially considering he averaged just three hours' sleep a night for the 18 months of the miners' strikes - Allan is happily married to the woman he met at 21. His wife still works in West Yorkshire, and splits her time between their home there and their second house close to his work in Essex. When asked how much longer he intends to stay at ITSA, he is straightforward. "In the police force, chiefs have just four to seven-year contracts, and that's about right, otherwise you get stale. I won't stay here longer than that." In the meantime, he has a revolution to complete - it looks like trading places has proved a success.