EHJ September 2002, pages 260-263 In a world increasingly dominated by multi-outlet companies and ever widening distribution networks, the home authority principle is more relevant now than ever. David Lock explains how Lacors is strengthening and improving its application

The home authority principle (HAP) has been recognised since the 1980s1 and has become a key element in the provision of co-ordinated local authority trading standards and food enforcement services. While the principle continues to be a success in helping to promote consistency, there is room for improvement.

In June 2002, the Lacors (Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services) management committee endorsed the creation of a home authority "advisory panel" to discuss the application of the principle from a strategic perspective and suggest what further steps may be necessary to help support it. The advisory panel will consist of leading representatives from industry, local and national government, and consumer organisations, reflecting the range of stakeholders involved.

WHAT IS THE HOME AUTHORITY PRINCIPLE?
The HAP is a vital mechanism for liaison and co-ordination between local authorities dealing with businesses which: have outlets in more than one local authority area; and/or distribute goods and services beyond the boundaries of one local authority area. Essentially the principle requires that every local authority should pay particular attention to goods and services originating in its area which are distributed/sold in different local authority areas. The operation of the principle also depends on communication between all parties involved.

An authority with a company head office/production centre in its area should act as a focus for communication and liaison between the company and other local authorities. An authority performing this role is called the "home authority". A home authority should establish contacts with the decision-making base of the company so that company-wide issues and procedures can be discussed and influenced. A home authority should be able to provide information or advice on centrally managed company procedures when contacted by other authorities dealing with local outlets of the same company and/or the products/services provided. From the home authority's point of view, this sort of liaison may highlight issues concerning the effectiveness of the business' central procedures, which can then be discussed with the appropriate contacts at the company head office. Communication between a home authority and other authorities should therefore encourage a better overall understanding of the company and hence a more uniform and co-ordinated approach to enforcement and any advice given to that company. For these reasons, authorities should wherever possible seek advice from the home authority and keep them informed if they have concerns regarding company-wide policies and procedures. In this respect, liaison with the home authority is particularly important before taking a decision to pursue formal action.

Although the principle does not have any strict legal status, the need to follow it is clearly highlighted by Lacors and key references to the principle contained in various government codes of practice and other advice to which authorities should have regard.2 While the basic operation of the principle is inherently simple, the details can seem confusing when all the possible communication arrangements and complications are explained. The following key definitions, figure 1 (below), and the explanatory notes (page 263) should help to demystify the operation of the HAP.

KEY DEFINITIONS
- Home authority: an authority where the relevant decision making base of an enterprise is located. This may be the place of the head office, factory, service centre or place of importation. In decentralised businesses the role and location of the home authority may require discussion with other authorities taking into consideration the views of the business. The HAP should also be followed when dealing with enterprises in other areas that may not be, or may not be considered to be, a business, but where the local authority is likely to have a co-ordinating role. Examples include trade associations and charitable organisations.

- Originating authority: an authority in whose area an enterprise produces goods and services provided in or distributed to other authority areas. The originating authority will have special responsibility for ensuring that products or services produced, handled or provided, within its area, conform to legal requirements. Where businesses operate from a single base, one authority will act as both originating and home authority. Port health authorities are considered to be originating authorities for foods entering the UK from their respective ports.

- Enforcing authority: all authorities are enforcing authorities when inspecting, sampling or investigating goods or services, whether this is on the initiative of that authority or in reaction to complaints or referrals. Enforcement may be carried out at any point in the distribution chain. For the principle to work satisfactorily, information needs to flow between the parties involved in accordance with agreed expectations. While Lacors suggests some home authority minimum service levels in its home authority guidance document dated March 1997,3 it was felt that some further clarification would be helpful. Two local Lacors secondees have now drawn up some basic standards highlighting the areas that need to be addressed by all authorities.

SUGGESTED STANDARDS
Following consultation, these standards have been approved by the Lacors management committee and made available to all local authorities. It is hoped that this advice should help more towards commonly agreed communication and service level expectations. The new standards recognise that the HAP both allows and requires:
- co-ordination with some flexibility;
- avoidance of local authority duplication;
- commitment to a joined-up approach; and
- efficient communication.

A full copy of the suggested standards is available on the Lacors website.4 The standards represent common sense points, which should be taken into account by home, originating and enforcing authorities when applying the principle. The standards are not onerous but highlight the need for attention in key areas, for example: - raising the profile of the principle with the elected members and ensuring democratic support for the generality of the principle. Specific endorsement for home authority partnerships with particular companies would represent a good practice enhancement over and above the suggested standard; - ensuring relevant staff are familiar with the principle and have the necessary skills and training to deliver what is expected of them; - the importance of communication between all parties involved, including where necessary liaison between home and originating authorities; - expectations on home authorities to check locally what companies they may act as home authority for and to update relevant Lacors website records and contacts accordingly; and - enforcing authorities to ensure that requests for assistance from home authorities are clear and reasonable and that due consideration is given to any advice received.

ENHANCING THE STANDARDS
Enhancements over and above the suggested standards may include:
- home/originating authority participation in detailed audits or management reviews of a business;
- production of written home authority agreements with particular companies and, ideally, associated committee approval; and
- home authorities and originating authorities contribution to sector groupings.

Sector groupings are groupings of home and originating authorities that deal with a particular type of business. Lacors is seeking to encourage and where possible facilitate this type of networking, which can provide a useful forum for home and originating authorities to share similar problems and issues and achieve a broadly consistent line. The advantages of this include greater confidence in decisions made by home and originating authorities and hence the development of trust among the enforcement community generally in home authority decision making.

MANAGING THE COMMITMENT
A frequently levelled criticism of the principle is that home authorities with many head offices in their areas simply do not have the resources to deliver home authority services. There are several aspects here that need to be examined carefully.
Lacors suggests that it should be possible for home authorities to offer at least a basic service (without enhancements). It is however, recognised that it may sometimes be difficult for authorities to argue for resources to carry out home authority work. In this context it is hoped that the lead provided by the Lacors home authority principle advisory panel will help elected members see the need to support the principle in terms of the overall service provided by local authorities nationally. In exceptional circumstances where it is difficult for a home authority to even provide a minimum level of service and another authority wishes to take on the role of home authority, Lacors suggests that the flexibility of the principle should be used to allow this - provided that all parties including the company are in agreement. In this context an alternative authority might be an existing originating authority or another authority with company offices in their area.

It is recognised that in exceptional cases a company may not acknowledge a link to a home authority, and enforcing authorities may need to contact the company head office directly. While the work of the home authority in these circumstances will be limited, it may still have an important role in collating information from enforcing authorities. A home authority performing this role should be kept informed of any key issues to allow it to establish any trends in relation to enforcing authority activity. The suggested standards outlined in this article should help clarify that providing a home authority service need not be an open ended and overburdening commitment. While the establishment of written agreements with businesses is listed as an optional enhancement, Lacors would comment that the process of discussing and agreeing such documents should help to determine the level of service which can be offered by the home authority. Furthermore, the associated clarification to enforcing authorities may help avoid spiralling numbers of referrals resulting from misunderstandings among enforcing authorities about what can and cannot be dealt with by a particular home authority. For example, the home authority might provide advice that for specified routine matters enforcing authorities may contact an originating authority or the company head office directly.

Guidance might also be provided for situations where enforcing authority enquiries would be redirected to another home authority. This might happen where a particular retailer sells a range of different products made by other companies, or where a large conglomerate (perhaps as a result of company takeovers) consists of a number of linked but still independent companies each retaining a separate relationship with a different home authority. Any detailed communication arrangements suggested by a home authority should state under what circumstances enforcing authorities need to involve/notify that home authority; normally this should only be when the issue is clearly one relating to company-wide standard policies, procedures or products. Such clarification might be posted on the Lacors website together with other items that may help to streamline home authority/enforcing authority communication and hence save time and resources, for example the answers to frequently asked questions.

LACORS WEBSITE
It is becoming increasingly clear that the home authority database on the local authority password restricted Lacors website has a major role in facilitating local authority communication and providing a central reference point for authorities. The database currently contains over 15,000 company records and is searchable by company and/or local authority. As part of its promotion of the principle during 2002 Lacors will be raising authorities' awareness of this important website database.

Keeping the information up to date is of course important; the website facilitates this by allowing individual authorities to change their own home authority records and add relevant notes. Home authorities should therefore be playing their part by updating their own contact details and adding/deleting company information as and when necessary. Recent enhancements now also allow home authorities to add their own word document downloads linked to particular companies on the database. These downloads might include:
- agreements with companies;
- guidance on the circumstances when the home authority should be contacted;
- target response times;
- particular company details (with the agreement of the company in question);
- information on recent audits and inspections; and
- answers to frequently asked questions.

The interactive nature of the website however does not just affect home authorities; enforcing authorities can (and are encouraged to) use a new online standard form for making initial referrals. This may go some way towards standardising and providing consistency in enforcing authority requests to home authorities. In the explanatory notes for the use of this form, an extract of the Lacors home authority guidelines March 1997 is included: "Contacting/liaison with the home authority is a critical local authority co-ordination mechanism; however it should be noted that an enforcing authority seeking the assistance of a home or originating authority should do so in specific terms preferably in writing. The enforcing authority should avoid open ended questions and should not expect an opinion on whether the business has a diligence defence in respect of a particular incident."

While the form is intended to be used by e-mail, it may also be printed out and sent as a hard copy (for example where photos/samples etc need to be enclosed). Clearly it would never completely replace the need for telephone calls, for example, to clarify a particular issue, however it should help to streamline the communication process between enforcing authorities and home authorities at the initial enquiry stage. Some home authority officers have pointed out that the use of the standard form by e-mail will allow them to make use of the subject title to automatically sort and collate enquiries in their inbox on receipt. Although the HAP appears to be increasingly important as a key local authority co-ordination mechanism, it needs to evolve to reflect changes in communication and the expectations of businesses. Home authorities, originating authorities and enforcing authorities all have a collective responsibility on behalf of local government for ensuring that the principle operates effectively.

David Lock is policy officer at Lacors, which was known as Lacots (Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards) until 8 April 2002. Lacors is holding a session at the CIEH conference in Harrogate entitled: "Making the connections - regulation and the wellbeing agenda". Lacors staff will also be on hand to answer any questions at stand 49.

References

1 In 1976, the Methven Report [Cmmd.6628] advocated the creation of local authority enforcement coordination machinery. Lacots was established in 1978 and officially launched the home authority principle in 1982 for trading standards matters. The principle was extended to food safety in 1993.

2 Food safety Act section 40 Codes of Practice; Food Standards Agency framework agreement; DTI National Performance Framework for Trading Standards Services.

3 Guidelines for home authorities - detailed guidance for authorities acting as a home authority LACORS 1997 - available to local authorities on Lacors website at www.lacors.gov.uk

4 LACORS home authority principle standards - available on the Lacors website at www.lacors.gov.uk

5 Food Standards Agency Code of Practice 20 sets out the arrangements and further detail is provided by Lacors guidance entitled European Liaison March 1997 - available to local authorities on Lacors website at www.lacors.gov.uk