Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing

What we do

Environmental health and trading standards

We aim to protect and improve the health, safety and quality of life of residents and people working in or visiting the Royal Borough of Greenwich ('the Council') and ensure a fair trading environment.

We recognise the needs of residents, visitors and businesses, and are keen to offer advice on how best to use our services and comply with the law. However, if formal action is needed we will take a fair and proportionate approach.

It is the role of trading standards to promote a fair and safe trading environment. This is achieved by supporting both consumers and businesses by offering advice and assistance concerning criminal consumer protection law.

The team also enforce against businesses and traders who operate outside the legal framework of consumer protection law. The team are intelligence led and enforce a wide range of legislation and subjects areas, including:

door step crime and scams
age restricted products
product safety
weights and measures
lettings advice
mail forwarding licensing
explosive storage licensing
fair trading
illicit tobacco
intellectual property.

Licensing

The licensing department offer advice and assistance to licence applicants, existing licensees, and to any residents and businesses who may be adversely affected by licensable activities. We investigate complaints and enforce licence conditions. We may instigate legal proceedings against licence holders who breach the terms of their licence, or support others in doing so. We deal with a wide variety of licences that authorise the following activities:

sale of alcohol
public entertainment
late night refreshment (hot food and drink served late at night, for example takeaways)
gambling
civil marriage and civil partnership venues
scrap metal dealing
sex establishments (for example strip tease venues and sex shops).

Contact details

Trading standards

Contact the trading standards team directly at tradingstandards@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Licensing

Find out more specific licensing advice on the website or contact the licensing department by email at licensing@royalgreenwich.gov.uk.

Public registers and national databases

The service is required by law to provide certain information about certain activities on public accessible registers. This can include personal information.

We will tell you if your information is being added to a public register. However, we are unable to choose the data we add to the registers as this is determined by law.

The registers are:

In certain circumstances, we are obliged to consider providing details of individuals and their convictions to be held on a National Database of Landlords and Letting Agents. This is a statutory function governed by legislation. Anyone being considered in relation to this will be notified of this before the details are provided and will have the opportunity to make representations and/or appeal the decisions.

Why we need your information and how we use it

We use your personal data for some or all of the following purposes:

to deliver public services, including to understand your needs to provide the services that you request and to understand what we can do for you and inform you of other relevant services
to confirm your identity to provide some services
to contact you by post, email, telephone or using social media, for example, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp
to help us to build up a picture of how we are performing
to prevent and detect fraud and corruption in the use of public funds and where necessary for the law enforcement functions
to enable us to meet all legal and statutory obligations and powers including any delegated functions
to carry out comprehensive safeguarding procedures (including due diligence and complaints handling) in accordance with best safeguarding practice from time to time with the aim of ensuring that all children and adults-at-risk are provided with safe environments and generally as necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury
to seek your views, opinions or comments
to send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. These may include information about campaigns, appeals, other new projects or initiatives
to allow the statistical analysis of data so we can plan the provision of services.

The information is being processed in fulfilling the statutory duties of the Council's trading standards.

Safeguarding

See our data protection privacy notice for more on how we may use data to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people and to protect adults at risk from abuse.

What is our power to obtain and use personal data?

It is necessary to perform our statutory duties or it is required by law contained in the following Acts, to facilitate a statutory obligation, and to provide council services. The main ones for the council are the Local Government Acts and the Localism Act 2011, but there are many more (the list is not exhaustive) as follows:

Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963
Animal Health Act 1981
Animal Welfare Act 2006
Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014
Breeding of Dogs Act 1973
Building Act 1984
Caravan Sites Act 1968
Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960
Clean Air Act 1993
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
Control of Dogs Order 1992
Control of Pollution Act 1974
The Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 (as amended)
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Food and Environment Protection Act 1985
Food Safety Act 1990
Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013
Gambling Act 2005
Health Act 2006
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
Health Protection Regulations 2010
Housing Act 1985
Housing Act 2004
Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996
Licensing Act 2003
Local Government and Housing Act 1989
Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 section 17a (as amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006 and the Policing and Crime Act 2009
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 section 115 (as amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006) provides the legal power for the disclosure of personal data to a relevant authority to support the implementation of the provision of the Act, in particular related to the reduction of crime and the apprehension/prosecution of offenders
Investigatory Powers Act 2016
Homelessness Reduction Act 2018

For some services we process your data under a contract e.g. a commercial pest control contract or a Cemetery/Crematorium Service contract.

Where we do not directly provide the service, we may need to pass your personal data onto organisations that do. These providers are under contract and have to keep your details safe and secure, and use them only to provide the service.

the protection of your vital interests;
in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority;

Special category data is information which is deemed particularly sensitive and which unlawful processing could create risks to you. We need to collect and use special category data relying on the following lawful basis for this processing:

Where it is necessary in order for us to carry out our obligations in relation to employment and social security and social protection law;
Where it is necessary for the purposes of preventive and occupational medicine, for assessment of working capacity of an employee, medical diagnosis or for the provision and management of health or social care systems and treatment.
Necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health;
Necessary for reason of substantial public interest;
Necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historic research.
Necessary to protect someone in an emergency.
Necessary to deliver health, child protection or social care services or it is necessary to protect public health.
Necessary for archiving, research or statistical purposes. When it is for research purposes it will be anonymised data only.
Necessary for the prevention or detection of fraud/crime.
Special category data is processed under the provision of health and social care treatment and management as defined in Art 9 of the GDPR.

What type of information we collect

Environmental health

We may collect information about your:

names
addresses
email addresses
telephone numbers
dates of birth
company name and address
details of mortgages and charges against property in your ownership
household information, for example age and gender
property details
financial information.

Trading standards

We may collect information about your:

name
address
email address
contact telephone number
date of birth (we rarely ask for this)
business name and address

Licensing

We need the information from you so that we can issue you with a licence.

We may contact you from time to time if we feel:

there are developments in the law you need to be aware of
we have information that may benefit you
we would like consult with you about a new policy or procedure.

We will also contact you before the licence renewal date to ensure your property remains licensed.

We may collect information about your:

name
address
email address
telephone number
gender
date of birth
nationality
proof of residency or entitlement to work in the UK
details of the property you are licensing
disclosure of criminal convictions
company name and address
vehicle registration
details of mortgages and charges against property in your ownership
household information, such as ages and gender
financial information

Who we may share your information with

We may share your personal details with other organisations, partner agencies and external regulatory partners for purposes of law enforcement and fraud and for the prevention or detection of crime, the capture or prosecution of offenders, and the assessment or collection of tax or duty, or part of a licensing process.

With all departments and contractors who assist the Council in carrying out its statutory responsibilities and the wider communities.

The Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker

The Council is part of the Greater London Authority's (GLA) Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker. The watch list is a two-tier database hosted by the GLA. The first tier is for general public access and gives details of landlords and letting agents with unspent criminal convictions for housing-related offences under such legislation as:

Housing Act 2004
Housing Act 1985
Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Protection from Eviction Act 1977
Fraud Act 2006.

This includes information such as landlord name, part of home address, address of property associated with the offence, value of fine and date of conviction.

The second tier is for London local authority staff only, to view spent and unspent convictions, cautions, and civil penalty notices (up to six years previous).

The watch list will support council officers in their enforcement efforts, through information sharing, and increased awareness amongst renters, landlords and letting agents of the work that councils are doing locally to crack down on criminal behaviour.

Information on the watch list will be shared with:

three Royal Borough departments:
- housing
- trading standards
- environmental health.
other London boroughs
London Fire Authority.

The database is a secure system and only authorised senior staff can edit and add details on the database. The Council has an information sharing procedure agreed with the GLA relating to the Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker.

How long we keep your information

Contract information will be held for a period of six years starting from the date of contract.

The engrossed deed between the contractor and the Council will be held for a period of 12 years from the date of contract.

Records pertaining to process of monitoring of areas where employees and persons are likely to have become in contact with asbestos and pesticides should be kept for a period of 40 years from the last action.

PDF document

Public Health Direction: Helen's Kitchen

Version date

June 2019