Local Business Advice
Local Authorities
Local authorities currently offer support to businesses through general compliance advice and through tailored advice packages called Home and Primary Authority Partnerships.
Business guidance is available from your local trading standards as part of the customised services they provide. Most trading standards services in Scotland:
- offer business advice on various subjects
- promote fair trading practices
- organise training and education
- run trusted trader schemes (find your local trusted trader scheme)
- carry out risk assessment
- deal with licences and registrations
- check weights and measures
- enforce product safety legislation
- mediate disputes
- inspect premises
If you a business owner in need of advice from trading standards, use the Find Local Advice search tool to contact your local service directly.
Primary Authority Partnerships
As well as providing general compliance advice, local authorities currently offer support to businesses through tailored advice packages called Primary Authority Partnerships.
Primary Authority is based on legal partnerships between businesses and individual local authorities and is a means for businesses to receive assured and tailored advice through a single point of contact. They cover the following areas of regulation:
- Environmental Health
- Trading Standards
- Fire Safety
Primary Authority partnerships are available to all businesses at all stages and aim to make local regulation of businesses more consistent. They enable new businesses to get it right from the start and enable established businesses to invest with confidence in products, practices and procedures. All businesses can set up their own partnership or they can belong to a trade association or other type of group with an existing partnership.
Primary authorities provide advice to businesses that other local regulators must respect on compliance with the regulations. They can also produce an inspection plan for a business or the members of a trade association (or other type of group), to improve the effectiveness of visits by local regulators and underpin better sharing of information.
Find out more about Primary Authority Partnerships
The mygov.scot website is an online resource designed to make it easier for Scottish businesses to find information they need from government and the wider public sector. It pulls together information from a variety of public sector organisations delivering services to Scottish businesses.
