Bucks & Surrey Trading Standards donates over 3,000 items to food banks

The food banks are in Aylesbury and Epsom & Ewell, with the items donated including food, household cleaning supplies, personal care items and cash.

Alongside its business partners, Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards has collected and distributed nearly 1,500 items and £525 for Aylesbury Foodbank, while another 1,500 items and over £550 have been collected and distributed for the Epsom & Ewell Foodbank.

The donations are in celebration of Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards reaching the milestone of 150 Primary Authority Partnerships, making it the largest regulatory provider of Primary Authority services.

Primary Authority is a means for businesses to receive assured and tailored advice in meeting various regulations through a single point of contact. This is invaluable for start-up businesses to get it right from the outset and enables all businesses to invest with confidence in products, practices and procedures.

The landmark achievement comes off the back of Buckinghamshire & Surrey Trading Standards also winning the ‘Service Excellent Award’ at the BEIS Regulatory Awards 2022.

Mark Winn, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services, said: "It’s fantastic that we and our partners have been able to collect so many donations for both Aylesbury and Epsom & Ewell food banks.

"The local food banks do vital work, so it’s great that we’ve been able to aid them in this way. We were determined to celebrate our recent achievements in a meaningful way that supported our local communities – and this has been the perfect way to do that."

Heather-Joy Garrett, Operations Manager at Aylesbury Foodbank, commented: "Our foodbanks provide vital emergency support to people in the local community. We are delighted that Bucks & Surrey Trading Standards is working together with us and its business partners to make this great donation."

James Lowman, Chief Executive Association of Convenience Stores, said: "Entering our partnership with Bucks & Surrey Trading Standards was one of the best decisions we have made, and it has continued to deliver every year.

"The quality of support from the team, has been consistently professional, pragmatic and engaged. This has helped us to tackle new and existing compliance challenges with confidence."

Business partners who have helped contribute donations include:

• Green Motion Car and Van Rental
• Delphic HSE Ltd
• Natural Instinct Ltd
• Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
• Global Manuka UK
• E Scooter Professional Ltd
• Solution EU Ltd
• Sports Supplement Ltd t/a bulk
• Creative Nature

For more information on Primary Authority Partnerships, please visit: gov.uk/government/publications/primary-authority-overview

For more information on Aylesbury Foodbank, go to: aylesbury.foodbank.org.uk