Nottingham City Council is planning to invest an extra £45,000 into two partnership schemes in 2008/09. £25,000 will be used to support the co-ordination, implementation and development of the Buy with Confidence scheme.

Buy with Confidence is run by the Trading Standards services of Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council with support from Age Concern and was launched in November 2007 to help local businesses comply with the law while improving consumer protection through a partnership approach.

The scheme brings together a list of gardeners, plumbers, builders and many other types of businesses from all over Nottingham city and Nottinghamshire who have been individually checked for trustworthiness and compliance with consumer protection laws. Officers from Trading Standards visit and vet every applicant and only if they pass stringent checks are they accepted onto the scheme and can display the Buy with Confidence logo.

Businesses who become members of the scheme are constantly monitored by Trading Standards to ensure standards are maintained. Feedback is invited from their customers and re-visits are carried out.

Caraline Ryan, Head of Public Protection said: "We’ve had a fantastic response since we launched the scheme in November with over 650,000 hits for our members on the national website. This has had a positive impact on businesses who have signed up to the scheme and feedback from customers indicates high levels of satisfaction with the work undertaken."

The Greater Nottingham Doorstep Crime Partnership is also set to benefit with an additional £20,000 to support its work in terms of co-ordination and community involvement. The partnership involves a number of agencies including trading standards, housing, police, neighbourhood watch, victim support, older persons’ forum and utility companies. Initiatives include no cold calling zones and the Doorstep Crime Calendar which is distributed to over 50,000 residents throughout the county.

The proposed extra investment supports the City Council’s Respect for Nottingham agenda by encouraging older, vulnerable people and others to use approved traders and not fall victim to doorstep criminals.

Eunice Campbell, Portfolio Holder for Customer Services, Consultation and Area Working said: "It's really good to have additional resources to support this important partnership which supports the most vulnerable members of our community and to develop our approved trader scheme which benefits everyone."