Website review

Consumer Focus Scotland

www.consumerfocus.org.uk/Scotland

As reported in last month’s Journal (at p 35), Consumer Focus Scotland is a new organisation which has replaced not just the Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) but also Postwatch and energywatch as a sort of souped-up consumer watchdog. It styles itself as the consumers’ “champion” and only time will tell if it lives up to that mantle. What we can say with confidence is that Consumer Focus is a statutory UK-wide organisation which was created by the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.

As befits any new organisation nowadays, a nice new website has been created to inform and educate. As you will see from the URI (or web address), there is a single UK website which has separate sections for its activities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

I did find the navigation on the site a little confusing. It uses colour coding to let you know which section you’re currently in (blue indicates Scotland), but it does tend to jump between that and purple (the main UK section) unexpectedly. There were also one or two internal links that weren’t working correctly. To be fair, these were not a huge problem and I dare say you would get used to it in time, but it certainly hindered this first time user a bit.

There is a lot of information regarding the postal and energy functions of the new body as compared to not a great deal about its other interests. However, it is also apparent that Consumer Focus has particular statutory roles and powers in these areas (in terms of the 2007 Act), so perhaps that is to be expected. I was slightly surprised that none of the excellent back catalogue of reports, research and information from the Scottish Consumer Council had made their way to this site, especially as the SCC’s old website (www.scotconsumer.org.uk) is no longer operating. Is this information lost to us for good – or is it archived elsewhere in cyberspace? I very much hope the latter.

The main source of information in this part of the website, then, is the “news and press” section, which (as it sounds) is a collection of news items on various aspects of the organisation’s work. From this we learn, for example, that a fourth edition of a guide to the Scottish legal system is out now, and (encouragingly) was one of the first things that Consumer Focus Scotland has done under its new identity.

There is plenty of information about the Scottish branch of Consumer Focus, including biographical information on the board members and details of the structure, vision etc. The forward work plan is offered for download in PDF, but I was not able to open the document. Having said that, the Scottish work plan details are included in the UK work plan (which did open). Policy documents, information on senior post holders and details of the new, strategic relationship with Consumer Direct (www.consumerdirect.gov.uk) in relation to energy and post complaints are all to be found, too.

This being the era of web 2.0, the site features a blog from the chief executive, which is every bit as thrilling as it sounds. There is nothing quite so sad as a blog with no comments (I know, I run one myself!) – so while I commend the enthusiasm, I wonder whether the effort will prove to be worthwhile? Actually there are (to date) two comments, one of which comes in seven chapters with enclosures (sic)! Still, it does make Ed Mayo (the Chief Exec himself) seem more accessible and I suppose it’s an alternative way of keeping up to date with some aspects of the organisation’s work, particularly if you prefer a chatty style to the more formal press release format found elsewhere on the site.

All in all, this is a fairly decent site, which at the moment is most useful for those with energy or post-related gripes. The lack of information in other areas will, no doubt, be rectified over time – as will the few teething problems regarding links and navigation.

A final point. On visiting the Scottish pages, one of the first things you notice is the bilingual logo, which has the organisation’s name and strap line in Gaelic first, then English. These tokens are, however, the first and last words you will read in Gaelic anywhere on the website.

O mo chreach!