City of York Council trading standards department is taking part in a regional bid to create a telephone consumer helpline centre in Yorkshire and Humberside.

The council is working together with the ten other authorities in the region to prepare a bid, which they hope will attract the necessary funding from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The aim is to set up a regional consumer helpline centre, which will provide direct consumer advice. Eventually, helpline centres, following regional government office boundaries, will be established across the UK. The scheme, called Consumer Direct, will run along similar lines to NHS Direct, whereby consumers or traders will call a national number, but will be re-routed to their local centre. Over the next three years the DTI is investing £30 million into the initiative. The successful first round bidders will be announced in July 2003, with the first services operating from early next year.

Colin Rumford, acting head of environmental health and trading standards, City of York Council, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the region. If Yorkshire and Humberside is successful in its bid, the helpline will complement the consumer advice service the council already provides.

"At the moment, the majority of advisor time is spent dealing with complex issues, which take a long time to resolve. Consumer Direct will free up our advisers time to work on the more difficult cases and, if anything, will stimulate further demand for the local service."

Councillor Tracey Simpson Laing, the council's acting executive member for environment, said: "This is a great initiative from government that local authorities can use to help advise and protect their residents. I look forward to the implementation of Customer Direct and know that residents will find it useful."