Food Service Plan 2007-2008

Service aims and objectives

• To ensure the safety of food produced, sold and consumed within the Borough.
• To ensure that food meets appropriate quality standards, is correctly labelled and described and is free from contaminants.
• To identify risks to the safety of food produced or sold within the Borough, advise and educate food businesses and take enforcement action where appropriate.
• To advise and educate members of the public regarding food safety and standards matters.
• All references in this document to Food are deemed to include Animal Feeding stuffs.

Links to corporate objectives and plans

The food service supports the proactive approach of the Council’s aims, priorities and continuous improvement programme as defined in the mission statement defining Rochdale Council’s purpose. The work of the food service as a whole strongly contributes towards the council’s aim “to create the best quality of life for all local people by providing quality services that matter to them” (Stepping Up, 2007).  Their activities are aimed at reducing ill health, in the form of food poisoning, and enabling consumers to have confidence in the quality of the food they buy.

Background

Profile of Authority

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough is located in the southern Pennine Moors, in the north-east region of the Greater Manchester conurbation. The Borough covers 62 square miles of which about two-thirds is rural. It is characterised by urban developments of dense housing and industrial areas located along major routeways, surrounded by hilly areas of rural land.

The Borough is divided into four Townships based around the towns of Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton, together with the eastern urban area that form the Pennines Township. Each Township has its own distinctive background and character with which residents identify.

People

The population of the Borough at the 2001 Census was 205,357, which is a slight increase since the 1991 Census. The population is divided between the four Townships as follows: Heywood 29,240; Middleton 45,688; Pennines 32,996 and Rochdale 97,433.

The ethnic profile of the Borough is a diverse mix with 14% of people being from the black and minority ethnic (BME) group. The majority of these people are Pakistani with most living in the Rochdale Township where the BME community represents approximately 20% of the population.

The population of the Borough is ageing slightly less rapidly than the rest of the country.

Housing

The Borough’s housing tends to be of low value with 58% of properties belonging to Council Tax Band A, with bands B and C accounting for a further 27%. The layout of the Borough generally comprises of high density housing in urban areas surrounded by expanses of rural land.

Education

In 2006 overall improvements were made in the academic performance of children at all key stages. Of particular note, the Council achieved its highest level of achievement regarding pupils gaining 5 or more GCSE’s at grade A-C, with 50.1% of pupils achieving this attainment level. However, the educational attainment of adults in the Borough continues to fall below the national average. Approximately 21% of adults in Rochdale Borough have qualifications at NVQ Levels 3 (equivalent to 2 A levels), 4 and 5 (graduate level) compared to 28% in England & Wales.

Health

The Council works alongside its partners in the Health Partnership to improve the health of the Borough’s population. The Council’s main partners include the Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale Primary Care Trust (HMRPCT).

Life expectancy for men and women in the Borough is less than the national average and in some of wards is ten years less than in other parts of the Borough. Poor life expectancy is affected by the incidence of coronary heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, cancers, injury, poisoning and infant mortality.

Office of National Statistics figures also show that the general health of the Borough’s inhabitants also needs to be improved. When surveyed 66.1% of the Borough’s population considered they were in good general health compared to the national average of 68.6%. Also, 20.61% of the population had a ‘limiting long-term’ illness compared to 18.23% in England & Wales.

The infant mortality rate is above the national average and levels of teenage conceptions are high. Children also have more tooth decay, missing or filled teeth than the national average, and obesity levels are high for children aged 4 years of age.

Employment

Rochdale has a moderately weak economy that is overly dependent on distributive, hotel & catering, public administration & health and manufacturing industries. The number of start up businesses is relatively low, but medium sized businesses and new businesses are being attracted in increasing numbers.

62% of the people in the Borough are of working age. Of these approximately 73% are in employment, with 5% unemployed. The remainder of those of working age are economically inactive, e.g. retired or looking after a home.

Unemployment rates in the Borough are slightly higher than the national average, with some wards having significantly higher unemployment, e.g. in Milkstone / Deeplish and Central Rochdale / Falinge 6 to 7% of the working age population are unemployed.

The major employment sectors in the Borough are distribution, the hotel & catering industry (25% of jobs) and public administration, education and public health (25% of jobs). Notably, these employment sectors together with manufacturing account for a greater percentage of jobs on a sector by sector basis compared with the rest of England & Wales. Similarly, jobs in banking, finance and insurance are low at approximately 12% of jobs compared to the national average of 18%.

A major threat to employment concerns the manufacturing sector, which is forecast to lose around 5,000 jobs in Rochdale Borough by 2015.

Of further significance, jobs in the Borough pay about £35 less per week compared to the average for England & Wales.

Crime

Crime, and the fear of crime and disorder, remains a major concern for the community. Even though the total number of crimes has fallen by 18% over the last three years (based on the British Crime Survey), and burglary and robbery have fallen by more than a half and a third, respectively, the crime rate is still high compared to the national average.

Many people also still feel unsafe in their own homes or neighbourhood.

Anti-social behaviour particularly by the young continues to be a problem.

Environment

Rochdale Borough is one of the greenest boroughs in Greater Manchester. However, only 22% of households have close access to good quality green spaces. Furthermore, in a recent survey only 53% of residents were satisfied with the local environment.

Although the Audit Commission praised the Council in February 2006 for improvements in household waste recycling rates, they also noted that we still need to make improvements in this area.

The Borough’s ecological footprint is 2.8, which means that if everyone in the world lived as we do in the Borough, we would need 2.8 planet Earth’s worth of resources to continue a sustainable existence.

Deprivation

The Government’s Deprivation Indices rank Rochdale Borough as the 25^th most deprived Borough in the country. This rating is based on factors that include employment, income, housing and health.

The Borough’s textile-based industrial past has not been replaced by a major source of employment. This has left the Borough with a relatively unskilled, poorly educated, low-earning workforce; living in some areas in low-value housing in densely populated urban areas. Associated with these factors are relatively high unemployment and poor health.

Scope of the food service

The food service is provided by three sections of the Environmental Health and Licensing Service and the Trading Standards Service, each of which is also responsible for a number of other services. The following is a list of the main responsibilities, with an indication of the other services provided:

Environmental Health & Licensing Service (Food Safety)

• Providing a comprehensive, high quality, food safety service in accordance with the FSA Framework Agreement.
• Programmed food safety and health and safety inspections of food premises, in accordance with the FSA Code of Practice and Practice Guidance (revised March 2006).
• Investigation of complaints regarding food premises and items of food produced or sold within the Borough.
• Participation in consultations for planning approval, building regulations etc.
• Dealing with requests for information and advice from food businesses and members of the public.
• Routine sampling of milk and of private water supplies from food premises, and participation in national surveys as required by the Food Standards Agency, Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), Health Protection Agency etc.
• Contribution to Greater Manchester Food Liaison Group and other regional/national agencies.
• Use of contractors to make effective use of budgets by contracting out hygiene inspections of lower-risk premises.
• Control and investigation of outbreaks and food related infectious disease is provided in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Team.
• Food Safety educational and promotion work. This work is co-ordinated by the Environmental Health Development Manager and the Food Safety Manager.
• Other services provided by the Environmental Health & Licensing Service include routine visits to farms and smallholdings to check movement records and standards of animal welfare, general environmental health services, including health and safety, pollution control and pest control.

Trading Standards (Food Standards and Feeding Stuffs)

The Trading Standards Service is responsible for all matters relating to Food Standards and Animal Feeding stuffs and endeavours to provide a comprehensive, high quality, service in accordance with the FSA Framework Agreement.

The service takes an integrated approach to enforcement work and food (and agriculture) is a part of other disciplines of the profession.

Where possible, food standards inspection work is incorporated into multi-functional inspections where other areas of trading standards responsibility such as Metrology, Fair Trading and Product Safety are enforced.

The Trading Standards Service carries out routine inspections (as part of a planned inspection programme), investigates complaints regarding food standards matters, and advises and assists companies for whom it acts as Home Authority.

The Service also takes food samples for compliance with composition and labelling issues. This is done as part of a planned programme of work in conjunction with neighbouring authorities and on routine visits.

Demands on the food service

Food safety

The breakdown of premises liable for inspection for Food Safety purposes is as follows

Restaurants and other catering premises make up 64% of the total, with 28% falling into the retail category.  More information can be found under the Food and Feeding stuffs premises inspections.

We are also responsible for approving premises carrying out specialist prcesses, which fall within the scope of EC Regulation 853/2004 as follows:

Food Standards

The breakdown of premises liable for inspection for Food standards purpoes is as follows:

Feeding Stuffs

The breakdown of premises liable for inspection is as follows (excluding other premises which may sell pet foods but not as the principal purpose of their business)

Service Delivery Points

All services provided are based in Telegraph House, Baillie Street, Rochdale and can be accessed in person by calling at the Planning & Regulation Service Reception on Floor 1 between the hours of 8.30am and 4.45pm, Monday to Friday. The Council also has a number of other Information Points throughout the Borough where customers can register complaints, to be forwarded to the Department, and these are open during the same periods:      

The service can also be contacted by telephone via the Council's "Contact Centre" and by email.

External Factors

Approxmately 14% of Rochdal's population are of Pakistani/Bangladeshi and Chinese origin.  This part of the population has traditionally included a significant proportion of food business proprietors, many of whom do not have English as a first language

Enforcement Policy

The Council has signed up to the Enforcement Concordat.  It has also adopted an Enforcement policy, which applies to the whole of the Environmental Health and Licensing Service.  This is supported by a Food Safety Enforcement Policy.  Similarly, the Trading Standards Service has Enforcement and Prosecution Policies, which have received appropriate member approval.

Service Delivery

Food and Feeding Stuffs Premises Inspections

Food Safety Inspections

The Council has consistently affirmed the view that food safety (hygiene) inspections should be carried out on the basis of risk based prioritisation, in line with the FSA Code of Practice.  This has included the commitment to carry out revisits to check on compliance where appropriate.  All inspections will be carried out in accordance with the authoritys' documented procedures.

Premises Profile

At the time of preparing this service plan, there were 1712 food premises on the database.  The following table shows the distribution of these premises in terms of type of activity as set out in the FSA Code of Practice:

Inspection programme

The number of programmed food safety inspections due during 2006/2007 is 983.  These are made up as follows:

The lowest risk Category E premises are to be targeted by "other enforcement measures" as detailed in the revised FSA Code of Practice.  This will involve providing advice through mail shots and asking businesses to provide information on the types of food they handle.

It is estimated that using current staff and contractors, we will be able to carry out all of these inspections during the year.  Priority will however be given to the higher risk premises.

In line with our commitment to carry out revisits to check on compliance where necessary, it is expected that the programmed inspections will generate a further 600 visits.

The Service has in place a staff training and development programme which aims to satisfy the demands on the service as well as developing the individual.  This includes in-house training of officers as well as attendance on external seminars, to deal with issues such as inspection of premises that are subject to the requirments of EC regulations.

It is extimated that 5 EHO/FCOs (FTEs) can effectively provide this part of the service plus contractors carrying out inspections of lower risk premises.

Food Standards Inspections

The following table shows premises profile for Food Standards in terms of type of activity as set out in the FSA Code of Practice:

The minimum requirements of the Food Standards Agency in realtion to Food Standards Inspections is that all high risked premises should be visited annually, all medium risk premises every 2 years and low risk presmises every 5 years.

The planned number of inspections for 2007/2008 is as follows

• High Risk                    27
• Medium Risk              253
• Low Risk                     193

Itis the authority's intention to achieve the inspection targets above in relation to High and medium Risk Premises.  Low Risk premises will not be specifically targeted but will receive a food standards inspection when a premise is inspected as part of a multi-functional visit.  Additionally approximately 200 premises with a low risk will be subject to alternative enforcement strategies, in line with FSA's Simplification Plan 06/07. 

The 5 field officers have individual work programmes with time allocated to achieve the above targets.  High-risk premises are allocated to a specified officer and district teams visit medium risk premises.  In addition, revisits will be amde where appropriate and it is anticipated that approxiamately 20 such visits will be carried out.

Feeding stuffs Inspections

All registered premises will receive an inspection in 2007/2008.  The estimated staff requirement for this is 2 person days.

Food and Feeding stuffs Complaints

Food Safety

Complaints/requests for service in respect of food and the hygiene of food premises are dealt with in line with documented procedures.  All complaints received are investigated, however the level of investigation and action is determined after assessment of the information received, and is based on the risk to public health arising from the complaint.

Responses to complaints about food that is unfit for human consumption, or food containing foreign matter, vary from the provision of advice to the complainant, often after liaison with retailers/producers, to detailed investigations resulting in prosecution in line with the Service’s Enforcement Policies.

Approximately 80 complaints are received each year about food, with a further 450 complaints/requests for service in respect of food and food premises.

It is estimated that this part of the service requires 1 FTE officer.

Food Standards and Feeding stuffs

All complaints received in the above area of responsibility are recorded and assessed for further action in line with documented procedures. The possible actions, which are available, are included in the Enforcement Policy and are determined by the Principal Trading Standards Officers in consultation, where appropriate, with an investigating officer.

It is our objective to respond initially to all complaints within the parameters set out in the Trading Standards Service Plan. Fair Trading Officers (who would initially receive complaints) may give advice on civil law remedies prior to any decision on enforcement action.

The Trading Standards Service and the regional Consumer Direct office receive approximately 40 complaints per annum relating to Food Standards and 1 regarding Feeding stuffs matters. The demands on the service resulting from this is approximately 25 officer days, in addition to analytical costs where appropriate.

Home Authority Principle

It is the Council‘s policy to comply with LACORS Guidance in respect of the Home Authority Principle and in particular their “Guidelines for Home Authorities” (March 1997).

It is recognised that the benefits of the Principle are as follows:

• Greater enforcement consistency;
• Increased efficiency and reduced enforcement duplication;
• Preventative enforcement through advice on compliance;
• Resolution of conflicts between different authorities and between authorities and businesses;
• Better understanding and awareness of commercial issues;
• Increased understanding of local businesses; and
• Enhanced technical and audit expertise.

Whilst the Food Service has no formal contractual agreements with local businesses, it does operate within the Home Authority Principle. It has established working relationships with a number of companies, which have both national and local impact. The home authority work includes advice on procedures, composition and labelling, food safety, staff training, and addressing issues raised by other enforcement bodies. Staff resources to deal with this work have been included with those for inspections and complaints.

The Trading Standards Service deals with approximately 15 referrals from other enforcement bodies and requests received from the companies themselves and this work amounts to approximately 12 person/days work.

Advice to business

The Council considers that assistance to business, to help them to comply with the requirements of legislation, is an essential part of our service. In particular, we make contact with businesses during visits to premises to carry out inspections and investigations, during which we provide advice and guidance on a one-to-one basis.

In total, we make approximately 2000 visits to food premises and in addition we receive on average 2500 telephone calls to the office each year.

One member of the Food Safety Team is responsible for Food Safety Education and Promotion. A detailed Work Programme has been developed including a programme of events covering a broad range of activities including production of a quarterly newsletter for food businesses, a Healthy Food Award Scheme, working with schools and raising awareness of food safety issues in the ethnic community.

In addition, during the last twelve months a Specialist Food Safety Officer has been carrying out a project to raise awareness of food allergies, which result in 10 deaths nationally each year. During 2006/07 training has been provided for 140 food businesses targeting children’s day nurseries and school kitchens in particular. In addition, training was provided for officers from the other nine Greater Manchester Authorities. A training pack was also developed to assist them in providing training for food businesses in their own Boroughs.

In January 2006 the previous food safety legislation was replaced by the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 which brought into force EC Regulations 852/2004 and 853/2004. The major change introduced by the Regulations was a new requirement for food businesses to have written procedures setting out how they will make sure that the food that they handle or sell is safe and also for them to keep appropriate records. To assist businesses in complying with the Regulations, the Food Standards Agency produced a manual called “Safer Food Better Business”, which sets out approved hygienic procedures for businesses to follow. It also contains a “diary” for businesses to use to keep their records.

During the period January – December 2006, the Food Safety Team provided support to 530 businesses to assist them in complying with the new legislation. This involved providing advice and training during over 1000 visits. It also included participation in a project organised by the North West Food Alliance, which was funded by the Food Standards Agency. This allowed us to organise training workshops and a programme of “one to one” mentoring for the operators of 48 local businesses.

An Environmental Health Officer has been working on a project, which aims to raise awareness of Salmonella in Chinese premises. This follows a number of outbreaks of food poisoning, which were linked to restaurants and take-aways across Greater Manchester towards the end of 2006.

An officer from the Trading Standards Service is a member of the FSA’s Engagement of Asian Communities Project representing the AGMA Region. This group is involved in improving ways of communication with Asian communities in relation to food.

Additionally the Trading Standards Service will proactively inform businesses of changes to legislation particularly and where appropriate, developing additional trader advice leaflets to complement its existing range, which are readily available to traders. 

It is considered necessary to provide 1 EHO/Specialist Officer and 0.1 TSO to deal with this area of work.

Food and Feeding Stuffs Inspection and Sampling

Inspection of food and feeding stuffs will be carried out during routine programmed inspections and following complaints, requests from the Food Standards Agency, etc.

Food Safety Sampling Programme:

The Council’s Food Safety sampling programme includes the following:

Routine sampling, carried out as required, for example:

• following a complaint;
• as part of an investigation of a suspected food poisoning outbreak;
• during routine inspections for the purposes of process monitoring, to assess the safety of particular foods etc.;

Surveillance Sampling:

• Local: Carried out within a structured programme devised by the Greater Manchester Food Liaison Group in conjunction with Preston Microbiology Services (Previously Public Health Laboratory Service) and Lancashire CEHO Food Liaison Group. Detailed protocols are developed to ensure consistency of sampling and results.
• National: As required by the Food Standards Agency, LACORS etc and in conjunction with the Greater Manchester Food Liaison Group and Preston Microbiology Services.
• Sampling from premises Approved under EC Regulation 853/2004, (Dairies, Meat Products Premises etc).

Formal Sampling:

• Carried out where an offence is suspected and the results may be required as part of legal proceedings. All samples are taken in accordance with Food Standards Agency Code of Practice.

The resources required to carry out sampling are as follows

• We estimate that this work equates to 50% of the time of the Food Safety Assistant.
• Purchase cost of samples approximately £200
• Samples submitted to with Preston Microbiology Services are examined as part of a service level agreement.
• Cost of sampling by the Public Analyst is detailed below

Food Standards Sampling Programme

The policy in relation to food samples taken to test compliance with composition, labelling, contamination and presentation requirements is as follows:

Routine Sampling:

The AGMA (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) Trading Standards Food Group will agree a sampling programme on a quarterly basis, which will reflect the needs of each constituent authority.

Where applicable, each authority will concentrate on:

• Home Authority Companies
• Locally’ produced foodstuffs
• Allocated supermarket own-brands.

The following factors may be taken into account when selecting the type of food to be sampled:

• Known problem areas 
• Current consumer concerns including nutritional information
• Novel processes or technology
• Advice from public analyst
• Healthy eating, for example fat, salt and sugar content.

The consequence of this joint approach is:

• More meaningful conclusions can be drawn from the results of analysis
• Bulk discounts can be obtained on analysts’ fees
• Duplication of samples is greatly reduced

The group also regularly participates in FSA surveys on imported foods and contributes to LACORS national sampling programme.

In addition to the formalised sampling programme, field officers are encouraged to take other samples where appropriate. In particular these include samples of ingredients or finished product from manufacturers/packers etc.

The service aims to take a minimum of 220 samples per year, the vast majority of which will be classified as informal. Formal samples will generally be taken where a significant problem has been identified, or where formal action is likely.

Complaint samples will be submitted as necessary.

The resources required to carry out sampling are as follows:

• Purchase cost of samples approximately £500 
• Analytical cost of sampling approximately £20,000
• As the majority of samples are taken during routine inspections the time allocated to this function are too small to be calculated

Arrangements for analysis and examination of samples

Samples for analysis are submitted to Eurofins Ltd, the authority’s Public Analyst.

Samples for microbiological examination are submitted to the Preston Microbiology Services (Formerly PHLS).

Control and Investigation of Outbreaks and Food Related Infectious Disease

The Council liaises with a Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (CCDC) from the Greater Manchester Health Protection Unit in all matters relating to the control and investigation of food related infectious disease. A CCDC heads the Outbreak Control Team, which is convened in accordance with criteria laid down in the Infectious Disease Outbreak and Control Plan, and includes representatives from the Council.

The demand on resources from this area of work is difficult to assess, in view of the wide variety of types of outbreak, particularly in terms of numbers affected and types of premises implicated. If an outbreak affected a large number of people, but the source was obviously restricted to one known establishment, there would be a considerable resource implication for the Environmental Protection Team, which is responsible for the tracing and surveillance of those affected. The Food Safety Team, on the other hand, would have relatively little involvement. However, in different circumstances the opposite would be true, and the impact on the other work of the Food Safety Team would be considerable.

Our best estimate of the staff resource required for this part of the service, based on the last year’s experience, is 0.3 FTE officers

Food Safety Alerts

The Council deals with Food Alerts (previously known as Food Hazard Warnings) in line with its documented procedures, which comply with the guidance provided in the FSA Code of Practice.

Based on experience of previous years’ Food Alerts, we expect to receive approximately 80 warnings per annum. In the case of Food Safety, this equates to approximately 2 hours of officer time per week to carry out all duties involved in the operation of the system and any follow-up work. In relation to Food Standards and Feeding stuffs this work would equate to approximately 1 hour per week.

Liaison with other organisations

We are committed to being involved in liaison with other local authorities, and associated organisations, to achieve consistency and to maintain our level of knowledge and understanding in a rapidly changing area of work. This is done by being actively involved in a number of Groups, including:

• Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA)
• AGMA Public Protection Partnership
• AGMA Food Hygiene Liaison Group
• AGMA Food Standards Group
• Greater Manchester Health Protection Unit
• TS North West Food Standards Group
• TS North West Agriculture Sub Group
• NW Health Think Tank

We also have formal consultation arrangements with other service providers within the Council in respect of:

• Applications for planning approval, building regulation approval and applications under the Licensing Act 2003.
• Land Charges enquiries.

It is estimated that the resource requirement to carry out this work is 0.5 FTE officer.

Food and Feeding Stuffs Safety and Standards Promotion

Food Safety

Arrangements for promotional work are detailed in the Advice to Business section above.

Food Standards and Feeding Stuffs

• Educational work with the caterers to raise awareness of excess levels of salt and fat in takeaway meals
• Produce articles/press releases Food Standards matters from time to time.

The AGMA Food Standards Group has agreed to share information for newsletters etc thereby providing additional material at no cost (actual or in terms of officer time).

The amount of staff resource required to carry out this work is too small to quantify in terms of FTE equivalents.

Resources - financial allocation

Food Safety

The budget for Food Safety (i.e. Hygiene) is provided within the overall Environmental Control Business Unit budget. The following is an estimate of the appropriate financial allocation for this part of the service:

Food Standards and Feeding stuffs

Food standards and feeding stuffs work is completely integrated within the overall Trading Standards Service budget. Consequently it is difficult to calculate meaningful figures for this work. It is estimated that 20% of the overall budget is dedicated to food standards work and the following information is given as that 20%, with some adjustments where more information is known.

Staffing Allocation

Food Safety

The establishment for food safety is as follows:

• Food Safety Manager: Food Safety Specialist  (office based)
• Senior EHO/Senior Food Safety Officer (50% of time operational, 50% office based)
• 4 EHO/Specialist Food Safety Officers
• 1 Specialist Food Safety Officer (Education & Promotion)
• 2 Food Safety Officers (FSOs).
• 1 Food Safety Assistant (50% of time spent on sampling and associated activities).

In addition, lower risk food safety inspections and any shortfall in inspections (for example due to vacant posts) is carried out by consultants. 

Other duties, particularly in respect of the control of infectious disease, are carried out by the Environmental Protection Team (0.3 FTE).

In terms of full time equivalents, this equates to 8.3 operational officers (+ consultants).

Food Standards and Feeding stuffs

The current staffing situation is as follows:

• 1 x Principal Trading Standards Officer is responsible for Food Standards and Metrology. Duties include the management of the Food Standards function and management of 1 team of officers who are responsible for food standards enforcement work as part of its overall workload. A second Principal Officer is responsible for the day to day management of a second team of officers who are responsible for food standards enforcement work as part of its overall workload. 
• 3 x Senior / Trading Standards Officers whose work programmes include 40 days each of general inspection work which incorporates Food Standards and Feeding stuffs.
• 2 x Fair Trading Officer qualified in Food Standards whose work programme is similar to that of a Trading Standards Officer.
• 1 x Fair Trading Officer and 1 x Technical Officer who are involved in the informal food sampling programme.

It is considered that staffing levels are sufficient to meet anticipated demands on the service including inspections to High and Medium risk premises, complaints, Home Authority work, sampling, advice and promotion as detailed above. Each member of staff has a work programme setting out individual quarterly and annual targets on all the above areas of work

Staff Development Plan

The training and development of staff is essential to ensure that officers are able to carry out their duties effectively. Each year, officers are asked to identify their needs as far as training is concerned at Performance and Development Reviews. Managers then assess these against the needs of the service in order to ensure that the appropriate 10 hours of CPD training are attained.

1. Training for staff is provided in a number of ways:
2. Induction training for new members of staff
3. Courses provided by the Council’s Central Training Unit
4. Seminars provided by the AGMA Food Liaison Group
5. Courses and seminars provided by external organisations
6. In-house Training
7. Training and instruction provided on-the-job on a one-to-one basis.
8. Training provided by AGMA Food Standards Group
9. Training provided by TSNW
10. Updates provided by the FSA and LACORS.

Officers attending external courses and seminars as appropriate are expected to give a presentation to the rest of the team. This can range from a simple overview of the event to a more formal presentation providing considerable detail; including copies of handouts, etc.

Quality Assessment

Documented procedures have been developed to verify conformance with the FSA Framework Agreement, relevant legislation, codes of practice, documented policies and procedures. These include:

Monitoring of officers work by the Food Safety Manager and Principal Trading Standards Officer,

• Performance Indicators
• Team meetings
• Accompanied inspections
• One to one meetings with officers
• Prior approval of legal proceedings
• Consistency exercises
• Identification of training needs
• Review of documents
• Internal audits
• Customer Surveys
• Review of complaints against the service
• Inter-authority audits
• Reality Checks.

Resources

Review Against the Service Plan

Service Managers monitor and review performance against the Service Plan on a quarterly and annual basis and monitor the work of individual officers as described in Section 5 (Quality Assessment) above.

In addition a full annual review is carried out at the end of March each year identifying any variances and presenting an improvement plan which sets out any necessary improvements/service developments.

Performance for the year 2006/2007 was as follows:

Food Safety

Food Standards

Feeding Stuffs

Identification of Any Variation from the Service Plan

Food Safety

None.

Food Standards

There were additional changes made during the year to the Food Standards premise database, following the introduction of the LACORS risk-rating scheme. This resulted in some premises, which had previously been incorrectly identified as high risk, being reduced by one category to medium risk. There were 27 premises identified as truly being high risk at the end of the year; this equates to an 85% inspection rate of high-risk food standards premises.

For the whole of 2006/2007 a Senior / Trading Standards Officer was acting-up as a Principal Trading Standards Officer. Additionally a second Senior / Trading Standards Officer was absent due to sickness for 20 weeks of the year. This had a major impact on the Service’s ability to carry out routine work. Subsequently an ex-Trading Standards Officer was contracted to do medium risk visits for 10 weeks. This resulted in an 82% inspection rate of medium-risk food standards premises.

173 food samples were taken for composition and labelling purposes, which is less than the target of 220. As the majority of samples are taken as part of the AGMA Food Standards Group’s sampling programme, this shortfall will have arisen from fewer samples being taken during routine inspections, for the reasons identified in the previous paragraph. The Service did, however, contribute to the FSA’s national survey of imported foods.

Areas for Improvement

Food Safety

Monitoring of the inspection programme will continue with the aim that all of the work programmed is completed by the end of the year.

Food Standards and Feeding Stuffs

The target for the number of inspections to High and Medium risk premises due during the coming year meets the requirements of the Food Standards Agency. It is considered that these are achievable with current staffing levels. In line with the outcomes of the Hampton Review and the FSA’s Simplification Plan, visits to low risk premises are being carried out by other enforcement activities such as trader questionnaires followed up with advice and fact sheets where necessary, being distributed.

Documented policies and procedures regarding Animal Feeding stuffs will be updated in line with new legislation, guidance issued by the Food Standards Agency and from work carried out on the TSNW Agriculture Sub Group.

The changes that will result from the development of recommendations from the Hampton Review (intelligence led, risk based inspections) and the proposed changes to the local authority food law enforcement monitoring system, that will need to be in place by April 2008, will require significant work on current policies and procedures over 2007/2008.

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