Agenda item

To submit the report of the Chief Public Protection Officer.

The report of the Chief Public Protection Officer incorporating the report of the Food Standards Agency on the Food and Feed Law Enforcement Service on the Isle of Anglesey following an audit that was undertaken in July, 2014 was presented for the Committee's consideration. The report also included the Action Plan that was drawn up to address the recommendations made by the Food Standards Agency along with an update on the progress made in implementing those recommendations.

The Chief Public Protection Officer reported that the audit covered the Isle of Anglesey’s arrangements for the delivery of food hygiene, food standards and feed law enforcement services which functions are delivered by the Public Protection section of Planning and Public Protection Division. The work at the time was delivered by officers in the Environmental Health and Trading Standards teams. The FSA’s formal report was received on 21st July, 2015. The Officer referred to the audit findings and recommendations as summarised under paragraph 2.2 of the report in response to which a detailed Action Plan was formulated (Annexe A to the FSA  Report). Work on addressing the recommendations began following the informal feedback session delivered by the FSA Auditors on 18 July, 2014. The Action Plan has been a live document and has been updated on a regular basis as the agreed actions have been completed; the latest version is provided at Appendix 1.

The Officer informed the Committee that the majority of the recommendations made were of a procedural nature and have been addressed. However, the adequacy of staff resources to carry out Food Hygiene, Food Standards and Feed Hygiene inspections remains a concern and current analysis shows a staff resource gap of 2 officers. The service is in the process of transformation in order to address such challenges; notwithstanding it is likely that even with a more agile, modern and flexible workforce there will remain a resource gap. The mitigation is to ensure well evidenced and informed prioritisations of the use of staff. As the streamlined approach is yet to be tested and the transformation process is incomplete, a short-term solution is being made through agency cover. The FSA will return to formally assess progress against the full report before 31 March 2016.

The Committee considered the report and raised the following issues thereon –

•           Whether in comparison with other comparable authorities the staffing situation is an issue particular to this authority and whether there is a timescale for reaping benefits from planned training to enable officers to become multi-functional. The Chief Public Protection Officer said that staffing is a general issue. The Public Protection restructure is due to be completed in January, 2016 after which attention will be given to training and working practices. One of the issues with regard to Food Hygiene is that officers need to be qualified environmental health officers and also to be able to demonstrate ongoing competence so there has to be a regular training regime which will have to be extended to other members of the team.

•           Whether collaborative working is a potential solution to staffing difficulties particularly as regards drawing on resources to cover absences e.g. maternity leave. The Chief Public Protection Officer said that some aspects of enforcement and regulation can be delivered across a wider base but that inspection work especially with regard to Food Hygiene tends to be localised. Cross border authorisations have been introduced to enable officers to work in any of the six North Wales authorities. However given that competence is key in relation to Food Hygiene what is being explored is the possibility of  combining specialist services so expertise can be shared and called upon when required.

•           The Committee noted with concern that the service is hampered by underlying issues of capacity and scale and by uncompetitive levels of pay which make recruitment more difficult. The Committee sought assurance that retraining officers to be able to undertake other aspects of the work will not place an additional burden on staff. The Chief Public Protection Officer that whilst risks are high as regards staff leaving, Public Protection staff retention levels are good and there is a process of staff development and succession planning. Difficulties are more likely to arise in circumstances where staff might leave quickly. As regards covering a range of duties the Officer said that one touch regulation should reduce pressures as regards demand and it is also a matter of prioritising the workload to deliver in accordance with the regulations.

•           The Committee queried whether the income of approximately £12k which the service received for the Food Standards Agency for carrying out inspections is a fair reflection of the costs involved.   The Chief Public Protection  Officer said that Feed Hygiene is a much smaller aspect of the service than Food Hygiene which involves in the region of  500 visits per annum (compared to 100 for Feed Hygiene). The former is important in terms of maintaining the integrity of the food chain. However, it is not considerd that the income derived from the inspection work is adequate to recoup  the costs which the work entails.

It was resolved to accept the Food Standards Agency Audit report and to note its contents.

ACTION ENSUING: The Committee to be provided with an update on progress against the Action Plan.