Agenda item

To present the report of the Chief Public Protection Officer on the follow up to the Food Standards Agency audit of the Food and Feed Law Enforcement Service on the Isle of Anglesey.

The report of the Chief Public Protection Officer regarding the Food Standards Agency’s revisit to Anglesey on the 15th and 16th September, 2016, to follow up on the progress made subsequent to the Agency’s original audit of the Authority’s Food and Feed Service in July, 2014 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Chief Public Protection Officer said that he had reported previously to the Audit and Governance Committee in September 2015 on the Action Plan and progress that followed the Food Standards Agency’s original audit that took place in July, 2014. A number of findings were reported upon following the audit which gave rise to 40 recommendations by the Food Standards Agency’s Audit team. The main findings of the original audit are summarised in section 2.1 of the report .The recommendations were responded to by way of an Action Plan detailing how each recommendation would be addressed. The FSA Audit team revisited the Authority in September, 2016 in order to formally assess progress against the full report; this involved an on-site visit and subsequent report which took the form of an updated Action Plan. The follow up report shows that good progress has been made on the majority of the actions agreed with 22 being completed and 10 deemed to have made good progress. Only 4 have been designated as being of limited progress and there were none showing as no action; 4 items were untested as no activity in that area of work had taken place. The 4 items which require the most attention are listed in paragraph 3.3 of the report and include the further development of the Service Delivery Plan. The Service anticipates being able to meet all the actions by April, 2017. The lack of staffing resources to meet the target numbers of Food Hygiene and Food Standards inspections remains a concern against the decreasing Public Protection service budget. The staffing shortfall and the implications with regard to addressing a backlog of inspections are referred to in paragraphs 2.3 to 2.6 of the report. The enforcement of Feed Controls is now being delivered collaboratively across North Wales and meets the recommendations identified by the FSA report. The FSA does not plan to return to the Authority to specifically check on the remaining actions, they will be picked up in the course of any visits they may make to the Authority in future.

The Committee considered the report and made the following points –

•           The Committee acknowledged the progress that had been had been made in addressing the majority of the Food Standards Agency’s recommendations and congratulated the Service thereon.

•           The Committee noted the length of time between the original FSA audit and the Agency’s re-visit to check on implementation and verify progress. The Committee suggested that where issues have been identified, the regulatory follow up needs to happen more promptly to ensure there has been appropriate action and compliance.

•           The Committee noted that the adequacy of staff resources remains an issue which could potentially hamper the Service in seeking to fulfil its food hygiene and food standards inspection responsibilities effectively (feed hygiene inspections now being delivered collaboratively). The Committee sought assurance that the Service is confident that it has the necessary resources to be able to manage its inspections workload and to prevent the inspections backlog from escalating. The Chief Public Protection Officer said that the service has had difficulty in covering staff absences over a period of 2 to 3 years which coupled with an increase in demand in food inspections as a result of the food hygiene rating system have proved challenging. This has created a backlog of inspections which needs to be cleared.  There is funding within the service budget set aside to do this but recruiting temporary cover has been difficult in practice. However, the backlog of inspections is also being addressed internally. A transformation and restructure of the teams within the Public Protection directorate took place in April, 2016 to address challenges facing the service and this has led to  more flexible staff arrangements whereby staff are able to move  around according to where the demand is greatest. The changes that took place are still bedding in as regards developing the skills and competencies to undertake more than one role.

•           The Committee noted that in a context where the restaurant and eating out sector is a growth industry the effective monitoring and enforcement of food standards is critical as an area where there are risks, and where the repercussions of a food incident can be serious. The Chief Public Protection Officer said that the inspection of new businesses (of which there were 113 this year requiring inspection) is a priority for the service; these businesses are not risk rated until they have been inspected. While growth in the food business is a positive that is to be welcomed, it does create a demand on the service.  Anglesey does have a good food standards/hygiene profile as regards the number of premises with a food hygiene rating of 4 or 5.  Premises are risk rated and those judged to be of a higher risk are inspected every 6, 12 or 18 months while those rated a lower risk are inspected every 2 years.

•           The Committee sought clarification of how much money the Service is able to raise from charging for the inspections it carries out and whether more could be done to increase revenue. The Chief Public Protection Officer said that while there is no charge for a first inspection the service does levy a charge for a revisit where there are remedial issues to be followed up as this would happen out of sequence. The Food Standards Agency has issued a working paper wherein it is proposed that a lot more of the work done by local authorities in this area is cost recoverable.

•           The Committee suggested that the Service Delivery Plan needs to be risk focussed so that resources are targeted to areas where they are required i.e.  priority areas identified as being of higher risk. The Committee noted that this principle applies equally to other services.

•           The Committee noted comments made via e-mail by the Vice-Chair who was not present for this item which it was agreed would be referred on to the Chief Public Protection Officer.

It was resolved to accept the report as providing assurance that good progress has been made on implementing the post audit recommendations of the Food Standards Agency and that there is a timescale for completing the actions remaining.

NO FURTHER ACTION ENSUING