Agenda item

Report of Strategic Director, Communities and Environment.

The OSC received a report outlining the work carried out by Development, Transport and Public Protections, Environmental Health team during the last year.

During 2017/18 the Environmental Health Team within Development, Transport and Public Protection have responded to over 800 accidents, food poisoning and service requests and undertook over 1500 interventions in a wide range of premises to build stronger, healthier, prosperous and sustainable businesses.

The number of food premises on the team’s database at the start of 2017/18 was 1600 and health and safety premises was 3000.

Under food safety legislation it is a requirement to visit all new food businesses within 28 days of opening. Within 2017 there was 120 new businesses register with the team. New businesses receive an enhanced questionnaire, so that the team can prioritise inspections so that the highest risk businesses are inspected quicker than lower risk premises.

At the start of 2017/18 it was estimated that there was a deficit in officer days and this was compounded by the fact that the Technical Officer post was vacant for much of the year because of ill health.

In 2017/18 the team was required to undertake 1101 food hygiene interventions, 1018 food standards interventions and 1433 health and safety interventions. The team achieved 100% of interventions to high and medium risk food hygiene premises. The low risk premises that didn’t receive an intervention will be prioritised for an intervention during the coming financial year. The team also carried out 43 accident investigations and responded to 218 service requests.

The team has introduced complaint selection criteria which highlights complaints of public health significance. All complaints are recorded against the relevant premises and where multiple complaints are received close together a visit will be undertaken, even if the complaint does not fall within those we would normally investigate. During the year 2 prosecutions were undertaken and 3 simple cautions issued. We were also involved in a major investigation into the sale of DNP. DNP is a chemical which typically has industrial applications including fertiliser. It is used by some bodybuilders to strip remaining body fat prior to completion. DNP causes the cells within the body to heat up and there have been a number of deaths associated with its use due to multiple organ failure. The investigation involved co-ordinating 3 local authorities’ actions and liaising with the National Food Crime Unit, The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and local Police forces. The investigation also involved agencies in the USA. The investigation was equivalent to a major prosecution in terms of resources.

The team have recently introduced a charge for Food Hygiene Rating Score

re-ratings and although there have only been 5 requests, these do take a significant amount of time as it equates to a new inspection. These have subsequently generated £800 in income.

The team have generated approximately £6500 from registering skin piercing activities throughout the year. 6 export certificates have been provided at a cost of £75 each, for a total of £450.

The team have been granted permission to recruit a new full time EHO and it is expected that the new officer will commence work in May 2018.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have carried out a desk top audit of the food safety service during the year following the annual return for last year. This involved forwarding our service plan and an action plan to reduce the backlog of inspections and achieve 100% of inspections due. The action plan included an appointment of a new Technical Officer, the use of a contractor to inspect our C category food hygiene inspections, and the proposed recruitment of a new EHO to the team.

The OCS were advised that in 2017/2018 the team has continued to undertake a wide range of interventions, both proactive and reactive, however, while 100% of high and medium risk interventions were achieved, only 25% of the total number of interventions were achieved. The appointment of a Technical Officer and an EHO is anticipated to improve this performance in the coming year. The decline in level of the Food Hygiene Rating Score in previous years has stabilised, showing that food premises are generally maintaining standards.