Bath and North East Somerset Council

The audit confirmed that the Authority had been operating through a period of managerial change, which had a significant impact on the Authority’s ability to update and implement policies and procedures. This situation had only recently been resolved.

Organisation and management – during the period of managerial re-organisation the Authority had continued to focus on delivering the core enforcement activities of inspection, sampling, dealing with complaints, and taking formal action when necessary. However, policies and procedures had not been kept up to date, with the Authority relying mainly on the professionalism and experience of officers to comply with statutory requirements and the Food Law Code of Practice. The Authority advised that once the restructuring was complete, relevant policies and procedures would be revised and developed.

Authorised officers – all officers were fully authorised in accordance with their qualifications and experience and a scheme of delegation was in place. However, there was no documented procedure for the authorisation of officers and records of qualifications for some officers were not available. Training needs were identified and the Authority was able to demonstrate that officers were generally being supplied with the necessary update training required by the Food Law Code of Practice. However, some training records were not available or were incomplete.

Database – it was clear that the service had experienced information technology difficulties in the past which had led to the submission of incomplete statistical monitoring data to the Agency. Work to resolve this had been carried out in conjunction with the software provider.

Food standards inspections – it was evident that the Authority had planned its inspection programme and used its resources to target high risk premises. However, the planned rate of inspections for medium risk premises meant that there was a shortfall over a two year rolling programme and checks confirmed that a significant number of medium risk premises were overdue for inspection. Inspection report forms generally contained insufficient information on what had been covered during inspections and in some cases a copy had not been left with the food business operator.

Food standards complaints – complaints were dealt with in line with the Authority’s Food Enforcement Policy. It was confirmed that complaints had been dealt with appropriately.

Food standards sampling – food sampling formed an integral part of the Authority’s enforcement activities with the sampling programme focussing on locally produced goods. The Authority also took part in Food Standards Agency and regional food sampling projects. Unsatisfactory samples were dealt with in an appropriate manner.

Food standards prosecutions – prosecutions were taken by the Authority in line with their Food Enforcement Policy. It was clear that the Authority took formal action appropriately and without undue delay.

Internal monitoring – quantitative monitoring of the annual inspection programme, as a Key Performance Indicator was carried out on an ongoing basis throughout the year. There was limited evidence of qualitative monitoring and management relied on officer close working relationships to keep a check on performance.

Feeding stuffs – the audit included an assessment of the Authority’s feeding stuffs enforcement, which the Authority recognised was an expanding area of responsibility. Relevant premises had been identified and it appeared that an appropriate level of enforcement activity was being carried out.