Castlereagh

The Council had arrangements in place to ensure that its premises database was kept up-to-date and the information held on the database was found to be accurate and complete.

The computerised database system used by the Council was capable of providing all of the information required by the Agency monitoring returns. However, some inaccuracies were identified in the official returns submitted. The coding structure for enforcement activities did not differentiate between planned and unplanned inspections and this was a contributory factor to inaccuracies in the returns in respect of planned inspections achieved.

Officers responsible for managing the database, and compiling monitoring returns, had taken steps to verify the accuracy of the information held on the database and to validate the data submitted to the Agency. In general these checks appeared to be effective in ensuring that monitoring data submitted by the Council was representative of its food law enforcement activities.

There was evidence that premises were not being risk assessed in full accordance with the risk rating schemes for food hygiene and food standards in the relevant Codes of Practice.

Arrangements were in place to ensure that the database was backed up regularly and protected from loss of information. Access to the database was password protected to prevent corruption of the data and all data entry was restricted to trained administrative officers.