Meeting documents

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officer:  Lindsey Vallis (01296) 585152

Under European food law the Food Standards Agency (FSA) was deemed to be the competent authority.  To ensure these powers were exercised consistently across the country by local authorities the FSA had developed a framework agreement, part of which included the production by each local authority of a food service plan.

Service plans were seen as an important part of the process to ensure that national priorities and standards were addressed and delivered locally.  The details to be contained in the plan were specified by the FSA.  Plans had to contain the following information:-

·                    Service Aims and Objectives.

·                    Background.

·                    Service Delivery.

·                    Resources.

·                    Quality Assessment.

·                    Review.

The Committee received a report on the plan which had the Aylesbury Vale Food Service Plan for 2016-17 attached as an appendix.  The key features of the Plan were:-

·                    that there were 1724 registered food businesses in Aylesbury Vale.

·                    Premises were given a risk rating, A to E. Resources were targeted to ensure higher risk premises (A, B, Non-compliant C and Unrated) were inspected in accordance with the FSA Code of Practice.

·                    that the number of premises that were deemed to be "broadly compliant" with the law is 97%.

·                    in 2015/16 in total AVDC had achieved 95% of programmed interventions, and completed 100% of premises inspections rated A – non compliant C.

·                    that the plan identified areas of improvement or exploration to improve efficiency and to ensure the Council offered the best service to customers. These included:

-       Implementation of online forms.

-       Use of partial inspections or audits of premises.

-       Extending  the scope of the Alternative Enforcement Strategy.

-       Assisting with the implementation of the new premises database

-       Updating staff development in line with Food Law Code of Practice changes

The plan was a development of the 2012/13 plan updated to reflect the current situation and legislative changes.  The 2012/13 Food Service Plan had been subject to a full audit by the FSA in October 2012.  The FSA had revisited in 2015/16 and had been satisfied that the audit action plan had been fully implemented and the audit had been closed.

Members sought further information and were advised:-

(i)            that due to staffing issues (primarily new staff that were training to get full food service accreditation) it had been necessary to buy in contractor inspections to assist with meeting intervention targets, as necessary.  This had amounted to £12,000 in 2015/16 and was likely to be a similar amount in 2016/17.  However, overall, this arrangement was delivering savings to the Council.

(ii)           that AVDC had liaison arrangements with various outside bodies and with neighbouring local authorities, and met regularly to discuss current enforcement issues and ensure consistency in approach and joint working across the County.

(iii)          that the Food Service Agency as part of their 2015-20 Strategy was still looking at whether to consult on allowing some autonomy in how some establishments such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s, which had their own inspection regimes in place, were inspected.  SEMLEP was also looking at how better regulation for business might be put in place.  However, both organisations were moving slowly.

AVDC could take the lead in developing its own autonomy scheme but if it didn’t comply with the FSA’s Code of Practice then it was possible that it would be challenged.

(iv)         that a large supermarket such as Waitrose would be inspected approximately every 18 months, and would take 3-4 hours to inspect plus Officer travelling time.

(v)          that EHO’s visiting premises could also bring to businesses attention other services that the Council could provide for them such as the commercial recycling and waste services and planning advice.

(vi)         that Officers would investigate what benefits there might be for the Council in obtaining ISO 22000 accreditations (Food Safety Management).

(vii)        that there were a number of other organisations locally that were able to provide food safety training more competitively than the Council.  If AVDC did decide to offer training it would need to employ additional Officers to do this.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the contents of the Food Service Plan for 2016-17 be approved.

(2)          That the Scrutiny Committee was supportive of the Council looking to pilot an initiative(s) on an AVDC food service inspection autonomy scheme, which could both provide opportunities for AVDC and be a more efficient use of Council resources.