Agenda item

The Licensing and Support Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services briefly presented the Activity and Performance Data for Quarter 3 for 2021/2022; and in doing so highlighted drew Members’ attention to the following key points: -

ACTIVITY DATA

Towards the end of the third quarter of 2021/2022, we saw the introduction of the Government’s Plan B response to the increasing number of Covid cases, driven by the then novel Omicron strain.

Food Hygiene work remained on-going as the team worked towards delivering the requirements of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) roadmap. 

The number of health and safety cases recorded by WRS during quarter three was a reduction of 12% compared to the previous quarter, but it was a marginal increase compared to previous years.

The number of licensing cases recorded by WRS during quarter three saw an increase of 12% compared to the previous quarter, and consistent with the volume recorded during 2019/2020.

The number of planning enquiries completed by WRS during quarter three saw a reduction of 14% compared to the previous quarter, and lower than previous years.

The number of pollution cases recorded by WRS during quarter three saw a reduction of 50% compared to the previous quarter, but consistent with seasonal variations.

COVID RELATED ACTIVITIES

It was noted that this item was covered in detail during Agenda Item No. 6, Minute Number 25/12.

Local Outbreak Response Team

A number of Environmental Health Officers remained embedded within the local outbreak response team. 

Covid Enforcement 

Officers continued to focus on night-time economy.  When the Government’s Plan B controls came into force, officers made checks on the provision of signage by businesses advising of the requirement for customers to wear face coverings and there were good levels of compliance.  Engagement began with sports grounds in relation to the potential impact of Covid pass controls on their supports and advice was provided to these and other outlets.

Events and similar  

Officers continued to provide advice and support in relation to events. The Victorian market in the run up to Christmas in the centre of Worcester saw officers being deployed to look at a range of issues as had been the case for a number of years.

PERFORMANCE

Quarter 3 was another more limited reporting period.  The non-business customer measure at 62.5%, slipped slightly further and remained significantly down on the 74% out-turn from last year.  Having reviewed the data, the falls continued to have occurred against the questions relating to speed of response and speed of resolution.  This was almost certainly linked to the backlog of nuisance work the team dealt with during the summer

Business customer satisfaction remained good at 97.9%.

Overall numbers of compliant and non-compliant food businesses were at 98.3% and 1.7% respectively. This remained good and on a par with previous years.

The ratio of compliments to complaints remained good at 113 to 18.

Staff sickness had increased from 1.55 days per FTE to 2.94 days per FTE cumulative for the year. The figures had virtually doubled but, given Covid case numbers during quarter 3 this was not a huge surprise.

The Head of Regulatory Services responded to questions with regard to the numbers who felt better equipped to deal with future issues being down at 50%.  Members were briefly informed that this had been a measure for a while and that it fitted in with the six council’s desire to enable people to deal with their own issues without the need for officer interventions.  The WRS website was redesigned in order to provide advice for residents to enable and encourage residents to try and resolve issues for themselves, where relevant.  Environmental Health officers would intervene, if necessary, but the idea was to equip residents in the first instance to try and resolve any issues themselves. Many people responded positively to being approached in a friendly way by a neighbour, rather than being approached officially by officers knocking on their doors.

The Chairman expressed his sincere thanks to officers for a very informative report.

RESOLVED that the Activity and Performance Data Quarter 3 for 2021/2022, be noted and that Members use the contents of the report in their own reporting back to their respective partner authority.