Agenda item

The Head of Regulatory Services presented the Activity and Performance Data for Quarter 1, 2022/2023 and in doing so highlighted the following key points: -

ACTIVITY DATA

The first quarter of 2022/23 saw WRS begin the year with no Covid-19 controls for the first time in two years.

The number of food safety cases recorded during quarter one was a reduction of 4% compared to 2021-22, but an increase of 55% compared to 2020-21. This demonstrated our return to normal activity post-pandemic. Generally, a higher proportion of food safety cases were enquiries such as requests for business advice or export health certificates, but some were complaints about a business. Based on the 144 complaints recorded, 84% related to issues with products purchased from food businesses, whilst 16% related to poor hygiene standards and practices.

A good number of visits were undertaken as WRS worked towards the end of the Food Standards Agency’s roadmap in March next year. Of the interventions conducted at businesses included in the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS), 7 were rated as non-compliant (0, 1 or 2) with most of these ratings issued to hospitality businesses.

The number of health and safety cases recorded during quarter one was consistent with 2021-22, but an increase of 42% compared to 2020-21. Again, this reflected the post-pandemic return to normality. Approximately 34% of cases were reports of accidents, with 50% relating to injuries where a worker had been incapacitated for more than seven days and 28% related to injuries to members of the public. The remaining cases were accidents, where major injuries were sustained, dangerous occurrences, and two fatalities. Slips, trips, and falls continued to be the prominent cause of accidents.

The number of stray or lost dogs recorded during quarter one, saw an increase of 18% compared to 2021-22, but an increase of 22% compared to 2020-21. Approximately 72% of cases related to 'contained' stray dogs, which meant that a dog had been found and held, usually by a member of the public. Overall, 68% of contained strays were reunited with their owners.  However, figures varied significantly between partner authorities and, of course the others then must be re-homed by the charities that WRS worked with.

Licensing saw a return to normality, and the number of licensing cases recorded during quarter one saw an increase of 17% compared to 2021-22. There were significantly fewer licensing applications recorded two years ago due to Covid-19 restrictions and the closure of many hospitality premises, so we continued to see normality being restored. Approximately two-thirds of cases recorded during quarter one were applications and registrations; with 33% of those relating to temporary events, as hospitality venues began gearing up for the summer period. A further 25% related to private hire or hackney carriage vehicle licences, and 13% related to driver licences.

The number of planning enquiries completed during quarter one saw a reduction of 42% compared to 2021-22, but a reduction of only 4% compared to 2020-21. Approximately 90% of enquiries were consultations, whilst 50% related to contaminated land. Around a fifth of planning enquiries were completed, on a contractual basis, on behalf of other local authorities. Information requests, which often linked into the planning process were also down.  However, things were picking up in quarter two.

The number of pollution cases recorded during quarter one saw a reduction of 8% compared to 2021-22, but a reduction of 22% compared to 2020-21. It should be noted that the increased number of cases two years ago coincided with COVID-19 restrictions and a greater number of residents being at home because of lockdown provisions. The totals were in line with seasonal variations. Approximately 75% of cases related to noise nuisances, with noise from domestic properties (such as from dog barking or noise from audio-visual equipment) the most prominent sources. A further 11% of cases related to smoke nuisances and issues such as the burning of domestic or commercial waste. This was very similar to the picture before the pandemic, so again hopefully a picture of returning to normality.

Performance

As always, reporting against the suite of indicators was more limited for the first quarter. The non-business customer measure at 55.6%, was down on the 61.6% figure at year-end last year and the 71% figure in quarter one last year. Although first response time scored, the time taken to deal with the issue, the overall outcome and whether people felt better equipped going forward, did not score well. The number of returns was low, but managers had been asked to investigate these figures. Satisfaction for business customers remained good at 98.7%.

Managers had been asked to look very closely at the non-business customer measure, as this needed to improve. Due to the nature of the work, you could not always please everyone with the outcome, but this did need to improve.

We also report overall numbers of compliant and non-compliant businesses at this point in the year, without the district breakdown. 98.4% of businesses were graded 3 stars to 5 stars on the hygiene rating scheme.

Compliments outnumber complaints by around 3:1 (30:10) similar to previous years.

Staff sickness was at 0.9 days per FTE, which was slightly above last year’s figure for this period of 0.87 but still very similar to the 0.85 days per FTE from the same period in 2019. Another sign that we were back into more normal working.

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

Councillor S. Cronin, Worcester City Council, stated that over the last couple of years smaller food premises had had to shed staff and probably hadn’t picked up again.  His concern was that with fewer staff were some jobs not being carried out on a regular basis.  Were officers having to be more proactive in order to ensure that the majority of premises were managing their businesses appropriately?

The Environmental Health & Trading Standards Manager, WRS, responded and in doing so stated that this was a very astute observation, particularly if there were less cleaning staff.  However, inspections were the same as pre-Covid-19.  Recruiting staff had been difficult for businesses, and officers had noted that cleaning had been a problem; but 98% of businesses inspected still remained compliant.

Officers had carried out a number of ‘swabbing’ exercises during quarter one and had worked with premises to resolve any issues.  Premises were not giving officers any difficulties at the moment.

The Head of Regulatory Services also commented that there had been a fall from high Food Hygiene Rating levels 4 and 5 to level 3.  There had been some problems, but not huge; and these businesses had shown confidence to officers that they could manage, so there was no huge concern from officers.

Councillor L. Whitehouse, Wyre Forest District Council, asked a number of questions with regard to the frequency of food safety inspections and also premises displaying incorrect food hygiene ratings; or giving late paperwork as a reason for receiving a downgrading rating on their social media sites.

The Environmental Health & Trading Standards Manager, WRS, commented that Food Standards Agency (FSA), Food and Feed Codes of Practice, set out the frequency of food hygiene inspections; which could range from 6 monthly checks for high risk premises and 5 yearly checks for low risk premises.  WRS were audited regularly by the FSA to check that the frequency of inspections were being met.

There was no legal requirement for premises to display their food hygiene ratings at their premises or on-line, but the details were available via the FSA website. Technical Officers did check the ratings being displayed at premises and if they had been downgraded that the correct rating was being displayed.  So, officers were being proactive and he had notified the FSA that officers were being proactive in this way.  To his knowledge he was not aware of other authorities being as proactive in also carrying out similar checks.

The Head of Regulatory Services further added that officers did not check social media sites and that any premises being downgraded from 5 to 1 food hygiene rating, would be due to a greater issue than late paperwork.  Displaying a higher food hygiene rating than you had been awarded, was likely to mislead the consumer; and may constitute an offence under legislation enforced by the County Council’s Trading Standards team.  This was a risk for businesses that continued to do this, and he would ask Members to contact WRS officers if they were made aware of any businesses displaying an incorrect rating either at their premises or on social media, so that WRS could address this.

The Head of Regulatory Services reassured Members that the vast majority of businesses had 4/5 star ratings, so there was a high number of businesses that scored above 3.  Generally, businesses were well run.

Officers further responded to questions with regard to the information provided on Noise, as detailed on pages 43 and 44 of the main agenda report.  Officers clarified that page 43 detailed the current year information, 2022/2023.