Agenda item

The Board considered a report which detailed the Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) Annual Report 2023/2024.

The Head of Regulatory Services drew Members’ attention to the Recommendation, as detailed on page 37 of the main agenda report. Members were informed that under the Shared Services Partnership Service Level Agreement (SLA) the Board was required to receive the annual report at its annual meeting.

The Head of Regulatory Services highlighted that the report covered the performance of the service from 1^st April 2023 to 31^st March 2024. The report covered the performance of the service for this period, both in terms of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the highlights of activity, a short summary activity report was included at Appendix 5 to the report.

Last year saw the restoration of more normal levels of activity post pandemic with 2022/3 and 2023/4 establishing what was regarded by many as the new patterns of behaviour and activity that the service would face for the foreseeable future.

The service continued to utilise some of the staff recruited during the pandemic to support work under contract to discharge the planning enforcement pilot and the Homes 4 Ukraine support for Redditch and Bromsgrove, with support from experienced WRS managers.

Despite these additional commitments, performance had remained good in most areas. Food business compliance rates remained high.

As with previous years, complaints against the service are significantly exceeded by compliments.

Non-business customer satisfaction was very slightly up on last year’s figure (59.2%,) at 60.4%. Whilst numbers of nuisance complaints were slightly lower last summer, other pressures in the Community Environmental Health team meant that resources were still spread very thin. Managers would continue to work to address this. Business satisfaction was down slightly at 94.6% but still good, the situation here would continue to be monitored.

The indicators for licensed premises and noise complaints had been in place long enough now to establish good baselines. With post pandemic lockdowns where hospitality premises were closed for long periods, the general tolerance of noise and similar activities from this type of premise had reduced. This appeared to be slightly less prevalent for 2022/3 in our more urban districts, but this year numbers were significantly higher again and, in some cases at the highest seen. However, it must be remembered that only allegations were measured not actual confirmed breaches and that the figures still showed that the vast majority of premises across the County were well run and controlled by their operators.

In contrast to this, last year’s figures for the rate of noise complaints against population, showed low to low average numbers across the county, likely due to the poor weather during much of the year. While the proportion of noise issues relating to businesses was slightly higher than in previous years, domestic noise still represented more than half of complaints and, as illuded to in Activity Data Reports last year, noise from dogs and from audio devices remained key drivers of this. Overall though it still suggested, however, that the environment for Worcestershire residents was good.

The Annual Report also gave a summary of the financial position, the key achievements and also covered issues relating to human resources. There were also sections on risk management and equalities.

In response to questions from Board Members on certain topics covered in the Annual Report, officers explained as follows: -

Primary Authorities

·       That Muller, one of the largest dairy businesses in the UK, with premises locally and in Shropshire, had recently been added as a Primary Authority; and that a report on the work around this would be presented to a future meeting of the Board. For the benefit of new Members to the Board, the Head of WRS took the opportunity to briefly explain how Primary Authority Partnerships (PAPs) operated and the benefits offered to the business and local authority supporting them. 

Safety at Sports Grounds

·       Why certain venues in Worcestershire, e.g. Worcester County Cricket Club, were not included in contracted work on Safety at Sports Grounds? It was briefly explained that certain venues did not meet the required criteria / legal definition in the legislation particularly for having covered stands. Their capacities and the nature of the buildings or the individual stands meant that they were not subject to the ‘designated stadia’ and ‘regulated stands’ definitions in the legislation.  It was noted that more detailed information on safety at Sports Grounds was included on the agenda, agenda item number 9, (Minute No. 7/24), which provided more detailed information on this area. It was highlighted that Worcester Couty Cricket Club were very proactive in seeking advice from WRS for non-sporting events held there, e.g., music events. The club was also represented on the Safety Advisory Group (SAG).

Dog Wardens

·       It was stated in the Annual Report that it had been a difficult year for the dog wardens, was their health and safety being considered and supported? Managers organised additional access to counselling session to support their well-being, as well as the offer from the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP/Care First). The Out of Hours dog warden service was only available to allow people to report that they had contained a stray.  There was not an Out of Hours telephone service that allowed the public to recover dogs. Residents could report lost / stray dogs via the Council’s (Bromsgrove and Redditch) 24-hour Lifeline service to which all partners subscribed.  Any calls received would be notified to the dog wardens the following day, or the Out of Hours service could check with the Out of Hours Dog Warden to check if a dog had been picked up matching their description, so that the resident could be reassured that their animal was safe.  It had also been a difficult time for kennel staff, who had had to hold on banned XL Bully dogs for seven days, which was very tricky with some of the dogs. But hopefully there was enough support in place for the dog wardens and kennel staff to access.

Animal Licences

·       Reports on unlicensed dog breeders. Post pandemic, the service had received more reports of animals not being looked after as well as they had prior to this. Officers had therefore been carrying out more checks on licensed premises. Hence, the routine licence renewals and interim visits taking longer due to the problems being found by officers and premises being asked to carry out work to remedy the situation. With regards to unlicensed dog breeders, the law around unlicensed breeding was not easy as some might think and there would be circumstances where someone whose dog was producing only one litter a year may not require registration for a licence. The law states that anyone whose dogs produced 3 or more litters per year was deemed to be acting in the course of a business but, for anything less, the onus was on the local authority to prove that the person was acting in this way. To establish this, WRS had to make initial investigative enquiries before it could use statutory powers to, for example enter premises to inspect.  Complaints received by WRS were now subject to a range of checks by the intelligence team, who would try to establish whether there was evidence to meet the business test. This could take time as one advert was likely to be insufficient to achieve this. Once processed, the intelligence team would pass a package of information to the Licensing team who would determine what could be done and inform complainants of what officers were doing and the outcome of any investigation. An operation monitoring adverts on a range of pet selling websites was completed recently working with colleagues from Shropshire Council. It was estimated that the value of advertised dogs over the two counties was more than 7 million pounds, with over 4 million being from Worcestershire based advertisers. Details of sellers potentially acting in a business had been passed to Licensing to determine action and a more detailed report would be provided to a future meeting of the Board.

The Chairman took the opportunity to give sincere thanks to the dog wardens and kennel staff. The Chairman had recently carried out an amazing piece of work with one of the dog wardens. The Head of Regulatory Services stated that he would happily feedback the positive comments and sincere thanks.

RESOLVED that the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Annual Report 2023/2024, be noted; and that a copy of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Annual Report 2023/2024 be forwarded to the Chief Executive, Managing Director and Members of the six partner authorities.