Agenda item

The Technical Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) presented the Activity and Performance Data for Quarter1 2024/25. The detail of the report focused on the first quarter of 2024/25, but the actual data allowed comparison with previous quarters and previous years.

The following key points were highlighted: -

Activity Data

The overall number of food related cases received between 1st April 2024 and 30th June 2024 was 20% lower than the same period in 2022/23 but 14% higher than 2023/24. Of the 112 complaints handled during the year to date, 70% were related to issues with food products (such as poor-quality food or food containing a foreign object).

Of the 366 programmed interventions undertaken during the year to date, only 2% had resulted in a business being rated as "non-compliant".

The overall number of Health and Safety cases received between 1st April 2024 and 30th June 2024 was 15% lower than the same period in 2022/23 but 19% higher than in 2023/24. Just over 40% of cases had been reports of accidents (slips, trips and falls) in workplaces.

The overall number of dog-related cases received between 1st April 2024 and 30th June 2024 saw a reduction of 2% compared to 2022/23 but a reduction of 22% compared to 2023/24.

In Licensing, the overall number of cases received between 1st April 2024 and 30th June 2024 was close to the level in 2022/23, but 11% higher than 2023/24.

Pollution cases followed their usual trend with increasing numbers as we moved from Spring into Summer. However, in terms of numbers, cases received between 1st April 2024 and 30th June 2024 were 29% lower than the same period in 2022/23 and 23% lower than in 2023/24. This was almost certainly down to the poor weather during the Spring and early part of the summer this year.

Just under 90% of cases were allegations of potential statutory nuisances, with most relating to noise from domestic properties (such as noise from barking dogs or noise from loud music).

Performance

As always, reporting against the suite of indicators was more limited for the first quarter.

The non-business customer measure at 60% was lower compared with 69.3% at the same time last year and around the same as the 60.4% at year-end for 2023/24.

Satisfaction for business customers remained good at 98.3%, above this figure at the same point last year and above the outrun at the end of quarter 4.  Compliments outnumber complaints significantly, with the figure currently 15 to 5. There was a lot of ongoing work by officers in keeping customers informed of any outcomes.

Staff sickness was at 1.13 days per FTE, slightly above the previous 3-year’s figures for this period (0.76, 0.9, 0.87 respectively) and above the 0.85 days per FTE from the same period in 2019, pre-pandemic.

In response to Councillor D. Harrison, Malvern Hills District Council, the Environmental Health & Trading Standards Manager explained that with regards to food complaints; food containing a foreign object could be, insects, poor food hygiene, metallic objects or chemical contamination.  The Environmental Health & Trading Standards Manager agreed to provide further detailed information to Councillor D. Harrison.

RESOLVED that the Activity and Performance Data Quarter 1 2024/25, be noted and that Members use the contents of the report in their own reporting back to their respective partner authority.