Agenda item

Members were provided with a report that detailed the Food Safety: Development of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) new food officer resource.

The Principal Environmental Health Officer (Food Safety Lead), WRS informed Board Members that the report was quite detailed and that she was happy to summarise the report and take any questions.

In summary –

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) was trying to achieve consistency across the Country.

All local food authorities, as defined in legislative provisions, must report their activities twice a year to the FSA. Reports covered inspections done, new premises registered, complaints handling and sampling activity plus details of the number of food officers available.

FSA Intervention

The resource reductions of recent years had led to most local authorities finding it difficult to operate in full compliance with the Food Law Code of Practice (FLCoP0), including WRS. As many Board Members would be aware, the Covid pandemic had led to the cessation of routine food safety work on order of the Agency, which when lifted left a significant backlog of work that many local authorities were struggling to catch up with.

Where the FSA had concerns regarding the performance of local authorities, it operated an escalation process through its own organisation.  WRS found itself part of this escalation process at the end of 2023.  And were asked by the FSA as to how WRS intended to get back on track with inspecting New Premises (some 800 per year) and D-E rated businesses, i.e. those managing their food safety risks to a very high standard or very low risk businesses such as cakemakers, small retail shops, wet bars. These three categories formed the bulk of the WRS database and estimated in the region of 75 to 80% of premises.

Recruiting Additional Officers

Data provided by the FSA indicated that WRS was towards the bottom of a list of local food authorities in terms of the number of full-time equivalent officers available for food safety work compared to the number of premises in the area. The Agency decided to commence its formal escalation process. Officers worked on what levels of capacity might be needed to build on the existing officer complement. In February 2024 the Board and Partners supported a request for additional funding to increase the establishment of the food competent officers within the Community Environmental Health team.

It was highlighted to the Board, that there was a national shortage of Environmental Health Officers, so WRS had opted to recruit three additional Regulatory Support Officers (RSO) and two Technical Officers (Food). Whilst it was difficult to recruit fully competent staff, three qualified candidates (an EHO, a graduate EHO and an individual with the National Certificate in Food Control) were found.

The two new Technical Officers had the relevant food safety qualifications as required in the FLCoP and after a competency review, were now able to inspect all categories of food premises. Their initial work focussed on reducing the backlog of interventions at D-rated premises.

Competency of Officers

The FSA required the Food Lead-Officer to ensure all that Officers were ‘competent’ to undertake the local food safety programme. Currently there was no specific qualification for the RSO roles. So the WRS Food Lead had developed an internal training programme combined with attendance on external courses offered by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH,) and the UK Heath Security Agency (UKHSA). Having completed their six-month probation satisfactorily all Officers were now undertaking the CIEH Level 3 Food Safety Course to supplement the initial work done with them. No RSO was currently authorised to undertake formal enforcement activity, such as serving Notices, although this might be possible after relevant training as it was the local authority that determined if they were competent to do so.

All Officers were in place by November 2024, and despite their lack of experience, they had all settled into their new roles very quickly and had really started to deliver results.

The Principal Environmental Health Officer (Food Safety Lead), WRS further drew Members’ attention to the statistics of the activities undertaken by the new officers, as detailed on page 128 of the main agenda pack.

In response to questions from the Board, the Principal Environmental Health Officer (Food Safety Lead), WRS, stated that the new Officers were productive very quickly.  Some skills travelled well into new roles, and they all had skills in place, such as phoning and talking with businesses. 

The Director of WRS further highlighted that the Officers were really making a difference and had brought new skills into WRS.  WRS were now seen as ahead of the trend and had been approached by other authorities to talk about this new approach with RSOs.

In response to Members asking if after this process, was there anything different that Officers would do?

The Principal Environmental Health Officer (Food Safety Lead), WRS stated that the posts could only be advertised under the Host Authority (Bromsgrove District Council) recruitment criteria which only covered advertising the roles in the West Midlands area.  So advertising a bit wider might be something to consider in the future. 

RESOLVED that the Food Safety: Development of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) new food officer resource report, be noted.