South Holland

Monday 11 November 2002

22-25 July 2002

The Authority was providing a balanced food safety service, and demonstrated an emphasis on supporting and assisting local food businesses to meet legal standards.

Strong working relationships had been established with a number of major manufacturers in the area. The Authority showed a thorough approach to complaint investigations and to the assessment of premises subject to approval under meat products legislation. It was also clear that the Authority was prepared to take formal enforcement action where it found that an informal approach was not succeeding.

It was evident, however, that there were a number of problems with formal enforcement actions taken by the Authority, and qualitative internal monitoring did not appear to be comprehensive or effective. The Authority’s scheme of delegation was unclear, and was due to be reviewed at the time of the audit.

The Authority’s Strengths:

Advice to Food Businesses and Food Safety Promotions – The Authority had focused its advice and promotional activities on issues relevant to the local area. The Service provided support to local businesses, including structured Home Authority activities with larger manufacturers.

Food Complaint Investigations – The Authority was carrying out thorough investigations of food complaints, with appropriate follow-up action.

Meat Product Approval Assessments – Premises subject to meat product approval received thorough inspections and appropriate supervision. It was clear that the Authority had placed a priority in ensuring effective enforcement in this area.

Key Areas for Improvement:

Authorisation of Officers - The Authority did not appear to have a coherent scheme of delegation and did not have an effective procedure for the authorisation of officers to ensure that they were authorised and acted in accordance with their individual levels of qualifications, training and experience. Failure to ensure that officers are correctly authorised could seriously undermine any enforcement action taken.

Internal Monitoring – The Authority had not developed a systematic approach to qualitative monitoring of service activity, and there was no evidence that the Authority was verifying its conformance with legislation, centrally issued guidance and its own policies and procedures. The development and implementation of effective qualitative monitoring procedures covering all areas of the Standard is key to ensuring an effective food law enforcement service.

Formal Enforcement – There were problems with formal enforcement actions, which had not always been carried out in line with relevant Food Safety Act Codes of Practice and other centrally issued guidance. Failures in this area render the Authority vulnerable to successful legal challenge.