Bracknell Forest Borough Council

The Authority used a computerised database system for recording all food law enforcement activity and for compiling monitoring returns to the Agency.

The audit confirmed that the Authority had experienced problems in the provision of an accurate risk profile for food standards and the majority of problems relating to the accuracy of returns related to food standards inspection activities. There was a wide variation in the food standards risk profile in the database records and statistical monitoring returns examined during the audit. The Authority had already recognised the problem and had taken some measures to improve the accuracy of the risk ratings, however there were still a number of inconsistencies highlighted during the audit that required further attention.

It appeared that the database system should have been capable of providing all of the information required by the monitoring returns. However, it was evident that there was some inaccurate inputting of data onto the system. There were also some deficiencies in the coding system used and it could not be confirmed that the system was correctly configured to provide all the information required for the returns.

Procedures were in place to check and verify information before submission to the Food Standards Agency, but these did not appear to have fully identified the cause of the inaccuracies relating to the reporting of numbers of inspections, other visits and formal enforcement actions. Most of these issues should be relatively easy to resolve through more effective checks and routine cross-referencing of data reports with the actual numbers of actions and activities carried out.