Dacorum Borough Council

The Authority had effective arrangements in place to ensure that its food premises database was complete and up to date.

The system was capable of providing all of the information required by the Agency monitoring returns, however, several inaccuracies were identified in the official returns submitted. These related to the numbers of inspections carried out, some double counting of other visits and coding errors.

All officers had access to the database and were able to add and amend data. Although relevant training had been provided, it was evident that there were inaccuracies in the information being entered onto the database. The Service used some unnecessary and non-specific codes to tag data entries, and this coding system appeared to be a contributory factor in some of the errors identified in the Authority's returns.

The Service's policy on determining which premises could be excluded from the inspection programme permitted individual officers to make these decisions. However, no guidance had been provided in this area and consequently there were some inconsistencies and anomalies in the Authority's list of businesses excluded from routine inspections.

The Service was carrying out a range of validation checks when compiling its monitoring returns, but these had not fully identified the cause of the inaccuracies relating to inspection reporting or some of the other problems raised during this audit. Most of these issues should be relatively simple for the Authority to identify and correct through more effective checks and by cross-referencing data reports with the actual numbers of actions and activities carried out.