Darlington Borough Council

The Authority had recently developed and had begun to implement a documented procedure on internal monitoring of food law enforcement. Monitoring was also referred to in other documented procedures. These needed to be further developed to reflect all the monitoring which was being carried out in practice. They also needed to be expanded and fully implemented across all areas of food and feeding stuffs law enforcement activities.

Some fundamental problems were identified that unless resolved would continue to limit the Authority�s ability to carry out effective internal monitoring in the future. These concerned inadequacies in relation to record keeping, problems associated with the computerised database that had led to inaccuracies in the monitoring returns and communication issues. It was also clear that not all of the problems identified, had been picked up by the Authority�s internal monitoring.

In some areas of formal activity where detailed records were kept such as prosecutions and formal cautions, it was clear that officers had carried out thorough and appropriate investigations. However there were often no records of monitoring by management of the investigations and the decisions to take formal action.

The Authority were planning to take part in an inter authority audit scheme within their food liaison group and the group had recently appointed consultants to undertake the audits. The authority also participated in benchmarking with other local authorities in relation to the food service.