Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

The authority had a member approved food safety service plan for 2008/2009, which was broadly in line with the Service Planning Guidance in the Framework Agreement on Food Law Enforcement. However future plans would benefit from the addition of an annual review of performance against planned arrangements and objectives, and information regarding any perceived areas of improvement.

The service had no formal system in place to ensure that documents and procedures were kept up to date. However, the policies and procedures that had been developed by the Service were found to contain references to current legislation and centrally issued guidance. Detailed procedures should be further developed to include the full range of enforcement options open to officers.

The authority had an officer authorisation procedure, including provisions for any emergency situations. Officer authorisations should however, be reviewed to ensure that officers are authorised under all relevant current legislation. The Service held detailed qualification and training records, including continuing professional development records, for all members of staff, and training needs were regularly assessed and recorded.

The service had a fully implemented database management procedure, and had been proactive in developing methods to ensure the accuracy of its database. The new food premises database generally contained accurate premises data, and the service was able to provide detailed reports on food businesses in the district and records of recent food safety activities.

It was clear that officers were generally assessing business compliance with the requirements of food hygiene legislation and centrally issued guidance, and providing businesses with advice and support to ensure that they achieved compliance. There was evidence that the service had historically failed to consistently inspect premises at the correct frequency. However recent evidence showed that this issue was now being addressed. Database checks revealed a number of inconsistencies and anomalies in the way officers were risk scoring premises following inspections. These discrepancies could affect overall premises risk scores, inspection frequencies and ultimately service planning.

An internal monitoring procedure had been developed, to ensure the quality of activities undertaken by the service. Whilst evidence of internal monitoring was observed, the procedure should be developed further, to include checks on the risk rating of premises, all follow-up actions taken by officers, officer authorisation and sampling. The procedure would also benefit from the inclusion of more quantitative monitoring checks, to ensure that premises are consistently inspected at the correct frequency.