East Staffordshire Borough Council

The service had experienced an unsettled time due to levels of staff vacancies in 2007/2008. Management and staff had however maintained service delivery during the period of staff shortage and had significantly reduced the backlog of outstanding inspections including approved establishment inspections.

The authority had developed and implemented documented policies and procedures covering all the areas of their food law responsibilities including approved establishments. The audit highlighted the need for periodic and annual review of the procedures in accordance with the authority’s policy. The training policy also required updating to ensure references to the Food Law Code of Practice related to the current version of the code.

The authority had a documented procedure for the authorisation of officers based on officer qualification, experience and competency. The schedule of authorisation covered the full range of legislation under which officers were authorised.

The authority had developed and implemented internal monitoring procedures for programmed inspections, which included monthly reviews and the use of documented checklists. The internal monitoring arrangements needed to be extended to cover approved establishments inspections, records, and risk rating of establishments after inspection.

The authority had implemented a sampling programme and had carried out investigations following unsatisfactory sample results. Future sampling programmes should include targeted sampling from approved establishments.

Approved establishment files were generally well organised and maintained. However, some files did not contain the records and documents recommended in the Food Law Practice Guidance. File records therefore needed to be reviewed to ensure the contents are comprehensive and that information is easily retrievable from them.

The authority was in the process of developing an approved establishment inspection aide-memoire, based on the Lacors template. The aim was to ensure that inspection findings were consistently recorded in adequate detail, particularly in relation to assessment of compliance with HACCP requirements.