Waveney District Council

The authority had developed a Food Service Plan for 2009/2010 that was broadly in line with the Service Planning Guidance in the Framework Agreement. The plan had been approved at the appropriate Council Member forum.

The authority had recently discontinued the document control procedure and was in the process of implementing a new document control procedure. There was evidence that a number of policies, procedures and documents had recently been updated in line with the new procedure. However, although the authority had developed a new draft procedure for the review and updating of documented policies and procedures, this had not been fully implemented and a structured system for the regular review of policies and procedures required further development and implementation.

The authority had a system in place to authorise officers in accordance with their individual qualifications, experience and competency. However, the procedure would benefit from further improvement to ensure that the authority was able to link the officer’s authorisation level to the identification of individual training needs. While individual training needs were identified on an annual basis and a basic annual training programme had been developed for 2009/2010, there was not a mechanism in place for drawing together individual and team training needs into a fully documented annual training programme. The authority had records of officer qualifications. However, detailed training records were not routinely maintained.

The forms used to record inspection findings were not being completed in sufficient detail by some officers to confirm that an effective assessment had been made of the compliance of the food business with legislative requirements, or to provide the basis for the allocation of premises risk ratings. In addition, historically some officers’ records of the assessment of Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) were incomplete, and did not demonstrate that an assessment of the food businesses validation and verification of the FSMS had taken place. Recent inspection records showed that officer assessments had become more consistent, detailed and comprehensive.

Specific aide-memoires had not been used to record detailed findings following approved establishment inspections. The authority had gone through a programme of re-approvals under present legislation. However, not all of the approval documentation had been retained and the only evidence that a pre-approval assessment had taken place was a confirmation letter. Also, due to the lack of records, it was not possible to determine whether the approved establishments complied with legislative requirements, whether appropriate inspections had always been carried out, or to establish the basis for officers’ decisions regarding business compliance.

An officer was interviewed during the audit. During the discussion, the officer was able to demonstrate a clear understanding of the key aspects of carrying out a food safety inspection, including the assessment of FSMS based on HACCP.

A 'reality check' visit at a food business was also undertaken during the audit. The main objective was to assess the effectiveness of the authority’s assessment of food business compliance with food law requirements. The visit confirmed that the checks carried out by the officer were generally thorough and covered the majority of food law requirements, including an assessment of the FSMS.

The service had developed an enforcement policy that was generally in line with centrally issued guidance. However, although the policy had been annually reviewed some further updates were necessary to bring it completely in line with current legislation.

There was clear evidence that the authority was taking appropriate and effective enforcement action when required, including the use of hygiene improvement notices, simple caution and prosecution. The authority had developed a full range of enforcement procedures, although in some cases it was not possible from officer notes to determine if officers had followed the authority’s own procedures and centrally issued guidance regarding voluntary closures.

Records confirmed that complaints about food and food premises were investigated effectively with appropriate follow-up action being taken. Complaint records were found to be complete and accurate.

Records relating to unsatisfactory food sample results showed that the authority had notified the food business operators of the results and had taken appropriate follow-up action in all cases.

The authority had developed a procedure for internal monitoring, and there was clear evidence that documented quantitative and qualitative monitoring was being carried out. However, the monitoring needed to be extended to cover the full range of food law enforcement activities.