Newport City Council

The authority had developed a strategic assessment which included the trading standards service plan 2010/2011 which was generally in line with the service planning guidance in the Framework Agreement. This was a higher level document and was supported by planned tactical assessments based on the National Intelligence Model. The plan contained general references to imported feed arrangements and other general feed enforcement priorities. The benefits of including a realistic comparison of the resources required to deliver the imported feed law enforcement service against resources available to the authority were discussed.

The authority had identified imported feed control at the port as an area for service improvement and had begun to develop systems and arrangements for the monitoring and control of imported feed. A specific procedure on imported animal feed control arrangements, including systematic monitoring of feed at the port, was being developed.

The system for control of documented procedures required review to ensure that documents were adequately controlled and to ensure they were kept up-to-date with current legislation and centrally issued guidance and were easily accessible to all relevant staff.

Auditors discussed the need to develop and implement documented procedures to cover the examination and sampling of imported feed in accordance with the Feed Law Enforcement Code of Practice and centrally issued guidance, together with the full range of enforcement procedures.

The authority needed to develop and implement a documented procedure for the authorisation of officers for feed enforcement which should set out the means by which officers were authorised based on their qualifications, training, experience and competency. Existing authorisations needed to be reviewed and considered by the Council’s legal department to ensure that officers were appropriately authorised for the duties they were expected to carry out.

to the arrangements for out of hours and leave cover, and to ensure that officers nominated to carry out feed enforcement receive an appropriate level of training based on continuing professional development in accordance with official guidance and the Feed Law Enforcement Code of Practice were discussed.

The authority had an electronic database for the recording of feed law enforcement activities which was capable of providing information necessary for official returns. The authority had recognised that the feed premises register was not up to date and that a significant number of premises required registration which was currently being addressed. A procedure for updating and maintaining the accuracy of the database needed to be developed.

Audit checks confirmed that records of interventions/inspections did not include sufficient detail of any assessments or sufficient information about the premises. The authority needed to expand the trader assessment and inspection procedure or develop a procedure for inspection of feed premises including associated record keeping. Record checks on inspections and sampling confirmed that there were limited records of official controls in relation to imported feed. The lack of detailed records of checks meant auditors could not confirm the level of imported feed monitoring, inspection and sampling undertaken by the authority at the port and inland.

An effective imported feed sampling policy and programme should be developed to ensure that appropriate official controls were carried out on third country imported feed. File checks indicated that only a few informal samples had been taken and that there had been a considerable delay in receiving results from the analyst. The benefits of considering formal sampling and setting up a service level agreement with the public/agricultural analyst had been discussed.

The authority had an enforcement policy which was to be reviewed to ensure that it was up to date with current legislation and centrally issued guidance.

Feed alerts and notifications through the Rapid Alerts System for Food and Feed (RASSF) were received by the service, however, the authority needed to develop a documented procedure for the handling of feed safety incidents and RASSF alerts.

Auditors discussed the benefit of improving liaison arrangements with the port operator, importers, other local authorities and port health authorities and other bodies to improve the accuracy and quality of information on third country imported feed arriving at Newport and to assist consistent enforcement.

Whilst there was monitoring of service requests auditors found no evidence of the monitoring of imported feed activities and there was no procedure for qualitative or quantitative monitoring in relation to imported feed control.