Consultation
Consultation on proposed amendments to the Food Law Code of Practice and Practice Guidance - Wales
Wales specific
A consultation seeking stakeholders’ views on proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice and the Practice Guidance in Wales.
This consultation will be of most interest to:
- Competent Authorities - Local Authorities and Port Health Authorities
- Food businesses and industry trade bodies
- Awarding bodies for environmental health and trading standards professionals
- Trade unions and expert groups
Consultation subject
In Wales, local authorities and port health authorities are Competent Authorities (CAs) responsible for verification and enforcement of compliance with food law in the majority of food businesses. They have a legal obligation to have regard to the provisions in the Food Law Code of Practice in the delivery of official controls.
The Code requires regular review and revision to ensure that it reflects current priorities, policy and legislative requirements so that CAs delivery of food control activities remains effective, consistent and proportionate. This consultation provides stakeholders with an opportunity to comment on proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice and Practice Guidance in Wales, which are outlined below.
Purpose of this consultation
This consultation seeks stakeholders’ views on proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice and Practice Guidance in Wales.
Key proposals include:
- an updated risk-based approach to the prioritisation and timescales for undertaking initial food hygiene official controls of new food establishments, and undertaking due official controls
- introducing the flexibility to undertake official food hygiene controls remotely in specific circumstances
- extending the activities that officers, who do not hold a ‘suitable qualification’ for food hygiene or food standards, can, if competent, undertake
- a clarification in approach to interventions at food business establishments that fall into risk category E for food hygiene
- removal of the specific number of hours required for continuing professional development
- the introduction of a new food standards intervention rating scheme that local authority officers will used to evaluate the risk posed by a food business
- the introduction of a new decision matrix to determine the frequency at which food standards official controls should be delivered in line with the outcome of the risk assessment
- other amendments which do not amend policy, to provide clarity and improve consistency and keep pace with current practices
The proposed amendments are subject to separate consultations in England and Northern Ireland.
Consultation pack
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How to respond
Please use the consultation response form to provide your comments. You may use either the interactive PDF or Word document version of the form. The consultation response form should then be emailed to CodeReviewResponses@food.gov.uk.
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Publication of response summary
Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.
You can find information on how we handle data provided in response to consultations in our Consultations privacy notice.
Further information
This consultation has been prepared in accordance with HM Government Consultation Principles. If an Impact Assessment has been produced, this is included in the consultation documents. If no Impact Assessment has been provided, the reason will be given in the consultation document.