Decision details

Richard Lee, Regulatory Services Manager introduced the report and asked the Cabinet Member to note that the quality of the shellfish in Fareham Lake had been recently downgraded and therefore would have to go through a cleansing process before it can be sold.

The Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) had been updated and a new one published.  His team administers a service in line with the code and supports all elements of the community.

In response to questions he clarified the following points:

It had not been possible to complete all of the due inspections by the year end primarily because of resourcing and staffing levels.  The generic enforcement team of 2 full time equivalent staff has many responsibilities and cannot react immediately to all the demands of the service.  The 17% churn rate of businesses means that premises inspections may be required twice a year.  Temporary staff were recruited four or five months ago to deal with the backlog.  The overdue inspections had been for premises that were lower risk. 

The EIA had been amended following advice to show that no group would be specifically positively impacted as a result of the policy. 

Councillor Ashmore thanked Richard Lee and his team for their work and noted that the level of overdue inspections was at its lowest level than had it been for five years.  He commented that people can be reassured that Langstone Harbour is being monitored.

DECISION

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Community Safety:

a) Acknowledged the increasing food related demands placed on available resources as set out in Section 8 and 15, and the impact of forthcoming changes to governmental regulatory requirements as set out within Section 9;

b) Approved the continuation of a risk-based approach to the statutory and regulatory inspection and enforcement of food business operators as set out in Section 11;

c) Approved the 2018 / 2019 Food Safety Operating Plan attached as Appendix 1.