Food Hygiene Service Plan 2024-2025

This service plan is available as a pdf or paper copy – please email una.kane@rother.gov.uk

Aims and Objectives

This Food Service Plan is an expression of Wealden District Council’s continuing commitment to Food Hygiene. The mission statement for this service is to “Deliver an increasingly efficient and effective public health service which strives to promote and sustain a safe, prosperous community for businesses, residents and visitors.” This plan has been prepared in accordance with chapter 2 of the Food Law Code of Practice (2023).

1. The purpose of this plan is to set out how Wealden will deliver Official Controls within its area.
2. This service plan notes paragraph 6 of The Regulators Code (published April 2014), which states that “Regulators should ensure their approach to their regulatory activities is transparent”.
3. The food hygiene service of Wealden is informed by the principles of:
   • Proportionately (in applying the law)
   • Consistency (of approach)
   • Targeting (of enforcement action)
   • Transparency (about how we operate and what those regulated may expect)
4. The food hygiene service contributes to Wealden’s District Council Strategy, specifically supporting the local economy as “we enjoy the advantages of quality of place, knowledge and skills of residents, and strong business sectors such as farming and food production”. The Wealden District Council Strategy – Wealden District Council – Wealden District Council
5. Wealden has adopted an Equality Policy and the Environmental Health Service conducts equality monitoring.
6. The Better Regulation Delivery Office placed food hygiene at Number 5 in their five priority regulatory outcomes for England (November 2011).

Background

Wealden – Profile

Population: 160,151 (ONS UK 2021) Area:              835 Km²  Wealden District is mainly a rural area with five urban centres: Crowborough, Hailsham, Heathfield, Polegate and Uckfield. As a District Council, Wealden is concerned only with food hygiene; the food standards and feeding stuffs function is delivered by East Sussex County Council (Trading Standards). Wealden enjoys some of the most unspoilt countryside in Southeast: the Ashdown Forest, the High Weald, parts of the South Downs, the Seven Sister cliffs, and Pevensey Levels. The District of Wealden contains pockets of rural, coastal, and urban living. The food businesses within the district reflects this mix. Small and micro businesses form a fundamental part of the Wealden economy with almost 90% of businesses in Wealden employing less than nine people.

Wealden District Council Structure

For more information see our Council Service Structure webpage. Decisions on food hygiene matters are delegated to the Cllr K Williams, Public Health, and Asset Management Portfolio Holder. Cllr Williams makes decisions on policy matters regarding food hygiene and communicates these to the Director of Place. The senior management structure of Wealden District Council is shown on the chart below. The Director of Place, Chris Bending, directs the Head of Environmental Health accordingly, Richard Parker- Harding. Council and Committee Meetings – Wealden District Council – Wealden District Council

Wealden District Council Environmental Health Department Structure

This chart shows the structure for the Environmental Health service for Wealden District Council. A total of 21.75 full time officers are engaged in Environmental Health work for Wealden at an annual cost of £1,088,950.

Food Hygiene Stakeholders

The food hygiene service of Wealden District Council is carried out by the members of the Food and Safety team, as part of the shared Environmental Health service and interlinks with UKHSA (United Kingdom Health Security Agency) neighbouring local authorities, Food Standards Agency and other bodies as shown below. The scope of the team, in addition to food hygiene, is to advise on health and safety at work, investigate notifiable infectious diseases, regulate skin piercing, licence holiday caravan sites and residential mobile home sites, licence kennels and catteries, provide pest and dog control service and to risk assess private water supplies. We do not use contractors. The service operates from the Civic Offices, Vicarage Lane, Hailsham from 8.30am – 5.00pm Monday to Friday. Planned out-of-hour work is undertaken and emergency calls are taken on our behalf by Cornwall Council on 01424 787868, who will contact a manager if necessary. Any complaints can be submitted to foodhs@rother.gov.uk, or calls will be taken by customer services on 01323 443322.

Enforcement Policy and Service Standards

Wealden Council adopted an Enforcement Policy for the shared Environmental Health Service in October 2014, Cabinet Minute 14/31 and is available at EHEnforcementPolicy.pdf (wealden.gov.uk) The Environmental Health service standards are at Environmental Health service standards and this service plan 

Food Hygiene in Wealden District

The profile of food businesses operating within Wealden district on 4th April 2024.

Wealden Type of Food Premises	Number of Premises
Caring Premises	150
Distributor	30
Hotel	45
Manufacturer	78
Mobile	65
Producer	3
Pub/Club	123
Restaurant/Cafe	274
Caterer	242
Retailer	84
School/College	78
Small Retailer	136
Supermarket	24
Takeaway	74
Total	1403
Plus Unrated	55

Each year the numbers of food businesses varies as new businesses open and others cease trading. The total number of food businesses in Wealden in April 2024 is slightly down from 1449 in 2023/4 to 1403. One hundred and thirty-three food businesses closed in 2023/4; one hundred and nineteen new food operators opened for business. Unrated food businesses are those that have applied to be registered but are awaiting their first inspection. To have fifty-five unrated food businesses is too high. Against national protocol, ESCC did not keep Wealden informed of the growing numbers of childminders and holiday schemes, reporting all in one notification in spring 2024. Thirty-six of the fifty-five unrated food businesses, are childminders and the remaining nineteen are genuine new food businesses.

Demands on the Food Service

Within the profile of food businesses are twenty that are different because they use specialist techniques, produce a very high volume of food or they export food. Cheesemakers, on farm dairies producing milk, yogurt and cream, smokers of fish and meat, egg laying flocks of chickens with packing plants, making of charcuterie. These businesses must be approved before they can start to trade and require intensive input from the food service to do so. There are other businesses which are seasonal, operating only in holiday periods – typically catering in tourist destinations and some which work only in the time before Christmas (turkey slaughter). Many high street businesses operate only in the evenings (takeaways). The food service inspects when the business is operational and does not usually make appointments. New imported food controls were put in place for Great Britain in April 2024. Wealden District Council will have responsibilities for inspecting imported foods, but the detail of what will be required has yet to be announced. The overwhelming majority of food businesses are cafes, restaurants and shops, public houses, school kitchens, care homes and hospitals. The service does not inspect each of these annually, instead it inspects according to risk and performance to make sure that the highest risk and the lowest performers receive the most attention.

Food Hygiene Intervention Ratings

The Food Standards Agency sets out a numerical scheme which local authorities must use at each food hygiene inspection, and this is used to determine.

1. When the next intervention will be (date)
2. What the next intervention will be (inspection/partial inspection/alternative)
3. Food hygiene rating

This numerical assessment of the business is based on the hazards, risks, and controls. These figures are entered into the database and the date of the next inspection is planned. The same information is used to create the food hygiene rating to inform customers of the general standards within a food business. A business that produces high risk food with good controls is seen once between twelve to eighteen months. This intervention frequency will increase to once in six to twelve months if the business serves a vulnerable group (elderly/infirm/young). Any business with poor controls will require the most attention as decided by the inspecting officer. All food hygiene inspections fall into one of these categories.

Category A and B (92+; 72+)

These are the highest risk food businesses and must be subject to an inspection, partial inspection, or audit at least every six months (A) and every 12 months with (B). It is Wealden’s policy that these businesses are fully inspected.

Category C (52-71)

These medium risk businesses will receive an inspection, at eighteen months, if they are broadly compliant it will be a partial inspection; otherwise, a full inspection will be made.

Category D (31+)

Category D premises are subject to an intervention every 24 months. Where they are rated 30 or 40 for “type of food”, these businesses must be subject to inspection, partial inspection, or audit. Where the premises is rated less than 30 for type of food etc. it can alternate between official controls. We inspect all category D’s, partial inspections for those that are broadly compliant.

Category E (0-30)

The FSA advice on these lowest risk food businesses is that they could have an intervention every 36 months. It is our policy that these lowest risk food businesses are subject to a physical inspection or an alternative enforcement questionnaire every 36 months. It is important to retain observation of these lowest risk businesses to prevent minor issues becoming major over a long intervention interval.

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

The food hygiene rating scheme was adopted by Wealden in April 2011 to provide information to consumers on the hygiene, structure, and management of a food business. At the end of an inspection the business is issued with one of the window stickers below. In England, the display of window stickers is not required by law, despite the fact it is mandatory in both Wales and Northern Ireland. All food hygiene ratings are published at. Search the Wealden area | Food Standards Agency Business with a 3, 4 or 5 are deemed to be broadly compliant with food hygiene legislation and those with ratings of 0, 1 or 2 have failed. In April 2024 – 98% of food businesses in Wealden were broadly compliant with food law.

Food Hygiene Ratings April 2024

FHRS Score	April 2024	April 2023
0	0	0
1	2	9
2	7	4
3	74	86
4	200	198
5	963	980
Broad Compliance	98%	99%

The decline in compliance with food hygiene ratings is mainly because of the cost-of-living crisis. Officers repeatedly found food businesses cutting costs which created hazards e.g., restricting use of electricity and gas, reducing cleaning (reduction in staff costs), terminating contracts for waste collection, pest control.

Food Hygiene Interventions Performance 2023-24

The number of food hygiene inspections due was six hundred and forty, we completed six hundred and twenty-eight, meeting our performance target of of 98%. There was a backlog of 22 inspections from 2022 – 3 created by our Covid work. All of these were completed in 2023 – 4. The overall performance of the food and safety team has slightly decreased since 2022 – 3. Two specific events contributed to this.

Number of completed Food Hygiene Inspections

Year	Completed inspections
2013	96%
2014	97%
2015	99%
2017	98%
2018	98%
2019	97%
2020	62%
2021	77%
2022	99%
2023	98%

In April 2023 the shared Environmental Health service changed database provider. All electronic records for each food business, and every food hygiene rating had to be moved from the old system to the new cloud-based solution, Idox Public Protection. Most records were successfully transferred electronically, but the approved premises records had to be transferred manually. Inspections had to finish on 28th March to allow the programme of work to be developed before the old system was turned off on 31st March. As planned in 2022-3 an alternative enforcement strategy (AES) was adopted for eighty-three of the very low risk businesses. These businesses were contacted electronically and asked to complete an online survey about their hygiene arrangements. The vast majority gave satisfactory answers, those that did not were visited by an officer, if they were trading, they received a full inspection. One hundred and twenty-six food businesses ceased trading in 2022-3. Thorough checks were made to ensure the correct food hygiene rating for every food business was in place, so no errors occurred on publication from the new database. In June, the Food Standards Agency notified the service of their intention to conduct an audit of the service in September. The FSA requested extensive disclosure of procedures and electronic records before their two-day audit in September. The FSA audit included interviews with the portfolio holders, senior managers and they accompanied an officer on a food hygiene inspection. The executive summary is attached at Appendix 1.

Service Delivery 2024-25

Wealden is committed to providing a full food hygiene service. For the year 2024 – 5 the total number of food premises due for inspection is seven hundred and fifty-four plus twelve outstanding from 2023 – 4. These inspections are categorised as follows.

Food Rating Category	Amount
Category A	4
Category B	95
Category C	185
Category D	243
Category E	227
Carry Forward	12
Total	766

The food hygiene interventions are conducted to ensure the food business meets the requirements of food hygiene law. It is our policy that these planned inspections are given priority.

Our Approach

It is our policy to make food hygiene inspections without appointment. The Environmental Health Officer (EHO) will identify themselves to the food business owner (or person in charge) before starting the inspection. The intervention will be conducted in accordance with the Food Law Code 2023 in particular:

• The hazards and risks will be assessed.
• The controls will be verified.
• The businesses validation will be examined.
• The findings will be discussed.
• A report of visit form will be left.
• A follow up letter may be issued.

Environmental Health Officers also deal with licensing and health and safety issues during a food inspection e.g., checking premises licences are displayed in licensed premises.

Poorest Performers

Food businesses scoring 0-2 will receive more attention and support to continue to raise standards. This means that inspectors will make compliance checks (revisit) within three months of the initial inspection. If significant improvements have not been made officers will take enforcement action. Those businesses which show little, or no improvement may be subject to enforcement action.

Enforcement

In 2023 – 24 a total of eighteen enforcement notices were issued for seven food businesses. These notices required deep cleaning, improved record keeping or minor structural works. All were completed the required works in the time allowed. Two of these businesses also received separate enforcement notices to control mice and/or rats, by employing a competent pest controller. The picture show the dramatic improvement in the same dry goods store, above at the time of the officers’ inspection and below, after service of an enforcement notice. Another two food businesses were found to be producing high risk food without adequate controls. They are issued enforcement notices requiring them to cease production immediately, to allow adequate controls to be put in place.

Seasonal Businesses

There are seasonal food businesses within the district who trade only between June and September or in early December. These businesses are inspected according to the Food Standards Agency food hygiene intervention scheme (as 4.1 above). However, those categorised as C are scheduled for an intervention at 18 months which may fall within their closed period. In these cases, it is policy to bring these inspections forward, so they are inspected when they are trading.

Unrated Businesses

A business is unrated when it is registered with the local authority but is awaiting the first inspection. April 2024 there were fifty-five unrated food businesses.

Revisits

Fifty-five revisits were made in 2023 – 4 to businesses for public health purposes and/or where significant statutory requirements were found on the programmed inspection. The number of revisits varies every year, as can be seen below.

Number of Food Hygiene Revisits

Year	Number of Revisits
2014	77
2015	59
2016	84
2017	47
2018	73
2019	43
2020	20
2021	54
2022	56
2023	55

The variance is because the Food Law Code specifies when a revisit should be made, i.e.., when hygiene, structure and/or management are poorly scored. It is Wealden policy that revisits are always made after the expiry of statutory notices and to any businesses rated 0-2 FHRS. EHOs are responsible for ensuring that poorly performing businesses reach at least a three, generally satisfactory within three months. Food Businesses with 3 or 4 who wish to improve their score may apply for a revisit without charge after a three-month period or with charge once the work has been completed.

Service Requests

Complaints about foodstuffs, food businesses or handlers can be made directly to Environmental Health by emailing foodhs@rother.gov.uk or by telephone to 01323 443322. We do not accept anonymous complaints, full contact details will be asked for, which will be kept confidential. The team will observe the shared service complaint investigation policy on initial response to a service request within 5 days and complete the investigation within 90 days. In 2023 – 4 we investigated eighty-one requests for service regarding food and food hygiene in food businesses.

New Businesses

One hundred and nineteen (119) new food businesses opened in the Wealden district in 2023 – 4. Each of these businesses received a visit from the Environmental Health service and was given advice on food hygiene and safety matters. Every new food business is obliged to register with their local authority and this form is available on our website along with full advice on starting up a new food business at Starting a Food Businessl Most food businesses close without notifying the local authority. In 2023 – 4 one hundred and thirty-three food businesses closed. This was usually discovered when an officer arrived to inspect.

Sampling

Wealden Council samples food to ensure it is clean and safe to eat. Food samples are taken and sent to United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in Porton Down for examination. In 2023 – 4 a total of sixty food samples were taken from food businesses trading in Wealden. Some of the samples were part of UKHSA national studies into salads (ready to eat), cleaning cloths (in use) and cooked sliced meats. All of these were satisfactory. Samples of the foods produced by some of the approved premises were taken – five of these samples prompted advise to two business.

Primary Authority

Primary Authority allows businesses to be involved in their own regulation. It enables them to form a statutory partnership with one local authority which then provides advice for other regulators, to take into account when carrying out inspections or addressing non-compliance. Wealden acts as a primary authority for one food business. Wealden complies with the primary authority principle by checking the appropriate website before conducting food hygiene inspections, noting any assured advice or inspection plans and feeding back after the inspection.

EU Exit and Import/Export of Food

Since 1st January 2021 certification of food before export into Europe is required. This means that every consignment of food must be inspected and certified by an Environmental Health Officer or other professional before export. This regime has imposed significant burdens and costs on both businesses and local authorities. EHOs within the shared service regularly issue certificates for the export of fish from Rye into the European Union. Before EU exit, food businesses could export without the need or cost of Export Health certificates. There is one major company in Wealden who exports food outside the European Union every week. Environmental Health Officers must sign health certificates for this exporter weekly. In 2023 – 4 a total of 249 such certificates were issued to accompany the food consignment to its destination. Food businesses pay for this service.

Notifiable Diseases

In 2023 – 4 Wealden received 365 notifications of infectious diseases from UKHSA. Once notified, each case is contacted with advice about their illness to prevent further spread. E. coli 0157, Salmonella and Shigella are the most serious food borne illnesses – we interview these cases and give advice encouraging changes in behaviour to prevent further infections. In very rare cases, we will exclude infected persons from work. There were no local outbreaks nor exclusions in 2022-3.

Disease	2023-24	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21
Campylobacter	287	152	200	191
Covid 19	0	1	98	191
Salmonella	19	20	13	10
Cryptosporidium	11	2	7	0
Hepatitis E	4	1	2	1
E. coli 0157	20	16	13	10
Legionnaires Disease	3	3	0	0
Shigella sonnei	7	3	0	0
Paratyphoid	1	0	0	0
Listeria	5	0	0	0
Giardia	8	3	0	0
Others	0	10	15	14
Total	365	208	348	244

During the year 2023 – 4 there was a steady increase in the numbers of notifiable diseases, particularly with E.coli 0157. It is thought that these cases are part of a national increase, with possible links to different foods. UKHSA continue to report very high levels of all types of food poisonings, the reasons for this remain unclear.

Food Alerts

Food hazard warnings are issued by the Food Standards Agency and are responded to in accordance with the Food Law Code 2023 and with written procedure. There were no food alerts for Wealden District Council action in 2023 – 4.

Advice for Food Businesses

• Wealden Council offers a range of business advice through the website at Business Support . A business newsletter and support leaflet are available in hard copy or electronically to all and includes health and safety advice for business.
• Advice is available for those thinking of starting a new business on the website at Starting up a business Should more detailed guidance be required, Environmental Health Officers will do so on request.
• The Environmental Health service webpages provide food hygiene advice for new start-up businesses at Starting a Food Business

Resources

Budget 2024/25

• Total Cost: £213,750
• Employee Costs: £196,710
• Supplies and Services: £11,850
• Staff: 3.6 FTE

The specific monies allocated to the following areas are as below:

• Sampling Budget: £15664 With UKHSE not Wealden
• Legal Action: £1,000,000 For general council disasters and emergencies – not specific to food hygiene

The number of full-time equivalent staff working on food hygiene, including supervision and management, for 2024 – 5 is 3.6, authorised food officers are named below. Note EHORB indicates Registration with the Environmental health Officers Registration Board.

Environmental Health Officer	Additional Qualification	Level Authorisation/Inspection	Level Authorisation/Enfocement
Edwards, Simon	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Hoyland, Richard	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Kamunda, Maybee	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Kane, Una	EHORB registrationEnv Health Degree MSc (Applied Micro)	A-E	Full
Oginni, Oladayo	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Piper, Richard	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Powell, Jamie	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Simmonds, Rachel	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Whitcombe, Ann	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full
Wright, Philip	EHORB Registration Env Health Degree	A-E	Full

Other Officers, within the Environmental Health Department (but not within the Food and Safety team), who are authorised are as follows:

Name	Role	Authorisation
Parker-Harding, Richard	Head of Environmental Health	Full Authorisation
Randolph, Mark	Senior Environmental Health Officer	Full Authorisation
Beaumont, Catherine	Deputy Head of Environmental Health	Full Authorisation

There are two pest control officers who provide professional advice to Environmental Health Officers and can give expert evidence to courts if required for an emergency closure of a food business.

Database

During 2023 – 4 the existing M3 database was replaced by Idox Cloud. Environmental Health Manger developed written procedures and delivered training sessions to make sure all members of the team understood its use. The adoption of a new database created significant work, but this is repaid by significant improvements in access (cloud based), connections to other web based systems.

Staff Development

The shared Environmental Health service between Wealden and Rother has created resilience, improving collective knowledge and experience. Annual appraisals are conducted to identify training needs which form an annual training programme. For 2024 – 5 training will be updating knowledge of new food techniques e.g. growing of micro greens. Every member of the team also attends external seminars, to progress their professional knowledge and self-development. During 2023 – 4 team meetings were held every six weeks – always in person. Senior managers have attended at least one team meeting during the year. Full notes of meetings are available on the internet library FAST Team Meetings | RIAMS Those officers outside Food and Safety Team were invited to some meetings to learn about new working procedures, specifically on use of the new database Idox. Officers from outside the team do not conduct food hygiene inspections unless they have completed the required training and are up to date with food and safety procedures and policies. Newly qualified officers are subject to competency assessment using the FSA Competency Framework.

Sussex Food Liaison Group Meetings

Wealden is represented on the Sussex Food Liaison Group by the Environmental Health Manager. This liaison work ensures that our enforcement activities are consistent with those of our neighbours. In 2023 – 4 the food and safety team participated in two consistency exercises; these are blind tests designed to ensure that individual officers are consistent with scoring. The team score was generally consistent both locally and nationally. Wealden is represented on the CIEH Sussex Branch of the Food Study Group, and UKHSA meetings on infection control.

Quality Assessment

Each year Wealden Council’s performance against this plan is measured, using all the specified targets, standards, and any targeted outcomes within this plan. It will specify where there has been variance from the plan and the reason for that variance. Any areas in need of improvement will be specified and an action plan put in place to implement their improvement. There is a small number of food hygiene inspections from 2023 – 4 to complete in 2024 – 5. The service subscribes to RIAMS, Food | RIAMS an on-line Environmental health library service, providing links to national advice and guidance for Environmental Health practitioners. In addition, there is material available on the FSA’s website and their communications hub. There is also a library of law encyclopaedias and reference books in the office.

Agreed and Approved

This service plan has been agreed by Cllr K Williams, portfolio holder, is published on the Wealden District Council website. Decision – Food Safety Plan 2024/25 (Recommendation to Full Council) – Councillors Committees – Wealden District Council Mr R Parker-Harding BSc (Hons) MSc DMS MCIEH CIEnv AMIOA Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner Head of Environmental Health Dated: 22nd July 2024 Councillor Mr K Williams Cabinet Portfolio Holder Public Health and Asset Management Dated: 22nd July 2024

Contacts

E-mail: foodhs@rother.gov.uk Website: Wealden District Council Telephone: 01323 644222 or 01424 787000. Address: Vicarage Lane Hailsham East Sussex BN27 2AX

AUDIT OF LOCAL AUTHORITY FOOD LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICE DELIVERY OF OFFICIAL CONTROLS AND OTHER OFFICIAL ACTIVITIES AT APPROVED ESTABLISHMENTS (ENGLAND)

Rother District Council & Wealden District Council Shared Food Hygiene Service 26th-27th September 2023

Selected extracts – Introduction, Scope, Background and Profile, Executive summary.

The full report is available from foodhs@rother.gov.uk

1.0 Introduction

1.1 This is a report on the outcomes of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSAs) audit of food hygiene service delivery, focusing on local authority (LA) approved establishments, conducted at Rother District Council and Wealden District Council on 26th-27th September 2023. The audit was carried out as part of a programme of audits on LAs in England. 1.2 The power to set standards, monitor and audit LA feed and food law enforcement services was conferred on the FSA by the Food Standards Act 1999 and the Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2009. This audit was undertaken under section 12(4) of the Act as part of the FSAs annual audit programme. 1.3 Regulation (EC) No. 625/2017 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, includes a requirement for competent authorities to carry out internal audits or to have external audits carried out. The purpose of these audits is to verify whether official controls relating to feed and food law are effectively implemented. To fulfil this requirement, the FSA, as the central competent authority for feed and food law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has established external audit arrangements. In developing these, the FSA has taken account of the European Commission guidance on how such audits should be conducted.[1] 1.4 Rother and Wealden District Councils shared Food Hygiene Service was included in this programme of audits as part of a geographical mix of LAs, with a range of different demographic characteristics and duties. 1.5 For assistance, a glossary of technical terms used within the audit report can be found at Annex C.

2.0 Scope of the Audit

2.1 The audit examined the Service’s planning, organisation, delivery, and internal monitoring arrangements regarding approved establishments. Assurance was sought that key Service systems and arrangements were in place and effective, including suitable arrangements for the internal monitoring of official controls delivered by the Service. The Service operates from Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea and Vicarage Lane, Hailsham which is where the on-site element of the audit took place.

4.0 Executive Summary

4.1 This audit of the shared food hygiene service (the ‘Service’) delivered by Rother & Wealden District Councils, sought to gain assurance that key systems and arrangements were effective regarding the approval of establishments, and that local arrangements for the delivery of relevant controls were managed and delivered effectively. Due to the often-complex nature of these types of businesses and their importance to the security and safety of other parts of the national and international food supply chain, these types of business are subject to additional hygiene requirements set out in specific legislation. 4.2 Auditors assessed the planning, delivery and monitoring of official controls and other activities delivered by the Service in relation to approved establishments. 4.3 Rother District Council and Wealden District Council had developed Food Hygiene Service Plans for 2023-24 to demonstrate how each LA planned to use its available resources to deliver official controls and other activities under its remit, including the delivery of controls at LA approved establishments. The Plans had been agreed and signed by the Head of Service and by the relevant cabinet portfolio holder and were generally in accordance with the statutory Food Law Code of Practice (FLCoP) and current guidance. 4.4 Whilst some elements of the Plans were reviewed and reported to the Partnership Board, a more comprehensive review of the previous year’s performance against plans would be beneficial to ensure cabinet members and the senior management team are aware of any issues relating to service delivery. 4.5 The Service had developed comprehensive documented policies and procedures covering activities delivered. These set out the Service’s approach and strategy and provided officers with guidance and instructions on how to deliver appropriate and effective official controls. 4.6 The Service had a system for authorising officers and officer authorisations were signed in accordance with the scheme of delegation. Officer authorisations did not include all relevant food hygiene legislation providing enforcement powers. Officer authorisations should be reviewed to include all relevant regulations commensurate with levels of officer competency and any appropriate restrictions. 4.7 There were 29 approved establishments within the remit of the shared Service. These included a range of approved establishments including dairies and cheesemakers, cold stores, egg packers and meat and fish product approved establishments all subject to additional legislative requirements. 4.8 Officers were generally able to demonstrate that businesses were being approved and assessed in line with requirements. Approval records were being maintained for each establishment and inspection reports that had been issued which were generally in accordance with legal requirements, although some gaps and inconsistencies in approach were noted occasionally. 4.9 There was evidence of comprehensive quantitative internal monitoring activities being undertaken, such as those relating to monitoring numbers of interventions. The Service would benefit from further qualitative monitoring to ensure the consistency and quality of the work being carried out by officers. Recommendations 4.10 Officers performing duties under The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 and The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2009, need to be separately authorised in writing to deal with matters arising under these regulations. Authorisations should clearly indicate any restrictions placed upon an officer’s authorisation, where appropriate. The level of authorisation and duties of officers should be consistent with their qualifications, training and experience, in accordance with the FLCoP. The Service is advised to consult their legal advisors on this matter. 4.11 The Service should ensure that it consistently undertakes inspections at approved establishments and approves establishments in accordance with current requirements, and that comprehensive up to date accurate records are always maintained. 4.12 The Service should expand its risk-based internal monitoring procedures to cover all elements of service delivery to strengthen the Service and improve consistency in the delivery of official controls and other official activities.

Good Practice

4.13 Examples of good practice were identified during the audit. These included maintaining the accuracy of the food establishment database through social media searches and whistleblowing campaigns, publishing sampling programmes to make information available to businesses and consumers and in efficiently sharing key information with authorised officers within the team. These approaches are beneficial to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.