Contact: Nigel Snape Ext: 5668 e-mail: [email protected]

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

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P&RSSC 090904

Regulatory Services

Food and Agriculture Service Plan

2006 - 2007

This Service Plan is issued under the authority of:

Nigel Snape - Interim Head of Food and Agriculture

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Regulatory Services, Mottisfont Court, High Street, Winchester SO23 8ZE

Tel: 01962 841841. www.hants.gov.uk/regulatory

Copy Number: 1. Issued to: Andrew Smith, Director.

This Food Service Plan forms part of the Official Quality System of Hampshire County Council's Regulatory Services. It is available electronically for all staff and is on the Regulatory Services website for access by businesses and the general public. Hard copies are held by the Director (Copy 1) and Head of Service (Copy 2).

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

REGULATORY SERVICES

FOOD SERVICE PLAN 2006-07

Executive Summary

This Service Plan describes the key objectives relating to Hampshire County Council's Food Enforcement Function. It is a statutory responsibility to update the plan, which is audited from time to time by the Food Standards Agency. The primary aim of the food standards team is to promote and enforce animal health & welfare and food & agriculture safety laws. Key features of the plan include:

· Integrated Service - the County Council delivers a fully integrated food enforcement system via a specialist team of Trading Standards Officers, Public Analysts, Food Scientists and Animal Health Inspectors.

· Targeted Inspections - in order to enforce and promote food safety laws we will inspect over 1,300 Hampshire Food Businesses. Inspections will be designed to highlight quality control problems and to offer technical and legal advice to Hampshire businesses. In line with Hampton Report recommendations, we will reduce overall numbers of inspections, concentrating on our 141 high-risk premises. Enforcement action will only be taken as a last resort to deal with wilfully non-compliant businesses.

· Focused Sampling - in 2005/06 we tested 2,020 samples of which 45% were unsatisfactory. Although most of these related to non-compliant labelling, the high failure rate shows the value of our targeted sampling programme. The 2006/07 target is 2,000 samples. The new sampling programme includes monthly themes aimed at highlighting particular areas of concern such as tin in canned fruits and mercury and histamine in fish.

· Healthy Eating Campaign - "Food - the choice is yours" will continue this year to help enable consumers to make an informed choice about healthy eating. The campaign includes a dedicated website www.hants.gov.uk/food, distribution of healthy eating leaflets and nutrition cards. The campaign is featured on the Food Standards Agency/LGA website "Food Vision" as an example of best practice and at Hampshire County Council's award-winning stand at the 2005 New Forest Show. In 2005/06 `Foodsmart', a food education pack, was compiled and edited. The combination of a teacher's pack, activities and information cards is aimed at key stages 3 and 4 and will be distributed to all Hampshire secondary schools in 2006.

· Animal Health - last year over 700 animal health visits were made which includes visits to farms. The 2006/07 target for farm visits is 690. The threat of Avian Influenza is high on the agenda and in partnership with the Emergency Planning Officer a new Generic Notifiable Animal Diseases Contingency Plan was produced and published. Unfortunately, two cases of very poor livestock animal welfare were reported which resulted in prosecution leading to the Magistrates imposing life bans on the defendants from keeping livestock.

· Agriculture - new Animal Feed Hygiene legislation has been introduced. These new rules will be based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) control principles for the production of animal feeds and will extend the scope to arable as well as livestock farms. To support the County Council's "farm to fork" approach to food control, 60 animal feed producers will be inspected to ensure that feeds are free from contaminants and are nutritionally sound.

1. Service Aims and Objectives.

1.1 Aims and Objectives.

The Regulatory Services vision is:

`To be recognised as leaders of service excellence for the people and businesses of Hampshire.'

This simple statement carries four key messages:

· Recognition - we want to achieve high awareness and trust with our key stakeholders by providing maximum impact, accessible, valued services

· Leaders - we will innovate and engage enthusiastically with the modernisation agenda

· Service - we want to focus on service delivery driven by customer needs, not professional interests

· Excellence - we want to strive for continuous improvement through high- quality staff, trained and developed to achieve their full potential.

Regulatory Services aims to protect the public by ensuring a fair and safe trading environment in Hampshire. This is achieved by giving advice and carrying out inspections relating to consumer law. Priorities are established by using a risk assessment approach. Specifically in relation to animal health, food safety and animal feeding stuffs, activities include: inspections, sampling programmes, response to complaints, awareness and education campaigns and provision of specialist advice to traders. The Food Team objectives are:

Aim:

To promote and enforce animal health & welfare and food & agriculture safety laws.

Objectives:

· To carry out Food Standards Inspections in accordance with Food Standards Agency and LACORS risk assessment and to ISO 9001 Quality Standards.

· To carry out an effective programme of sampling, analysis and checking of food and animal feeding stuffs (feeds) with respect to composition and labelling.

· To respond to consumer complaints relating to animal health, food & feeds safety and quality, working in partnership with central government, other local government agencies and industry to provide a seamless service to customers.

· To carry out specific food & feeds safety campaigns to highlight potential areas of good or bad practice in food trade to the public.

· To respond to requests by all traders for advice on compliance with food, feeds and animal health legislation including operation of the Home Authority principle.

· To carry out an effective programme of animal health & welfare inspections and to react to outbreaks in accordance with DEFRA guidance.

1.2 Links to Corporate Objectives and Plans

Hampshire County Council's Corporate Strategy is about identifying common corporate aims and outcomes and ensuring that activities and resources are targeted to achieve those priorities.

This corporate vision forms the philosophy that drives everything the County Council does and provides a framework for service planning and delivery. The corporate aims that have been adopted by the Council are:

Hampshire County Council has a Corporate Food Standards Group with representatives from Adult Services, Children's Services, Hampshire Caterers (HC3S), Communications, Trading Standards and Science. The role of this team is to set and implement corporate policies relating to food safety. Issues addressed have included salmonella in eggs, Genetically Modified foods in school meals, matters relating to the BSE crisis, E. coli 0157 testing and nutritional quality of school meals.

Hampshire County Council is also a major supplier of food. Hampshire Caterers (HC3S) prepare approximately ten million meals per annum for schools, adult services establishments, staff restaurants and public outlets. Each year the Scientific Service carry out £80,000 worth of tests and inspections to ensure the quality of the food it serves. Tests include microbiological quality, nutritional quality and genetic modification. Food suppliers are inspected by trained auditors and need to comply with product specifications. This scheme is featured as best practice on the Food Vision website.

1 Background

1.1 Profile of Hampshire County Council.

Hampshire is mainly rural with Basingstoke, Winchester, Aldershot, Farnborough, Fareham and Eastleigh being the main urban areas.

Hampshire County Council provides essential Services for the 1.2 million people living in Hampshire. Over 30,000 staff deliver a wide range of services including children's services, adult services, libraries, museums, country parks and regulatory services.

Hampshire County Council is responsible for regulating some 25,700 trade premises including 6,900 food establishments, 3,600 livestock holdings and 421 feed premises.

Regulatory Services of Hampshire County Council combines the expertise of Trading Standards Officers and Public Analysts under a single management team. The Service benefits from an integrated, project managed approach to food sampling, analysis, inspection, advice and enforcement.

Over the last five years, Hampshire County Council has carried out food inspections and food sampling at the levels shown below:

In addition to the full food standards inspections above, 560 other Food Compliance visits were carried out, so overall inspection levels for 2005/06 were lower than those achieved the previous year. This was partly due to the high level of adverse samples that needed action, need for follow-up inspections to ensure compliance for CPA targets, number of business found closed down and extra resources given over to education activities. It also reflects the recommendations in the Hampton report. Importantly, 100% of the 141 high-risk premises were inspected.

The target for 2006/7 is 1,300 inspections of which 141 are in the high-risk category. These new targets take account of the LACORS risk assessment scheme for inspections, (see 3.1.1) and an increase in the number of new businesses reported We will concentrate on high risk premises and devote more resources to promoting healthy eating and offering legal and technical advice to businesses. A new project has been introduced to examine new services to businesses aimed at alternative approaches to inspections.

Sample numbers were similar to last year and the number of adverse samples remains at a high level. A great deal of time is taken up in following up these adverse samples with manufacturers and importers. The 2005/06 target is 2,000 samples.

The County Council runs its own Public Analyst laboratory, employing 35 staff and conducting over 100,000 tests per annum on a wide range of samples. The laboratory is appointed Public Analyst to 30 other food authorities outside Hampshire.

2.2 Organisational Structure.

Regulatory Services is part of the Property, Business and Regulatory Department of Hampshire County Council. Regulatory Services report through the Director to the Cabinet Lead Member for Policy and Resources.

Since 2001, the County Council has operated an Executive Panel structure, which included the establishment of a set of policy review committees. These committees are responsible for monitoring performance against service plans, performance indicators and best value targets.

The relationship between County Council Members and the food function is shown below:



The Head of Resources, Head of Regulatory Services, together with four Interim Managers make up the Management Panel of Regulatory Services. This Team sets the Enforcement Policy and formulates the overall Service Plan.

The Interim Head of Food & Agriculture, in conjunction with other Senior Managers and food experts, identifies a yearly food service plan which includes inspection, actions to redress complaints, sampling and food education and promotion activities.

The Interim Head of Food & Agriculture is responsible for the specification, delivery, monitoring and review of all food and agriculture projects. The Food Service Plan is delivered by a 16 strong Food & Agriculture Standards Team that works closely with food scientists, analysts and technologists from the Public Analyst laboratory.

A policy group meets quarterly to discuss and review strategic issues. The terms of reference of this Food & Agriculture Safety Team (FAST) are given at Appendix 1.

2.3 Scope of the Food Enforcement Function.

Employees of Hampshire County Council deliver the Food Enforcement Function. The County Council has no responsibility for food hygiene enforcement - this is the responsibility of the District Council Environmental Health Services. However, the laboratory carries out examination of food complaints for Environmental Health Services on a contractual basis.

This plan also includes all agricultural enforcement and all animal health and welfare activities, so represents a "farm to fork" approach to food law enforcement.

Where appropriate, other relevant inspections (eg safety, pricing and weights & measures) are carried out at the time of the food standards inspection. This will depend upon the premise type and the risk assessment attached to that premise. This provides a single inspection of food premises.

The relevant areas of the food service are delivered as follows:

2.3.1 Food Standards Inspections:

The Food Standards Team delivers these via staff trained in food law, food science and ISO 9001 auditing techniques.

2.3.2 Food Analysis:

The Laboratory's Food Science Group carries out most food analysis. Most feed analysis is carried out at Kent Scientific Services.

2.3.3 Dealing with Food & Agriculture Complaints:

Food & agriculture complaints are initially processed by Consumer Direct, the County or District Councils, but are then passed on to the responsible authority for action. Specific cases are then dealt with by the Food Standards function.

2.3.4 Animal Health & Welfare.

The Animal Health and Welfare Officers enforce the provisions of the Animal Health Act 1981, which cover animal disease prevention measures, eg foot-and-mouth disease outbreak measures. These officers visit livestock holders in Hampshire to ensure the correct keeping of animal records and identification of individual animals where necessary. The Act also covers the welfare of animals in transport. While carrying out this role any welfare concerns of livestock animals are dealt with, often in partnership with Veterinary Officers of DEFRA.

2.4 Demands on the Food Service

There are 6,910 identified food establishments in Hampshire. The greatest proportion are in the categories of retailer and restaurant/caterer accounting for 55% of the total. There are 217 producers, 2 slaughterhouse, 227 manufacturers/processors, 41 Packers, 18 Importers/Exporters, 185 distributors, 2,175 retailers, 3,869 caterers/restaurants, 174 retailers that manufacture foods, 2 packaging manufacturers and 421 feed premises including feed mills, pet shops, importers, head offices and certain farms. There are also 3,600 livestock holdings and 180 premises associated with livestock operations.

For Home Authority Companies producing the following foods, we have identified the need for in-house specialist knowledge as a result of complex legislation or processes:

· Mineral and Spring Waters (eg Hildon).

· Chocolate (eg Bendicks)

· Tea (eg Twinings)

· Speciality imported foods (eg Petty Wood)

· Watercress and salads (eg Vitacress)

· Ice Cream Manufacturers (eg New Forest Ice Cream Co.)

· Meat Products (eg Chitty Foods)

Specialist knowledge is required to deal with various agriculture and animal health issues:


· Animal feeds (e.g. Feed Mills)

· Horse Markets (New Forest Pony Sales)

· Livestock on common land (New Forest)

· Animal by-products

· Contingency Planning

Inspections are carried out in the field. The service delivery points for the service are:

2.5 Enforcement Policy

The County Council has signed and endorsed the Enforcement Concordat. Guidance on Hampshire's enforcement policy is given on the Service's website. Internal quality procedures are documented. (Ref: QPLP 1).

3. Service Delivery

3.1 Food and Feedingstuffs Premises Inspection

An inspection may be a programmed inspection of premises based on risk assessment, or may form part of a project. Such projects arise from our own observations of areas that require a more in-depth examination, or from regionally driven sampling plans.

3.1.1 Food Premises Inspections.

Food Standards inspections of trade premises are carried out in accordance with published Food Standards Agency and LACORS risk assessment guidelines. The guidelines recommend that:

· 100% high-risk premises are inspected per year

· 50% medium-risk premises are inspected per year

· 20% low-risk premises are inspected per year (or by an alternative strategy)

· Samples may be taken from premises outside the inspection programme.

By applying the risk assessment criteria to Hampshire's 6,277 food premises, the following profile was obtained:

Food establishments

High-risk visits will only be conducted by those officers meeting the criteria set out in the Food Enforcement Code of Practice. In particular, Lead Assessor qualified persons, (or equivalent), will carry out all high-risk inspections. A full ISO 9001 accredited quality audit is carried out at selected highest risk premises according to in-house procedures.

The table shows that the team will concentrate on high and medium risk premises inspections. It will only inspect low risk premises to follow up a complaint or as part of a special project.

The policy to reduce medium risk inspections targets are in line with recommendations outlined in the Hampton report. The report emphasises that Authorities should be reducing inspections as they are an unnecessary burden on UK businesses. It also reflects the Food Standards Agency's priorities for delivering food education and promotion.

3.1.2 Animal Feed Premises Inspections

Animal Feed Standards Inspections of trade premises are carried out in accordance with LACORS risk assessment guidelines, as follows:

· 100% high-risk premises are inspected per year

· 50% medium-risk premises are inspected per year

· 20% low-risk premises are inspected per year. It is intended to inspect a minimum of 44 on-farm mixers.

· Samples may be taken from premises outside the inspection programme.

This gives the following profile for Hampshire's Animal Feed producers:

Animal Feed Establishments

Inspections at High Risk premises will involve an assessment of the HACCP systems in place. Inspections at farms will be carried out by Animal Health and Welfare officers. A minimum of 60 Animal Feed samples will be taken.

Animal Feed Hygiene legislation has been recently introduced requiring further registration by the service of animal feed compound manufacturers and mixers and primary producers. These new rules are based on HACCP control principles for the production of animal feeds, and will include arable farms producing feed materials.

3.1.3 Other Food & Feedingstuffs Standards Work

Estimates for other food and feed standards work are shown below:

Additional inspections may be conducted in response to:

· Complaints and Home Authority referrals

· Projects - internal and regional

· Business inquiries

· New legislation

· Food Hazard warnings

The total resource requirement for food and feed inspections plus other operational work equates to approximately 6.5 FTE qualified staff. (See section 4.2 for breakdown).

The Food sampling programme for 2006/7 follows

3.1.4 Food Science Work

An annual sampling programme is carried out involving the analysis and data interpretation for up to 2,000 samples. A financial breakdown is given in section 4.1. The food sampling plan, showing key projects and sampling themes for 2006/07 is shown below:

3.1.5 Animal Health Work

Estimates for all animal health & welfare work in 2005/06 are shown below:

3.2 Food and Feedingstuffs Complaints

Food complaints are investigated in line with documented procedures. In accordance the Enforcement Code of Practice, procedures have been agreed, through the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Food Liaison Group and implemented for the transfer of complaints between the Service and the relevant Environmental Health Department.

Estimate of consumer complaints for 2006/07 - 425

Resources - 212 person days per annum.

3.3 Home Authority Principle

Hampshire County Council is committed to LACORS Home Authority Principle and responds accordingly.

No. of Home Authority food/feed businesses - 135

Resources - 50 person days per annum.

3.4 Advice to Business

In addition to Home Authority commitment, the service provides advice and information to businesses on a reactive and proactive basis. This is achieved through:

· A dedicated telephone advice line

· Advice during inspections and visits

· Production and distribution of guidance notes for particular legislation or goods

· Dialogue with businesses and contact via our Buy with Confidence Scheme

· Presentations & seminars (eg Butchers seminar on beef labelling rules)

· A new project to examine new approaches for services to businesses as an alternative to inspections.

Estimate of time spent per annum- 150 days.

3.5 Food and Feedingstuffs Inspection and Sampling

3.5.1 Sampling Policy:

Hampshire County Council places much emphasis on food sampling and analysis as a food enforcement tool. This has been demonstrated by consistently high levels of formal sampling for many years. (Amongst the highest in the UK).

Sampling will be conducted where appropriate:

· as a feature of food and feed premises inspections including Home Authority businesses. Priority is given to sampling at Hampshire-based food manufacturers. Statistical sampling is performed at food manufacturers and importers;

· during the approval process of feeding stuffs establishments and intermediaries;

· in response to complaints;

· for identified internal, regional and national projects;

· priority is given to foods and feeds produced, manufactured or imported into Hampshire.

Formal sampling will be conducted in accordance with the Food Enforcement Code of Practice. A programme of informal sampling projects is undertaken. This enables technical officers and laboratory staff to take a more active role in sampling projects. This releases Trading Standards Officers to concentrate on inspection targets. Sampling is conducted to determine compliance with food standards, feedingstuffs standards and to monitor the effectiveness of manufacturing processes and linked quality systems.

Statistical sampling is carried out on manufactured foods and feeds when multiple sampling will give a better indication of process control.

The analysis and examination of Hampshire's food and agricultural samples is carried out by Hampshire's in-house laboratory and by its partner laboratory Kent Scientific Services based in West Malling, Kent. Most animal feeds and samples for pesticide residue tests are analysed at the latter.

It is estimated that 30 samples will be submitted in 2005/06 in relation to complaints. This will require the following resources: 15 person days per annum for sampling food complaints & 15 person days for analysis of food complaints.

3.5.2 Analysis for Authorities other than Hampshire

In addition to the food analysis carried out for Hampshire County Council and the 11 District & Borough Councils within Hampshire, the laboratory carries out tests for 31 other Food Authorities on a fee-paying basis.

Hampshire's Scientific Service works in partnership with Kent Scientific Services to provide Public Analyst services to the following food authorities:

3.6 Control and Investigation of Outbreaks and Food Related Infectious Disease

Whilst recognising the service has no direct responsibility in relation to Outbreaks and Food Related Infectious Diseases it will liaise and assist where appropriate those authorities to which such responsibility lies. All members of the Food Team are authorised by the Minister under the Food & Environment Protection Act to deal with any food-related environmental problems.

3.7 Food Safety Incidents

The Service will act in accordance with the Food Enforcement Code of Practice and internal procedures to:

· identify and report food and animal feed hazards

· respond to Food Hazard Warnings issued by the FSA

A list of responsible managers and officers has been identified to provide an out of hours service to such incidents. See section 2.4 for emergency call out number.

In 2005/06, several food and feed safety incidents had a significant impact on the service, these included:

· Contaminated hay

· Gossypol in animal feed.

3.8 Liaison with Other Organisations

The Service adheres to the principles of the Enforcement Concordat. The prosecution policy has been established following discussion with other Trading Standards Services in the region.

In 2005, the two South East Trading Standards Regions (SETSA and TVTSA) merged to form a new regional grouping called Trading Standards South East (TSSE).

This includes all 19 authorities within the GOSE region. TSSE is also responsible for operating Consumer Direct South East, the consumer advice line launched in 2005.

The TSSE Food Focus Group is chaired by Nigel Wood of Hampshire County Council. Hampshire Scientific Service is also appointed as Public Analyst to all but two of the authorities. The opportunities for more efficient sampling programmes, food training and food promotion activities are therefore presented. The group also aims to ensure consistent enforcement across the different authorities.

The service is represented at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Food Liaison Group. The Group comprises representatives of the Environmental Health Departments in the County, three neighbouring Unitary Authorities, PHLS and the Health Authority.

The service provides representatives on two LACORS expert panels: Food Labelling and Animal Feeding Stuffs. Animal Health and Welfare Officers liaise with DEFRA, RSPCA, Meat Hygiene Service and relevant LACORS panels.

In 2005, Richard Scales, Principal Officer for Agriculture, was appointed to the prestigious national body ACAF (FSA Advisory Committee on Animal Feeding Stuffs), as the National Enforcement Representative. This gives Hampshire a voice influencing UK policy on animal feeds.

Regulatory Services is a Member of Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association, which provides specialist information, advice and training relating to food control.

3.9 Food and Feedingstuffs Safety and Standards Promotion

3.9.1 Healthy Eating

Last year the project called Food - the Choice is Yours was continued. It helps to educate consumers to enable them to make informed choices by knowing how to use the information on food labels, particularly to look at the health issues surrounding levels of fat, sugar and salt.

The project includes a dedicated website along with a booklet and credit-card sized information charts on fat, sugar and salt levels and recommended daily amounts to assist consumers in their decision making. The campaign is featured on the Food Vision website as an example of best practice, showing how Trading Standards can help educate consumers to make healthy food choices. Food Vision is sponsored by the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), the Local Government Association and the Food Standards Agency. `Food - the Choice is Yours' booklets and information cards were distributed at a number of events including the New Forest Show, Hampshire Youth Games. An interactive competition was also included. Hampshire Information Centres and libraries also distribute these. The project will be continued in 2006/07, this reflects one of the Food Standards Agency's priorities to promote a healthy eating lifestyle.

3.9.2 Education in Schools

Food Safety and other Trading Standards issues are also promoted to the children of Hampshire through Lifesmart - a special education campaign targeted at schools. In addition a new dedicated food education package has been compiled and edited. Entitled Foodsmart, it takes the form of a teacher's pack together with activity and illustrated information cards for students.' It is aimed at cross-cutting the curriculum in schools for key stage 3 and 4 students and covers nutrition and healthy eating promotion. This will be distributed to all Hampshire secondary schools in 2006. Another key education campaign was taking part in the Junior Citizen events when some 5000 key stage 2 students attended and took part in the interactive activities.

3.9.3 Advice to Food Businesses.

The Service issues a number of Factsheets on food law and consumer advice and has associated website pages, eg food labelling. Regulatory Services subscribes to "TS Interlink", which provides updated information sheets on behalf of subscribers. This approach saves resources and improves consistency between authorities.

Regulatory Services staff helps to promote Hampshire Farmers Markets and also give talks and lectures to trade groups. e.g. Farmer Market members and Forest Friendly Farming . Hampshire County Council's Economic Development Unit also promotes locally produced quality food via its Hampshire Fare scheme.

3.9.4 Sampling Campaigns

Some food sampling campaigns result in ad-hoc awareness campaigns, when press releases are issued.

The effectiveness of the above promotional activities will be evaluated via feedback from the public and businesses, the uptake of sampling campaigns by food authorities and the level of resultant media interest.

4. Resources

4.1 Financial Allocation

Regulatory Services Management Group is responsible for the allocation and delegation of budgets allocated for Food Enforcement functions.

The current salary and transport budget allocated to the Food Standards team is approximately: £540,000 per annum. Section 4.2 gives a full staffing breakdown as at April 2006.

The current budget for Scientific Services, including sampling, analysis, reporting and consultancy is £318,000 of which £280,000 relates to Food Enforcement.

The Hampshire Scientific Service Business Plan highlights planned investments in new equipment for the laboratory. A capital budget of £41,000 per annum is currently allocated to Regulatory Services.

4.2 Staffing Allocation

The following table summarises the staffing levels dedicated to food and agriculture enforcement at April 2006:

.

Each Trading Standards Officer working on food enforcement is appropriately qualified in accordance with The Food Enforcement Code of Practice. (In practice this means either DTS or equivalent, or DCA qualified). Also, the Food Science Team Leader has specialist food factory auditing skills and is part of the Food Audit inspection team.

Each team member has undertaken Basic Food Hygiene Training. There are seven officers with ISO 9001 Lead Assessor training.

The following table summarises the current staffing levels dedicated to food science and analysis:

4.3 Staff Development Plan

The Property, Business & Regulatory Department has had Investors in People status since November 2001.

Training needs are identified by examining:

· Operational requirements arising from the Service Plan

· Individual needs highlighted at performance development review (PDR) meetings.

Each individual member of staff has a PDR with their Line Manager. Training and Development needs are assessed at this time and throughout the year as updates are carried out. In addition, the Service will establish team training needs arising out of the team plan. In accordance with The Food Enforcement Code of Practice, each authorised officer undertakes at least 10 hours training per annum. How these needs are met may vary, but the usual sources of training include:

· Awareness days. (An annual in-house programme of five sessions).

· Day release courses

· On the job training

· In-house HCC short training courses

· External short courses (e.g. Those run by Campden & Chorleywood Food RA, Leatherhead Food RA, the FSA, LACORS, TSI, APA, professional bodies and Universities).

Training must be approved before it is undertaken and it is evaluated after the event.

5. Quality Assessment

5.1 Quality Assessment.

Internal monitoring will be conducted to assess the Service's performance of the plan and the FSA Framework Standard on a quarterly basis.

All Food Standards functions are registered to the ISO 9001 Quality Standard. Registration covers both the inspectorate and scientific service. Peer review may be conducted through a programme of audits with regional trading standards services.

In addition the Scientific Service is UKAS accredited to the EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard and participates in external proficiency schemes, eg FAPAS. It is recognised as an Official Food Enforcement Laboratory for both analysis and microbiological examinations.

6. Review

6.1 Review against the Service Plan

The County Council operates an Executive Panel structure, which includes a set of policy review committees. These committees are responsible for monitoring performance against service plans, performance indicators and best value targets.

There are also performance measures set in the Service Development Plan against which progress is measured. All food enforcement work will be delivered on a project basis. Each project will have associated performance indicators and desired outcomes.

Each month the plan will be monitored to establish:

· Inspections for High risk premises against target

· Inspections for Medium risk premises against target

· Numbers of samples against targets

· Outcomes of campaigns and promotional activities.

In addition, on a quarterly basis, we will evaluate

· Actual resource allocation versus projected allocation.

· Responses to food complaints.

· Reactive work, prosecutions and investigations.

The Food Service Plan is subject to annual review where an assessment is made as to progress. Outcomes will be evaluated. The review includes an assessment against the previous years plan as a means by which to measure improvement. Resource requirements are also reviewed quarterly by managers and are adjusted as necessary, taking into account overall Regulatory Services priorities.

6.2 Identification of any variation from the Service Plan

At the quarterly review meetings any variance in the plan will be examined and the reason considered. These variances will be documented and where additional "non-planned" work has met the desired objective this will be recorded.

6.3 Areas of Improvement

Where the review process identifies areas for improvement or development these will be adopted in accordance with ISO 9001 practices. A key aim of the Department is to continuously improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of its services.

Appendix 1

Food & Agriculture Specialists Team - Terms of Reference

Team Structure and Purpose:

A new Food & Agriculture Specialists Team (FAST) was formed in October 2001, to take a strategic view of Food Enforcement, set policies and lead the formulation of the Food Service Plan.

The team includes experts in Food & Agriculture Law, Labelling, Food Science, audit and inspection systems, Animal Health and Trading Standards. The members are:

Overall Aims

· To formulate the Food Service Plan.

· Set policies relating to food, Agriculture and Animal Health Enforcement

· To monitor implementation of the Service Plan

· To act as a focus of expertise on food, agriculture and animal health within Regulatory Services

Key Activities

1. To discuss and agree areas of activity in food & agriculture.

2. To co-ordinate food & agriculture projects.

3. To identify and manage resources required to deliver food & agriculture plans.

4. To keep up to date with legislation, enforcement procedures, science, technology and any other developments relating to food & agriculture.

5. To collect, filter and disseminate relevant food & agriculture information.

6. To offer a food & agriculture advisory service to the advice service, public and businesses of Hampshire.

7. To represent Hampshire County Council on external groups and bodies relating to food & agriculture. e.g. LACOTS, SETSA Food Specialists, FALCON, APA, MAFF, Food Liaison Groups and Health Authorities.

8. To act as a forum for identifying, sourcing, giving and receiving training in food & agriculture for Regulatory Services.

9. To devise policies, quality systems and procedures required to deliver food & agriculture action plans.

10. To consider promotional and media relations activities relating to food & agriculture.

Frequency of Meetings

FAST will meet a minimum of 4 times per annum. The quorum will be 4 members.