Agenda item

To consider the monitoring report on the delivery of Service Plans for Food Law Enforcement and Health and Safety Regulation for Quarters 1 and 2 of 2024/25.

With the assistance of a report by the Environmental Health Service Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Committee received and noted an update on progress made against the delivery of work on the Council’s Food Law and Health and Safety Service Plans during the first and second quarters of 2024/25.

With regards to the Food Law Enforcement Plan, the Committee were advised that the main focus of the service plan continued to be the planned routine inspections of food businesses. With this in mind, Members were advised that a total of 393 food hygiene inspections had been undertaken for the first half of the year and exceeded the level predicted. Members also noted that there had been 141 new food business registrations received which reflected the continuing flux in this area.

Work had also been continuing to review the list of Category E (low risk) businesses that remained overdue for inspection. The process for sending out questionnaires to these premises under the Alternative Enforcement Strategy had also been reviewed and digitised, the first 23 of these had been issued in Quarter 2.

The Committee were informed that there had been sixteen compliance checks undertaken across the two periods, which was in line with expected activity. Attention was also drawn to a successful prosecution for food hygiene offences during the period, the details of which were provided to Members.

Members also noted that requests for rescores continued to be higher than anticipated which demonstrated that businesses were striving to obtain the highest hygiene ratings.

The Committee were also informed that the Authority had continued to take part in the sampling activities offered by the UK Health Security Agency. The topics had been ‘Unpasteurised and Pasteurised milk cheeses’.

With regards to Health and Safety activity within the periods, it was noted that the majority of the work undertaken was reactive. There were 21 accidents reported, of which 9 were investigated and Members were reminded that the selection of accidents for investigation was based on the risk-based criteria set out by the Health and Safety Executive. There were 72 other service requests responded to, the majority of which were licensing consultations, and 18 skin piercing registrations issued for premises and practitioners. Details of the implementation of a new licensing regime for non-surgical cosmetic practitioners were still awaited.

The Committee were also informed that Officers from the Environmental Health team had undertaken visits to 14 funeral directors within the District during June and July 2024, following the incident at Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull. This had not been reflected in the Service Plan.

In considering the contents of the report, Members welcomed the clear message that the prosecution of businesses who failed to maintain appropriate standards of hygiene and cleanliness conveyed to other business within the district. An explanation of the warning regime was also provided, together with the ways in which residents could check the food hygiene ratings awarded to an individual business online

Finally, the Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance conveyed his congratulations to the Environmental Health Team for the successful completion of their Covid Recovery Plan and a return to business as normal.