Business Regulation Service Plan 2022-23
North Lanarkshire Council · 24 August 2022
Back to Environment and Place Committee — 24 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report ENVIRONMENT & PLACE COMMITTEE Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref: AM/PB Date 24/08/22 BUSINESS REGULATION SERVICE PLAN 2022 - 2023 From Head of Regulatory Services and Waste Solutions E-mail mcphersona@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07939 280467 Executive Summary All local authority regulators of food law and occupational health & safety law must plan their enforcement and advisory activities and, in accordance with independent auditor preference, present that plan before a relevant committee for its approval. The Service Plan 2022 - 2022 is appended to this report and incorporates: • The Food Law Code of Practice (FLCoP) Deviation Recovery Plan, following the cessation of inspection work due to Covid restrictions and the subsequent restart on 1 October 2021; • Our adoption of the recent Food Law Rating System (FLRS) which combines the old rating systems for food hygiene and food standards into one food law intervention scheme; and • Our continuation with the new Official Control Verification (OCV) audit process for approved food premises. Recommendations It is recommended that the Environment & Place Committee: 1. Approve the Business Regulation Service Plan 2022 - 2023. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities Ambition statement (14) Ensure the highest standards of public protection
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1. Background 1.1 The Business Regulation Service is a subset of Protective Services and is responsible for the delivery of the statutory enforcement and advisory service for: • Food law in all food establishments within North Lanarkshire; and • Occupational health & safety law in those premises within North Lanarkshire for which they have an enforcement role (health and safety enforcement within premises being split between local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive depending on the nature of the business). 1.2 The Service is required to prepare an annual plan which clearly maps out specific aims and objectives for the financial year. 1.3 Food Standards Scotland (FSS) advocates that transparency is best achieved by seeking and obtaining the approval of elected members. FSS is independent of national government and has the primary objective of protecting the health and other interests of consumers in relation to all food issues. 1.4 The Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) National Local Authority Enforcement Code requires us to be accountable to the public and businesses for our actions. This can be achieved by publication of our Service Plan. 2. Report 2.1 Food Law Code of Practice Recovery Plan 2.1.1 FSS granted dispensation to local authorities to deviate from their inspection plan from 30 March 2020 due to the restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic, and to enable re-tasking of officers to undertake wider public health duties related to Coronavirus legislation. The dispensation ended on 30/09/2021. 2.1.2 This resulted in a significant number of premises remaining uninspected over a period of some 17 months. Consequently, a large number of inspections have been carried over into subsequent years and an appropriate Food Law Code of Practice (FLCoP) Deviation Recovery Plan has been devised to ensure that all premises receive the required inspection visits within a practicable and programmed timeframe. 2.2 Food Law Performance Targets 2.2.1 The Service Plan details resources and targets for inspections and interventions in respect of food law, including: • Achieving a target of at least 70% of all of our programmed food law inspections within the timeframes set by our FLCoP Deviation Recovery Plan. • Ensuring at least 70% of our food business operators’ premises achieve a ‘Pass’ status in accordance with the national Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS). It is anticipated there will be a greater number of ‘Improvements Required’ due to the pause in programmed interventions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the authorised deviation from the Code from 30 March 2020 to 31 August 2021.
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• Commence investigation of 90% of food complaints within 2 working days of receipt. • Maintain a target of at least 94% of infectious disease cases being responded to in accordance with the NHS Lanarkshire Epidemiological Investigation Protocol. • Respond to at least 93% of high-risk requests for assistance/advice within 2 working days of receipt. • Respond to at least 93% of low-risk requests for assistance/advice within 5 working days of receipt. 2.2.2 An important principle of the recently adopted new Food Law Rating Scheme (FLRS) is to allow local authorities to target resources on high risk and non-compliant businesses. The FLRS combines the rating systems for food hygiene and food standards into one Food Law Intervention scheme based upon a new food business performance model that will target resources on high to medium risk and non- compliant businesses. This impacts upon the frequency of inspection of food establishments for both hygiene and standards components of what is now known as a ‘food law’ inspection. The FLRS takes account of a food business operator’s track record of compliance and where this is good, they will receive ‘earned recognition’ influencing the risk rating to reduce the frequency of inspections. This will assist resources to be targeted towards non-compliant businesses which will be subject to more frequent inspections and potential enforcement activity. 2.2.3 A review of North Lanarkshire Council’s resource to meet its statutory Food Law obligations has been undertaken as part of the FLCoP Deviation Recovery Plan. The outcome from this has shown that over the next 5 years a greater FTE staffing resource will be required on an annual basis when compared with the current front- line establishment FTE. Using the FSS Resource Methodology Guidance (explained in greater detail within section 4 of the plan) it is estimated that around 25FTE will be required to fulfil the functions of the Service against a current establishment of 17.5FTE. The consequence of this is the revision in the annual target for achieving programmed food law inspections from 96% in 2018-19 to 70% in 2022-23. 2.2.4 The position outlined in paragraph 2.2.3 above is not unique to North Lanarkshire. There is a current shortfall of qualified Environmental Health Officers working in local authorities. In summary, there are around 60 vacant posts across Scottish local authorities, an ageing workforce profile and a lack of trainees coming through. Both CoSLA and SOLACE have recognised this issue and through work with the Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland, recommendations to address the issue continue to be discussed with the Scottish Government. 2.2.5 At a more local level North Lanarkshire is already taking measures to address the issue. This includes working with the University of the West of Scotland to offer an annual training placement to students attending the degree course for Environmental Health, the recruitment of a student Environmental Health Officer, and the recent addition of a further 2 FTE Environmental Health Officers to the establishment working within the Business Regulation team. 2.2.6 This financial year sees the Service continue to progress implementation of the Official Control Verification (OCV) audit process for ‘Approved Premises’ – premises which handle or process products of animal origin e.g. large dairies, fish exporters etc and also for high risk manufacturers. The implementation of this new process may significantly increase the amount of officer time spent on audits of these establishments.
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2.3 Occupational Health and Safety Law 2.3.1 The HSE’s national Local Authority Enforcement Code sets out a risk-based approach to targeting occupational health and safety interventions to be followed by local authority regulators. A key component is to ensure that appropriate interventions are focussed on specified high-risk sectors. 2.3.2 In accordance with the national code, the Service will continue to respond to requests for advice, investigate complaints, accidents, dangerous occurrences and other incidents reported to us and we will undertake appropriate interventions, particularly relevant to North Lanarkshire, wherever possible. 2.3.3 The Service Plan details activities which are planned throughout the financial year in respect of occupational health and safety matters. 2.3.4 Additional projects may also be added where appropriate, having been highlighted by the HSE, regionally by the West of Scotland Health & Safety Liaison Group or through local intelligence, complaint, notification or other direct referral to the Service. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Performance is monitored in a several ways including on a quarterly basis by the Protective Services Management Team (PSMT). If under performance or deviation is identified, corrective action is promptly implemented. 3.2 Performance outcomes for all participant food businesses in respect of the ‘pass’ and ‘improvement required’ standard stipulated in the national Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) are reported locally to populate key performance indicator requirements published on North Lanarkshire Council’s website and returned separately to FSS. 3.3 The quality of the performance and professional conduct of the Council’s enforcement personnel during inspections of businesses (both food and non-food based) is monitored, in part, using post-intervention customer service questionnaires, in which service recipients are encouraged to provide their appraisal of the standard of service delivered. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 - Business Regulation Service Performance Plan 2022 - 2023 Andrew McPherson Head of Regulatory Services & Waste Solutions
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
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Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 1 Regulatory Services & Waste Solutions Protective Services (Business Regulation Service) Food Safety/Occupational Health & Safety Service Plan 2022/2023
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 2 STATUTORY AND GENERAL OBLIGATIONS ON FOOD AUTHORITIES Legal Obligation on Food Authority Compliance with statutory guidance ‘Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019’ (the Code) and ‘ Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019’ (the Interventions Code) is an important requirement to safeguard and ensure proper and consistent administration of Food law across Scotland. In delivery of Official Food Controls, North Lanarkshire Council is legally required to ensure: a. The effectiveness and appropriateness of Official Controls. b. That controls are applied at an appropriate risk-based frequency. c. That there are a sufficient number of suitably qualified and experienced competent staff and adequate facilities and equipment to carry out duties properly. d. That staff are free from conflicts of interest. e. That there is access to an adequate laboratory capacity and capability for testing. Food Standards Scotland (FSS) seeks to work in partnership with Local Authorities to help them deliver on official control policies and Codes, and to assist them in implementing the Codes. Effects of Failure to Comply with these Statutory Obligations Section 40(2)(a) of the Food Safety Act 1990 requires a local authority to have regard to the relevant provisions of the Codes. Section 40(3) allows FSS to consult Scottish Ministers in relation to non-compliance with the Codes to order the issue of a direction to a local authority requiring it to take steps to comply with the Codes. Failure to comply with a ministerial direction by a local authority may be sanctioned by order of the Court of Session. Where Scottish Ministers are satisfied that a Food Authority has failed to discharge any duty imposed by or under the Act, where that failure affects the general interests of consumers of food, they may by order empower another Food Authority or officer of the Ministers to discharge that duty in place of the Authority in default, and recover costs from the defaulting Authority. Requirement to Prepare an Annual Service Plan Each Food Authority should complete an Annual Service Plan which details the Interventions programme for the coming year. They should ensure such a programme is adequately resourced and that the overall plan is subject to approval timeously at the appropriate governance level within the Local Authority. The Service Plan should include: - • A statement in relation to the Food Authority’s approach or policy on Interventions, Enforcement, and Service Delivery. • A Food Authority’s approach to Interventions out-of-hours. • Details on how new Food Business Establishments are to be included in the Authority’s planned Intervention Programme. • Effective routine sampling. • Strategies for maintaining surveillance of “low-risk” establishments where the LA has decided these will be subjected to alternative enforcement strategies in either their Food Service Plan or Enforcement Policy.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 3 The Service Plan or Enforcement Policy should include: - • The Food Authority’s approach to revisits and enforcement action - North Lanarkshire’s approach to enforcement is included within the Enforcement Policy. Its approach to revisits and enforcement action is incorporated within Food Policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which are an extension of the Enforcement Policy. • Strategies for maintaining surveillance of “low-risk” establishments where the LA has decided these will be subjected to alternative enforcement strategies in either their Food Service Plan or Enforcement Policy. North Lanarkshire has included these within both the Service Plan and the Interventions SOP which are an extension of the Enforcement Policy. The Interventions Programme should include: - • The Food Business Establishment profile. • The number of Interventions programmed. • An estimate of the number of revisits that will be made. • An estimation of resources required. • Resource for new businesses. • Detail any targeted Intervention activity that the Food Authority intends to carry out including any extra resources this may require. • Identification of any priorities relating to nationally or locally driven outcomes, such as compliance with new legislation or improved compliance with existing legislation and other central government initiatives, including compliance with the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 and the Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019. SECTION 1: SERVICE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.1 Aims and Objectives North Lanarkshire Council is committed to delivering customer excellence for all its service users to maximise the benefits of North Lanarkshire’s geographical location, creating prosperity, achieving social justice and fulfilling local needs by providing best value. The following aims and objectives have been identified as being fundamental to this process. 1. To place the safety, health and well-being of the employed and the general public foremost. 2. To protect public health and affirm the continuing commitment to assist businesses in their recovery from the pandemic. 3. To inspect businesses for food law and/or health and safety law compliance within at least the minimum targets which have been set for inspection purposes and ensure that a proportionate and consistent enforcement policy is adhered to. 4. To commit to the national Regulators’ Code for reserved matters and the Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice for devolved matters. 5. To undertake a programme of effective routine food sampling to ensure that food is of the nature, quality and substance demanded by the public and to take appropriate action to remove any unsatisfactory foodstuffs identified during this process. 6. To respond appropriately to relevant food alerts as required by FSS.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 4 7. To investigate food complaints and report to the Crown, recommending that they initiate legal proceedings where this is deemed to be in the public interest. 8. To offer free advice and guidance to the public, voluntary organisations and the food and health & safety businesses within North Lanarkshire for the purposes of achieving compliance with statutory requirements and assisting in developing and promoting competence in food and workplace health & safety awareness. 9. To prepare reports and other related data for other Services within the Authority, FSS, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and other relevant Agencies to demonstrate transparency, ensure compliance with legislation and to provide a coordinated approach to food safety and health & safety related matters. 10. To investigate instances of food and water borne diseases within North Lanarkshire in a coordinated approach with the relevant Health Authorities. 11. To fully and promptly investigate notifications of work-related accidents, dangerous occurrences and ill health and take enforcement action in accordance with guidance to prevent harm and secure justice, where appropriate. 12. To respond promptly and courteously to requests for assistance and commit to the delivery of customer service excellence for all our service users. 13. To aim to deliver public confidence in the way food safety and health & safety issues are monitored and enforced within North Lanarkshire. 14. To respond appropriately and effectively to public health emergencies which impact on public safety. 1.2 Links to Corporate Ambition Statements and Priorities This Operational Plan is linked with the Protective Services Operational Plan, the Waste Solutions and Regulatory Services Operational Planning Dashboard and ultimately serves the Plan for North Lanarkshire. For example, from The Plan for North Lanarkshire: ‘Improve economic opportunities and outcomes’ The growth and sustainability of local business is actively supported. Working in partnership with Business Gateway, we offer a comprehensive and free consultancy service to start-up, fledgling and mature businesses to help with legal compliance in relation to food safety and, where appropriate, occupational health & safety legislation. (This was stood down due to the pandemic but we will resume liaison as part of business recovery.) ‘Improve the health and wellbeing of communities’ In accordance with the Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019, formal, unannounced inspections of North Lanarkshire’s food businesses are undertaken to ensure operators make or sell foods which meet compositional and declaration legal standards that they are safe to eat and will not cause illness or disease. Where food businesses are found operating unsafely, they may be compulsorily closed to safeguard public health, reported to the Crown and the unfit foods seized for destruction (as appropriate). The only food businesses which would not be subjected to proactive inspections are low risk Group 3 Band A premises which, following initial or subsequent intervention or where the food registration form gives sufficient information to make determination that there is minimal inherent risk, and the Lead Food Officer determines either to place the business on a 60 month intervention frequency or choose not to undertake a proactive intervention.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 5 We respond quickly to consumer concerns about food business operators, whether that is the condition of their premises, the state of the food products or the malpractices allegedly conducted there. The Service investigates outbreaks of infectious disease in conjunction with NHS Lanarkshire and acts over concerns of poor public or private water supplies. The Service implements a monitoring programme for private water supplies and undertakes risk assessments, where applicable, in relation to water introduced into, and supplied through and from, each private water supply system to premises in its area, to establish if there is any risk that the water could pose a potential danger to human health. A similar service exists for occupational health & safety where the local authority is the relevant enforcement body. During the pandemic, the Service took on an advisory and enforcement role in terms of Coronavirus related Regulations to prohibit certain businesses from opening, and to ensure that social distancing arrangements and other mitigations were in place for businesses that were allowed to continue to trade under restricted conditions. This role included business compliance visits and outbreak investigations. Whilst restrictions are no longer in place, there may be a future ask from the Service in respect of Coronavirus. Plan for North Lanarkshire The Plan for North Lanarkshire identifies 25 high level ambition statements aligned into five priorities and the Business Regulation’s Food Safety /Occupational Health & Safety Service Plan links with some of these priorities as follows. Improve the health and wellbeing of communities • Programme of targeted interventions to determine compliance with statutory requirements along with proportionate enforcement action, as required. • A commitment to the prevention of death, injury and ill health arising out of or in connection with a work activity. • Food sampling programme. • Partnership working with NHS Lanarkshire to locate the source and prevent the further spread of infection. • Focusing on specific health & safety issues. • Working in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire, FSS, the HSE and other agencies to promote and deliver health improvements for the employed within North Lanarkshire and its citizens. Improve North Lanarkshire’s Resource Base • Provision of food safety literature and correspondence in a range of ethnic minority languages along with access to interpreters to promote social inclusion. • Updating and maintaining enforcement officer competence. • FHIS (Food Hygiene Information Scheme). • Online publication of food law intervention letters and of register of notices served under The Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006, Regulations 6 to 9 and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Sections 21 and 22. • OHSAS 45001 (the occupational health and safety management standard). • APSE (Authority Public Service Excellence). Business Regulation regards high quality public service as its key value and this commitment is reflected in that the Service achieved OHSAS 45001 accreditation. ISO 9001 quality standards adherence is monitored internally. Key food safety and health & safety policies and procedures are within scope of an ISO 9001: 2008 compliant Quality System and are periodically reviewed to reflect procedural changes.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 6 Business Regulation aims to support and work alongside various organisations including FSS, HSE, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue, NHS Lanarkshire and Health Protection Scotland to deliver common objectives which prevent or mitigate against illness, disease or injury and to deliver better health outcomes for residents, consumers and employees by sharing and promoting best practice for food safety, public health and occupational health & safety interventions. Where appropriate we will link service provision to any national and local updated plans and strategies relevant to the recovery process post pandemic. SECTION 2: BACKGROUND 2.1 Profile of the Local Authority North Lanarkshire is the 4th largest authority in Scotland with a population of 341,140 and an area of 47,222 hectares (2020). It is situated approximately halfway between the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and many of its residents live in the six main towns of Airdrie, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld, Bellshill, Wishaw and Motherwell. North Lanarkshire is in the midst of a process of major social, economic and environmental change. This has required a process of regeneration which is perhaps best illustrated in the Ravenscraig initiative whereby work is now proceeding with large commercial and residential developments on the former steelwork’s site. This process of economic re-generation will continue and is greatly assisted by the strategic location of North Lanarkshire with regard to links to the South via the M73 and M74 and to Glasgow and Edinburgh via the A8/M8 motorways. Extensive improvements to the local motorway network and various arterial roads, recently completed, following a massive infrastructure investment and upgrade.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 7 Here is a plan of North Lanarkshire Council’s catchment zone.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 8 2.2 Organisational Structure The configuration of the Business Regulation Service for 2022/2023 (at 4 July 2022). Head of Regulatory Services & Waste Solutions Protective Services Manager (Responsibilities include Business Regulation, Pollution Control & Public Health and Trading Standards) Assistant Business Manager (Business Regulation) Senior EHO (North) North Division 4.5 X FTE EHOs + 1 vacant EHO Post (Temporary) South Division 5 X FTE EHOs + 1 X FTE FSO Senior EHO (South) Senior EHO (Central) Central Division 4 X FTE EHOs + 2 vacant EHO Posts
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 9 2.3 Scope of the Business Regulation Service The services which are provided include: - • Advice/Guidance to the Private Sector/Voluntary Groups as well as to business. • Compilation of Performance Indicator Data (e.g. NLC PI data, LAE1, FSS Audit returns etc.). • Disposal/Seizure of Unfit Foodstuffs. • Eat Safe Initiative. • Export Health Certificates. • Food Premises Compliance Certificates for Export. • Food Law Interventions. • Food Safety Alerts. • Food Safety/Health & Safety Promotional Initiatives. • Approval of Premises under Regulation EC No 853/2004. • Food Hygiene and Food Standards Inspections of Premises Approved under EC No 853/2004 and of Primary Producers • Food Standards Inspections of Meat Plants Approved under EC No 853/2004 by FSS • Formal/Informal Food Sampling. • Frequent Liaison with FSS and NHS Lanarkshire Public Health. • Health & Safety Interventions. • Healthy Living Awards. • Originating Authority Responsibilities. • Infectious Disease Investigations. • Enforcement within Skin Tanning Premises. • Investigation of Complaints Regarding Workplaces. • Investigation of Food Complaints. • Investigation of Workplace Accidents, Dangerous Occurrences and Occupational Ill Health. • Licensing and Inspection of Skin Piercing & Tattooing Premises. • Licensing of Venison Dealers • Monitoring of Compliance with the National Tobacco Smoking Ban in Public Places. • Precognition/Reports to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. • Private Water Supply Register, Risk Assessments, Sampling, Grant Assistance & Water Scarcity. • Promoting Healthier Food in Catering. • Public Mains Water Sampling. • Reports to Licensing Boards. • Representation on the Official Control Verification Working Group. • Representation on the West of Scotland Health & Safety Liaison Group. • Representation on West of Scotland Food Liaison Group. • Representative on the Review of the Scottish Waterborne Hazard Plan. • Responses to Building Warrants and Planning Enquiries. • Shared maintenance of the FHIS Website at a local input level. • Work in Partnership with the HSE on National Campaigns & Initiatives. • Shared maintenance of Scottish National Database (SND) at local input level. • Advisory and enforcement role in respect of Covid legislation, including business compliance visits and outbreak investigations Chemical analysis and microbiological examination of food samples is undertaken by Glasgow Scientific Services (GSS) on behalf of the Service.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 10 The Service has access to translation services for documentary purposes and to facilitate routine inspections and other food and health and safety enquiries where this is required. The approach to the Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 (the Interventions Code) and the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 (the Code) focuses predominantly on intervention and audit of premiss to the 4 Es approach of Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce. There has been significant resource dedicated to dealing with COVID-19 related complaints, where authorised officers carrying out food law interventions also have responsibility for inspection of premises under health and safety legislation, as well as outbreak investigations and close working undertaken with NHS Lanarkshire Public Health Teams. Assistance was also provided to other Services, including Education, Social Work, Facilities Support, Transport and Internal Health and Safety to assist with outbreaks within Council run establishments, as well as assistance to partners such as the HSE. Premises inspections provisionally resumed on 1 September 2021 following Desktop Transfer and the revised Intervention Programme. For performance monitoring and reporting purposes the Intervention Programme Start Date for North Lanarkshire was 1 October 2021 to keep all quarterly reports aligned with normal Service planning and reporting. The revised intervention due date determined from the anticipated Intervention Programme Start Date was uploaded onto the Service’s Management Information System (MIS) for performance monitoring purposes. Feed issues are dealt with exclusively by FSS. Our Service headquarters was relocated from Municipal Buildings at Kildonan Street, Coatbridge, ML5 3LF to Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB. 2.4 Demands on the Business Regulation Service Food establishments are grouped as 1 to 3 depending on the nature of the food business, with Group 1 businesses including e.g. manufacturers of high risk foods down to Group 3 businesses including licensed premises not providing catering. Within each of the groups the food establishment is risk rated in Bands A to E, dependent upon the business performance and compliance, with Band A being sustained compliance and E being sustained non- compliance and/or issues of public health significance or fraudulent activity. The data relating to the food premises profile is in the following tables.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 11 Food Law Business Groups and Risk Ratings 1A 27 1B 19 1C 5 1D 0 1E 0 Awaiting Inspection 1 Food Standards Only* 3 Total 52 2A 53 2B 1150 2C 376 2D 10 2E 2 Awaiting Inspection 47 Total 1638 3A 113 3B 742 3C 119 3D 0 3E 0 Awaiting Inspection 75 Total 1049 Total 2,739 SND Category & Premises Count Primary Producers 22 Manufacturers & Packers 77 Importers 0 Distributors/Transporters 65 Retailers 432 Supermarket/Hypermarket 62 Small Retailer 10 Retailer-Other 8 Restaurant &Caterers 220 Restaurant/Café/Canteen 204 Restaurant/Caterer- Others 577 Hotel & Guest house 34 Pub/Club 224 Takeaway 429 Caring Premises 53 School/College 148 Mobile Food Unit Other 171 3 Total 2,739 Note: Food Standards Only*-Included within the figures above are 3 meat plants which are approved by FSS but for which we enforce Food Standards legislation.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 12 In addition to numbers referenced within the Food Law Business Groups and Risk Ratings table above, there are: • 19 separate establishments currently approved under EC Regulations; • 15 primary producers. Our Management Information System is a live system with information being automatically uploaded to SND on a weekly basis, which accounts for some disparity in totals. There are 7 Primary Producers without food hygiene rating on SND which require review, to ensure accuracy of coding. FSS are currently undertaking a project to identify and resolve data accuracy and quality issues between LA MIS and SND. We have approximately 3,500 businesses at present for which we have responsibility for the enforcement of occupational health & safety law. The new Food Law Rating System (FLRS) ensures that the profile of food standards is raised whilst reducing duplication and bureaucracy caused by two inspection regimes. Importantly, Local Authorities can target resources on high risk and non-compliant businesses. Even as an early adopter, the pause in intervention programme brought about by the pandemic meant that not all premises within North Lanarkshire had undergone a food law intervention, and as such had not been banded. We changed from Annex 5 rating scheme to the FLRS based on guidance provided by the Scottish Food Law Enforcement Committee (SFELC) COVID-19 Recovery Working Group using a formula based on Annex 5 food hygiene scores for hygiene, structure and confidence in management alone, as it was assessed that a number of the other elements previously contained in Annex 5 had been taken into account at the ‘Group’ stage, and that confidence in management scores were, in the vast majority of cases, consistent between food hygiene and food standards scoring systems. In order to ensure, however, that food standards were given an appropriate level of consideration during the desktop transfer, at the end of the process we conducted a final check to ensure that any establishment which had previously been given a poor rating for ‘Level of Compliance’ in Annex 5 Food Standards Scoring System would be given a ‘Band D’ in FLRS. Within NL, none were identified. Whilst this exercise had a significant impact on officer time, it assisted in identifying priorities for the food law recovery process. One of the Key Performance Indicators for the Service is the percentage of food establishments which achieve the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) ‘Pass Award’. Our target for 2019/20 was set at 90%, with an overall rate achieved of 94.09%. Our target for 2021/22 was revised to 65 % of food premises to achieve the FHIS ‘Pass’ award with an overall rate achieved of 94.2 %. Our target for 2022/23 has been increased to 70%. It is anticipated there will be a greater number of Improvements Required due to the pause in programmed interventions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the authorised deviation from the Code from 30 March 2020 to 31 August 2021. Our normal business hours are 08.45am to 16.45pm, Monday to Thursday with a 16.15pm closure on Friday. However, a standby service is available to respond to emergencies including Food Alerts For Action (FAFA), outwith normal business hours. EU exit impacted on the Service due to preparation for food exports and in particular fish exports to the EU. Further detail is provided on this in Section 3.9 ‘’EU Exit’’. 2.5 Enforcement Policy North Lanarkshire Council has a documented enforcement policy which was approved by Elected Members at the Infrastructure Committee in September 2018 and is available on the NLC website to businesses and consumers. The policy was updated to reflect: - • Changes in legislation; • The effect of the Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice (SRSCoP) on food safety matters; • Due regard to the general principles of the Regulators' Compliance Code in respect of health and safety matters; • Advice issued by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and the HSE; and • Relevant provisions of the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 13 The enforcement policy is subject to further review. All Authorised Officers with responsibility for inspecting premises and/or dealing with other food and health and safety issues are aware of the enforcement policy. Authorised Officers are also aware that it is the Council’s policy to offer advice where this is appropriate or requested, particularly in regard to small and medium sized businesses. Arrangements will be made to inspect and register any food premises found to be trading but which have not registered with the Authority. It will not normally be the policy of the Authority to submit a report to the Crown regarding failure to register alone unless a food business operator habitually refuses to do so or in combination with the discovery of unregistered premises in a serious state of non-compliance with food law. The enforcement policy for Council operated food businesses will be as detailed within the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) however the standards expected and required are no different to those demanded in private sector premises. The Service will adhere to the HSE’s enforcement policy statement in relation to matters of occupational health & safety. SECTION 3: SERVICE DELIVERY 3.1 Food and Health & Safety Premises Interventions Food Safety Previously we had a target of achieving at least 96% of all our programmed food inspections. In 2018/19, which was the last complete year we had pre-pandemic we reached this target. In 2021/22, our target was revised to 60% as it was dependent on staff resource available to undertake the Food Law Recovery Process (FLR). We achieved 87% of planned interventions by the scheduled date. The Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) requires that establishments receive an Intervention no more than 28 days after the scheduled date, unless they are rated Band E, the lowest possible rating. The scheduled dates for FLR visits are the latest date by which that intervention should be undertaken and do not have a 28 day grace period. Our performance in terms of the Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) is therefore greater than that reported if taking account of the 28 day grace period for some interventions. Year 1 was a lighter year in terms of food law recovery and the associated scheduled dates for intervention which has allowed us to bring forward some Interventions from Year 2, one of the two heaviest years forecast in terms of FLR. The target for 2022/23 has been set at 70% for programmed food inspections. Note: -Undertaking inspections is dependent upon Covid-19 restrictions not being reimposed by new legislation. Business Regulation stepped up to being an ‘early adopter’ of the new Annex 5 pilot scheme and participated in the implementation group, having formerly worked in partnership with FSS to develop a viable alternative for rating of food establishments referred to as the Food Law Rating System (FLRS). The FLRS combines the rating systems for Food Hygiene and Food Standards into one Food Law Intervention scheme based upon a new Food Business performance model that will target resources on high to medium risk and non-compliant businesses. This impacts upon the frequency of inspection of food establishments for both hygiene and standards components of what is now known as a ‘food law’ inspection. The scheme went live to all local authorities on 1 July 2019 and has since been formally adopted by us. The FLRS takes account of a food business operator’s track record of compliance and where this is good, they will receive ‘earned recognition’ influencing the risk rating to reduce intervention frequency. This will assist resources to be targeted towards businesses which consistently fail to achieve satisfactory standards and which will be subjected to sustained and intense enforcement activity.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 14 This links into our policy for working more efficiently, effectively ensuring that resources are always targeted where they are most needed. In addition, new premises will receive an initial inspection to check that everything is in order and will be risk rated in accordance with the Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019. The only food businesses which would not be subjected to proactive inspections are low risk Group 3 Band A premises which following initial or subsequent intervention or where the food registration form gives sufficient information to make determination that there is minimal inherent risk, and the Lead Food Officer determines either to place the business on a 60 month intervention frequency or choose not to undertake a proactive intervention. Questionnaires would be used to assess ongoing compliance with Group 3 Band A premises, with inspections being carried out only where deemed necessary. Impact of Covid-19 On 17 March 2020, following publicity of Covid-19 cases within a care home located within North Lanarkshire, NLC food officers stood down inspections initially of premises with a community risk including care homes, hospices, hospitals, schools, pensioners clubs and prisons, due to Covid-19, then of all other inspections/visits until a policy was formulated with forthcoming advice from FSS. This means that our intervention programme from 2019/2020 was not completed and there was a carry over. Face to face interventions were again stood down late December 2021 to end of January 2022 due to the wave of Omicron variant, except where required to protect public health or safety and where remote working would not be sufficient. Food Law Code of Practice deviations: Given the unprecedented nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and national infection control measures introduced in March 2020, and the anticipated disruption caused by staff shortages, it was recognised that deviation from certain elements of the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 (the Code), and associated Interventions Food Law Code of Practice 2019, would be necessary to ensure Local Authority Environmental Health Services had the ability to undertake wider public health duties related to Covid-19. LAs received written confirmation (FSS/ENF/20/006) from FSS that the Minister for Public Health and Sport agreed to allow LAs to deviate from the Code and the agreement covered the following areas which are considered to be reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances. Food Law Code of Practice deviations included: a) Food Law interventions to all care facilities including hospitals, care homes, nurseries, and childminders. b) Planned programmed Interventions at all lower risk Group 2 and 3 businesses within the Food Law Rating System (FLRS), and all Crown Establishments. c) Low risk primary production activities - exception for dairy farms supplying raw milk for the manufacture of raw milk cheese. This includes on farm inspection to assess compliance against primary production controls. d) Approved establishments and other high risk manufacturers may limit access to high risk production areas. Therefore, it is recommended that Interventions at Approved establishments, and higher risk FLRS Group 1 businesses, are based on an initial Food Safety Management System and associated documentation audit followed up by physical inspection only if public health concerns are identified. e) Intelligence driven Interventions at all food business establishments regardless of category should continue where possible. Intelligence will include information that suggests fraudulent activity or imminent risk to public health, e.g. consumer complaints, credible allegations of food poisoning, failed samples of a serious nature that suggest fraud or health risk. The Food Law Code of Practice deviations were then revised and extended to 31 August 2021: a) Food Law interventions to all care facilities including hospitals, care homes, nurseries, and childminders. Restricting interventions in this sector will assist with maintaining physical distance requirements and acknowledges the associated risks to these vulnerable groups.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 15 b) Planned programmed Interventions in all risk levels above a C band across all business groups within the FLRS and all Crown Establishments. c) Low risk primary production activities - exception for dairy farms supplying raw milk for the manufacture of raw milk cheese. This includes on farm inspection to assess compliance against primary production controls. It was confirmed with FSS that for interventions of C,D & E premises which are no longer included in deviations from the Code that we can continue with established current practice during Pandemic, i.e. initial remote assessment (Official Control Verification letter or business questionnaire) with follow up visit being carried out only where deemed necessary to protect public health. Ongoing demands on Service meant that we have adopted this approach for Band D & Es but did not have the current capacity to also adopt for Band Cs due the increased time resource required for remote assessments and other demands on the Service. Food Law Code of Practice deviations recovery plans FSS and SFELC agreed broad principles on which Local Authority Covid-19 Recovery Plans would be based. A project to deliver the framework for each Scottish Local Authority to reconfigure or reset its intervention programme was undertaken by the SFELC covid-19 Recovery Working Group. The desired outcome of this project was to assist LAs devise their work programme and help the authority recover from the pandemic. This includes adaption of Intervention Plans to accommodate not only those establishments/interventions which were ‘missed’ during the Covid-19 lockdown phase but also those which had previously fallen out of scope as a consequence of being missed. The estimation of staffing resources required is also based on the SFELC Covid-19 Recovery Working Group guidance for calculating staffing resources. The project was designed to facilitate the following by defined completion dates: • Local Authorities will present a revised Intervention Programme which will operate from a defined date; • The Intervention Programme shall include all food establishments, each being accorded a revised due intervention date; • Every food establishment on the Intervention Programme shall be risk-rated in accordance with the Interventions Code 2019 Food Law Rating Scheme, except for approved premises and primary producers which remain under Annex 5 Risk Rating Systems; • Every Local Authority shall present a Service Plan, incorporating the revised Intervention Programme in addition to all other responsibilities, in accordance with the current service planning guidance (Note the forthcoming Administration and Service Planning, Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2020, is expected to be published by December 2022. ) • Local Authorities shall calculate the total FTE resource required to satisfy the Intervention Programme and the remainder of the Service Plan by means of an agreed calculation methodology. It was acknowledged that the project outcomes would highlight some shortfall in available resources at some Local Authorities. While clear sight of these shortfalls is an essential deliverable of the project, the project scope does not extend to addressing these deficits in any practical sense. Methodology SFELC convened a short-life working group which delivered the key requirements. All Scottish Local Authorities were invited to participate and NLC was represented. A FSS Project Team was assembled to support the SFELC Working Group and provide oversight of progress. The SFELC Working Group had 4 work streams: 1. Desktop Transfer: The initial formula to convert premises on Annex 5 to FLRS. 2. Creation of an intervention programme: Ensuring all FLRS premises are within the revised Inspection Programme with due intervention dates included. 3. Resource Calculation: Based on the SFELC resource methodology on FSS/SFELC website and refining this to accommodate current circumstances. 4. Service Planning Guidance: Revising the Service Planning Guidance and using the draft Administration and Service Planning Food Law Code of Practice. The outcome of the SFELC Working Group was published in December 2020 ‘Local Authority Recovery Project Recovery Process Guidance’.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 16 There are Tables with Appendices 3, 4 and 5 which explain the calculation of resource requirements for food law recovery and programmed interventions. Appendix 3- These resource calculations are for a 12 month period, with Year 1 commencing on 1 October 2021. • Appendix 3 Table 1 - Annual Breakdown of Food Law Recovery Plan Interventions Required to Be Carried Out - details the total number of planned food law recovery interventions to be undertaken within the maximum timeframe after the Intervention Start Date, including Approved Premises and Group 1 Manufacturers. Note there are further details of how these should be spread within that time frame depending on Priorities within FSS and SFELC Recovery Process Guidance. • Appendix 3 Table 2 - Food Law Interventions Recovery - Officer FTE Resource Calculation Per Intervention Category (Recovery Visits Only) - details the Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver the food law recovery interventions only. NB - this does not include other interventions in addition to food law recovery inspections during this period. • Appendix 3 Table 3 - Estimate of Timescales and Numbers for Food Law Recovery Intervention and First Next Programmed Intervention After Food Law Recovery Intervention - this is a breakdown of the number of food law recovery interventions and first recurring risk assessed intervention per group and band which require to be scheduled across the five years of the recovery period. • Appendix 3 Table 4 - Calculation of Resources Required for First Next Programmed Intervention After Food Law Recovery Intervention - this only takes into account the first recurring risk assessed programmed intervention, following the Food Law Recovery Intervention and Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver it. It does not account for further recurring risk assessed programmed interventions e.g. those at 12, 18 or 24 intervention intervals which might fall again within the 5 year recovery period. Nor does the figure include projected Band E intensive 1 month interventions and Band D intensive 3 month interventions, revisits and new premises inspections. • Appendix 3 Table 5 - Combined Estimate FTE Resource Calculation Per Annum for Food Law Recovery and PI Interventions - details likely timescale for when next programmed inspection will be due after food law recovery inspection and the Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver the food law recovery interventions and next programmed interventions after food law recovery intervention. It does not include projected Band E intensive 1 month interventions and Band D intensive 3 month interventions, the anticipated uplift in enforcement action, revisits and visits to new premises registering from 1 October. • Appendix 3 Table 6 - Summary of FTE Base Resource Needed to Meet FLRP+ First Recurring PI Thereafter - this is a summary of FTE resource needed to meet the Food Law Recovery Plan and the first recurring PI thereafter only. It does not include projected Band E intensive 1 month interventions and Band D intensive 3 month interventions, the anticipated uplift in enforcement action, revisits and visits to new premises registering from 1 October. • Appendix 3 Table 7 - Estimate of Minimum FTE Resource Requirement for Revisit Interventions - this is a summary of FTE resource needed to meet the revisit requirement of Food Law Recovery Plan and the first recurring PI thereafter only. This resource calculation is based on a 1 hour revisit for every intervention averaged out across the 5 years. Whilst some premises will not require a revisit, others will require longer revisits or multiple revisits. It was intended to bring forward year 2 visits into year 1 if there was capacity. This Table does not include revisits to projected Band E and D intensive 1 month and 3 month interventions. The purpose of revisits is to monitor non-compliant standards arising from the initial inspection and/or matters of evident concern. • Appendix 3 Table 8 - Additional Food Law Interventions Arising from Poor Compliance and From New Businesses Year 1 Estimate Only - poor compliance interventions relate to a minimum frequency of re- intervention of 1 month, followed by 3 months, after service of formal notices or serious non-compliance.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 17 This is a summary of FTE resource needed to meet Year 1 projected 78 Band E intensive 1 month interventions ( based on total numbers of Remedial Action Notices and Voluntary Closure Agreements during 2018-19 and an anticipated 200% uplift in enforcement action due to the pause in interventions) which at best will result in a further 78 subsequent Band D 3 month interventions. This is during a 12 month period until 30 September 2022. These are estimated as Group 2 Band D & E resource requirement. The number of anticipated new businesses interventions is based on previous annual figures and are estimated as Group 2, Band C, average resource requirement. • Appendix 3 Table 9 - Estimated Resource Required for Formal Food Enforcement Notices - this is a summary of FTE resource needed for formal food enforcement notices served in a typical year pre-Covid (2018-19). • Appendix 3 Table 10 - Service Requests Resource Summary-Based on A Typical Year Pre-Covid (2018-19)- details Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver service requests for the range of functions undertaken by Business Regulation in a typical year pre-Covid (2018-19) • Appendix 3 Table 11 - Miscellaneous Foreseeable Additional Demands on Service Resource - details Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver additional demands on Service not included elsewhere. Please note that in respect of FHIS Uploads included in this table, although there is some input required from officers, there is significant Support resource provided to undertake the main body of this work which reduces the burden that would otherwise be placed on officers. Excluded from this table is, for example, work related to COVID-19 pandemic, food poisoning outbreaks and reports to the Crown as these are impossible to quantify. • Appendix 3 Table 12 - Estimate of Resources Required to Deliver Business Regulation Service Across The Food Law Recovery Period (Oct 2021-Sep 2026) - details Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver demands on Service. This is a conservative figure. Formal Food Enforcement Notices are based on numbers served in 2018-19 of which there are anticipated to be more during the food law recovery period. Food Law Interventions arising from poor compliance have been included only for Year 1. Excluded also is, for example, work related to COVID-19 pandemic, food poisoning outbreaks and reports to the Crown as these are impossible to quantify. Appendix 4 – Updated Tables of Calculations and Information Relating to Staff Resources for Service Plan 2022- 2023 including Year 2 of Food Law Recovery Plan commencing 1 October 2022. • Appendix 4 Table 1 - Annual Breakdown of Food Law Recovery Plan Interventions Required to Be Carried Out- details the total number of planned food law recovery interventions to be undertaken within the maximum timeframe after the Intervention Start Date, including Approved Premises and Group 1 Manufacturers. Note there are further details of how these should be spread within that time frame depending on Priorities within FSS and SFELC Recovery Process Guidance. • Appendix 4 Table 2 - Food Law Interventions Recovery - Officer FTE Resource Calculation Per Intervention Category (Recovery Visits and New Premises Only) - details the Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver the food law recovery interventions only. Note this does not include other interventions in addition to food law recovery inspections during this period. • Appendix 4 Table 3 - Estimate of Minimum FTE Resource Requirement for Revisit Interventions - this is a summary of FTE resource needed to meet the revisit requirement of Food Law Recovery Plan and the first recurring PI thereafter only. This resource calculation is based on a 1 hour revisit for every intervention averaged out across the 5 years. Whilst some premises will not require a revisit, others will require longer revisits or multiple revisits. This includes some year 2 visits being brought into year 1 where capacity exists. This Table does not include revisits to projected Band E and D intensive 1 month and 3 month interventions. The purpose of revisits is to monitor non-compliant standards arising from the initial inspection and/or matters of evident concern.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 18 • Appendix 4 Table 4 - Estimate of Resources Required to Deliver Business Regulation Service Across the Food Law Recovery Period (Oct 2021-Sep 2026) - details Officer FTE resource estimated to deliver demands on the Service. This is a conservative figure. Formal Food Enforcement Notices are based on numbers served in 2018-19 of which there are anticipated to be more during the food law recovery period. Food Law Interventions arising from poor compliance have been included only for Year 1. Excluded also is, for example, work related to COVID-19 pandemic, food poisoning outbreaks and reports to the Crown as these are impossible to quantify The estimated resource requirement is under ongoing review. At July 2022,we are still within Year 1 of the Intervention Programme Start Date. Appendix 5 - Premises Outwith Food Law Rating - Calculation of Required Annual Resource (July 2022) - Approved Premises, High-Risk Group 1 Manufacturers and Primary Producers. This details Officer FTE to deliver interventions of Approved Premises and High Risk Group 1 Manufacturers based on Official Control Verification (OCV) principles and other business still operating under Annex 5 (Food Hygiene and Food Standards), except those approved by FSS and for which we deal with Food Standards only and are included within Appendix 3 Table 11. At July 2022, Year 1 of Food Law Recovery is still ongoing. Food Law interventions are combined interventions covering both food hygiene and food standards interventions. The resource calculation has been reviewed but does not present a full year of interventions since the start of the food law recovery and remains a conservative figure. Due to Year 2 being a heavier year in terms of food law recovery inspections than Year 1, we have started to bring forward interventions due within 18 months to Year 1, where capacity exists. The estimated inspection activity for Year 2 (commencing 1 October 2022) is therefore summarised below. Estimated Inspection Activity Sub-Totals Total Number of Food Law Interventions due to end of Year 2 FLR 30/9/23 (This does not take into account revisits, new premises visits or formal actions) 1575 Additional Food Law Interventions Arising from Poor Compliance and From New Businesses (Appendix 3 Table 8)- projected Band E intensive 1 month interventions ( based on total numbers of Remedial Action Notices and Voluntary Closure Agreements during 2019 - 2020 and an anticipated 200% uplift in enforcement action due to the pause in interventions) which at best will result in subsequent Band D 3 month interventions 78 Band E & 78 Band D 156 Secondary food law inspections (or revisits). The purpose of revisits is to monitor non-compliant standards arising from the initial inspection and/or matters of evident concern. Resource calculations for revisits for Year 1 (12 months) average over 5 years is recorded in Appendix 3 Table 7 to estimate for Year 2 1,338 1388 New Premises Inspections -Premises currently registered and awaiting inspection 123 123 Total 3242 Our average annual number of revisits to check on non-compliance over 2016 to 2019 was 1,218 (991 food hygiene and 227 food standards). The revisits we undertook in 2019/2020 were 461 food law, 172 food hygiene and 27 food standards. Our average annual number of new premises visits over 2016 to 2019 for food hygiene was 208 and for
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 19 food standards is 207. The new premises inspections we undertook in 2019/2020 were 190 food law, 63 food hygiene and 62 food standards. For a 6 month period during Year 1 FLR (1 January to 30 June 2022) we undertook 244 food law revisits. It was expected that due to the anticipated increase in enforcement action, the number of revisits required in Year 1 would be at a higher rate in comparison to Interventions undertaken than in previous years, with the resource required to deliver this being calculated over a 5 Year average in Appendix 3 Table 7. Not included here are any unpredictable or ad hoc interventions, for example, responding to consumer concerns over poor cleanliness or structural conditions, hygiene malpractices or unsatisfactory foods prepared or sold locally. The new FLRS places more emphasis on previously under enforced food standards matters and is therefore more resource intensive. In addition, the Service has continued with the rollout of the OCV audit process for approved premises. Training rolled out by FSS on this to ensure that officers can robustly challenge documentation provided by food business operators was delivered in 2022. The OCV checklist continues to be used to undertake desk top assessments of Group1 businesses, including manufacturers in line with Food Law Code of Practice deviations permitted by The Minister for Public Health and Sport and it is the intention to commence OCV audit process for the high risk Group 1 manufacturers. The OCV approach has been developed to ensure that the verification of a food control management system (FCMS) during an official control inspection is systematic, structured and scientific. It also ensures that the FCMS is verified both in terms of its validation and implementation. Implementation of this new process will significantly increase the time spent on official control visits at approved establishments. With regard to the inspection of food premises outwith normal working hours, our policy is to ensure that, where premises are only open out with normal hours, appropriate provision is made for them to be inspected in accordance with at least the minimum number of visits determined by their risk rating. Health & Safety There is a Statement of commitment between Local Authority and HSE Regulatory Services which sets out our shared vision for an ongoing LA/HSE co-regulatory partnership available via https://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/statement.htm and which is appended to this Service Plan. In our interventions, we will respect the key provisions of the National Local Authority Enforcement Code. Priority action is resource dependent and will focus on matters pertinent locally. Fuller details of the occupational health & safety targets and objectives are prescribed in the report’s Appendix 1 and are subject to adequate resources. Other projects may be added where they present nationally via the HSE, regionally from the West of Scotland Health & Safety Liaison Group meetings or within North Lanarkshire through local intelligence. During 2021/2022 we undertook health and safety inspections of hotels and other accommodation is use for COP26 to check for legislative compliance and reduce likelihood of incidents arising to help ensure the success of COP26 and protect reputation of all agencies involved. It is estimated that 3 FTE of warranted officers time is spent on Health and Safety (based upon previous years’ intervention findings, though we anticipate this resource requirement to increase post pandemic). 3.2 Food and Food Premises Complaints The Authority’s policy regarding the investigation of food complaints is detailed in the Service Delivery Procedure QAP 5.3 (Business Regulation) within the ISO 9001: 2000 Quality Management Document and within the Service’s
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 20 Food and Food Premises Complaints Policy and Food Complaints Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).The Service intends to seek to maintain the performance target for investigating food complaints by commencing the investigation of a minimum of 90% food complaints within two working day’s notification. In addition, we will observe the advice contained within LACORS guidance on food complaints and liaise with home/primary and/or originating authorities. It is difficult to base resources on last year’s trends as we don’t know the effect that COVID-19 might have had on the number of complaints made and so resources required. However, other routes of complaint investigation and recall processes that may be required should be considered, as during the COVID-19 pandemic, many food businesses have changed their operation, now having a greater presence on social media/digital platforms and therefore wider distribution. In addition, it is anticipated that an increased number of establishments will be under new ownership or management. Our average annual number of consumer complaints is 307 based on the last three years prior to 1 April 2020. These complaints may relate to the nature, substance or quality of foods, the condition of the businesses from where the foods were made or sold or the malpractice of food business operators. During 2020/2021 we processed 291 individual food and food premises complaints, which is a drop from 2019/2020 (317) and 2018/2019 (334) but an increase on 2017/2018 (273). The 291 individual food complaints and complaints against food premises processed during 2020/21 were despite the impact Covid restrictions had on trading. In 2021/2022 we dealt with 294 Food and Food Premises Complaints, excluding ‘Other Food’ service requests logged for the Service. In the first quarter of 2022/23, there were 63 Food and Food Premises Complaints received compared with 92 in the first quarter of 2021/2022. Again, the figures above exclude ‘Other Food’ service requests logged for the Service. It is estimated that during 2022/23, we will deal with 300 consumer complaints, and which includes ‘Other Food’ jobs logged. They vary in complexity and the time required to complete our enquiries and can require corroboration increasing resource demand. Food and Food Premises Complaints are only a fraction of the overall Service Requests dealt with by the Service during 2021/2022. During this period 2,600 service requests were dealt with by Business Regulation, which is 33% more than the annual average from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020. The estimate of anticipated resource required to process Food and Food Premises Complaints, including ‘Other Food’ service requests in a typical year is recorded in Appendix 3 Table 7 Service Requests. 3.3 Home Authority Principle/ Primary Authority Partnerships This Authority supported the LACORS principle of the home authority which has undergone review. We do not act as Home Authority for any businesses within the food sector. Home Authority agreements exist with other UK local authorities and for which we continue to liaise with those authorities where appropriate. There are currently no Primary Authority Partnerships in place in North Lanarkshire. Where businesses have Primary Authority Partnerships (PAPs) with other local Authorities, inspection plans and guidance published by the PAP will be considered and as a matter of course there will be liaison with the PAP if formal enforcement action is considered. Notwithstanding this, advice and guidance is given freely, where requested, to food traders and numerous enquiries are dealt with from other Authorities throughout the UK in accordance with the following broad principles. • Special emphasis is placed on the monitoring of goods and services originating from this area. • Guidance and advice are given to businesses on food safety matters. • Enforcement action makes provision for liaison with Other Authorities, where appropriate. 3.4 Advice to Businesses Free advice is normally given to food safety and occupational health & safety businesses following routine interventions and/or in response to separate enquiries.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 21 There is also a partnership agreement with Business Gateway to offer free advice to start up and ‘fledgling’ businesses who choose to locate within North Lanarkshire. This was stood down due to pandemic as it is reliant on information being furnished by Business Gateway, but we anticipate that this will resume as part of business recovery. We regard the advice given by our Officers as being an important part of our role as a regulator in helping businesses to understand what is required and what good practice looks like. We are keen to ensure that all this work is undertaken to the highest possible standard and, wherever possible, improve the level of customer service. As part of this process, customer satisfaction questionnaires were sent to all businesses following a routine intervention to ascertain the level of customer service and to afford the recipients of our service, an opportunity to make their views on the level of customer service we provide, known to us. By doing so, we also commit to improve our standards where we can. This was stood down during the Pandemic and will be reviewed to digitise the process before resuming. During each phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we provided advice, information and support to help secure the confidence of those operating in the food and drink sector. The demand on the service was significant and during 2020-21 included over recorded 2,600 service requests for Covid work for Business Regulation. This includes service requests from business, complaints against business, proactive visits and outbreak investigations. It does not include the proactive visits carried out during projects where recording was undertaken by exception only. In addition to this, the Service sent in excess of 3,500 email communications to businesses, primarily within the food and drink sector to assist with food safety, health and safety and Covid mitigations, for businesses which were able to continue operating to operate as well as those restating after a period of closure as follows: During 2021/2022 Business Regulation used mailshot email communications with business for relevant matters arising e.g. introduction of new legislation relating to food prepacked for direct sale (Natasha’s Law) . Our average number of business advice requests is 195 based on the last 3 years prior to Covid. During 2021/2022 we received 120. It is anticipated this demand will be ongoing. These vary in complexity and time required to complete. As such it is difficult to accurately assess resource implications. Customer service satisfaction questionnaires are also dispatched to all other service users where a request has been logged on our computer system. This includes food product and food business premises complaints, infectious disease investigations, health & safety issues and complaints and enquiries from members of the public. This was stood down during the Pandemic and will be reviewed to digitise the process before resuming. 3.5 Food Inspection and Sampling The policy of this Authority is to have an effective routine sampling programme where the principal aim is to assist in protecting the public and to meet relevant statutory obligations. The main thrust of the sampling programme is to focus on high risk food premises and on local manufacturers. The Council also participates in sampling initiatives agreed by the West of Scotland Food Liaison Group. The analysis or examination of food and water samples is conducted by Glasgow Scientific Services who are also consulted with regard to the nature and range of samples proposed to be taken each year in accordance with the requirements of the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland). Whilst our annual Sampling Programme for 2022/2023 has still to be created, it will continue to be a risk based approach and will be undertaken in accordance with our Sampling Policy. It will focus on high risk premises within North Lanarkshire and is based on local priorities, as well as national priorities recommended by FSS, SFELC and projects agreed within West of Scotland Food Liaison Group.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 22 Note: The number of samples taken will be determined by availability and priorities for the year. 3.6 Control and Investigation of Communicable Disease including Outbreaks and Food Related Infectious Disease This Authority has developed and agreed an Outbreak Control Plan with NHS Lanarkshire which confirms agreed procedures for the investigation and control of food poisoning. North Lanarkshire Council works in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Council and has produced a Joint Health Protection Plan for the Lanarkshire area. This is an important document which acts as a reference point for assisting in the investigation and control of public health outbreaks and incidents. Desktop exercises to ‘test’ plans have been useful in the past and are likely to be repeated. Our average annual number of confirmed cases of food poisoning notified is 106 based on three years prior to 1 April 2020. In 2020/21, 40 cases of food poisoning were reported to this Authority by NHS Lanarkshire, which is a significant drop in previous years. In 2021/22, 47 cases of food poisoning were reported to this Authority by Authority by NHS Lanarkshire which is 17.5% increase from the previous year. We responded to 98% of these within timeframe. The estimate of anticipated resource required to process IDs based on a typical year is recorded in Appendix 3 Table 7 Service Requests. The Service seeks to maintain that a target of a minimum of 94% of infectious disease cases will be responded to within the timeframes stated within the NHSL Epidemiological Investigation Protocol. The number of notifications is anticipated to increase due to the return of international travel. In response to the Omicron Wave of Covid-19 in December 2021, Protective Services established a Covid Team which consisted of an Assistant Business Manager (Acting Up Temporary), a Senior Officer (Acting Up Temporary) and, from Business Regulation, 2 seconded Environmental Health Officers. One of the 2 EHOs remained within the team for 1 month and the other for 3 months, which impacted on the non- Covid work undertaken by that staffing resource. It is estimated that over 45% of Business Regulation staff time was dedicated to pandemic response during 2021/22 and over 80% in 2020/21. The time spent on non- Covid work was also impacted due to precautions to be taken and alternative ways of working to be found, resulting in work taking longer than would otherwise have been the case. Face to face interventions were again stood down late December to end of January due to the wave of Omicron variant, except where required to protect public health or safety and where remote working would not be sufficient. It is unknown what further ask may be made of the Service due to Covid or other Pandemics in future. The Service is currently working with NHS Lanarkshire Public Health in respect of Monkeypox. 3.7 Food Safety Incidents These are dealt with in accordance with the procedures detailed in the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland). An out of office hours stand by service is maintained to respond to emergencies including Food Alerts for Action (FAFA) issued through Food Standards Scotland’s warning system. No FAFA were received from FSS in 2018/2019 to 2021/2022. It is estimated that that we will receive no more than 5 Food Alerts For Action from FSS during 2022/23. During 2021/2022 we dealt with 10 Food Safety Incidents and Investigations in partnership with FSS. These are an intense use of officer resource requiring input from multiple officers and management working in partnership with Food Standards Scotland Food Crime and Incidents Unit, with implications across Scotland and UK. The majority of these were in the 4th quarter of 2021/2022. This number is far greater than previously experienced and forecast but is difficult to predict. One of these incidents remains under active surveillance and officer involvement is ongoing. During the first quarter of 2022/2023, we have dealt with 4 Food Safety Incidents and Investigations.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 23 In addition, we undertook food interventions of hotels and suppliers relevant to COP26 to check for legislative compliance and reduce likelihood of incidents arising to help ensure the success of COP26 and protect reputation of all agencies involved. The estimate of anticipated resource required to process Food Safety Incidents in a typical year is recorded in Appendix 3 Table 8 - Miscellaneous Foreseeable Additional Demands on Service Resource. Food Safety Incidents may be linked with Food Crime and Fraudulent Activities, Paragraph 3.10. 3.8 Liaison with Other Organisations To ensure a consistent approach to enforcement action with neighbouring local authorities, North Lanarkshire is represented in the West of Scotland Food Liaison Group (WSFLG) and the West of Scotland Health & Safety Liaison Group (WSHSLG). North Lanarkshire is also a WSHSLG representative on the Health and Safety Co-ordinating Group Scotland (HASCOG), a group which co-ordinates health and safety enforcement. The Authority is also represented on the Official Control Verification Working Group (OCV). The OCV Working Group is a new group amalgamated from The Approved Establishment and the OCV Implementation Working Groups. NL was represented at SFELC Seafood Working Group for a Scottish solution to Export Health Certification requirements for Scottish Seafood Industry in preparation for our exit from EU in respect of fish exporters. The Service continues to participate as necessary. Internally, the Service liaises with Planning and Building Standards to ensure responses to planning and building warrant consultations are responded to within timeframe. The control of ventilation within the workplace is one of the key mitigations in control of Coronavirus. It is therefore anticipated that ventilation requirements within new builds will be of key consideration in both planning and building warrant consultations on which this Service will be consulted. This Service also liaises with Licensing to ensure the same for licensing consultations and provides Section 50 Certification for premises confirming they meet with the structural requirements of food legislation. The Service is also represented on NLC’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) which co-ordinates and considers event applications to NLC. As previously stated, NLC works in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Council and has produced a Joint Health Protection Plan for the Lanarkshire area. This is an important document which acts as a reference point for assisting in the investigation and control of public health outbreaks and incidents. Although the Pandemic has greatly increased our level of interaction between NHS Lanarkshire Public Health, Liaison Meetings with NHS Lanarkshire were always held on a regular basis and will continue to be so. The estimate of anticipated resource required to process services requests in respect of liaison with other organisations and internally is recorded in Appendix 3 Table 7 - Service Requests - Based on a typical year pre-Covid (2018-19). Table 7 does not include provision of mutual aid. 3.9 EU Exit Of greatest concern in respect of the impact of EU exit was the Scottish food export market and in particular fish and shellfish. North Lanarkshire has two major fish exporters within its boundary. Prior to 1 January 2021 there was no need for export health certificates (EHCs) for such produce to the EU, however this changed due to exit which in short means that each individual consignment of fish/ shellfish requires an individual EHC. Export Certification Hubs such as those within North Lanarkshire reduced the impact of EHCs required and therefore associated charges. This was foreseen to place a very significant burden on those LAs in which they are situated and who were unable to resource it from current staffing resources without a very significant and detrimental impact to other public health roles and to the Local Authorities statutory functions. In July 2020, Scottish Government determined that provision of EHCs at the Hubs would be overseen by FSS and not LAs. North Lanarkshire Council formally offered mutual aid to FSS in respect of fish export hubs located within the district, effective from 1 January 2021. This was to ensure adequate resource was in place at the hubs to issue Export Health Certificates and thereby prevent exports being adversely hampered by the pandemic. Although this has not been called upon, the mutual aid for other agency partners remains in place and this may place further strain on resources.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 24 The Hub model requires risk based certification of fishery products and live bivalve molluscs which required originating authorities, including North Lanarkshire, to provide attestations of compliance of supplier premises to Food Standards Scotland which oversees the hubs. These are done in at least 6 monthly intervals and require ongoing OCV audit of supplier premises. We have also provided support and guidance to other approved premises and manufacturing premises which export to assist with the complex EU exit rules which now exist. This resulted in over 17 Service Requests from December 2020 to 31 March 2021, and further Service Requests in 2021/22. These can involve complex considerations following export issues at Border Control Posts and can require liaison with both FSS and Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The impact of NI Protocol agreement is not yet fully known due to the temporary derogations. Any deviation from the NI Protocol could result in additional demands for advice and guidance. 3.10 Food and Health & Safety Promotion We aim to continue to give our full support in 2022/2023 to Food Standards Scotland’s Eat Safe Initiative. The scheme consists of an award granted by Councils to specific categories of food businesses within the scheme which meet standards of hygiene in excess of that required by current food hygiene legislation. It is intended to promote the scheme, wherever possible, to encourage as many food businesses as possible to attempt to obtain and retain the award thus helping to drive up food safety standards within North Lanarkshire. We will continue our partnership work with the Scottish Government and NHS Health Scotland to promote the Healthy Living Award via our website. The Healthy Living Award was paused due to Covid-19 Pandemic and restarted in May 2022. We will also continue to work with the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to promote health & safety in small and medium sized businesses within North Lanarkshire. And we will work with the HSE to promote national priority topics and campaigns such as ‘Helping GB Work Well’. It is difficult to accurately assess resource implications for the initiatives and promotional work which we aim to undertake during 2022/2023. It is also difficult to identify measures that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of these. 3.10 Food Crime and Fraudulent Activities Activity that is classed as Food Fraud and / or Food Crime can be described as serious dishonesty that impacts detrimentally on either the safety or the authenticity of food. Food Fraud is a dishonest act or omission, relating to the sale or preparation of food, which is intended for personal gain or to cause loss to another party. Food Crime (serious Food Fraud) is considered to be serious or complex fraud or serious and dishonest regulatory non-compliance in relation to food, drink and animal feed. Upon suspicion of Food Fraud, action shall be taken as set out within the Service Food Incidents, Alerts, Food Fraud & Food Crime Policy and Standard Operating Procedure, which are aligned with the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019. There is an anticipated increase in food crime and fraudulent activities as a result of our exit from the EU. These are an intense use of officer resource requiring input from multiple officers and management working in partnership with Food Standards Scotland Food Crime and Incidents Unit, and across other local authorities. The estimate of anticipated resource required to process Food Crime in a typical year is recorded in Appendix 3 Table 8 - Miscellaneous Foreseeable Additional Demands on Service Resource. Food Crime and Fraudulent Activities may be linked with Food Safety Incidents, Paragraph 3.7.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 25 3.12 Other Demands on Service The average annual number of service Requests dealt with by Business Regulation from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020 was 1,951. During 2020/2021, Business Regulation alone undertook over 5,000 service requests, which included proactive and reactive Covid visits to businesses, including long and complicated COVID outbreak investigations involving multiple officers. This does not include the 953 Covid complaints and visits undertaken by Trading Standards colleagues, which again excludes the proactive visits they carried out during projects where recording was undertaken by exception only. During 2021/2022, Business Regulation dealt with 2,600 service requests, which is 33% more than the annual average from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020. SECTION 4: RESOURCES 4.1 Financial Allocation The cost of operating the food safety service is estimated at £994,973. This is based on 80% of Business Regulation staff resource being spent on Food Safety (and is inclusive of the annual SLA charge for GSS which is utilised across other NLC services and is £267,000 this financial year). There is no specific financial provision for any legal action necessary as part of our enforcement function as this is provided within the Council by its Legal & Democratic Solutions Service. 4.2 Staffing Allocation The current Business Regulation Service staff establishment is as follows: • Protective Services Manager (Non-operational and shared with Pollution Control & Public Health and Trading Standards) • Assistant Business Manager (Business Regulation) who is also Lead Food Officer • 3 Senior FTE Environmental Health Officers • 13.5 FTE Environmental Health Officers • 1 FTE Food Safety Officers • 3 Vacant Posts 1 Temporary & 2 Permanent (Recruitment for 1 Permanent Post underway July 2022) The Service is jointly responsible for food safety and occupational health & safety issues. Consequently, staff have a dual role, but flexibility is applied whereby staff resources will be used wherever there is most need and this will be kept under review. The Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 details competency and authorisation levels of Authorised Officers of Food Authorities who carry out interventions, in line with Regulation (EC) No 882/2004. Authorisation Levels are published on NLC’s website. EH and FSO competency and authorisation levels at 4 July 2022: Designation Number of FTE Officers Certifying Support Officer Competency EHO >2 Years Food Experience 11 N/A EHO <2 Years Food Experience 2.5 N/A FSO >2 Years Food Experience 1 N/A Total 14.5 0
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 26 The anticipated increase in our inspection activity due to the new Food Law Rating Scheme and intended roll out of OCV for approved premises and high risk Group 1 manufacturers placed doubt over North Lanarkshire Council’s resource capability to deliver its estimated inspection activity in 2019/2020. This resulted in the creation of an additional 2 FTE permanent EHO posts in November 2019. A review of Business Regulation Management Resource undertaken in August 2020 led to the creation of a third SEHO post and the deletion of a front line EHO post. Following approval at the Workforce Steering Group on 23 July 2021 for an additional 3 temporary EHOs/FSOs to assist with COVID recovery, recruitment campaigns for temporary staff were unsuccessful. FSS Resource Methodology Guidance was utilised to identify any potential shortfall in staffing compliment. Programmed food law Interventions resumed on 1 September 2021 following the Desktop Transfer and revised Intervention Programme. However, for performance monitoring and reporting purposes, the Intervention Programme Start Date for North Lanarkshire was 1 October 2021 as this will keep all quarterly reports aligned with normal Service planning and reporting. It is anticipated that the total resource required from the Intervention Programme Start Date of 1 October 2021 (provisional date) is as follows, as detailed in Appendix 4 Table 4: Activity/ statutory Duty Required FTE resource calculated- annual Required FTE resource calculated - over 5 years Food Law Recovery process visits 16.55 Food Interventions – first recurring programmed intervention only 18.80 FL intervention revisits 4.05 FL Interventions re Poor Compliance and New Businesses Year 1 Only 6.73 New Business Interventions Years 2 to 5 3.174 12.7 Service Requests 5.49 27.45 formal food enforcement notices 0.5 Health & Safety Enforcement 3 15 OCV/ group 1/Primary Producers 1.51 7.55 Subtotal – 5 year resource FTE 109.33 (21.87 Average per annum) Sickness/ Special Leave & Training 1.98 9.91 Miscellaneous Additional Demands on Service Resource 5.24 Total 124.48 FTE over 5 years 24.90 FTE per annum (average)
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 27 A ‘standard day’ figure for the calculation of resources required to meet food law obligations has been considered and determined that the figure of 5 hours is the most suitable. This figure accords with that in the OCV resource calculation. The number of working days per officer per year, taking account of annual leave and public holidays is 218, however other leave such as sickness absence, special leave and training still need to be factored in. This other leave has been considered in the above table to determine resource needed. As an alternative to recruitment consideration will again be given to the use of agency staff for inspections, if required, albeit any enforcement action will require to be handed back to NLC staff to implement. Costings of agency inspections will need to be undertaken before a final decision is taken on this. A review of North Lanarkshire Council resource to meet its statutory obligations in terms of the Interventions Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 and Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019 has been undertaken as part of the Food Law Code of Practice Deviation Recovery Plan. The estimated resource requirement shows a deficit in our resource to meet statutory requirements, even if the current vacant posts were to be filled. There is a national shortage of Environmental Health Officers which impacts on the success of recruitment campaigns, particularly for temporary posts. The estimated resource requirement is under ongoing review. At July 2022, we are still within Year 1 of the Intervention Programme Start Date. 4.3 Staff Development Plan The Service is committed to ensuring that staff receive sufficient training in order to properly conduct their statutory duties. The key aim of the performance review & development scheme (PRD) is to provide a means of identifying training which meet their professional requirements and help reach the targets of the Operational and Service Plans as well as the Single Outcome Agreement Framework. Limited management capacity within Business Regulation coupled with preparations for EU exit dates set and resource demands from the pandemic meant the Business Regulation Service was unable to deliver PRDs within 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. As yet there has not been the resource to do so within 2022/2023. It is however ensured that all Business Regulation staff undergo a minimum of 10 hours of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in food related matters, in line with requirements of the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) 2019. This was achieved in 2019/2020 ,2020/2021 and 2021/2022. In addition, all Environmental Health Officers within Business Regulation undergo a minimum of approximately 3 hours of health and safety CPD annually. Adequate time needs to be set aside to allow officers to familiarise themselves with new and amended legislation and guidance e.g. that relating to improving allergen information for food sold prepacked for direct sale introduced October 2021 (Natasha’s Law). In addition, there has been a need for officers to refamiliarize themselves with other food guidance as a result of food interventions having been stood down. Food Standards Scotland rolled out Level 4 HACCP Courses and OCV courses and which were successfully delivered online during the pandemic. The HACCP course lasted for 5 days with exams on the 6th day. The revised HACCP run in 4th quarter of 2021/2022 lasted for 4 days with exams on the 5th day. In addition, 1 day study leave is given to each officer attending to prepare for exams, in accordance with the Council’s Special Leave Policy. The OCV course also lasts for 4 days with exams on the 5th day. The revised OCV course during 2021/2022 ran for 3 days, with 14 hours pre-course reading. The time allocated to each course by the Council will be 6 days for Level 4 HACCP and 5 days for OCV. During 2021/2022 we had 15 staff attend OCV training and none attending Level 4 HACCP. It is hoped that during 2022/2023 4 staff will attend OCV training and 4 will attend Level 4 HACCP Training. During the first quarter of 2022/2023, 20 Business Regulation staff underwent Food Competent Certifying Officer (FCCO) training and successfully completed the examination. This qualifies BR Staff as FCCOs to provide and validate export health certificates and attestations for the purpose of international food exports post EU exit. Resource required for training is included within Appendix 3 Table 12 - Summary Estimate of Resources Required to Deliver Business Regulation Service Across the Food Law Recovery Period (Oct 2021-Sep 2026).
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 28 SECTION 5: QUALITY ASSESSMENT 5.1 Quality Assessment and Internal Monitoring Key food safety and health & safety policies and procedures are included within an ISO 9001: 2008 compliant Quality System and within the Services Food Policies and Standard Operating Procedures and are periodically reviewed to reflect on-going legislative and procedural changes. In response to the 2018 Audit by FSS, we reviewed our internal monitoring, which had previously formed part of the ISO System, and implemented an Internal Monitoring Policy and Procedure to ensure that the nature and quality of food law interventions undertaken by officers are, so far as is reasonably practical, carried out to a uniform high standard and that interpretation and action taken by officers is consistent. This Internal Monitoring Policy and Procedure was stood down due to the pause in food law interventions and the additional pressures placed on the Service in response to the pandemic. This is now being re-established following the restart of the food law recovery plan. SECTION 6: REVIEW 6.1 Review against the Operational Plan The Service Plan is reviewed quarterly by the Assistant Business Manager (Business Regulation) and details of reviews will be documented in the minutes of the PSMT and any decisions taken to address deficiencies shall be recorded therein. Review and reporting delivery of the 2019/2020 Service Plan was not concluded due to pressures placed upon the Service due to the pandemic. The intervention programme was not concluded because inspections were stood down on 17 March 2020. Inspections missed because of that are incorporated into the Food Recovery Plan contained within this Service Plan. Annual performance reports of Key Performance Indicators shall be published on North Lanarkshire Council’s website at: www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk. Review and reporting delivery of the 2021/2022 Service Plan was not concluded due to pressures placed upon the Service due to the pandemic. It is intended to resume review against the Operation Plan during 2022/2023. 6.2 Identification of any Variation from the Operational Plan Variances from the Operational Plan will be highlighted at the time of the review and any reasons for the variance will be noted along with any corrective action, if appropriate. 6.3 Areas for Improvement Any areas identified as requiring action will be detailed as part of the audit and review process. These will be addressed by the Protective Services Manager and the Assistant Business Manager (Business Regulation) as part of the review process and action taken shall range from immediate action to inclusion in the Operational Plan for future years. Business Regulation participated in the NL Digital Sprint during 2021/22 for Licensing activities before the main Service Sprint is undertaken during 2022/23. The full Digital Sprint was due to have been undertaken in spring 2021 and then January 2022 but had to be pushed back due to other demands on the Service. It is anticipated participation in this may last approximately 7 months and commitment could be 2 to 3 workshops per week across the different service areas, with each workshop usually lasting up to 3 hours per workshop. It is anticipated that at least one front line staff member would participate in each workshop. The resource capacity for this is included within Appendix 3 Table 11 - Miscellaneous Foreseeable Additional Demands on Service Resource. Review and upgrade of MIS will also require a resource capacity which is difficult to determine and which will add to the demands placed on the Service. In addition to the above there are Business Regulation Service Improvement Working Groups which are set up, as required. The estimate of anticipated resource required is included within Appendix 3 Table 11 - Miscellaneous Foreseeable Additional Demands on Service Resource.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 29 SECTION 7: PERFORMANCE PLANNING 7.1 Performance Plan The Performance Plan for 2022/2023 details the targets which have been set for key areas of work. Monitoring against these key areas will be undertaken on a quarterly basis as part of the review process and reasons will be recorded for any non-conformance together with the appropriate corrective action. Inspections resumed on 1 September 2021 following the Desktop Transfer and revised Intervention Programme. However, for performance monitoring and reporting purposes, the Intervention Programme Start Date for North Lanarkshire was 1 October 2021 (with the agreement and approval of FSS) to keep all quarterly reports aligned with normal Service planning and reporting. At 1 April 2022, we were 6 months in to Year 1 of a 5 Year Food Law Recovery Plan. The details are listed in the Appendix 1 Business Regulation Performance Plan below.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 30 Appendix 1 - BUSINESS REGULATION PERFORMANCE PLAN Note: The Intervention Programme Start Date for North Lanarkshire’s food law recovery was 1 October 2021 to keep all quarterly reports aligned with normal Service Planning and Reporting. The food law recovery plan is programmed for a 5 year period from 1 October 2021. Core Activities Target Start & Stop Dates Projected Achievements/ Outcomes Lead Team Other Teams Monitoring Arrangements BR1 Food Law Code of Practice Deviation Recovery Plan 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Continue the Food Law Code of Practice Deviation Recovery Plan in accordance with FSS and Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee broad principles BR Service None Quarterly review when implemented. BR 2 Food Law Inspections of all risk rated premises. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Undertake 70% of inspections within deadlines set from FLCoP Deviation Recovery Plan. BR Service None Monthly – Assistant BR Manager / Quarterly review. BR 3 Sampling in Food Premises. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Develop sampling programme and take samples within scope of sampling agreement with GSS & FLCoP Deviation Recovery Plan. Priority given to samples from Approved or manufacturing premises located within North Lanarkshire. BR Service None Sample numbers monitored by PS Manager. Assistant BR Manager to monitor follow-up of reports of sample failures. BR 4 National Food Sampling Programme. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Seek to conduct food sampling in partnership with other agencies, in accordance with national programmes & FLCoP Deviation Recovery Plan. BR Service FSS, WOSF LG Quarterly review of programmes/ sample types by Assistant BR Manager. BR 5 Investigation of Food Complaints. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Commence investigation of 90% of complaints within 2 working days of receipt. BR Service None BR Managers monitor progress of investigation. BR 6 Sampling from Public Water supply. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Limited to domestic complaint samples after referral to SW has not resolved issue and sampling of commercial premises (manufacturers and approved premises), as appropriate. BR Service None Quarterly review by Assistant BR Manager. BR 7 Investigation of Infectious Disease Reports. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Respond to 94% of notifications in accordance with the NHSL Epidemiological Investigation Protocol. BR Service None Assistant BR Manager
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 31 BR 8 Requests for assistance and advice. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Respond to 93% of high risk requests for assistance/advice within 2 working days of receipt. BR Service None BR Managers to conduct random checks. BR 9 Requests for assistance and advice. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Respond to 93% of low risk requests for assistance/advice within 5 working days of receipt. BR Service None Assistant BR Manager BR 10 Ongoing review of food safety policies and procedures in line with Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland). 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Review policies and update where required. BR Service None Monitoring undertaken by Assistant BR Manager. BR 11 Professional Training. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Ensure all BR Officers meet professional development targets including that required by the Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland) and FCCO training, as required by APHA. BR Service Yes BR Managers ongoing review. Monitoring for Standby Officers undertaken by Protective Services Manager. BR 12 Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS). 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Maintain and supply data for FHIS BR Service None Assistant BR Manager BR 13 Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS). 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 70% of food premises achieve the FHIS ‘Pass’ award. It is anticipated there will be a greater number of Improvement Required due to pause in programmed interventions. BR Service None Assistant BR Manager Quarterly review. BR 14 Food Premises Registration Form 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Continue to develop online registration of food establishments as Digital NL Sprint progresses BR Service IT Assistant BR Manager BR 15 Applications for approval under Regulation EC No 853/2004 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Ensure that all applications for approved premises are processed within the legislative timeframe & within FLCOP Deviation Recovery Plan. BR Service None Quarterly review by Assistant BR Manager. BR 16 Audit of Premises approved under Regulation EC No 853/2004 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Continue to progress implementation of the Official Control Verification (OCV) audit process for Approved Premises in line with FSS OCV Implementation Guide. BR Service None Quarterly review by Assistant BR Manager.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 32 BR17 High Risk Group 1 Manufacturers 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Continue to progress implementation of the principles of Official Control Verification (OCV) audit process for Group1 Manufacturers. BR Service None Quarterly review by Assistant BR Manager. BR 18 Private Water Supplies 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Update and maintain register of Private Water Supplies. Continue to implement a monitoring programme for each regulated supply and each private water supply zone. For regulated supplies, continue to undertake risk assessments, where applicable, in relation to water introduced into, and supplied through and from, each private water supply system to premises in its area, to establish if there is any risk that the water could pose a potential danger to human health. BR Service None Quarterly review by Assistant BR Manager. BR 19 Process all applications for Private Water Supply Grant Assistance 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Ensure that all applications for grant assistance are processed within the legislative timescale. BR Service None Quarterly review by Assistant BR Manager. BR 20 Attestation and Export Health Certification Requirements after EU exit. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Continue to provide Attestations and Export Health Certificates, as required. BR Service None PS Manager/ Assistant BR Manager. BR 21 Health and Safety Enforcement. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Implement the provisions of the National Local Authority Enforcement Code. Priority with regard to implementation will be dependent on resources and will focus on those provisions which are particularly relevant to North Lanarkshire Council. BR Service HSE Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review. BR 22 Gas Safety and electrical safety in catering establishments. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Undertake surveillance in catering premises visited during food inspections for matters of evident concern relating to gas safety and electrical safety. BR Service None Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review. BR 23 Hospitality Establishments-electrical safety, Legionella and storage of equipment when not in use. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 To improve standards of compliance, increase awareness of legislative requirements to ensure electrical equipment with potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. Remind duty holders to ensure both the fixed installation and electrical Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 33 appliances are inspected by competent persons at appropriate intervals. Pubs, restaurants and cafés are urged to ensure outdoor electrical equipment such as lights and heaters are specifically designed for outdoor use, installed by a competent person and checked regularly for damage or water ingress. Useful guidance Electrical safety at work Local Project-Legionella controls in hotels and storage of equipment when not in use. BR 24 Health & Safety projects (subject to adequate resources and which will be dependent on FLCoP Deviation Recovery Plan). 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 (i) Proactive inspection of High Volume Warehousing/Distribution in respect of poorly managed workplace transport. (ii) Proactive inspection of industrial retail/wholesale premises in respect of poorly managed workplace transport/work at height/cutting machinery/lifting equipment. (iii) Raise awareness with relevant premises (e.g. restaurants, takeaways, warehouses that receive regular deliveries) the national priority in relation to welfare provision for delivery drivers that HSE guidance states that where it is practicable and appropriate, any onsite toilet and rest facilities should be made available to visiting workers if requested. (iv) incorporate into interventions of commercial catering premises using solid fuel cooking equipment, that appropriate measures are taken to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning from lack of suitable ventilation and/or unsafe appliances. (v) Visitor attractions to prevent or control ill health arising from animal contact-awareness raising, education or proactive intervention. (vi) Inflatable Amusement Devices-awareness raising of safety measures; BR Service HSE/ WSH& SLG Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 34 (vii) Trampoline Parks/Inflatable Jump Parks- highlight with local duty holders improved information provision and supervision of users; (vii) Investigation of any patterns of accidents. (ix) Work Related Road Safety-awareness raising in LA enforced premises e.g. warehouses, restaurants, takeaways and other retail premises where workers make deliveries that law requires business to manage work related road risk in accordance with recently reviewed joint HSE/DfT guidance Driving and Riding Safely for Work (x)Falls from height-work on/adjacent to fragile roofs/materials- where identified during visits discuss associated risks, to ensure prospective clients for repair and maintenance work (owner or building user) are aware of their duties under CDM 2015 and the precautions needed, referring them to the appropriate guidance Fragile roofs: Safe working practices (hse.gov.uk). In relation to ‘Slips, Trips & Falls’, handling hot liquids, and safety of solid fuel ovens in catering premises, work at height and fragile roofs; continue to look for each officer to undertake at relevant businesses whilst carrying out other interventions, where resources allow. In addition include from new premises identified and added to database from visits, planning applications, licensing etc; Additional projects will be added to those detailed above if they become relevant having been highlighted nationally by the HSE, regionally by the WSHSLG or by local intelligence.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 35 BR 26 Health and Safety-Recording of interventions of MIS 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Develop SOP for officer recording of health and safety interventions. BR Service Assistant BR Manager BR 27 Licensing Applications 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Ensure licensing responses to consultation are made within 10 working days. BR Service Licensi ng Assistant BR Manager BR 28 Skin Piercing & Tattooing Licensing Applications 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Review licence conditions associated with Skin Piercing & Tattooing Licensing Applications BR Service None Assistant BR Manager BR 29 Process all applications for skin piercing and tattooing licences. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Ensure that all applications are processed within the legislative timescale BR Service None Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review BR 30 Skin Piercing & Tattooing Licenses 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Develop Licences incorporating photograph of operator for Skin Piercers and Tattooists BR Service None Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review BR 31 Investigation of reported accidents 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Commence 88% of investigations required by HSE incident selection criteria within 3 working days. BR Service None Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review BR 32 Maintain OHSAS 45001 Standard Accreditation. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Implement any action plan provisions following an internal and/or external audit. BR Service EH & BI PS Manager/Assistant BR Manager. BR 33 Review Business Regulation Procedures and Work Instructions relevant to internally audited ISO 9001 standards. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Where resources allow, review BR Procedure and Work Instructions relevant to ISO 9001 standards. BR Service EH & BI Assistant BR Manager/ Quarterly Review. BR 34 Customer Satisfaction Surveys 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Review Business Regulation question set for Customer Satisfaction Surveys In respect of internally audited ISO 9001 standards. BR Service EH & BI Assistant BR Manager. BR 35 Joint Public Health Protection Plan. 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Participate in training events and work in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire Health Board and South Lanarkshire Council, as appropriate. BR Service NHS LHB PS Manager/ Assistant BR Manager. BR 36 Review of Fees & Charges 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Review Business Regulation Fees and Charges BR Service None PS Manager/ Assistant BR Manager.
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 36 BR 37 Planning and building control consultations 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Ensure planning and building control responses to consultation are made within 10 working days. BR Service Built Env PS Manager/ Assistant BR Manager. BR 38 Management Information Systems 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Review adequacy of current MIS (Civica). BR Service None PS Manager/ Assistant BR Manager. BR 39 Template Notices 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Review of Template Notices used by Business Regulation BR Service None Assistant BR Manager. BR 40 Digital NL 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2023 Develop File Plan for Business Regulation BR Service None Assistant BR Manager. BR 41 Digital NL 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 Participate with Digital NL Sprint for Protective Services as required BR Service CE Dept PS Manager/Assistant BR Manager. APPENDIX 2- STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT BETWEEN LOCAL AUTHORITY AND HSE REGULATORY SERVICES Appendix 2 - Statement of commitm APPENDIX 3- TABLES OF CALCULATIONS AND INFORMATION RELATING TO STAFF RESOURCES Contents • Table 1 - Annual Breakdown of Food Law Recovery Plan Interventions Required to Be Carried Out • Table 2 - Food Law Interventions Recovery- Officer FTE Resource Calculation Per Intervention Category (Recovery Visits Only) • Table 3 - Estimate of Timescales and Numbers for First Next Programmed Intervention After Food Law Recovery Intervention • Table 4 - Calculation of Resources Required for First Next Programmed Intervention After Food Law Recovery Intervention • Table 5 - Combined Estimate FTE Resource Calculation Per Annum for Food Law Recovery and Pi Interventions
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food safety/occupational health & safety service plan 2022/2023 37 • Table 6 - Summary of FTE Base Resource Needed to Meet FLRP+ First Recurring Pi Thereafter • Table 7 - Estimate of Minimum FTE Resource Requirement for Revisit Interventions • Table 8 - Additional Food Law Interventions Arising from Poor Compliance and From New Businesses • Table 9 - Estimated Resource Required for Formal Food Enforcement Notices • Table 10 - Service Requests Resource Summary-Based on A Typical Year Pre-Covid (2018-19) • Table 11 - Miscellaneous Foreseeable Additional Demands on Service Resource • Table 12 - Summary Estimate of Resources Required to Deliver Business Regulation Service Across the Food Law Recovery Period ( Oct 2021-Sep 2026) Appendix 3 - tables of resource calculation APPENDIX 4- UPDATED TABLES OF CALCULATIONS AND INFORMATION RELATING TO STAFF RESOURCES (2022/2023) Contents • Table 1 - Annual Breakdown of Food Law Recovery Plan Interventions Required to Be Carried Out • Table 2 - Food Law Interventions Recovery- Officer FTE Resource Calculation Per Intervention Category (Recovery Visits and New Premises Visits Only) • Table 3 - Estimate of Minimum FTE Resource Requirement for Revisit Interventions • Table 4 - Estimate of Resources Required to Deliver Business Regulation Service Across the Food Law Recovery Period ( Oct 2021-Sep 2026) Appendix 4 -tables of resource calculations 2 APPENDIX 5 – PREMISES OUTWITH FOOD LAW RATING - CALCULATION OF REQUIRED ANNUAL RESOURCE ( JULY 2022) - APPROVED PREMISES, HIGH-RISK GROUP 1 MANUFACTURERS AND PRIMARY PRODUCERS Appendix 5 OCV & Group 1 Resource 202