Lack of cash blamed for inspection failures

Some of the 10 English local authorities that will be the first to face detailed checks on their restaurant inspections by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) say their low inspection levels are caused by underfunding.

In last week's Environmental Health News, the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), both Copeland Borough Council in Cumbria and London's Hillingdon Borough Council complained of recruitment problems and staff shortages, which left Copeland with just one qualified officer to cover more than 1,000 premises.

The CIEH warned last year of a four-year, 20% shortage of qualified inspectors due to slashed inspection budgets and a rash of early retirements (Caterer, 27 July 2000, page 12).

But Tom Murray, FSA head of local authority enforcement policy, said he was unaware that a shortage of qualified staff was a national problem. Pilot audits suggested that poor performance was not always related to resources, but to local decisions.

He added that if the audits identified a national need for improved funding, the FSA could negotiate with the Treasury.

His team of 10 auditors (six seconded for a year from local authority enforcement) will have run 22 pilots with volunteer councils by next month to fine-tune the FSA system. The 10 chosen as the first to face full audits will be visited between March and June.

"These first audits set the ball rolling on a programme that will see every local authority in the UK subject to audit if their performance is not up to scratch," said FSA chairman Sir John Krebs. "At last the public will be able to see how well they are being protected."

The other councils facing the first audits are: Braintree, Essex; Broxtowe, Nottingham; Darlington; Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire; Harrogate, North Yorkshire; Northamptonshire; Dudley, West Midlands; and Shrewsbury and Atcham, Shropshire.

Separate arrangements apply in Scotland (see Caterer, 11 January, page 4), while announcements for plans in Wales and Northern Ireland will follow.

by Angela Frewin