Agenda and draft minutes

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

There was no public participation.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Regulatory Committee held on 5 December 2024.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Regulatory Committee held on 5 December 2024 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members may make declarations of interest at this point or may make them at any point in the meeting

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

There are no Matters Arising from the previous Committee meeting to report.

There were no Matters Arising to note.

The Committee gave consideration to a report presented by the Housing & Environmental Enforcement Manager. It was explained that the report was detailed the Food, Health and Safety Work Plan for 2025/2026, as had been done in previous years, information was provided on a six-monthly basis along with a mid-year update. The Manager gave an overview of the structure of the report, as well as summarising its contents.

Attention was drawn to Section 3.1 of the report, it was noted that just under 90% of inspections had been completed for 2024–2025, which exceeded expectations based on the mid-year update from December. A total of 336 inspections had been carried out, representing a significant increase from the previous year. In addition to inspections, various other tasks had been undertaken by the service, including revisits, health and safety intervention visits, and accident investigations.

The Manager outlined future challenges detailed in Section 4.1, which provided a breakdown of premises and the frequency of their required inspections. According to Sections 4.4 and 4.5, an estimated range of between 412 and 441 inspections would need to be completed in 2025–2026, subject to fluctuations due to businesses opening or closing. It was highlighted that the projected inspection target of 441 presented a significant challenge. However, it was stated that with additional resources introduced in October 2024, confidence was expressed that the target could be met, provided those resources remained beyond their temporary period. It was confirmed that an agreement had been reached to extend the temporary contract until October 2026, with efforts ongoing to secure permanent funding for the role. The Manager explained that the additional full-time employee would be capable of completing approximately 120 inspections annually. He continued, adding that evidence indicated that increasing staffing capacity had historically been necessary to meet inspection targets, and the business case for additional resources had been reinforced through previous annual work plans and mid-year updates.

The increase in projected inspections was contextualised as it was noted that a significant number of Category E inspections had been included in the programme, involving premises such as home bakers and home takeaway businesses. The Manager highlighted that with Category E inspections, an alternative enforcement approach was typically used, but due to resource pressures following COVID-19, physical inspections had been delayed. These inspections had now been added to the workload, increasing the total potential figure to 441.

In terms of risk, it was stated that achieving 90% of inspections without additional capacity was uncertain. While the target of 100% was ideal, a realistic benchmark of 90% had been set to allow for variation in progress and delivery. The previous year had achieved nearly 100%, but challenges were anticipated for the current year, notably regarding additional responsibilities placed on Environmental Health Officers impacting their ability to conduct inspections.

According to the Manager, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) had been consulted regarding the Council’s inspection plan and assurance measures. Communication from the FSA had indicated satisfaction with the current plan based on the temporary contract  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.