Food Hygiene Service Plan 2020 2021 - Rochford District Council
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Food Hygiene Service Plan
2020 - 2021
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental ServicesIntroduction
The current pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented situation where the Food
Standards Agency (FSA) has suspended part of the 2019 – 2020 programme and the
2020 – 2021 is currently suspended until further notice. As such the current guidance
from the FSA is that Local Authorities are not to visit food premises unless it is urgent
such as to investigate a food poisoning outbreak.
New legislation, The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England)
(Amendment) (No2) Regulations 2020, places restrictions on food premises and has
required some to temporarily close.
These factors have meant that when writing the service plan a number of assumptions
have had to be made when writing this service plan and the number of due inspections
has been calculated as normal.
The pandemic has introduced an element of uncertainty into the departments planning
for the year and any alterations made by the FSA to the 2020 - 2021 work programme
will result in amendments to our service plan.
Social distancing requirements has meant staff have been re-deployed to work from
home dealing with issues such complaints, queries and advice. Investigations into
infectious diseases.
The pandemic has meant that the department has taken on additional responsibilities
in order to help protect the public such as enforcing the new Regulations relating to
what premises can trade. It is anticipated that the department will be asked to assist
Public Health England contact tracing and this could result in a significant amount of
work, details are awaited at time of writing.
1 Demands on the Food Service
1.1 Make up Of Rochford District
As of 1 April 2020, we have identified that the service is responsible for enforcing Food
Safety legislation in 563 food premises within Rochford District, a reduction of 98
premises from the previous year. This is entirely due to a reduction in the number of
premises trading. The risk assessment programme for food safety is set out in the
Food Law Code of Practice (England) 2017, Inspection Rating Scheme. The Code of
Practice requires that all food premises be subject to a degree of surveillance although
the code does allow alternative enforcement methods to be used with the lowest risk
premises.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental ServicesThe 563 food premises have been categorised as follows:
Number of Number of
Risk category premises 2020- premises Intervention frequency
2021 2019-2020
A 1 0 At least every 6 months
B 19 21 At least every 12 months
C 58 71 At least every 18 months
At least every 2 years
187 alternating between
D 166
official controls and other
interventions
At least every 3 years by
E 291 313 alternative enforcement
strategy
The total number of total rated food premises in 2020 to 2020 is calculated as 556.
The total number of rated premises in 2019 to 2020 was 571. The number of unrated
newly registered premises in 2020 to 2021 is currently 7, and in 2019 to 2020 was 90.
All new premises must be inspected within 28 fays of registration. Therefore, the total
number of food premises known in 2020 is currently 563, and in 2019 it was 661.
1.1.1 The percentage of food premises in the Rochford District that score 3 or above
(satisfactory) on the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) is currently 85%.
This is identical to the average score for nearby authorities within the Essex area.
1.1.2 Arrangements are in place via the out of hours service for contacting senior officers
regarding matters arising outside of normal working hours e.g. food poisoning
outbreaks, food safety incidents and food alerts.
1.2 Enforcement Policy
1.2.1 The service has adopted the Government’s “Regulators Code” which contains
statutory guidance and means that the Council is committed to open and fair
enforcement of the law pertaining to food safety. These principles are also embedded
within the services enforcement policy which can be found on the Councils website or
a paper copy can be obtained from the Council Offices. Enforcement decisions will be
documented and monitored to demonstrate adherence with the policy.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Services2 Service Delivery
2.1 Food Premises Interventions
2.1.1 The food service carries out programmed interventions of food premises to assess the
hygiene of those premises and the public health protection aspects of the law. A
programmed intervention is either an inspection by an officer or in some cases a self
assessment questionnaire. The service has a documented procedure for food hygiene
interventions which is reviewed annually and revised as and when legislation/guidance
changes.
2.1.2 Following every primary food hygiene intervention, the officer assesses the risk posed
by the business with reference to the nature of its operation, the level of compliance
with food safety requirements and confidence in its management. A risk rating score
is generated on these criteria and is used to determine the frequency of inspection
based on the Food Law Code of Practice.
Intervention programme due 2020-2021
Category Interventions due Overdue from 2019
2020-2021 - 2020
A 0 0
B 17 0
C 28 0
D 80 11
E 84 32
Unrated premises (new) 5 2
Total 214 45
Total intervention programme 259
2.1.3 Revisits will be undertaken where significant breaches of hygiene regulations are
identified during inspection. Based on the percentage of inspections previously
generating revisits, it is estimated that the department will have to carry out between
30 to 40 revisits in 2020-2021.
2.1.4 Any new food premises that register with the authority will receive an inspection where
the officer will provide guidance on how to run their food businesses so that they
produce safe food for their customers. When applicable officers will refer new food
business to the authorities Economic Development Team for further support from the
authority.
2.1.5 Any food business that meets the criteria for requiring approval, produces large
amounts of potentially high-risk food that is being distributed to a large market, will not
be allowed to trade until they have been granted approval.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Services2.1.6 The Food Law Code of Practice requires 100% of premises due for inspection to be
inspected within 28 days of their due date. Priority is given to high risk (Category A, B
and C) inspections. Category D and E premises may be risk rated by alternative
inspection strategies such as the use of a questionnaire.
2.1.7 Food safety functions such as inspections/interventions, investigating food complaints,
dealing with food poisoning outbreaks, enquiries, requests for advice, food sampling
and investigation of poor sampling results are undertaken by the Environmental Health
Team Leader and two Environmental Health Officers (EHO).
All officers have access to the following technical support:
• Internet Access.
• Primary Authority Database.
• The Food Hygiene Forum Community of Practice.
• FSA website, publications and seminars.
• The Knowledge Hub.
• Legal library resources.
2.2 Complaints about Food and Food Businesses.
2.2.1 Policy and Procedures for responding to and dealing with complaints, enquiries and
other requests for service are documented with in the standard operating procedures.
These are reviewed annually and revised as and when legislation/guidance changes
or improvements to client experience are identified.
2.2.2 All complaints that are investigated are done so in accordance with the services
enforcement policy and procedures. Emphasis is placed on those complaints that have
the potential to cause most harm to public health.
2.2.3 If further investigation is required, the food complaint is sent to the Public Analyst (Kent
and Hampshire Scientific Services) for formal analysis or to the food examiner (Public
Health England, Colindale) for microbiological examination.
2.2.4 Based on trends over the last four years it is estimated that the following number of
service requests complaints and requests for service will be received during 2020-
2021.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental ServicesNumber of service requests received over the past four years
Year Number of service requests
2016-2017 192
2017-2018 166
2018-2019 137
2019-2020 181
2020-2021 169 Estimated
2.3 Home Authority / Primary Authority
2.3.1 The Primary Authority Scheme’ allows a business, or the Local Better Regulation
Office, to nominate a Local Authority to become a central point of contact on regulatory
matters linked to a specific business. It is not a requirement for the company to be in
the nominated authorities district.
2.3.2 There are currently no formal or informal Primary Authority Partnerships set up for any
food business within Rochford District.
2.3.3 Extra resources would be required for meeting and advising businesses should we
become a primary authority for a business.
2.4 Advice to business
2.4.1 The provision of advice is given to existing or proposed food businesses on request to
help them comply with the law and to encourage best practice. This also reflects and
contributes towards the ‘Hampton Principle’ of providing authoritative, accessible
advice easily and cheaply. This is achieved through a range of activities including:
• Advice given during inspections and other visits to premises.
• Provision of advisory leaflets.
• Responding to service requests and enquiries.
• Through participation in the “Safer Food Better Business” scheme.
• Through information placed on the Council’s website.
2.4.2 Officers give advice in accordance with recognised guidance and Codes of Practice
and ensure that on-site visits are made, where necessary, prior to opening of new
businesses that we are aware of.
2.4.3 Procedures for responding to and dealing with complaints, enquiries and other service
requests are documented in the standard operating procedures. These will be
reviewed annually and revised as and when legislation/guidance changes.
2.4.4 Extra resources would be required if the service were to have significant input into
business partnerships or forums.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Services2.5 Food Sampling
2.5.1 A procedure for the microbiological sampling of foodstuffs is documented and is
reviewed annually and revised as and when legislation/guidance changes.
2.5.2 Food sampling carried out by the service is mostly undertaken for monitoring and
surveillance purposes on an informal basis. Occasionally formal food sampling is
required as part of a food poisoning investigation or prosecution.
2.5.3 The Public Health England (PHE) laboratory has produced a regional co-ordinated
food sampling programme for 2020-2021. This includes four co-ordinated sampling
initiatives organised by Local Government Regulation. Additional sampling will be
organised in-house based on local intelligence and previous results.
2.5.4 Other food sampling can be undertaken as part of food poisoning and complaint
investigations or as part of food premises inspections to monitor hygiene standards
and confirm adequacy of food processing systems.
2.5.5 The Public Health England (PHE) laboratory allocates the Council credits for funding
examinations of food carried out at Public Health England (Colindale). Rochford
District Council has been allocated 4000 credits for the year 2020-2021. This is the
same amount of credits issued as last year and based on current demand is sufficient
for our purposes.
2.5.6 The service has appointed Kent Scientific Services and Hampshire Scientific Services
as the Council’s official Public Analysts, in accordance with section 27 of the Food
Safety Act 1990. The Public Analyst will be used by the service when food
contaminants cannot be readily identified and require closer examination to discover
their true nature.
2.6 Control and Investigation of Outbreaks and Food Related Infectious Disease.
2.6.1 The service assesses all notifications it receives of cases of food poisoning and
suspected food poisoning occurring within the District and takes appropriate control
measures where necessary. When an outbreak is suspected the investigations are
carried out either jointly or in close contact with the Consultant in Communicable
Disease Control from PHE. Outbreak Control investigations will be conducted in
accordance with the Control of Communicable Disease Joint Plan of Essex Local
Health Protection Teams and Essex Local Authorities.
2.6.2 Procedures for the investigation of food poisoning notifications are documented in the
standard operating procedures and are reviewed annually and revised as and when
legislation/guidance changes.
2.6.3 Based on trends over the last four years it is estimated that the following number of
food related infectious diseases will be received during 2020-2021.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental ServicesNumber of food related infectious diseases for the past four years
Number of formal notifications of food
Year
related infectious disease
2016-2017 79
2017-2018 111
2018-2019 121
2019-2020 177
2020-2021 122 Estimated
2.7 Food Alerts and Food Safety Incidents.
2.7.1 A food alert is a communication from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to the local
food authority concerning a food hazard or other food incident. The food alert may or
may not require the food authority to act.
2.7.2 Procedures for responding to and initiating food hazard warnings are documented in
the authorities standard operating procedures. These are reviewed annually and
revised as and when legislation / guidance changes.
2.7.3 The service receives food alerts via a dedicated FSA – enforcement mailbox. This
service delivery area is carried out in accordance with the requirements stipulated in
the Food Law Code of Practice (England) Chapter 2:2. Based on trends over the last
four years it is estimated that the following number of food alerts will be received during
2020-2021.
Number of food alerts
Year Number of food alerts
2016-2017 66
2017-2018 49
2018-2019 98
2019-2020 189
2020-2021 100 Estimated
2.8 Liaison with other organisations
2.8.1 Rochford District Council has been represented at regular meetings of the Essex Food
Liaison Group by its Environmental Health Team Leader. From this year the due to
staff changes the representative will be an EHO. In order to encourage consistency of
enforcement within the 14 Essex Authorities the group formulates strategies and
procedures. It liaises with other professional bodies such as food trade and trade
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Servicesorganisations over specific matters arising and takes advice from groups including the
FSA, Meat and Livestock Commission. The group also undertakes peer review
exercises and arranges relevant officer training.
2.8.2 This group includes representatives from authorities such as: Trading Standards, The
FSA and a microbiologist from the Essex Health Protection Agency Food Laboratory.
2.8.3 One of the EHO’s regularly attends the Health Protection Liaison meeting. These
meetings were set up to develop guidelines on infection control measures, act as
advisory groups, making recommendations on all aspects of communicable disease
(including food poisoning) conduct peer reviews and to formulate outbreak control
plans.
2.8.4 This group includes representatives from food authorities, the Health Authority, the
Primary Care Trust and Essex and Suffolk Water.
2.8.5 The service liaises with other departments within Rochford District Council including
Economic Development, Community Safety, Building Control, Planning and Licensing.
2.8.6 The service is regularly consulted on planning and building regulation applications
regarding new and existing food premises and in respect of licensing applications for
which we act as a responsible authority. These are used to identify new food business
and changes to existing operations.
2.9 Food Safety Promotion
2.9.1 We will continue as an authority take part in the National Food Safety Week and the
Essex Tuck In project that both promotes healthy / healthier eating within the district.
Both these projects encourage food business on the district to provide health options
to their customers by reducing the amount of salt and fat in food. The service will work
with business encouraging as many as possible to partake and help those that do to
maximise their involvement.
2.9.2 Substantial information regarding food and infectious disease has been placed on the
Environmental Health section of the Council’s website.
2.10 Safer Food Better Business Coaching Sessions
2.10.1 The service provides one to one coaching sessions on “Safer Food Better Business”
with caterers and retail premises within the district that request our help. We will
contact businesses that are known or suspected to have had difficulties with the
implementation of a food safety management system and identify such premises
during routine inspections.
2.11 Food Hygiene Rating System / Charging for re-rating Visits
2.11.1 The National FHRS has been operating in Rochford District since February 2011. We
will continue to promote this scheme to both members of the public and businesses
with the message that maintaining a high standard of food hygiene is good for
business.
2.11.2 Part of the scheme involves carrying out re-ratings of premises that want to improve
their rating such re-rating requests, these visits are carried out between the planned
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Servicesstatutory hygiene inspections at the request of the food business operators. Whilst
limited within Rochford these visits do place an additional burden on staff resources.
2.11.3 The current FSA guidance allows authorities to make a charge for requests received
for an FHRS re-rating inspection on a cost recovery basis only using powers available
under the Localism Act 2011.
2.11.4 When calculating the charge for carrying out a re-rating consideration was given to the
guidance issued by HM Treasury on “Managing Public Money” and based upon the
average hourly rate for an officer to undertake an inspection, including the completion
of the associated administration arising from the visit. The current fee for a re-rating
ahead of its routine schedule is £123.80.
2.11.5 No food business chose to pay for a re-rating during 2019 – 2020.
3 Resources
3.1 Staffing Allocation
3.1.1 One of the EHOs was on extended sick leave throughout most of 2019, it was therefore
decided that a contractor would be engaged to cover them until they were able to
return to work. Without this appointment the department would not have been able to
meet all of its statutory obligations and this would mean the public would be placed at
an increased risk from food borne illness and the Authority from criticism from the Food
Standards Agency who regulate this function. The EHO returned to work in November
2019.
3.1.2 The resources available to undertake food law enforcement during 2020-2021 will be
1.85 full time equivalent officers as detailed below:
Officer Full time equivalent (FTE)
Team Leader 0.15
Environmental Health Officer 0.9
Environmental Health Officer 0.8
Total 1.85
3.1.3 Two members of the team fall into a health protection category meaning that on current
Government advice they should not come into close contact with the public. For as
long as this guidance remains in effect safe working methods such as use of
appropriate personal protective equipment would be required to carry out normal work
activities. Failure to establish a safe working system would significantly impact on the
resources available to carry out food hygiene inspections.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Services3.2 Staff Development Plan
3.2.1 Officers authorised to undertake inspections and other enforcement duties must be
suitably qualified, experienced and competent as set out in Chapter 4 of the Food Law
Code of Practice (England) 2017.
3.2.2 As part of the personal performance and development appraisal scheme all authorised
food safety officers undergo annual performance reviews which include review of their
training requirements and personal development objectives. Regular team meetings
are organised to discuss matters and issues of consistency.
3.2.3 The staff covering this service will continue to be encouraged, motivated and trained
to develop their potential and use their talents for the benefit of the people of the
district.
3.2.4 The Food Law Code of Practice (England) 2017 requires all food officers to undergo
at least 20 hours of continuing Professional Development each year in order to remain
competent. The Environmental Health Team Leader is responsible for checking that
all food competent staff fulfil this requirement.
3.2.5 Officers whose knowledge in relation to food matters has lapsed or has become out
of date must undergo structured revision training before resuming food law
enforcement duties. Records of ongoing training are kept by the Environmental Health
Team Leader.
3.2.6 To fulfil training needs, officers attend seminars and courses arranged by the Essex
Food Liaison Group, Central Government advisory bodies, other local authorities and
external training organisations.
3.3 Quality Assessment
3.3.1 The quality of service provided by the unit is assessed by:
• Monitoring performance against service and officer targets.
• Monthly reporting on work conducted and progress towards established
targets to the Assistant Director and Team Leader.
• Monitoring actual working practices against procedures and protocols for:
− Inspection of food businesses
− Investigation of complaints and food poisoning notifications
− Carrying out sampling
− Enforcement
− Undertaking customer satisfaction surveys of local businesses receiving
inspection
3.3.2 Performance monitoring will be undertaken by generating monthly reports from the
Uniform database on:
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Services• Inspections, for comparison against the annual programme and
• Complaints and other service requests to monitor progress.
3.3.3 The Environmental Health Team Leader will carry out audits and monitor working
practices internally. Should the need arise for additional monitoring of the food
function we would approach the Essex Food Liaison Group.
3.3.4 In order to ensure consistency, the team will take part in the annual consistency
exercises run by the FSA and the Essex Food Group. In addition, all officers including
the Environmental Health Team Leader will take turns shadowing the other team
members to monitor working practices.
3.3.5 At the end of the service plan period the Authority will compare the years performance
targets and performance standards included in this service plan. Any variation and the
reasons for the variation will be included in the review and any service development
or improvement will be identified, as necessary.
4 Review of 2019-2020
4.1 An annual review of the previous year’s service plan is completed at the start of each
financial year.
4.2 One of the EHOs was on extended sick leave up until November 2019 resulting in the
need to employ a contractor to maintain department capacity. However, it was
necessary to prioritise the workload to the detriment of other areas of work such as
sampling and inspecting new premises.
4.3 Total number of interventions completed
Non programmed food hygiene inspections are new premises that open on the district,
revisits and high-risk premises that become due twice in that year.
Inspections Actual Percentage
due for carried out completed
4.3.1 2019-2020
Programmed food hygiene
interventions due at start of 363 320 88%
programme
Non programmed food hygiene
50 48 96%
inspections – revisits
Breakdown of programmed Interventions
Category Interventions due Actual carried Percentage
2019-2020 out completed
A (high risk) 0 0 n/a
B (high risk) 18 18 100%
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental ServicesCategory Interventions due Actual carried Percentage
2019-2020 out completed
C (moderate risk) 47 47 100%
D (low risk) 65 51 78%
E (low risk) 143 114 80%
Unrated premises (new) 90 90 100%
4.4 Reactive work 2019-2020
This is the reactive work that varies from year to year.
Actual carried out Estimated for 2020-2021
Reactive food hygiene
31 -
interventions
Food hazard warnings 189 100
Food related infectious
177 122
diseases
Hygiene rating appeals 0 -
Number of service requests 189 169
4.5 Prosecutions/notices served 2019-2020
Hygiene Improvement Notices – 13
Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice – 0
Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order – 0
Simple Cautions issued – 0
Prosecutions – 0
4.6 Sampling Visits
4.6.1 The Sampling Officer (EHO) was on extended sick leave for a significant proportion of
the year but despite this the team still managed to achieve a total of 18 sampling visits
during 2019-2020.
The target for 2020-2021 is to complete all planned sampling visits, as stated in the
new 2020-2021 sampling plan.
4.7 Promotional activities
4.7.1 Leaflets were distributed to butchers for ongoing distribution to their customers
regarding barbecue and turkey safety during appropriate seasonal periods.
Typists\PRINT ROOM\Environmental Services4.8 The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
4.8.1 The Current pandemic resulted in the FSA suspending the inspection programme
nationally before the end of the year. All of the outstanding 43 interventions were low
risk premises due questionnaires and not a full inspection. They had all been sent a
questionnaire and the team was in the process of calling each premises to chase there
return. If the FSA had not suspended the work programme it is anticipated that they
would have all been contacted and the questionnaires completed over the phone and
the programme completed.
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