Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of (1) trading standards, (2) environmental health, and (3) food safety personnel in local authorities, and what plans they have to ensure sufficient numbers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data for local authority food inspectors on 31 March 2023 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found in the attached document. Local authorities report their resources by food hygiene and food standards as there are two separate returns.
Local authorities are responsible for enforcing compliance with food safety and standards legislation for most food businesses. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has statutory duties to monitor and report on their performance in doing so. It does this by collecting data from local authorities. The most recent data from October 2023 survey found:
- Full Time Equivalent (FTE) allocated by local authorities to deliver food hygiene work is 1,616 with 1,464 occupied; and
- The allocated FTE for food standards is 432 with 384 occupied.
The FSA recently commissioned research to understand the challenges and opportunities to recruit and retain Local Authority Officers to deliver Official Food and Feed Controls. A copy of Local Authority Capacity and Capability: Executive Summary is attached.
The overall findings of the research are complex, and the FSA has started to address the areas they have direct influence over, for example by reviewing the qualifications and competence requirements for local authority food officers.
The FSA has started to collaborate with other government departments and relevant professional bodies to discuss the findings and work together to shape and influence potential solutions.
At the FSA board meeting on 13 December 2023, the board considered a paper on local authority performance where one of the recommendations is to write to Local Authority Chief Executives and section.151 Finance Officers to set out their concerns about resourcing and delivery, and to remind them of the statutory nature of official food controls when considering and setting the budget allocation for the next financial year. A copy of the paper is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of (1) vets, (2) food inspectors, and (3) other personnel who contribute to maintaining food safety, and what plans they have to ensure sufficient numbers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data for local authority food inspectors on 31 March 2023 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found in the attached document. Local authorities report their resources by food hygiene and food standards as there are two separate returns.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) employs vets in abattoirs, through a Service Delivery Provider (SDP), who deliver Official Controls in England and Wales. They also directly employ vets to approve, audit and assurance Food Business Operators. There are approximately 270 Official Veterinarians (OVs) in abattoirs every day.
The FSA is implementing a suite of measures to maintain sufficient numbers of both OVs and Official Auxiliaries (OAs) in a difficult recruitment environment. This includes, but is not limited to, careful consultation and consideration through our SDP Retender Programme, planning for contingency measures, working across government to address the systemic veterinary challenges impacting on the ability to recruit OVs and running both trainee and qualified OA recruitment exercises.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of organised crime relating to food and drink, and what plans they have to facilitate information sharing among relevant public authorities and industry stakeholders.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has a dedicated National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) to prevent, detect and investigate food crime. The NFCU plays a key role in the prevention of food crime by monitoring current and future threats. The unit can also lead and support partners in conducting investigations to enable the prosecution of food criminals. The FSA’s understanding of the nature and levels of food crime within the food and drink sector is set out within their Food Crime Strategic Assessment. The publication of an updated Food Crime Strategic Assessment, compiled in partnership with Food Standards Scotland, is planned for spring 2024.
The FSA has a strong partnership with industry to detect food fraud risks and vulnerabilities. One such partnership is with the Food Industry Intelligence Network who the FSA liaises closely with on sampling data and potential authenticity issue signals. The FSA works closely with local authorities, who enforce food hygiene and safety standards across much of the food sector. The FSA has regular communication through their networks where intelligence is shared on issues that would fall under their remit for enforcement. The FSA also has well established links with other enforcement agencies and the police to share and discuss relevant intelligence around serious criminality in the food sector and to explore crossovers with other offending so that an effective and collaborative response can be applied to such issues.
Earlier this year, the FSA established a working group with industry, focusing on food fraud. The working group agreed improvements to the format, content, timeliness, and distribution of intelligence-based alerts, issued by the NFCU to industry networks to allow them to better protect themselves against the threat. All members agreed to promote or otherwise support a new freephone confidential food fraud hotline operated by the FSA. The working group also agreed to the provision of more information to the FSA from voluntary Third-Party Assurance schemes. Sharing arrangements around information exchange with Third-Party Assurance schemes are being explored.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the changes in their guidance on the number of visitors permissible to care homes on 17 May, what steps they are taking to provide care homes with additional resources to support any increase in the number of visitors to such homes.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Throughout the pandemic, we have provided almost £2 billion in specific funding for adult social care. This consists of the Infection Control Fund, the Rapid Testing Fund and the Workforce Capacity Fund.
The Government will continue to monitor COVID-19 pressures on the sector and will keep future funding under review.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage care homes to grant more Essential Caregiver status requests.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Our guidance for care homes on visiting and admissions, updated on 17 June, makes clear that all care home residents should be able to nominate an ‘essential care giver’ who may visit the home to attend to essential care needs. Care home managers should work with residents to allow them to nominate the care giver and visits from these individuals should always be supported, including during periods of self-isolation, for example, following an overnight stay in hospital.
If a resident or their relative feels that the care home is not following visiting guidance, they should raise the matter with the home. If they are not satisfied that the issue is resolved, the Care Quality Commission can look into any complaints.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether visitors to care homes will need to be tested for COVID-19 after 21 June 2021.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Testing is crucial to help protect the people who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19 by identifying those who may unknowingly have the virus - enabling those who test positive and their contacts to self-isolate and break the chain of transmission.
To support effective infection prevention and control in care homes, care home visitors should continue to test, using rapid lateral flow tests in line with the current policy and produce a negative COVID test prior to their visit. In accordance with the roadmap, further announcements on policy from 21st June will be made in due course. Infection prevention and control measures, including testing, will continue to be important for protecting care home residents while ensuring we allow as much visiting as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the UK’s departure from the EU, what assessment have they made of regulatory guidelines for the use of a second animal species in regulatory toxicology studies.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to lay before Parliament the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 drafted by the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government acknowledges the drafted regulations and responded to the Joint Committee on Human Rights regarding them on 22 February 2021. Although we have considered using these regulations to help allow care home visiting, we have decided to pursue non-legislative routes, which allow us to move more swiftly in changing circumstances and to accommodate all care homes.
We recognise the very significant impact that restricting visiting in care homes and mental health settings has had on residents, their family and loved ones.
We are taking a carefully balanced, step-by-step approach to opening up more visiting opportunities. New visiting arrangements started on 8 March and every care home should enable each resident to nominate one named person who can make regular, indoor visits.
Those residents with the highest care needs can also nominate an “Essential Care Giver” who will be able to visit more often in order to provide essential care. They will have the same testing and personal protective equipment arrangements as care home staff.
Our guidance makes clear that care homes should support this visiting as the default. We are working with the care home sector to encourage and enable care homes to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current occupancy rates of care homes in England.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department receives data on spare capacity on a voluntary basis from care homes. However, this data is not sufficiently accurate to provide a comprehensive assessment of national spare capacity.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include family members of care home residents in Category 6 of their COVID-19 vaccination first phase priority groups.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has no current plans to revise the phase one priority groups to include all family members of care home residents. Family members and other care home visitors will continue to be prioritised following the wider Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advice.