Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance of the following duly constituted Reserve Members:

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

Agenda Item 7 – Commercial Safety Service Plan 2012/13

Councillor Sue Anderson declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in that she was employed by the NHS in public health.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon but if public health was discussed at which point she would leave the room.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2012 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 July 2012 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents/organisations under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 17 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions had been received.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4B) of the Constitution.

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at the meeting under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16.

Report of the Divisional Director, Environmental Services.

The Committee received a report of the Divisional Director of Environmental Services which advised that by virtue of the Food Safety Act 1999, the Health and Safety Act 1974 and associated statutory guidance, the Council, as statutory enforcement authority, had a duty to budget, plan and deliver the inspection and enforcement of food safety and health and safety services within the borough.  The Commercial Safety Service Plan satisfied these requirements. In accordance with the Constitution, the Health and Safety elements had to be considered and approved by the Licensing and General Purposes Committee.

The officer outlined the content of the report and advised that the Plan had been considered by Cabinet in relation to its food safety aspects. There was a further report due to be considered by Cabinet on 13 September 2012 that proposed the restructure of the Environmental Services Division. In addition, further work on the public health function that was to transfer from the Primary Care Trust was underway. In summarising, the officer advised that there had been significant progress in terms of commercial safety, he was proud of the partnership working with the Home Group and that Harrow was also a Home Authority.

Members expressed their concern at the reduction of staff in the Council’s Food Safety and Health and Safety team and therefore meeting statutory obligations. The officer reassured Members that although the team was small it was effective and advised that there was a focus on high risk inspections. It had been decided to hold the current level of vacancies partly due to budgets and also because of the Directorate work with Prism. Whilst the Food Standards Agency (FSA) had assessed the Council to be understaffed in this area, Harrow was exceeding their requirements. The staffing level had to be balanced with the Council’s financial position in mind.

In terms of staffing, the officer reported that the problem with recruiting staff to the grade of Senior Professional had eased and that health and safety was the area that had experienced the most difficulty.  Another Member stated that he would have expected Cabinet to have raised the issue in terms of staffing levels and that he was concerned that it might not be possible to implement the plan in full without additional resource.  The officer responded that whilst it was a heavy workload, the inspection programme was managed by risk and in excess of 90% of high risk categories were inspected annually.  He was confident that risk was being managed reasonably well and, following the major restructure that was underway, he expected that front line enforcement services would be staffed at a higher level.  In addition, the service had participated in the Council’s Xcite programme and as a result had employed two interns on an agency basis.

In response to a Member’s question as to how the team checked food stalls for large events such as Under One Sky and Pinner Fair, the officer advised that there was involvement of his team at an early  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.