Aim

The aim of this procedure is to ensure that all staff who undertake food safety enforcement duties are properly and appropriately authorised, adequately trained and have the experience and skills necessary to effectively conduct their duties.

Review

This document will be reviewed in the event of any relevant significant changes as necessary and also on an annual basis from the date of its implementation.

The review will be conducted by a senior member of the food safety management team.

Corrective Actions

If the policy document is not being adhered to corrective action will be taken which may include revision of this document or staff training, as appropriate.

Authorisation Procedures

Gordon Cunningham, Business Regulation Manager, is the Council's appointed head officer with overall responsibility for the enforcement of food hygiene and food standards. The responsibility for feedingstuffs enforcement rests with David Roderick, Trading Standards Manager.

A sufficient number of officers shall be appointed and authorised in order to undertake the duties required for food safety purposes.

The Business Regulation and Trading Standards Managers have delegated powers to authorise enforcement personnel. The details of this are contained within paragraph 39 of the appended committee report entitled "Delegated Powers: Department of Planning and Environment - September 2006".

North Lanarkshire Council's authorised officers shall be suitably qualified, trained, competent and with appropriate experience for the duties which they are required to undertake in accordance with the Food Standard Agency Scotland's publication  "Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland)". A schedule shall be kept of authorised officers' experience, qualifications and level of enforcement authorisation.

All authorised officers shall receive and carry a warrant card which specifies that they are authorised by North Lanarkshire Council to undertake their duties and exercise the powers conferred by the Food Safety Act 1990 and any sub-ordinate legislation.

Training Procedures

Responsibility for the training of officers for food hygiene and food standards purposes will rest with Gordon Cunningham, Business Regulation Manager. David Roderick, Trading Standards Manager, will have responsibility for feedingstuffs training.

A training record will be issued for each authorised officer. Responsibility for updating these records will rest with the individual officer in conjunction with the Service's Personnel Section. Copies of certificates of registration, qualifications and documents required by the Food Standard Agency's  "Food Law Code of Practice (Scotland)" will be kept by the relevant Food Hygiene/Food Standards Manager.

Arrangements will be made for each authorised officer to receive training for additional relevant qualifications and/or for the purposes of updating their existing skills or knowledge.

The quality of food safety enforcement activities will be monitored  in accordance with QAP 8: Review (Section 1: Protective Services) of the Service's ISO 9001: 2000 quality assurance system.

A minimum of 10 hours ongoing/update training will be provided for authorised officers currently engaged in food related activities.

In instances where officers are assigned to food safety and their knowledge of food matters has lapsed or is out of date, structured revision training will be provided before they resume enforcement duties. The extent of this training will vary but will be a minimum of 15 hours.

Any officer who returns to food safety enforcement duties after an absence of more than 3 years will be monitored, by a Food Hygiene/Food Standards Manager or Senior Officer, for at least 3 months or for the duration of their revision training period, whichever is longer.

The training needs of each officer will be reviewed annually and this will be achieved by an annual meeting between each officer and their respective Food Hygiene/Food Standards Manager. Thereafter the latter will agree proposals with the Business Regulation Manager or Trading Standards Manager, as appropriate.

The assessment of the training requirements of each officer will be facilitated by means of the l Training and Development Review (TDR) or the Performance Review and Development (PRD) schemes, whichever is applicable. The objective is to take a more individual approach to the identification, planning and evaluation of training and development initiatives.

Date of previous review: 13/12/2006

Date of Review:                  07/08/2008