Foodlaw-Reading Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Food Law News - UK - 2022

FSA Consultation, 17 October 2022

ENFORCEMENT - Review of the Food Law Code of Practice for the Food Standards Delivery Model (England)

FSA Consultation: Review of the Food Law Code of Practice for the Food Standards Delivery Model (England) A copy of the consultation document is available on this site (click on image). Provided under the Open Government Licence. The original webpage was accessed from:

Responses to the consultation are required by 9 January 2023. Responses can be submitted using a specified form - see the FSA consultation page: Consultation on proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice (England) in relation to a new food standards delivery model.

To seek stakeholder views on the proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice (England) (the Code) to support the introduction of the new Food Standards Delivery Model.

This consultation will be of most interest to:

• Competent Authorities - Local Authorities (LAs)
• food businesses
• professional awarding bodies for environmental health and trading standards professionals
• Trade Unions and expert groups may also have an interest

Consultation subject/purpose:

To seek stakeholder views on the proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice (England) (the Code) to support the introduction of the new Food Standards Delivery Model.

Key proposals include:

• modernisation of the approach to food standards delivery specified within the Code, in particular the incorporation of a new food standards intervention rating scheme, and a decision matrix to determine the appropriate frequency of Official Controls based on the risk posed by a food business
• changes to the Code sections on the delivery of interventions and enforcement to support the principles of the new food standards delivery model

Details of consultation:

Introduction

In England, local authorities (LAs) are Competent Authorities responsible for verifying compliance with food law in the majority of food business establishments. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for providing advice and guidance on the approach that LAs should take, and this is set out in the Food Law Code of Practice (the Code).

LAs have a  duty to have  regard to the provisions in the Code in relation to the delivery of official controls.

The Code requires regular review and revision to ensure that it reflects current priorities, policy, and legislative requirements so that LAs delivery of food control activities remain effective, consistent, and proportionate.

The purpose of this consultation is to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to comment on our current proposals for amending the Code for England – the proposals for change are outlined below. Similar changes are being proposed  for the Code for LAs in Northern Ireland. The FSA in Wales will review the Food Law Code of Practice (Wales) at a later date and undertake a consultation prior to issuing advice to the Minister.

Background

The FSA has developed a new model for delivery of food standards official controls for LAs. The new model addresses the shortcomings in the current approach identified through a LA survey undertaken in 2018 which recognised that the existing framework is not fit for purpose. The survey found that:

• officers felt the Code was no longer fit for purpose and that it fails to support LAs in targeting resources at the areas of greatest risk within the food chain
• LAs were not complying with the requirements of the Code  

The need for a fundamental review of the current model was accepted by the FSA Board in late 2018. Working in collaboration with LAs and other key stakeholders, we developed a new delivery model to provide an approach that better targets LA resources at food businesses presenting the greatest risk. The consultation on the changes to the Code follows on from a 15-month pilot of the proposed new model in England and Northern Ireland. The pilot ran from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2022. It involved seven LAs (six from England, one from Northern Ireland) operating to the new model and four control LAs in England working to the current Code. LAs volunteered to be involved and the participants were selected based on specific criteria to provide a representative cohort on which to base our evaluation. 

Prior to the pilot commencing, we trained pilot LAs on the new model (for example the new risk scheme). We provided support and engaged with LAs throughout the pilot to identify issues and understand how the new model operates.

The formal evaluation process for the pilot concludes that the new approach is effective. Critically, the evaluation data indicates that the new model is more effective at directing officers to food businesses that are non-compliant with food law. Following the outcome of the pilots in England and Northern Ireland the FSA in Wales will review the food standards model for Wales and hope to undertake a pilot of the proposed model prior to consulting separately. Findings from officer interviews as part of the process evaluation were consistent in identifying the following aspects as working well:

• ability to re-score a business after an activity such as revisit was welcomed.
• the new decision matrix and risk assessment scheme are easy to understand and implement
• the new decision matrix allows risk to be assessed and balanced across different types of premises - allows a more accurate assessment of risk
• a key benefit is that manufacturers were no longer considered high risk by default
• use of remote interventions at appropriate businesses
• integration of the new model into their existing working practices
• officers were recognising when problems may not be local and sharing more information with the FSA

A paper covering the pilot and evaluation was presented to ABC Programme Board at their meeting on 25 August, following which universal agreement was given to proceed to consultation on the new food standards delivery.