FSA News Item, 13 January 2010
In May 2009, Tim Smith, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, commissioned Jan Polley of the National School of Government to review for him the proposed arrangements for the approval of meat establishments in Great Britain.
The report looks at the governance arrangements being put in place to oversee the approval of new meat establishments for which responsibility transferred from the FSA to the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) in October 2009. The report does not look at the one-off exercise conducted by the FSA from 2006 to the end of 2009 to re-approve all premises following new European legislation.
Since commissioning and receiving the report, much has changed within the FSA. The FSA Board has agreed that the MHS should be formally merged with the FSA, and FSA Directors have agreed to establish the FSA Operations Group. The report makes a number of sensible recommendations, which the Chief Executive and Directors are considering in the light of changes agreed and made to the organisation since Ms Polley started her work.
Any proposed changes to the governance arrangements for the approval of meat establishments are for the FSA Board to decide.
The FSA is grateful to Ms Polley for her report and to all those who contributed.
A copy of the report is available on this site. See: A review of proposed arrangements for the approval of meat establishments