Borough Services Policy and Review Panel - Monday, 12th June, 2017 7.00 pm - Agenda and minutes

            To appoint a Chairman of the Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: That Cllr A.R. Newell be appointed Chairman for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

            To appoint a Vice-Chairman of the Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: That Cllr R.L.G. Dibbs be appointed Vice-Chairman for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

            To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 10th April, 2017 (copy attached).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 10 April, 2017 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

(1)            Mid Cycle Meetings –

          To appoint group representatives to attend the mid cycle meetings for the 2017/18 Municipal Year. In 2016/17, the representatives appointed were the Chairman (Cr. A.R. Newell), the Vice-Chairman (Cr. M.S. Choudhary) and Crs. M.J. Roberts and M. Staplehurst.

(2)            Elections Group –

The Elections Group has been established jointly by this Panel and the Licensing and General Purposes Committee. The Panel will be asked to endorse the appointments to the Group by the Licensing and General Purposes Committee on 25th May.

(1)          Mid-Cycle Meeting –

RESOLVED: That the Chairman (Cllr A.R. Newell), the Vice-Chairman (Cllr R.L.G. Dibbs) and Cllrs A.H. Crawford and M. Staplehurst be appointed to attend the mid-cycle meetings for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

(2)          Elections Group –

RESOLVED: That membership of the Elections Group for the 2017/18 Municipal Year, as appointed by the Licensing and General Purposes Committee, being the Cabinet Member for Concessions and Community Support (Cllr G.B. Lyon), the Chairman of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee (Cllr A. Jackman), the Chairman of the Borough Services Policy and Review Panel (Cllr A.R. Newell) and Cllrs K. Dibble, B. Jones and S.J. Masterson be endorsed.

The Panel is asked to confirm the appointment of Cr. Liz Corps to the vacant seat on the Borough Services Policy and Review Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year, which has been allocated to the Conservative Group in accordance with the arrangements to secure political balance.

(1)       PANEL MEMBERSHIP

The appointment of Cllr Liz Corps to the vacant seat within the Conservative Group’s allocations on the Borough Services Policy and Review Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year was noted.

To receive a presentation from officers within the Health and Safety service on working arrangements and local emerging issues within the food safety service and upon standards of food safety within the Borough.

The Panel welcomed Mr. Colin Alborough, Environmental Health Manager, who gave a presentation on the food safety service working arrangements and food safety standards in the Borough.

Mr Alborough advised of the purpose and main areas of work for the team. Their purpose was “to ensure that food and drink on sale for human consumption, which was produced, stored, handled and consumed in the Borough was without risk to the health and safety of the consumer.” The work involved carrying out the statutory, regulatory service as described by the Food Standards Agency Framework Agreement and the Food Law Code of Practice. Day to day work involved inspecting and rating businesses, supporting new businesses, responding to statutory notifications, acting as the Primary Authority for the British Army, and linking to the wider public health agenda.

It was advised that the work of the team complemented the Council Plan through a number of areas, in particular:

• Sustaining a thriving economy and boosting local business - through the provision of consultancy services to local businesses. The Council charged businesses £57 per hour (full cost recovery) for this service which allowed businesses to work with officers to drive standards of food safety up.

• Supporting and empowering our communities and meeting local need – through the initiation of an optional food hygiene re-rating scheme, at a cost of £170 for three hours. It was noted that, in the majority of cases, those that had chosen to be re-rated had improved their Food Hygiene Rating.

• A cleaner greener and more cultural Rushmoor – out on the street assessing the situation and intervening during interventions and in response to service requests.

• Financially sound with services fit for the future – A service plan was produced and presented to the Licensing and General Purposes Committee on an annual basis. Benchmarking was carried out to ensure costs for services were sustainable and an inter authority audit process was in place, in which the Rushmoor service had been found “compliant”.

It was advised that the displaying of the Food Hygiene Rating certificate was not compulsory in England. However in Scotland it was mandatory and in Wales it would soon become mandatory to display the certificate. An app was available called “scores on the doors” to check the rating of local establishments anywhere in the country. The Panel reviewed a slide which showed a graph of the different ratings up to March 2015, a request was made for an updated version to be circulated to the Panel.

The Panel was shown a number of issues that the team faced in 0/1 rated businesses. These include: cross contamination of food types, cockroach infestations, poorly maintained equipment and evidence of rodent activity. The Panel was advised that appropriate enforcement action would be taken in each case in line with the Council’s Enforcement Policy.

The team received about 550 service requests a year and were the frontline point of contact for both residents and businesses. Service requests included requests from new businesses for help  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

            To note the Panel’s work programme (copy attached).

The Panel noted the current work programme and were asked to contact the Panel Administrator to advise of any areas they would like to see covered during the 2017/18 Municipal Year. It was noted that the following items would be considered at the next mid cycle meeting:

·         Rough sleeping/Street Drinking

·         Food banks