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<\/p>\nCarmarthenshire Council has a huge backlog in inspections due to struggles to recruit qualified staff. But it says there are very few overdue visits at highest-risk premises<\/p>\n
A food hygiene rating sticker on a premises in Carmarthen(Image: Richard Youle )<\/p>\n
Details of food hygiene inspection backlogs faced by a council struggling to recruit qualified staff have been disclosed. Carmarthenshire Council<\/a> has 2,280 food premises on its schedule including restaurants, cafes, pubs, takeaways, care homes, schools, hospitals and manufacturers.<\/p>\n A council scrutiny committee heard last month the council probably wouldn\u2019t meet targets relating to what were termed hygiene and standards interventions for high-risk food businesses, and that it was offering \u00a360 to \u00a370 per hour<\/a> to recruit qualified staff through agencies, but still found it difficult because such staff were in high demand.<\/p>\n Ian Jones, the council\u2019s head of leisure and public protection, said that despite a lot of professionalism and expertise within the service it was \u201chighly unlikely\u201d that the end-of-year targets would be met.<\/p>\n Councillors were told other authorities were in a similar position. Cllr Colin Evans felt the situation was \u201cquite serious\u201d and added: \u201cShould something go wrong it could go wrong very quickly.\u201d The committee referred the matter to cabinet for consideration.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Following the meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council what its hygiene inspection backlog was, how many of those were highest-risk food businesses, and how often businesses were inspected. Stay informed on Carms news by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The council said food premises had a risk category from A to E, with category A, B and C ones considered high risk by virtue of food handling activities that took place.<\/p>\n It said there were three highest-risk category A premises with overdue hygiene inspections in the county \u2013 two of them within a 28-day overdue period, and the third subject to an \u201congoing presence from inspectors\u201d since the previous intervention.<\/p>\n There were also two category B premises and 228 category C premises with overdue inspections, and 467 overdue hygiene inspections for category D and E establishments.<\/p>\n The council said inspection frequencies depended on the risk category but varied between \u201cat least every six months to at least every 36 months\u201d.<\/p>\n The Local Democracy Reporting Service told the council it appeared a particular premises in the north of the county hadn\u2019t had a food hygiene inspection since 2019, according to the Scores on the Doors website. The council replied with further information, including that inspectors carried out other work such as food standards visits as well as hygiene ones.<\/p>\n It said the average backlog time-wise for hygiene inspections was 16 months for category C premises, 35 months for category D and 38 months for category E.<\/p>\n And it said 405 of the 467 category D and E premises with an overdue inspection were eligible for what were called alternative enforcement surveys.<\/p>\n The council didn\u2019t say what these surveys were, but other authorities which use them say they\u2019re a self-assessment questionnaire for eligible low risk premises that help determine whether an inspection is needed.<\/p>\n