§ Mr. PatersonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has given to Meat Hygiene Service personnel on their future roles under the Food Standards Agency. [88291]
§ Mr. RookerMHS personnel have been provided with a detailed question and answer briefing outlining their future roles under the Food Standards Agency (FSA). As the date for the launch of the Agency gets closer, further information will be provided.
§ Mr. PatersonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will instruct all operational staff of the Meat Hygiene Service to record in writing complaints made to them by staff or management of slaughterhouses, meat cutting plants and poultry processing plants concerning the conduct or performance of Meat Hygiene Service staff and to forward those records to the Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service for response within658W a reasonable time, and require that those records be available for inspection by auditing staff of the Joint Food Safety and Standards Group. [88292]
§ Mr. RookerNo; this is not necessary. The Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) has already established modern customer complaints procedures which provide arrangements for dealing with complaints quickly at the point of service delivery, and those needing to be raised formally and escalated for senior management attention.
A simple guide was issued to all MHS customers in March 1999 outlining how customers can make complaints or comment about MHS services. These procedures meet the latest best practice principles promoted by the "Service First" unit of the Cabinet Office and are part of the MHS Quality Management System, which was registered by the British Standards Institution to the international standard BS EN ISO 9002:1994 in June 1998. The MHS is committed to continual improvement in delivering quality services, and it will continue to keep under review the effectiveness of its complaints mechanisms.