§ Mr. Gristasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many environmental health officers have been designated in each county for the purpose of inspecting poultry slaughterhouses and premises under the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976;
(2) on what basis he intends to designate environmental health officers as being suitably qualified to carry out licensing inspections under the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976.
§ Mr. StrangAs the hon. Gentleman is aware, the regulations provide for the designation of suitably qualified environmental health officers and veterinary surgeons for this purpose. No environmental health officer has been designated pending the outcome of curent consultations on the arrangements. Proposals dealing, among other things, with the training and designation of local authority officers have been sent this week to the local authority associations and the professional bodies concerned. With their co-operation, we expect that sufficient environmental health officers will have been trained, as necessary, and designated in good time to meet the main demand for inspections which will arise when the present exemptions from licensing expire in August.