§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many environmental health officers are currently in post; what is his estimate of the cost; how many additional environmental health officers he estimates will be required to implement the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations 1991; and what is the estimated additional cost;
(2) how environmental health officers were consulted before the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations were drafted; and what responses were received;
(3) how the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations will be enforced; and what is his estimate of the cost to central and local government.
§ Mr. DorrellInformation on numbers of environmental health officers in post is not collected centrally. It is for local authorities to consider how best to deploy their resources to enforce food safety requirements. In doing so they will take into account priority areas of concern. No funds have been made available centrally specifically for the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations 1990. The Government have made available to local authorities £30 million for extra enforcement responsibilities placed on them under the Food Safety Act 1990 dealing with improvements in food safety generally.
A draft of the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations 1990 was issued for consultation in July 1989 to a wide range of organisations including local authorities. Many comments were received on various aspects of the regulations, including their enforcement. The regulations were made in July 1990.
Guidelines on how the regulations affect industry and on how they will be enforced have also been widely consulted upon and will be issued in final form very shortly.