§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she has taken to ensure that the codes of practice issued under section 40 of the Food Safety Act 1990 are consistently and sensibly enforced; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleOn 6 May the Department wrote to all chief environmental health officers in England reminding them that food safety inspections should be conducted in632W accordance with code of practice No. 9 on food hygiene inspections and urging them to concentrate their efforts where significant risks are posed.
The Department will shortly be consulting on a revision of this code and code of practice No. 5 on the issue of improvement notices to improve and clarify them. in addition, on 25 May, my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food met representatives of the local authority associations, the Local Authorities Coordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards and the Institution of Environmental Health Officers to emphasise the importance Ministers attach to a sensible, risk-related approach to the enforcement of food law. The Department investigates with the local authorities concerned all cases brought to its attention where there is a suggestion that the law has been applied in an over-zealous way.