§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for what reasons the proprietor of a food business was given the right to require the officer of an enforcement authority who is minded to serve an improvement notice under section 10 of the Food Safety Act 1990 to furnish a written notice beforehand giving reasons. [38319]
§ Mrs. BrowningThis is in line with the Government's policy to apply the enforcement procedures contained in section 5 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 in all areas of regulatory activity where this is practicable.
These procedures provide for problems to be ironed out a the earliest stage by giving the right to be warned before enforcement action is taken and a chance to make representations to challenge proposed enforcement action. They also require enforcers to give reasons for taking action and to explain how an appeal can be made.
Enforcement officers may still take immediate action where they consider this to be necessary.
§ Mr. PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many improvement notices have been served under section 10 of the Food Safety Act 1990 in each year since that date. [38318]
§ Mrs. BrowningUnder section 41 of the Food Safety Act 1990, local authorities, which are responsible for the enforcement of food safety law in the UK, are required to submit statistics to central Government detailing the work, including the number of improvement notices issued, which has been carried out. Data for those years for which complete data are available are as follows.
635W
Year Number of improvement notices issued in the UK 1992 41,641 1993 26,338
Year Number of improvement notices issued in the UK 1994 9,307 1995 5,679