§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if the target date of April 2001 for the establishment of new performance appraisal arrangements for all staff of the Food Standards Agency was met. [49225]
§ Yvette CooperNew performance appraisal arrangements were introduced for staff employed by the Food Standards Agency with the first reports being completed from April 2001.
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§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the result is of the examination by the Food Standards Agency, in co-operation with the Public Health Laboratory Service and others, of the best means of gathering data for the food poisoning baseline. [49213]
§ Yvette CooperAt its public board meeting on 9 May 2001, the Food Standards Agency's board agreed that laboratory reports of the major foodborne bacteria, excluding those cases reported to have been acquired abroad, provided the most robust basis for setting the baseline for its target to reduce foodborne disease over a five-year period. Information on laboratory-reported cases is provided to the agency by the National Surveillance Centres. Based on laboratory reports for the year ending 31 December 2000, the baseline figure is 62,209. This was announced by the agency on 23 August 2001.