Liverpool council can’t afford food safety checks

Liverpool City Council has confirmed that hundreds of food businesses are not being inspected because it cannot afford to recruit enough environmental health officers.

An audit published this month by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) raised concerns about the Council's ability to undertake all its statutory functions due to the number of checks required and a lack of staff. 

 
The audit found that in 2009/10, the Council only managed 46% of its planned food safety inspections and just 5.8 full-time equivalent posts were filled of an allocated 12.5 posts.

The audit did note that although the Council had failed to achieve a large number of planned inspections, it had completed 100% of interventions at known high and higher risk premises.

The FSA asked the Council to estimate what extra staffing would be needed in order to deliver a full inspection programme.

However, a spokesman for Liverpool City Council said:

“In the light of the recent comprehensive spending review and its implications for Liverpool City Council, it is unlikely that the city will be able to recruit additional staff to enforce the statutory food plan. Liverpool will be hit particularly hard by the Government’s overall cuts in both mainstream and grant funding.”

He added:

“Tackling this backlog continues to be a priority. It is too simplistic to deduce that unrated premises present a greater risk to the public.”

The FSA said it would work with local authorities to help them “refocus resources”.