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Written question asked by Countess of Mar (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 19 June 2018, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 3 July 2018. It was answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy (Conservative) on Tuesday, 3 July 2018 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Food: Safety

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many competent authorities with responsibilities for food standards did not have a sampling programme in place for 2016–17; and how many local authority Chief Executives the Food Standards Agency has written to since January 2018 regarding lack of compliance with legal obligations regarding the delivery of the official controls in relation to (1) food standards, and (2) food safety.

Answer

Data submitted to the Food Standards Agency for local authority activity in 2016-17 indicates that there were 13 authorities responsible for food standards that reported no sampling activity for food standards. However, all 13 of these were unitary authorities, with responsibility for safety and standards, and reported sampling activity in relation to food safety.

The Food Standards Agency has written to 14 local authorities, either to the Chief Executive or the Head of Service, since January 2018 in relation to concerns about compliance with legal obligations. Of these, one was in relation to food standards, eight were in relation to food safety and five related to both food safety and food standards.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL8780
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Food Local government Standards Safety Testing
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk