1. How many new food businesses have registered with your council between financial year 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021?
190.

2. Of all the new food businesses who have registered with your council between financial year 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021, how many of those were first inspected by an environmental health officer within 28 days of their application?
Five.

3. Of all the new food businesses who have registered with your council between financial year 6 April 2020 and 5 April 2021, how many of those have still not yet been inspected by an environmental health officer?
146 (as of end July 2021).

Additional information/context to explain the figures:
• There was an unprecedented number of food registrations received during Covid.
• The Food Standards Agency have been advising LAs on food inspections during Covid, and their priority, which we have been following. This was to protect LA staff and staff in food premises from Covid and to assist in the reduction of transmission, and in acknowledgment that many premises were closed for business during the pandemic.
• Some of the food premises, although they submitted a Registration form, were not ready to operate, and therefore did not require an inspection.
• Some high risk premises that were open had policies that officers could not physically visit due to shielding and vulnerable groups at the premises eg care homes, etc, and so contacted remotely. Authorised Officers contacted those high risk to discuss operational issues.
• Food officers were redeployed to Covid Compliance, outbreak control work, Local Contact tracing work and Coincidence Reports premises inspection work; in many cases this involved interactions with food premises.
• There was a marked increase in reactive work in relation to Covid and a high increase in food reactive work, on reopening, that officers are dealing with.
• The risk assessments for officers instructed a physical inspection inside any premises in any discipline as a last resort, and there were procedures to follow should the visit be required including, for example, physical separation, ventilation, PPE etc, and LFT.
• It is suspected that many of the new businesses did not open, and may not open, a project is ongoing to determine which premises still require Registration.

We have brought in added resource and are now working through the unrated premises, in line with the FSA Recovery Plan.