Agenda item

Context:

To undertake scrutiny of service delivery across Public Protection services in 2016/17, with comparison to previous years. The Public Protection division comprises of Environmental Health, Trading Standards & Animal Health and Licensing.

Key Issues:

Cabinet approved a report in March 2014 recommending budget reductions to Public

Protection services for 2014/15 and subsequent years. In January 2015 Cabinet asked for Public Protection performance to be reviewed regularly by this Committee to assess any negative impacts. As a consequence six monthly reports have been provided to Strong Communities Select committee, together with annual reports to Licensing & Regulatory committee.

The report summarises performance over the twelve months of 2016/17, and highlights the following –

·         The four service teams, for the vast majority of the services they deliver, meet the Authority’s legal obligations in relation to Public Protection services.

·         There have been some notable successes in 2016/17, for example improving food safety and animal feed compliance, supporting major developments (A465) and events (Eisteddfod, Abergavenny Food Festival, etc.).

·         As detailed in Appendix A, most proactive and reactive work is being carried out professionally, within prescribed response times. There are only a few exceptions, due to increased demand, e.g. some slippage in housing and private water inspections, which will be improved for 2017/18.

·         Annual reports will continue to be made to this Committee to assess performance over time, and help inform future priorities noting the competing demands.

·         Services may struggle to take on any new statutory duties that protect the public and the environment, and therefore funding must be sought to support any new work. In addition, where work is onerous on Officer time, funding will be pursued from major developers, etc.

·         Future strategies for sustaining Public Protection services will be developed, (to include further income generation and collaboration), locally, regionally and nationally.

Member Scrutiny:

In respect of landlord harassment a Member asked how the new provisions in the Housing Wales Act 2014 would help tenants. The Member spoke of incidents locally where letting agents collecting rent allows landlords to step back from their responsibilities.

A Member asked if the large number of outside agencies resulted in overlapping of work.

Considering the volume and scope of their remit and in view of the recent budget cuts, a Member praised and commended the Officers for the high quality of their work.

Whilst on the subject of rental properties a Member asked who responsibility it was to fit a fire alarm, in response we were told that this was the responsibility of the landlord.

In regard to category two hazards, damp and mould, a Member asked if the legislation in Wales allowed for tenants to take statutory nuisance action under the Environmental Protection Act.

A Member questioned if the issue with damp and mould could be a result of lifestyle rather than the building. The Officer confirmed that this was very often the case.

The issue of dog fouling was raised by a Member who had experienced dog fouling on a local football pitch. The Member commented that ‘give dog fouling the red card’ signs were in the vicinity but expressed concerns that the message of dog fouling was not clear enough and that members of the public were confused by the signs, some of which thought the signs related to football.