Agenda item

Context:

To undertake scrutiny of service delivery and performance across Public Protection for the first nine months of 2016/17, with comparison to previous years. The Public Protection division comprises of Environmental Health, Trading Standards & Animal Health and Licensing.

Recommendations:

To consider and comment on the contents of the report entitled ‘Public Protection Performance report 2016/17, (first 9 months)’.

Key Issues:

1. Cabinet approved a report in March 2014 recommending budget reductions to Public Protection services for 2014/15 and the coming years. The reduction amounted to £140,000, representing about 10% of the total budget. The impact of this reduction was scrutinised by this Committee in November 2014, prior to a report going to Cabinet on 7^th January 2015. At this time, Cabinet requested regular six month reports to Strong Communities committee to monitor performance and assess any negative impacts. The intention was to review progress and take any action deemed necessary.

2. The last performance report was submitted to this Committee on 21st July 2016.

3. The attached report summarises performance over the last nine 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.

·         Six monthly 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:

A Member asked when the Welsh Government introduce new inspections, do they contribute to the costs of carrying out these inspections. In response we were told that we do get some monies but it rarely equates to the cost of carrying out the work.

In respect of the duelling of A465 a member asked what input Environmental Health has with the project. We were told that Environmental Health deal with construction noise and dust, especially noise at night were we have liaised with Costains to limit the hours of operation. There has also been the matter of exhumations which needs to be dealt with humanely and respectfully. 

Questions were raised regarding air quality monitoring, with Usk and Hardwick Hill being mentioned, what actions were being taken and who helps fund the costs involved. The officer replied that those two air quality management areas which have to be declared by the local authority. As the Hardwick Hill area is a Welsh Government road so officers try to work with them to produce an action plan.

A Member asked for further information regarding the deaths at golf courses and we were told that an incident had taken place where a person had drown retrieving golf balls and as an authority we were responsible for raising the profile of prevention and awareness.

Officers advised members that when employing electrical contractors the person who engages the contractor must ensure that they are NIC approved for carrying out works.

Officers were asked if the immigration checks will add to the workload and were told that there is not a huge problem in Monmouthshire and with regard to taxi drivers, their passports are checked as part of their DBS check.

A member expressed his concerns about people who smoke on the street outside public houses and officers advised that they can speak to the landlords of public houses if particular venues were identified as landlords have a duty to avoid public nuisance.

When asked if there was a language test for taxi drivers we were told that all taxi drivers were subject to a knowledge test which covered money handling, location and safeguarding training.