FOI request (FOIR-408082537)

Inspecting premises that serve food to the public

Requested Tue 15 March 2022
Responded  Tue 29 March 2022

I would be most grateful if you could answer the following questions as a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

1. What is your Council's policy for inspecting premises that serve food to the public such as bars, restaurants , hotels and takeaways in your area. That is, how often do you aim to visit such premises to inspect food hygiene standards?

2. For each calendar year for the past 3 years from January 2017 to present, please supply the following information in relation to Food Hygiene inspections:

a. How many such premises were/are licensed by your Council to serve food and were/are subject to food hygiene inspections by your Council?

b. How many complaints did you receive from members of the public about licensed premises suspected of poor hygiene or causing food poisoning or the like?

c. How many routine food hygiene inspections did your authority carry out?

d. How many inspections were overdue compared to your policy in question 1?

3. As it stands today, 14th March 2022, for premises that are currently trading and were identified in Q1 (that are subject to food hygiene inspections in your Council's area) how many have not been inspected for:

a. Over one year

b, Over two years

c. Over five years

d. Over ten years

e. Have never been inspected

f. For each of the five hygiene ratings awarded to premises (1 -5), how many premises were awarded each rating upon their last inspection?

Response

1. Hastings Borough Council is currently following the Food Standards Agency's COVID-19 Local Authority Recovery Plan in order to inspect our food premises. Frequency of inspection is currently determined by this Plan, otherwise we use the Food Intervention rating scheme as laid out in the FSA's Food Law Code of Practice (England).

2. Please note food premises are not licensed to sell food, they are registered.

2a.

2017 - 839/429

2018 - 824/351

2019 - 853/384

2020 - 879/299

2021 - 858/483

2b.

2017 - 140

2018 - 146

2019 - 147

2020 - 127

2021 - 120

2c.

2017 - 429

2018 - 351

2019 - 384

2020 - 264

2021 - 431

2d.

2017 - 0

2018 - 0

2019 - 0

2020 - 35

2021 - 52

3a and 3b. Those not inspected for over 1 or 2 years are for the reason that their inspection frequency is not due in line with the Recovery Plan and/or intervention programme.

3c. Zero

3d. Zero

3e. Applies to newly registered premises only - 32 of which approximately 15 are not yet operating.

3f. This information can be found at:

https://ratings.food.gov.uk/default/en-GB