Earned Recognition: Primary
Authority and Third Party
Assurance Schemes
Sharon Egan,
Enforcement Strategy and Research,
Enforcement and Local Authority Division
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Compliance and Enforcement Strategy
• Developing a strategic approach to support
implementation and set enforcement priorities in
the revised FSA Strategy 2010-2015
• Aim is consistent approach to compliance and
enforcement across foodchain by all regulators
• Clearer direction and leadership.
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Compliance and Enforcement Strategy
• Key Principles
– Target interventions on areas where there is
higher risk
– More emphasis tackling non-compliance
– Greater recognition of business’ own means of
securing compliance
– Increased transparency of standards
– Use of wider incentives and penalties that drive
compliance
– Consistent risk based controls across foodchain
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The Government's strategy is to:
• remove or simplify existing regulations that
unnecessarily impede growth
• reduce the overall volume of new regulation by
introducing regulation only as a last resort
• improve the quality of any remaining new regulation
• move to less onerous and less bureaucratic
enforcement regimes where inspections are targeted
and risk-based
• In April 2010, the Prime Minister said: "I want us to be
the first government in modern history to leave office
having reduced the overall burden of regulation,
rather than increasing it."
The Strategy Themes: Overview
Assessing risk
Changing FBO behaviour
• Improved overview and understanding
of risks associated with Food
Businesses
• Improved risk based regulation
• Current approach based on
monitoring, education and support can
be enhanced through better targeting
• An understanding of drivers of
compliance in businesses and making
greater use of these in our
interventions and initiatives.
Earned Recognition
• Use risk based approaches to monitor
compliance to deliver efficiencies and
free up resources to tackle key risks
Tackling non-compliance
• Increase FBO perceptions of the
likelihood & consequences of
detection
• Tougher on persistent/high risk noncompliance
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Earned Recognition 1
• Use risk based approaches to monitor compliance.
• Better efficiency and free up resources to better tackle
key risks
• Capitalise on assurance schemes
• Removes duplication between public sector and
industry’s own checks
• Modern Regulation- removing regulatory burdens and
encouraging self regulation- strategic outcome
• Supports FSA strategy outcome- that responsibility for
compliance lies with FBOs
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Earned Recognition 2
• Key area for delivery of the strategy
• Earned Recognition is about reducing the frequency or
different interventions in low risk / compliant businesses
• Improve the targeting of regulator state resources to
higher risk/non-compliant businesses
• Better efficiency and free up resources to better tackle
key areas and serious or persistent non-compliance
• At core of all ER approaches- OCs are always delivered
by competent authorities, OCs are non-delegable from
CA
• Regulator respond to reactive regulation- incidents,
complaints, intelligence-led.
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Earned Recognition: Primary (/ Home)
Authority
• Mechanism to deliver improved co-ordination and
consistency
• Provides for a ‘national’ approach to England and Wales
chains
• In retail and catering pilot
• Aim is to deliver efficiency and effectiveness in
regulation of the PAS food business
• Evidence- FBO, LAs and FSA and analysis provides
rationale for approach to programmed inspection
• Regulator respond to reactive regulation- incidents,
complaints, intelligence-led.
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Earned Recognition: Primary Authority
• Inspection plans and Earned Recognition Rationale
Document.
• Hygiene and Standards
• PA check verify central systems
• Eg supermarket- full and open access internal data
systems- daily, weekly and monthly checks, regular inhouse and external audit reports.
• Sound evidence basis.
• Cross-reference for analysis- FHRS, Helpline, Incidents
data (if possible)
• Company also provide customer complaints, LA
interventions
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Earned Recognition: Primary Authority
• IP kept up to date and reactive- vehicle for dissemination
information
• All interventions feedback- inspection and reactive
interventions
• May include specific topics re FBO (date coding,
temperature checks) or address national strategic
priorities (eg Campylobacter/Listeria of FDS, E. coli
guidance)
• IP broadly sets out to test implementation of the central
FSMS.
• Address training, FSMS description, non-conformances
• RAG necessary to verify
• ERRD provides basis- FSA review
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Earned Recognition in Dairy Hygiene
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A baseline 24 months inspection frequency for farms supplying raw milk for
pasteurisation
Subject to the caveats, dairy farms with membership of the Red Tractor
Assurance Dairy (RTAD) scheme will benefit from an extended official inspection
frequency of 10 years
Dairy farms producing raw drinking milk for human consumption will be subject
to official inspection at a frequency of 6 months.
Ad hoc inspections will be carried out in response to adverse findings or
notifications from official inspection, RTAD audit, third parties or first purchasers
of raw milk.
RTAD farms known to supply raw milk to manufacturers of unpasteurised dairy
product will not benefit from an extended official inspection frequency.
Those RTAD members subject to formal official action, or suspension from the
RTAD scheme, will not benefit from an extended official inspection frequency.
In the first year of the amended controls official inspections will focus on those
dairy farms judged as least compliant under the previous official controls regime.
The new arrangements will be reviewed after a period of three years
Earned Recognition in Dairy Hygiene
Scope of the Scheme
FSA
Read only
Read only
Monthly re-fresh
FSA e-mail
Dairy Hygiene Database
Non-compliances
Apply monthly
updates
DHIS e-mail
Non-compliances
RTADDB
Read and update
Read only
DHIS
FSA
RTADS
Portal
Earned Recognition: Third Party
Assurance Schemes
• Approach already established in primary production
hygiene
• IPPC pilot poultry pig farms one year.
• Dairy farm consultation- use ADF scheme membership
to inform risk and inspection frequency in medium-low
risk only.
• Must address regulations, information sharing prerequisite.
• Checks with scheme, CBs and ‘random’ inspections.
• SMEs?
• Regulator respond to reactive regulation- incidents,
complaints, intelligence-led.
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Earned Recognition
Common Safeguards and Checks
• Meet requirements of 882.
• Openness and trust- data sharing
• A percentage checked annually by unannounced
inspection- is the system working as intended?
• High level governance
• Evidence and intelligence based
• UKAS accredited CBs- impartial, competent and
accountable
• ER can be awarded, it can also be removed- a reactive
system if it isn’t protecting consumers
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Earned Recognition
Consumer views
• ‘Who checks the checkers?...’
• ‘Earned Recognition should not be inherited...’.
• ‘We don’t need to have stickers up showing what and
how they earn ER...’*
• ‘SMEs shouldn’t be disadvantaged’
- Broadly content with the outline proposal- checks and
balances described were important.
- The fact that inspections are paid for or internal to FBO
is not a barrier.
(* but some wanted to know)
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Delivery: Code of Practice Review
• Delivered by 2013.
• Some changes incorporated ahead of that - RANs
extension, competency framework.
• RDNA work led by CIEH and TSI, with LBRO facilitating
through world class coalition and FSA input.
• ‘Core’ modules and ‘petal’ specialties.
• Trialled across range of authorities, goes live October.
• Future- evaluation and linking to Food authorisation.
• Future-proof- allow for incorporation if positive outcomes
from pilots such as AGMA/GMPPP.
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Next Steps
• Joint development of the model, including delivery
plans/options.
• Ongoing cost/benefit analysis, impact assessments
• Aim is for formal consultation to commence, informed by
pilot outcomes.
• Post-consultation there will be joint development of
business /implementation plans for the strategy.
• Aim is UK wide policy. Although implementation is a
devolved matter, seeking consistency in approach.
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Questions for today
• Are there other elements we should consider
in ER?
• Does it fit with your thinking on service
delivery?
• What are keys risks?
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O unicorn among the cedars
To whom no magic charm can lead us,
White childhood moving like a sigh
Through the green wods unharmed in thy
Sophisticated innocence...
-- W. H. Auden
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Thank You
Comments? Please email:
ces@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk