Council and Democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Town Hall, Chesterfield, S40 1LP

Contact: Brian Offiler  01246 345229

Items
No. Item

131.

Declarations of Members' and Officers' Interests relating to items on the agenda

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

132.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Alexis Diouf.

133.

Review of Licence and Registration Fees 2018/19 (A000) pdf icon PDF 124 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Senior Environmental Health Officer presented a report seeking approval of the proposals to not increase animal licensing and skin piercing registration fees for 2018/2019, following the annual review of fees, to introduce a charge for food hygiene rating scheme (FHRS) re-rating inspections and to introduce a fee for food export health certificates.

 

The report outlined the reasons for the proposals.

 

It was proposed to not increase animal licensing and skin piercing registration fees for 2018/2019 to bring these in line with other Derbyshire authorities and in preparation for a change of fees expected in the near future arising from changes to animal licensing processes proposed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Details of existing fees across the authorities were shown as an appendix to the report.

 

Charging for re-rating inspections under the FHRS was now permitted under the revised brand standard for the scheme, allowing local authorities to recover the costs of any re-rate inspection. The Council received an average of 20 requests for re-rate inspections each year, although this could increase if, as expected, the display of food hygiene ratings became mandatory in the future. It was noted that two authorities in Derbyshire currently charged a fee for re-rating inspections and that the other authorities were proposing to charge from April, 2018. Details of proposed charges across the various authorities were attached as an appendix to the report. Based on the calculation of costs involved (shown in Appendix B to the report) it was proposed to introduce a charge of £170 per visit for food hygiene re-rating inspections.

 

The Council had not been requested to issue food export health certificates until July, 2016, and 12 certificates had been issued since that time. Councils could apply a fee for export certificates to recover the costs of carrying them out. Based on the calculation of costs involved (shown in Appendix E to the report) it was proposed to introduce a fee of £50 for a food export health certificate. 

 

Arising from Members’ questions it was clarified that once a charge was introduced food businesses could request a re-rating inspection at any time and that the proposed charges were calculated to just recover the costs of undertaking re-rating inspections or issuing export certificates.

 

* RESOLVED –

 

(1)         That the animal licensing and skin piercing registration fees for 2018/2019 are not increased, following the annual review of fees.

 

(2)         That a charge for re-rate food inspections be introduced from April, 2018 at a rate of £170 per visit.

 

(3)         That a fee for export health certificates be introduced from April, 2018 at a rate of £50 per certificate.