Agenda and minutes

No declarations were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors L Collins, Hitchin and A Murphy.

Pursuant to Minute No.215 (2014/15) the Environmental Health Manager submitted a report to request approval to amend the home boarding licence conditions for home boarding (dogs).

It was recommended that condition 50 for home boarding was amended to allow a home boarding establishment to be licensed if there were children under the age of 5 at the home provided the business operator had carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and had recorded the significant findings of the risks to children under five whilst boarding dogs at their home.

The Committee had previously considered this recommendation on 1 May, 2015 but did not approve the recommendation to the change of the licence condition. The Committee had felt the risk assessments that licensees carried out lacked detail, and asked that the recommendation be resubmitted to the Committee for consideration when an in-depth risk assessment template had been drafted and the proposed new wording of condition 50 had been amended.

The Environmental Health Manager submitted a risk assessment template that home boarders could use for guidance along with a questionnaire to enable home boarders to make thorough assessments of the dog and safety in relation to under-5s and other children.

The Committee noted the thoroughness of the template risk assessment and questionnaire that had been drafted. The Committee also noted with approval that the Head of Child Protection at Derbyshire County Council had been consulted in drafting the amended condition, and that they had not expressed any concerns regarding the amended condition.

*RESOLVED -

That the new condition 50 of the licence conditions for Home Boarding (Dogs) shall be as follows:

“No home where there are children under 5 years of age will be licensed unless the business operator has carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and has recorded the significant findings of the risks to children under 5 whilst boarding dogs at their home.”