The Council has a Generic and an Environmental Health-specific
enforcement policy, both of which were developed in consultation with
stakeholders from the business sector, private individuals, neighbouring Councils
and other interested organisations.
Why Is This Important to You?
The
purpose of enforcement is to protect the public, the environment and groups
such as consumers and workers. Enforcement can include offering advice and
assistance as well as more formal action such as serving notices or taking a prosecution.
Formal
enforcement action is usually an option of last resort, except in urgent or
emergency cases, but remains an important part of the Council's approach to
regulation. Most businesses want to comply with the law and the Council will,
whenever possible, try to help businesses meet their legal obligations on the
basis that prevention is better than cure.
Enforcement action can make a positive contribution to
economic growth by acting against rogue traders and helping to create a level playing
field for businesses.
It is important that enforcement action by any regulator is
always :
-
transparent
- i.e. is based on clear, understandable policies.
-
accountable
- including consultation arrangements and having complaint
procedures in place in case things go wrong.
-
proportionate
to the risk - ensuring that any action we
require is not excessive.
-
consistent
- although authorised staff are expected to exercise judgement in
individual cases it is important to maintain consistency.
-
targeted
where it is needed, i.e. in the areas of greatest risk.
Content of Our Policies
In December 2007 the Government published the Regulator's
Compliance Code. This covers a wide range of enforcement activity affecting businesses
and sets out requirements for councils. It came into effect on 6th April 2008.
Where this Code does not apply the Council will continue to
follow the principles of the Cabinet Office Enforcement Concordat, which we
adopted in 2000.
A number of national bodies issue guidance on
enforcement action. We take account of this in all our regulatory work.
The Environmental Health enforcement policy covers food
safety, health & safety at work, licensing and smoke-free regulatory interventions. All other enforcement is covered by the Council’s Generic policy.
Future Changes
Whenever changes are needed to our enforcement policy we
will consult stakeholders and take account of their views. Stakeholders for
Environmental Health fall into the
following categories –
-
business
proprietors : this is the group most likely
to be the subject of a regulatory intervention, for instance in the
areas of food safety or health and safety at work.
-
people
who make a complaint to us about anything which has a
potential to become an enforcement issue. This encompasses the vast
majority of our reactive work although only a very small proportion of
these cases results in formal enforcement action.
-
'offenders'
: these will be individual citizens who, perhaps through some form of
anti-social behaviour, give rise to complaint and become the subject of a regulatory intervention.
-
the
Police and local Court Service : the police,
local Magistrates and Clerks have an interest in our policy.
-
neighbouring
local authorities will also be interested,
especially in terms of ensuring cross-boundary consistency.
Stakeholder Consultation Process
We last consulted on our enforcement policy in the first half of 2008. Consultation is carried out in the following ways :
-
mail
shots : an invitation to contribute to the policy
development process is offered to businesses and local courts.
-
web
site : a copy of the revised policies is posted on the
Council's web site and responses invited.
-
business
newsletter : the Council's Economic
Prosperity Section publishes a newsletter which is sent to all businesses
within the Borough.
-
individual
discussion during visits to businesses : the issue is
raised by inspectors whilst visiting in the course of routine duties and/or
when investigating complaints, etc.
-
e-mail
circulation to neighbouring local authorities and police
-
inclusion
with customer satisfaction survey questionnaires
Further Information
The Environmental Health enforcement policy can be
downloaded by clicking here (opens in new window); there is also a summary leaflet. Printed copies of both can be obtained from the Environmental
Health Section free of charge by :
- telephoning
023 9254 5505, 5506, 5507 or 5583 during office hours
- visiting
the Environmental Health Reception at Gosport Town Hall
between 9 and 5, Monday to Friday.
Details of the Council's Generic enforcement policy are available
from the Council’s Legal and Democratic Support Section (e-mail LADSadmin@gosport.gov.uk) or by clicking here (opens in new window).
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