Support @sccscot Mass Lobby of @ScotParl 29 Sept & call for climate action

UNISON Scotland is supporting the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland mass lobby of MSPs at the Scottish Parliament on 29 September. Full details from SCCS are below, including how to register for the limited number of places, and how to send support if you can't attend.

And if you're a member interested in action on climate change, do join our Green Network. At our September meeting, we will be discussing lots of ways that trade unionists can get involved, and practical policies in working for a Just Transition to a low carbon Scotland. We meet in Glasgow on the afternoon of Saturday 3 Sept. Information here, where you can also sign up for our email list.

Calling for Climate Action - Mass Lobby of Holyrood

Join people from all across Scotland for a mass lobby inside the Scottish Parliament, calling on our MSPs to take strong action on climate change.

Thursday 29th September 12-2.30pm, Edinburgh

Registration & briefing from 12 at a venue close to Holyrood, mass lobby from 1pm inside Parliament

Last year, all five party leaders at Holyrood pledged to deliver on Scotland’s climate commitments. 

Now it's time for action.

The Scottish Government will publish their draft climate action plan before the end of the year, setting out the steps they will take to tackle climate change.

It's important that this is an ambitious and credible plan, and contains action on things like renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the food we eat and the way we travel, and improving energy efficiency of Scotland's buildings.

This is a great opportunity to meet your new MSPs and tell them why climate change matters to you.

Book your place.

If you can't join us on the day, you can still send a climate message. Send us a tag for our climate message tree and we'll deliver it to your MSPs on the day.

On the day we will meet at a venue near Parliament at noon, so that you can meet with others from your region and have a briefing session to help you talk to your MSPs about climate change. Everyone will then go to Parliament together to meet with MSPs.

Don't worry if you're not sure how to talk to your MSP - you will be sent a briefing pack in advance with lots of helpful information, aswell as the briefing session on the day itself. Or you can simply explain to them why you're concerned about climate change and why you feel it's important they take action.

As this event takes place inside the Scottish Parliament, places to take part in the lobby must be booked in advance.

Book your place now

Once you've booked your place, make sure you invite your MSP

Full details on the SCCS website 

UNISON member interested in climate change? Green Network Meeting Sat 21 May

Calling all UNISON members interested in climate change!

Come to our next Green Network meeting in Glasgow - this Saturday, 21 May.

We have a guest speaker - Jim Densham from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. Come and find out the latest on tackling global warming and campaigning for a low carbon Scotland. 

Tell us what you think we should be doing and/or what you are doing where you are.

And join in discussions about Just Transition, green workplace action as part of our Combating Austerity work, and the Scottish Food Coalition's call for a socially just and environmentally sustainable food system.

The meeting is from 11am -1pm in the UNISON Scotland office. 14, West Campbell Street, Glasgow G2 6RX. Email f.montgomery@unison.co.uk for more information and to sign up for Green Network email updates.

Interested in a fairer food system? Bring your NGO 07/03 #PLENTY #ScotFoodCoalition

There's a new coalition in Scotland working for a just transition to a new food system.

UNISON is hosting a workshop on Monday, 7 March, at which the Scottish Food Coalition will launch a new report, 'PLENTY'. A few places remain for interested NGOs and networks across all sectors.

PLENTY: Food, Farming and Health in a New Scotland describes a food system that is environmentally sustainable, socially just, and delivers high levels of wellbeing. It sets out the vision, makes the case for change, and some steps for getting there. 

The Scottish FoodCoalition has come together in recognition that the problems in our current food system are interconnected and cannot be changed by focusing on a single issue.

Scots overwhelmingly support meat inspectors staying independent, says UNISON

Wed 15 April 2015

UNISON Scotland are highlighting an independent survey showing that Scots want slaughterhouses to be independently inspected by government meat safety inspectors.

This polling is released when there is continued pressure from Europe to de-regulate meat inspectors, and when meat inspectors have been brought into a new Scottish Government Agency, Food Standards Scotland.

UNISON Scotland has released the independent polling, from Ispos MORI, showing that almost all Scots (98%) believe that official slaughterhouses should be inspected to ensure they are meeting food safety and quality standards; the vast majority of Scots (95%) believe that slaughterhouses should continue to operate to official standards; three quarters of Scots also believe slaughterhouses should be inspected independently (75%), and majority of Scots (70%) also agree that standards are more likely to be met if they are carried out by government inspectors.

Dave Watson, UNISON Scottish organiser, said: 
"This report is a timely reminder to Scottish Government that food safety is a priority for Scots. Scots believe the meat trade should be independently inspected and regulated, and they think that meat inspection should be carried out by government inspectors.

"This is too important to get wrong.

"We have been concerned about the lighter touch regulation which has been promoted across UK and EU meat trades. The Scottish Government’s new agency Food Standards Scotland must ensure we maintain a strong, well regulated, independent meat inspection regime."

ends

Notes for editors:

• UNISON is the biggest trade union in Scotland and represents meat inspectors. 

• The independent polling was carried out by Ipsos MORI, published in February 2015, and can be read here:
http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/ndpb/meathygiene/
PublicAttitudestoInspectionofSlaughterhousesinScotland_Feb2015.pdf 

• Previous UNISON press release on deregulation of the meat tradehttp://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/2014/mayjun/0610.htm

• Scottish Government brought food safety into a new Food Standards Scotland on 1 April 2015. Food Standards Scotland has a new broader remit to consider consumer protection more generally. It includes making sure food is safe to eat but also food labelling and improving nutrition.

Food Bill must prioritise food safety

Wed 1 Oct 2014

UNISON, the union who represent meat hygiene inspectors and environmental health officers, is calling on MSPs debating the Food (Scotland) Bill tomorrow (Thursday 2 Oct) to make the interests of consumers paramount in the objectives of the new regulatory body Food Standards Scotland.

The union is highlighting recent food scandals to make the case against deregulation. More than 60% of chickens in the UK are now infected with the campylobacter food poisoning bug, which on average kills 110 people each year and results in 22,000 people being treated in hospital. Despite this, the current UK regulators are scrapping independent inspection in poultry plants, allowing companies to appoint their own inspectors.

And it’s not just the UK regulators. The Scottish Government recently promulgated regulations that allow the visual only inspection of pigs in abbatoirs. This means tumours and abscesses will be minced into the sausages and pies we eat.

Dave Watson, UNISON’s head of bargaining and campaigns, said that; “Meat inspectors and vets must be able to carry out thorough independent inspections, free from food industry influence. Councils must also be properly funded so that food outlets are regularly inspected.”

“Since April 2012 meat inspectors and vets have prevented over a million instances of diseased animal carcasses from entering the food chain in Scotland. MSP’s are urged to recognise that simply creating a Scottish body to regulate food safety is not enough. They must legislate for higher standards to ensure the objectives set out in the Bill are achieved.”

UNISON believes the primary concern of Food Standards Scotland must be to protect consumers not increase food industry profits. This will also protect the high quality Scottish food brand which is so important for Scottish jobs.

ENDS

Notes to editor

1.    UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union. We represent the operational workforce of the Food Standards Agency – predominately meat inspectors and vets working in abattoirs and meat plants. We also represent Environmental Health Officers who inspect food premises and undertake food sampling.
 
2.    UNISON’s debate briefing for MSPs can be read here  http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/MSPe-briefing_FoodBill_Oct2014.pdf

3.    Our written submission to the Health Committee can be read here http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/EvidencetoScotParlHealthCmttee_FoodScotlandBill_May2014.pdf

4.    UNISON Scotland investigated the impact of cuts on local authority environmental health departments and at the Food Standards Agency. Two surveys of UNISON members confirmed our warnings that cuts are putting public health at risk. Full briefing can be read here. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/b031_BargainingBrief_CutsinFoodSafety+EnvironmentalHealth_Feb2013.pdf

Deregulation of meat hygiene inspections will result in tragic consequences, warns UNISON

Tuesday 10 June 2014

UNISON, the union which represents meat hygiene inspectors in abattoirs and meat plants, today (Tuesday, 10 June) warned MSPs that any deregulation of meat hygiene inspections will result in unsafe meat entering the food chain, with potential tragic consequences.

A recent freedom of information request revealed that since April 2012 meat inspectors and vets have prevented over a million instances of diseased animal carcasses from entering the food chain. This included:

·         659,000 instances of the Liver Fluke parasite

·         427,000 instances of pneumonia in red meat carcasses

·         100,000 instances of adult tape worm

·         100,000 tumours in chickens

·         1100 instances of parasitic lung worm in cattle, from entering the food chain.

Dave Watson, head of UNISON bargaining and campaigns, said: “This shows what a vital job meat inspectors do. We are calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that Food Standards Scotland is focussed on safety of consumers not food industry profits. Meat inspectors and vets must be able to carry out thorough independent inspections, free from food industry influence.”

Announcement of free healthy school lunches for all P1 to P3 children is "a huge boost"

Child poverty campaigners and trade unions including UNISON today welcomed news of free healthy school lunches for all P1 to P3 children.

First Minister Alex Salmond announced the £114 million package in the Scottish Parliament today.

It was described as “a huge boost” for children and families by the coalition of children’s charities, anti-poverty campaigners, churches and trade unions who have been campaigning for the Scottish Government to deliver on its longstanding pledge to do this.

De-regulation of food safety wrong approach in Scotland and UK

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, is calling for stricter control of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), after doubts were cast over its independence. The body is calling for greater deregulation of meat inspection in the UK and Europe, which the union believes could pose a health risk to consumers.

A survey by the Corporate Europe Observatory* reveals a tangled network of links between the EFSA and big business interests, adding up to a potential conflict of interest. UNISON is warning that, on EFSA advice, the UK Government, is introducing visual only pig meat inspection from June 2014 which it believes poses a threat to food safety and quality.

Paul Bell, UNISON National Officer for Meat Inspectors, said:

“There is no safe substitute for hands on meat inspection. Inspectors tell us that simply looking at a pig carcass will not deliver the high standards of protection of safety and quality that consumers have a right to expect. There is a real danger that ending physical inspection, will lead to meat containing an abscess or tumour getting into the food chain. It will be minced into processed food like sausages and ham and customers will be none the wiser.

Consumers need to know that any decisions about meat inspection are being made in their best interests and it seems clear that this is now not the case.This survey casts many doubts over how the decision to change the inspection regime was made. It cannot be right that such a potential conflict of interest between the EFSA and consumers is allowed to continue.

In light of this information the Government should put any further decisions about meat inspection on hold until tougher controls are made on the EFSA.”


In this week's independence White Paper the Scottish Government said they want to reduce the burden of European livestock regulations.The paper says (p282):

"We will argue that Europe’s regulatory burden should be reduced in recognition of Scotland’s good animal health record and disease-free status."

In light of this information the Scottish Government should be rethinking their own de-regulatory approach.

http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/unhappy_meal_report_23_10_2013.pdf

Pig abscesses to be minced into sausages and pies

The European Parliament has rejected their own Health Committee recommendation and voted to change the regulation on the inspection of pigs in slaughterhouses. The changes will mean abscesses are minced into food.

BEUC the European Consumers association, the European Animal Welfare organisation and the European Veterinarian Federation all oppose the Commission proposals.

This decision removes the requirement for independent meat inspectors to cut lymph nodes in the pig’s head and states that during routine inspection the pig carcase should not be touched. Making it impossible to inspect all of the pig meat, especially if the carcase is not cut into two halves before inspection. A trial carried out earlier this year showed that the changes led to a 50% increase in undetected dangerous contamination with pig faeces.

Most meat from pig’s heads is minced into meat products, sausages, pies etc. Last year in the UK 37,000 abscesses were found in pigs heads alone. The Commission changes will lead to most of this diseased meat not being detected during meat inspection and so minced into food.

Meals for school children and hospital patients must be protected from looming cuts

The quality of meals for school children and hospital patients must be protected from further public spending cuts, UNISON said today.

The public services union warned that public service catering standards are under pressure as ‘austerity’ cuts bite, with more deep cuts on the way.

A survey of UNISON members working in catering found that 93% reported cuts to their service. Half said these were severe or major and they expect further major or severe cuts in the next couple of years.

Lilian Macer, Convener of UNISON Scotland, said: “There are many excellent examples of great work on making school meals and hospital food fresh, healthy and sustainable. That is good news for learning in school, for improving health generally and for climate change targets.

UNISON challenges supermarkets to support safe meat hygiene inspection

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, today called on the country’s biggest supermarkets to back its campaign to guarantee that the meat they sell is safe to eat and their products labelled correctly.  

The union is contacting Britain’s biggest supermarkets urging them to oppose plans by the EU to drastically cut the meat inspection regime.  

Meat hygiene inspectors are employed in abattoirs up and down the country and inspect every carcass for signs of TB, dog and human parasites, foot and mouth and other diseases as well as faecal contamination. They are also responsible for ensuring that any contaminated meat does not get into the food chain via burgers or sausages.

A recent survey published by Mintel showed that less than half (49%) of consumers trusted the safety of their food and 37% disagreed that supermarkets were aware of the origin of their food. In addition independent research conducted for Labelling Matters shows that 83% of consumers in the UK want to know which farm system has been used to produce their meat and dairy products, and 79% said farm animal welfare was important when deciding which food products to buy.

Paul Bell, UNISON National Officer for Meat Hygiene Inspectors, said: “The reputation of some of the biggest supermarkets in the country has taken a real knocking because of the latest horse meat scandal.  It is in their own interests to reassure customers that they are doing all they can to make sure that the meat they sell is safe to eat..." 

Read more on the UNISON UK website.

Food safety requires independent regulator says meat inspectors union

Thu 23 May 2013

UNISON warned today that the new Scottish version of the Food Standards Agency must have the powers and resources to safeguard the public and stand up to the food industry.

The union representing Scottish meat inspectors stressed that lessons must be learned from the recent horsemeat scandal to protect consumers from contaminated meat and unscrupulous business practices.

Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, called on the Scottish Government to take the opportunity in establishing the new body to ensure its independence and end the dominance of the food industry in lobbying for lighter regulation.

He criticised some of the policies and changes that had brought this about, including the transfer in 2006 of responsibility for ensuring only clean livestock are slaughtered,  from the state controlled Meat Hygiene Service to the slaughterhouse Food Business Operators.

This and current proposed changes such as introducing visual inspections instead of cutting animals open to check for sickness or diseases are dangerous steps that Scotland can correct.

Dave said: “We want to ensure that robust independent regulation is established and enforced across Scotland.

“Any failures in slaughterhouses force the rest of the food industry to work with unsafe meat products that could potentially result in tragic circumstances.

“The horsemeat scandal showed conclusively that strong regulation of the industry is necessary as, left to their own devices, rogue elements have readily put commercial gain above public safety.”

UNISON’s submission to the Scottish Government consultation on the new food body also warned the Scottish Government against moving environmental health, public health and preventative health services into the new body.

And the union called for proper resourcing for the new body and for local authority environmental health departments which have been hit hard by cuts.

Dave said: “Adequate staffing levels are essential to ensure that key recommendations from previous FSA and Pennington reports, such as the Clean Livestock Policy are delivered. No-one wants to see repeats of the Wishaw E Coli outbreak.

“We believe the general public want strong regulation, putting safety above commercial interests. This is also good for the industry.

“Scottish Meat is a highly regarded brand across the world. The way to keep it that way is to have high quality standards of inspection.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in the public sector in Scotland, including meat inspectors working for the Food Standards Agency and environmental health officers in local authorities.

2. Our consultation response “Healthier Scotland: A Consultation on Creating a new Food Body” is online at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/AHealthierScotland_CreatingaNewFoodBody_SubmissiontoScottishGovernment_May2013.pdf

3. Our Briefing ‘Cuts in Food safety and Environmental Health’ is online at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/b031_BargainingBrief_
CutsinFoodSafety+EnvironmentalHealth_Feb2013.pdf

Food safety: More robust inspection needed

#stuc13 UNISON's Ewing Hope highlighted the recent horse meat scandals caused by cuts to the Food Standards Agency, as Congress backed UNISON’s call for the FSA to be properly resourced to maintain quality in the food chain. Full story at http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/stuc2013/22.html 

Horsemeat, tax dodging and procurement - opportunities to act

25 March 2013

Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is a signatory to a letter in today's Scotsman saying that the forthcoming Procurement Reform Bill is a major opportunity to tackle school meal supply chains, tax-avoiding companies and climate change.

The STUC is also a signatory.

This is the text of the letter....

Horsemeat in kids’ school meals and multinationals’ tax avoidance are two recent scandals to have captured the public’s imagination, and are arguably more likely to grab readers’ attention than the subject at the heart of this letter: the Scottish Procurement Reform Bill.

Yet, this imminent reform of Scotland’s procurement processes (essentially, how our public sector buys things) represents a fantastic opportunity to tackle tax-avoiding companies, school meal supply chains and much more.

From apartheid-related boycotts and beyond, Scots have long understood how to harness their buyer-power to bring about positive change. Last month, Scotland became only the second country to be declared a Fair Trade Nation, reflecting a vast increase in our propensity to seek out fairly-traded goods.

Two weeks ago, a Christian Aid poll found that 55 per cent of Scots are considering boycotting companies that they perceive to be avoiding taxes (a far higher percentage than the UK-wide figure). If we are taking these actions at individual level, it seems reasonable to expect our governments to follow suit. Scotland’s biggest consumer is our public sector, which spends a whopping 
£9 billion per year on our behalf.

The Procurement Reform Bill, due to pass through the Scottish Parliament this year, is our opportunity to demand high standards of our public sector suppliers in areas such as fair trade, carbon emissions, tax practices, labour standards, community-based solutions, animal welfare and more. We look forward to working with the Scottish Government in shaping this legislation.

CHRIS HEGARTY

Chair, Enough Food for Everyone IF Scotland

Full letter and signatories on the Scotsman website

International School Meals Day - UNISON calls for free sustainable meals in all schools

Date: Fri 8 March 2013

A goal for International School Meals Day should be that all school children can have free healthy, fresh meals, prepared and sourced locally where possible, UNISON said today.

The public services union welcomed the first day to promote healthy school meals and awareness of hunger and poverty issues addressed through school meals.

But UNISON says recent scares around horse meat have highlighted that not enough is being done to ensure our children have quality meals.

Stephanie Herd, Chair of the Local Government Committee, called for UNISON’s Food for Good Charter to be adopted in all schools and across the public sector.

She said: “It is important to recognise the excellent work that goes on in schools across the country to provide nutritional meals that encourage young people to eat healthily.

“However, we believe that all children should receive free school meals and that our Food for Good Charter offers ways to deal with some of the issues that have arisen following recent food scares.

“It calls for sustainable food, locally sourced, using fair trade where possible, with consideration given to less meat-intensive diets and excellence in procurement and staff training and conditions.

“The Charter gives an excellent framework for providing healthy meals that can also be a major contributor to improving health and tackling childhood obesity.”

ENDS


Notes to Editors
1.    UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in public services in Scotland including school meals staff.

2.    March 8 2013 is the first international school meals day www.internationalschoolmealsday.com/about/

3.    UNISON Scotland’s Food for Good Charter is here www.unison-scotland.org.uk/foodforgood/FFGA4recr.pdf


4.    The Charter states:

Food for Good Charter for the public sector
1. Sustainability: Food should be fresh, prepared locally and sourced locally where possible. Mains-fed water coolers should be provided, minimising the use of bottled water. Public bodies should produce annual reports giving clear 'global footprint' type information on all aspects of their food use, including e.g. % of fresh, local food, progress on waste minimisation and recycling etc.

2. Health: Universal free school meals should be recognised and adopted as a major contributor to improving health and tackling childhood obesity. The aim for all public sector catering should be to give a daily option of an organic/ethically produced main meal, ideally locally sourced. Vending machines on school/hospital premises should be used for healthy alternatives, not junk/fast food.

3. Social Justice: Fair trade food should be used where possible, with targets of 50% by 2010 where relevant fair trade products are available. Decisions about menu options should give consideration to providing less meat-intensive diets, with more fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables and sustainable fish. Animal welfare must be prioritised, with an aim for animal produce of using only recognised farm assured schemes or organic schemes by 2015.

4. Excellence: All food must meet quality nutritional standards, monitored by relevant regulators. This involves excellence in procurement and in staff training and conditions. The top priority must be the contribution of food to health and wellbeing, with recognition of the folly of previous policies that pursued Compulsory Competitive Tendering, privatisation, PFI and outsourcing - cutting standards and employment conditions, increasing the use of cook-chill and cook-freeze food, and allowing 'fast' and junk food in schools and hospitals. The public must have access to clear relevant information about food, including via labelling and annual reports.

5. Skills: Quality training and proper pay and employment conditions for the sector, including training in environmental factors as part of 'green workplaces'. Lessons for young people in primary and secondary schools about the food chain, sustainability and preparation of healthy meals. Public awareness campaigns on healthy diets, tied in with support to local food co-operatives and similar initiatives to improve access to quality food for the most vulnerable.


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DEREGULATION NOT AN OPTION FOR MEAT INDUSTRY

27 Feb 2013

A presentation at the Food Standards Agency to explore ways to ‘tackle the burden’ of EU legislation is wholly inappropriate in the wake of the meat crisis, UNISON said today.

The UK’s largest union said that stronger, tighter regulation was needed to restore consumer confidence in the meat industry and protect the health of the public.

Ben Priestley, UNISON national officer said:

“Given the ongoing horsemeat scandal, it is wholly inappropriate that discussions on how to ‘reduce the burden’ of EU legislation should be taking place at the FSA. Regulation is not a burden; it is there to protect the consumer, and to keep the public safe.

“This latest scandal to hit the meat industry is evidence enough that what we need is more, stronger legislation – including a daily inspection regime – in place to ensure that a scandal on this scale cannot be allowed to happen again.”

UNISON has hit out against the light-touch regulation that has persisted since the mid-2000s, and has called for: The reintroduction of daily official inspections of all licensed meat cutting plants and cold storage facilities to ensure public health and consumer confidence. The testing of horses killed in the UK for the drug BUTE, and for the dangerous parasite, ‘Trichinela Spiralis’. A permanent move away from ‘light-touch regulation’, including the inspection – official or independent – of food manufacturing premises.

ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS

The presentation ‘How to get what you want in EU negotiations’, from the Better Regulation Executive Europe Team, will tomorrow (28/02/13) address the FSA on ‘how departments can influence EU legislation’, and discuss how they can ‘support the FSA to minimise the burdens of EU legislation’.

See this release on the UNISON UK website

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Major cuts in food safety and environmental health are putting the public at risk

Tue 26 Feb 2013

UNISON Scotland warned today that new figures and staff surveys show cuts to local council environmental health departments and to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are putting public health at risk.

Council responses to Freedom of Information requests and the results of two surveys of UNISON members confirm the union’s warnings about the impact of cuts on food safety, public health and health and safety.

One member working on food safety in an environmental health department said: “We have not submitted any samples for food in ten months!”

The total number of qualified Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) employed by 30 of Scotland’s 32 councils*, has gone down by 13% between 2008/9 (519) and 20011/12 (450). There has been an even bigger drop in other staff carrying out an enforcement role in environmental health departments. (507 down to 423 in the same period. 17% **)

UNISON, which also represents meat inspectors, revealed last week that the number of inspectors has more than halved in Scotland since 2003, down from 170 to 75 – a shocking statistic in the light of the current horsemeat scandal.

In a new survey of environmental health staff and meat inspectors, 56% said that their team has seen “major” cuts, with a further 10% describing cuts as “severe”, and more than 95% expecting further cutbacks and job losses in the next couple of years.

One commented: “A further loss of posts and a reduction of the food related sampling budget are expected.” Another said: “There are far too few staff for the amounts of food premises and other additional jobs required to be carried out by EHOs."

Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, said: “We know from what our members tell us that the headline figure of staff cuts, news that food sampling has gone down, and concerns about the future of the meat inspection service only tell part of a very disturbing story.

“Councils are under immense financial pressures with the worst of the so-called austerity cuts still to come. The impact of cuts so far is not necessarily visible to the public unless something goes wrong, as has happened with the crisis over horsemeat.

“But our members can see departments depleted, with the loss of experienced staff, ‘lighter touch’ regulation, fewer proactive inspections, preventive and educational work, with other essential services, as well as food safety - particularly health and safety - being cut back drastically. It is not scaremongering to say that this is a very worrying picture and many staff are under incredible pressure.

“We don’t believe this level of reduced service and increased risk is what the public wants. Councillors, the Scottish Government and the UK Government have to think again about the potential disaster waiting to happen with further cuts, unless proper funding is put into these vital services. They literally can and do make a life and death difference IF they are resourced properly.”

The responses to the FOI request showed a mixed picture for the number of food safety, public health and health and safety inspections, reflecting some recent changes to inspection regimes, with an emphasis on higher risk premises and often no visits to low risk premises. However, it is hard to compare figures over time or between councils as some include different types of inspections in the totals for each category. Health and safety inspections have fallen by 7% since 2009/10.

Alex Gordon, UNISON vice convener for environmental health and trading standards at Glasgow city council, said: “The cuts have led to a deterioration in the depth of the inspection visits, even if the paper trail shows the number of inspections are being kept up. They are not as thorough inspections as was possible with higher staffing levels. You want officers in food hygiene premises telling them how to avoid a Wishaw butcher scenario, not coming in to investigate after it has happened.”

*Two councils, Dumfries & Galloway and Highland, provided incomplete data.

**This is from the total for 29 councils as Scottish Borders also did not provide this data.

ENDS

Further quotes from our members’ surveys are below:

“The FSA, following on the heels of DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), is heavily biased in favour of industry at the expense of the consumer.”

“Qualified EHOs in my council are now doing ALL their own admin work due to reduction in Admin/Clerical staff. This has reduced ability to do the job by 30-40%.”

“The food safety inspection numbers have fallen mainly due to the implementation of the cross contamination guidance. This means more time being spent with higher risk premises ensuring they reach compliance but no time at all with the lower risk premises."

“This sounds sensible but for a large number of ‘lower risk’ businesses this lack of attention will see them increase in the risk they pose to public health. That is when we will have to pick up the pieces and try and get back to a structured inspection programme.”

“The number of health and safety inspections is extraordinarily lower than it used to be - driven largely by the Government's 'Better regulation' agenda.”

“The almost complete withdrawal from any real health and safety work is leaving the country's workforce wide open to injury and occupational ill health. We all know that that costs a vast sum in terms of lost worker hours to the employer, the health service and the individual.

“Short term financial gains are being made at the expense of significant future cost. We need to view investing in health and safety as a means of investing in the future economy of the country.”

“I have major fears about the changes to health and safety inspections having inspected a lot of businesses in the last 7 years. About 75% of them did not have risk assessments or any awareness of the need to do them. Most knew nothing about accident reporting regulations.”

“We regulate not just food and health and safety but animal welfare, tattooists, air quality, contaminated land, housing disrepair, landlord registration, regulation of houses in multiple occupation, pest control, infectious disease control and public nuisance amongst other things. With reduced staff most time is now spent in focusing on higher risk business activity. That is not to say the rest is low risk! We will be unable to spend time with businesses helping them comply with regulation and so will become more reliant on formal action such as notices or court action. This has been shown not to secure long term change in business behavior – education achieves that.

“I have spent time with parents whose child has been desperately ill with Ecoli poisoning. It is awful and preventable. We can help prevent this and other tragic things happening. But this will become less and less often. A rise in public health related illness and injury will happen. But possibly more gradually than most think. Un-noticed maybe. But it will happen.”

For information please contact:Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, 07958 122 409
Fiona Montgomery, Communications Officer, 0141 342 2877 or 07508 877 000
Malcolm Burns, Communications Officer, 0141 342 2877 or 07876 566 978

Notes to editors:

1. UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in the public sector in Scotland.

2. UNISON carried out two separate surveys of environmental health staff, one last summer and another snapshot survey in February 2013.

3. Bargaining Briefing number 31 covering the information reported here is on the website: Briefing 31: Bargaining - Cuts in Food Safety and Environmental Health Feb 2013

4. A report by UNISON ‘The Damage’, covering environmental health services in the whole of the UK was published earlier this month. www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/21256.pdf 

A similar report on trading standards is at www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/21254.pdf

5. Figures from the Food Standards Agency show a fall in food samples taken by councils from more than 16,000 in 2008-09 to 10,200 in 2011-12.

6. Last month Audit Scotland raised concerns about food safety staffing and training levels and a loss of expertise www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/2013/janfeb/3101.htm

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Reintroduction of meat inspection in meat cutting plants 'a victory for common sense'

12 Feb 2013

UNISON today welcomed the move from the FSA to initiate some unannounced inspections of meat cutting plants in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, but said the FSA must go further, and put in place daily inspections by FSA meat inspectors.

A communication sent to all Food Standards Agency (FSA) staff has revealed that the Agency has commissioned a programme of unannounced visits to stand-alone cutting plants in England, Scotland and Wales. Under the new programme, red meat is to be prioritised before white meat, and premises giving cause for concern will be inspected first.

All horses killed in the UK will now be tested for the veterinary drug ‘BUTE’, and horse carcases will not be released until negative results are received, but UNISON is also calling for carcasses to be tested for the dangerous parasite, ‘Trichinela Spiralis’.

Ben Priestley, UNISON national officer said:

“UNISON is glad that the FSA has seen sense and has listened to our call to reintroduce unannounced inspections in meat cutting plants. Consumer confidence in meat products is once again very low and, while this is a step in the right direction, true consumer protection will not be achieved until daily, unannounced inspections are back in place.

“The lesson we learned about control of the meat industry following the BSE and e-Coli crises was that only strong, independent government inspection could properly protect consumers from industry malpractice.

“This has been forgotten as meat inspection, environmental health and trading standards services have been severely reduced by government cuts and light touch regulation.”

As a direct consequence of the ‘light tough regulation’ policies of both the European Commission and the UK government, the meat inspection workforce managed by the Food Standards agency has shrunk from a high point of 1700 – during the BSE and e-Coli crises in the 1990s – to around 800 today.

The inspection procedures that were effectively enforced following BSE and the Wishaw outbreak of e-Coli have, in the intervening years, been removed or substantially watered down.

In addition to the programme, UNISON is calling on the FSA to:

Reintroduce daily official inspection of all licensed meat cutting plants and cold storage facilities via capacity within the FSA inspection workforce to deliver the necessary enhancement to consumer protection and public health

Ensure that testing of horses killed in the UK for the drug BUTE is an ongoing safeguard for the consumer and is not a time limited measure in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. See that the horsemeat currently unlawfully sold as beef has been tested for the dangerous parasite, ‘Trichinela Spiralis’.

Move away from light touch, risk based enforcement and maintain an inspection system that delivers ongoing consumer and public health protection and does not become a boom and bust system that responds to consumer and public health crisis, the aim being to avoid the crisis Oversee the independent inspection of food manufacturing premises – where government cuts have compromised the ability of local authorities to do so.

See this news release on the UNISON UK website

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