Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of (1) vets, (2) food inspectors, and (3) other personnel who contribute to maintaining food safety, and what plans they have to ensure sufficient numbers.

Data for local authority food inspectors on 31 March 2023 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found in the attached document. Local authorities report their resources by food hygiene and food standards as there are two separate returns.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) employs vets in abattoirs, through a Service Delivery Provider (SDP), who deliver Official Controls in England and Wales. They also directly employ vets to approve, audit and assurance Food Business Operators. There are approximately 270 Official Veterinarians (OVs) in abattoirs every day.

The FSA is implementing a suite of measures to maintain sufficient numbers of both OVs and Official Auxiliaries (OAs) in a difficult recruitment environment. This includes, but is not limited to, careful consultation and consideration through our SDP Retender Programme, planning for contingency measures, working across government to address the systemic veterinary challenges impacting on the ability to recruit OVs and running both trainee and qualified OA recruitment exercises.