Trading Standards Officers in your Local Authority - Find a freedom of information request

1) How many Trading Standards Officers in your Local Authority (by FTE) in each of the following years: 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2018,2019,2020,2021?

2) How many Trading Standards Officers hold qualifications in Animal Health and Welfare for these years?

3) Number of full-time equivalent animal health qualified staff working on Animal Health And Welfare Enforcement in your Local Authority for these years?

4) How many premises with an animal health & welfare inspection risk were there in your Local Authority for these years? (How many of these were farms?)

5) How many complaints or referrals relating to animal health and welfare were received for these years?

6) How many farm inspections/visits did your Local Authority carry out in each of these years? (If possible, please split between Random, risk-based, compliance-based and targeted inspections (or other please specify) )

7) How many of these inspections were found to be non-compliant and required some remedial action in each of these years?

8) How many of the following enforcement actions were taken in each of these years: advice, warnings, prosecution (or other please specify)?

If it does not exceed the time limit, please also provide the following:

9) Trading Standards Service budget for these years and if available the budget for animal health and welfare in these years

Please note, due to data protection the below records are only kept for 6 years.  Therefore, answers have been provided for 2018 onwards.  For some years only financial years can be included rather than calendar years. 

1.How many Trading Standards Officers in your Local Authority (by FTE) in each of the following years: 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2018,2019,2020,2021?

2018/19 - 27.80

2019/20 - 31.01

2020/21 – 30.00

2) How many Trading Standards Officers hold qualifications in Animal Health and Welfare for these years?

2018 - 14

2019 - 16

2020 – 15

2021 -15

3) Number of full-time equivalent animal health qualified staff working on Animal Health And Welfare Enforcement in your Local Authority for these years?

All staff are generalist officers and as such all are employed to enforce the Animal Health Act.  Please refer to FTE numbers in question 1. 

4) How many premises with an animal health & welfare inspection risk were there in your Local Authority for these years? (How many of these were farms?)

2018 – 5076 with an animal health inspection type – 4562 livestock farms

2019 – 5162 with an animal health inspection type – 4622 livestock farms

2020 – 5209 with an animal health inspection type – 4606 livestock farms

2021 – 5159 with an animal health inspection type – 4564 livestock farms

5) How many complaints or referrals relating to animal health and welfare were received for these years?

2018 - 424

2019 - 400

2020 - 474

2021 - 526

6) How many farm inspections/visits did your Local Authority carry out in each of these years? (If possible, please split between Random, risk-based, compliance-based and targeted inspections (or other please specify)

2018 – 134 – of which 99 were programmed, 32 non programmed and 3 revisits

2019 – 138 – of which 104 were programmed, 27 non programmed and 7 revisits

2020 – 66 – of which 52 were programmed, 10 non programmed and 4 revisits

2021 – 102 – of which 68 were programmed, 30 non programmed and 4 revisits

7) How many of these inspections were found to be non-compliant and required some remedial action in each of these years?

2018 – 70 requiring advice or further action

2019 – 66 requiring advice or further action

2020 – 28 requiring advice or further action

2021 – 56 requiring advice or further action

8) How many of the following enforcement actions were taken in each of these years: advice, warnings, prosecution (or other please specify)?

If it does not exceed the time limit, please also provide the following:
9) Trading Standards Service budget for these years and if available the budget for animal health and welfare in these years

2018/19 – Revenue Budget - £1,290,134

2019/20 – Revenue Budget - £1,217,884

2020/21 – Revenue Budget - £1,344,643

There is no dedicated budget for animal health and welfare alone