Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) from as far afield as Scotland have been drafted in to help Powys County Council due to staffing issues.

At a meeting of the council’s Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Thursday, November 6, the staffing crisis of recent months was revealed.

A performance report for Planning and Regulatory Services for the period covering July to the end of September was brought before councillors.

This showed that staff are struggling to get around food establishments in the county to inspect them for hygiene standards.

Committee Chairwoman, Cllr Angela Davies (Liberal Democrat – Rhayader) said: “I’m sure you are concerned about it all, if you’re not on target, but is there any particular thing that’s going to be challenging going forward?”

Head of Planning and Regulatory Services, Gwilym Davies said: “It’s the food hygiene and food standards that are my biggest concern, mainly because there are not the people out there to undertake the work and it’s exceptionally competitive to get these people.

“It takes years to train people up.”

He explained there had been a “sickness outbreak” in the department and staff time had also been taken up by court cases which had all “impacted on performance.”

Mr Davies continued: “We have been trying to get consultants in because we have been unable to recruit.

“The last group of consultants we were able to get were from Scotland and that just goes to show how few there are all around the country.”

He added that the department was looking to see whether AI (Artificial Intelligence) could also help in this area.

Mr Davies stressed: “These things take time, but we will get there and improve our performance.”

Cllr Peter James (Powys Independents – Llanwrtyd Wells) asked: “Are we growing our own officers in the county?”

Mr Davies replied: “We are, but it’s a balance.

“We always want to have graduate posts, but we have to acknowledge they can’t do some of the statutory work we have to do.

“It’s whether we recruit a fully qualified person who can get on and do all the work or grow our own – but maybe not be able to complete part of the work.

“There’s only a certain supply and that’s limited and that has been acknowledged by the Welsh Government.

“The Health and Safety Executive, Food Standards Agency and the Welsh Government are all trying to recruit from the same pool.”

Cllr Davies said: “Although there is an awful lot of red here, there are lots of things on target given the constraints that have been explained.

“It’s clear we have to address that going forward.”