Food Standards Agency launches review of its performance

Unlocking legal talent

Jonathan Bourne of Damar Training sets out why in-house council teams and law firms should embrace apprenticeships.

How hair strand testing should be instructed for family court proceedings

For years, FTS, a drug, alcohol and DNA lab in Yorkshire, has been advocating for an end to the use of Society of Hair Testing (SoHT) cut-off levels in the family courts, writes Paul Hackett (Sponsored Editorial)

Webinars

The Food Standards Agency is to undertake a ‘capability review’ that will assess its performance in areas such as strategy, delivery and leadership.

The Agency said the aim of the exercise was to ensure the organisation was “delivering on its core objective to protect the public's health and consumer interests in relation to food and feed”.

An internal review team will gather evidence from the Agency’s staff, local authorities, the devolved administrations, Defra, the Department of Health, industry and consumer representatives.

This information will inform the development of an initial report to be scrutinised by an independent external review panel.

This panel will be allowed to challenge the Agency on all aspects of the report and demand further evidence.

An action plan will be drawn up, with updates subsequently issued on the progress made.

The review process is expected to last until the end of Spring 2012.

The Agency is calling for submissions to be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before 9 April 2012.