1. Background
Service plans play an important part in ensuring that national priorities and standards are effectively delivered at a local level. They provide a structured framework for Local Authorities (LAs) to plan, manage, and review their services, while maintaining alignment with corporate and financial planning processes.
Service planning enables LAs to follow the principles of good regulation, focus on key delivery priorities and outcomes, and identify issues that may cross service boundaries. In addition, it provides a consistent basis for managing performance, making comparisons, and communicating service delivery to stakeholders, including businesses and consumers.
Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires LAs to make available to the public information concerning the organisation and performance of official controls. Publication of service plans may assist LAs in complying with this requirement and certain obligations under Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.
This guidance provides LAs with a service plan template designed to ensure that all areas of official controls are addressed, whilst also allowing scope for locally defined objectives. The template supports LAs in clearly setting out:
- information about the services they provide;
- the means by which they will provide those services;
- the means by which they will meet any relevant performance targets or performance standards;
- a review of performance, in order to address any variance from meeting the requirements of the service plan and identification of areas for improvement.
- This guidance document does not constitute legal advice and should not be taken as an authoritative statement or interpretation of the law, as only the courts have this power.
2. Format of service plan
To support consistency, transparency, and effective oversight, it is recommended that LAs present information on official control activities in a common format.
A service plan template is included in Annex 1, which identifies recommended chapter headings and outlines the type of information that may be included within each section. However, this guidance is not intended to be prescriptive in terms of presentation. LAs retain flexibility to adapt their service plans to reflect local needs, priorities, and corporate requirements, and may include additional material where appropriate.
It is recognised that many LAs already operate established service planning processes and may wish to retain existing corporate formats or templates. In such cases, LAs should ensure that all information relating to official food controls is clearly identifiable within their documentation, regardless of format.
Where services are delivered through shared arrangements between LAs, it is important that the service plan information remains clearly identifiable for each authority and for the service as delivered.
3. Development of service plans
LAs should take account of the Government’s Better Regulation agenda and the Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice when planning and delivering their services.
LAs should ensure that their service plans for official controls include the following key elements:
- service aims and objectives – including how these align with national priorities and statutory duties.
- background – including the profile of the local area and food businesses.
- service delivery – including planned intervention programmes and enforcement approaches
- resources – including staffing, competencies, and financial resources.
- quality assessment – including internal monitoring and performance management arrangements.
- review – including arrangements for evaluating performance and driving continuous improvement
When developing a service plan, authorities should clearly specify the period covered and outline the arrangements in place for regular review and updating to ensure the plan remains relevant, effective, and responsive to change.