Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 22


     
     1        Birmingham, how many Environmental Health Officers were
     2        employed by Birmingham?
     3        A.  It was somewhere -- in my day, it was somewhere around
     4        60, I would think.
     5
     6   Q.   The one that has now disappeared?
     7        A.  Rowley Regis, there were four of us.
     8
     9   Q.   Rowley Regis?
    10        A.  Four.  It was a fairly tiny borough of 70,000
    11        population, something like that, but, remember, I am going
    12        back to the 60s now.  I mean,  things have probably changed
    13        considerably since then.  Staffing levels may well have
    14        changed considerably since then.
    15
    16   Q.   You are an expert in the field.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He puts himself forward as an expert in
    19        health and safety.  He was a local authority Environmental
    20        Health Officer about 30 years ago.  It does not seem
    21        unreasonable to me for him to say that he does not know
    22        what the numbers of Environmental Health Officers would be
    23        for particular sizes of local authorities.  It, presumably,
    24        is up to the local authority how much of their budget they
    25        propose to put into environmental health as opposed to
    26        community care ---
    27        A.  Yes.
    28
    29   Q.   -- or education if they are an education authority and so
    30        on?
    31        A.  Indeed, my Lord, and that is going to vary depending on
    32        the needs of the individual local authority.  They are not
    33        all the same.
    34
    35   Q.   Provided they are not in obvious breach of their statutory
    36        obligations in that respect?
    37        A.  That is so.
    38
    39   Q.   I assume that there is no sort of standard there are so
    40        many Environmental Health Officers per number of
    41        population?
    42        A.  You assume correctly.  There is no such standard these
    43        days.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  What was the population of Birmingham around the
    46        time that were you employed?
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When you say Birmingham, did you mean that
    49        you worked for Birmingham City Council or just for
    50        authorities in Birmingham? 
    51        A.  No, I worked for Birmingham City Council.  Warley was 
    52        outside Birmingham, was an independent borough in its own 
    53        right.
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  So how many premises approximately did those 60
    56        Environmental Health Officers in Birmingham have to cover?
    57        A.  I am sorry ---
    58
    59   Q.   Approximately?
    60        A.  -- I would not have the figures available.  It was a

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