Staffing and businesses
Case reference FOI2026/00787
Received 13 May 2026
Published 29 May 2026
Request
Response
1. Staffing:
1.1: Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff (including, if possible, agency or contractor staff working in equivalent roles) in your environmental health dept, unit or team in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
EP FTE 2019/220 - 8 officers. Plus 1 person training.
EP FTE 2025/26 - 8 officers (this includes 1 agency worker).
F&S FTE 2019/2020 – Information not held
F&S FTE 2025/26 - 4.3
1.2. Of the total FTE in your environmental health team, please indicate, for both 2019/20 and 2025/26, the approximate FTE allocated to the following functions:
* Food hygiene/food standards inspections and enforcement
* Pest control
* Infectious disease control (including outbreak investigation, liaison with health protection bodies, etc.)
Note: I appreciate that some staff work across multiple areas. Where possible please apportion their FTE by time spent (e.g. a 1.0 FTE officer spending half their time on food safety and half on housing should be counted as 0.5 in each category). If exact data is not held, please provide the best available estimate used for internal planning, monitoring or statutory reporting - rather than create a new data set.
2019/20 – Information not held
2025/26 - 3.46
2. Businesses:
2.1: Number of food businesses (including restaurants and takeaways) registered in the local authority in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
2019/2020 = 141
2025/2026 = 208
2.2: Number of food businesses (including restaurants and takeaways) inspected in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
2019/2020 = 216
2025/2026 = 462
2.3: Number of registered food businesses that are eligible for inspection, but which have never been inspected.
2019/2020 = 0
2025/2026 = 6 (this only includes new businesses)
2.4: Number of food businesses (including restaurants and takeaways) that failed inspections in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
Businesses can't fail an Inspection.
2.5: Number of enforcement visits to food businesses in the local authority in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
2019/2020 = 19
2025/2026 = 25
2.6: Number of incidents involving pests (vermin, insects etc) at food businesses in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
2019/2020 = 10 this is only complaints about pests, not pests found during routine visits.
2025/2026 = 12 as above
2.7: Number of closures of food businesses in 2019/20 and 2025/26 due to enforcement action through a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice.
2019/20 - 0
25/26 - 0
2.8: Number of prosecutions of food businesses in 2019/20 and 2025/26.
2019/2020 – Information not held
25/26 - 0
Documents
This is Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.