Pest control measures

I am writing to request information about preventative pest control measures and compliance oversight at sites for which the Council has responsibility. Please provide the following information:

1. A description of the preventative measures currently in place to reduce the risk of pest infestations at council-owned or council-managed sites. This should cover the full range of sites under the Council's control, including (but not limited to) housing stock, council offices, depots, public spaces, parks, and any other land or buildings managed by or on behalf of the Council. Please address each category of site, even if only briefly, rather than limiting the response to housing or tenant-facing services.

2. Details of any policies, procedures, guidance, or standard operating procedures used to ensure that pest prevention and control activities comply with:

a. Relevant legislation (including environmental health and animal welfare requirements)

b. Any internal council standards or best-practice guidance.

3. Information on how the Council monitors and ensures compliance with these preventative measures and guidelines, including:

a. Any inspection, audit, or review processes, including the frequency of such processes, who is responsible for conducting them, and whether any independent or external scrutiny is applied

b. The role of officers, teams, or contractors in overseeing compliance

c. What action is taken, or what escalation process exists, where non-compliance or a failure of preventative measures is identified

4. Where pest control services are delivered by external contractors, please confirm:

a. What policies or codes of practice relating to prevention and control that external contractors are expected to comply with

b. How the Council assures itself that those requirements are being met

Please note that I'm not asking for a site-by-site or case-by-case breakdown. A high-level overview is fine.

1. Some of our sites have seven weekly pest control maintenance in place. This includes a site visit, review of areas where pest may enter premises, provision of bait boxes and then a review of those. The sites that have maintenance in place is based on risk of pests and use of the building, i.e. buildings where food is served will have pest control maintenance.

2. Pest Control is provided by our Facilities Management (FM) provider and it is required to meet relevant legislation. Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) do not have any policies, procedures, guidance or standard operating procedures in relation to this.

3. By asking for this service to be provided by our FM Contract ensures we are compliant in this area, this is monitored by LCC and reports are provided by VINCI on the service. Corporate property FM team over the Compliance of this service. Escalation would be to Corporate Property Team.

4. VINCI Contractors that provide this service are accredited to the Royal Society for Promotion of Health (RSPH), and their technicians are affiliated to National Pest Technicians Association (NPTA) AND THE British Pest Control Association (BPCA). Evidence of this is provided to LCC.