Benchmarking the port health function

Tuesday 30 September 2003

The report 'Benchmarking the Port Health Function' was produced by Syniad Benchmarking Centre with the support of the FSA and APHA and participating local authorities and port health authorities. Syniad is the Improvement and Development arm of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA).

The main aims of this study, undertaken in 2001/2002, were:

• to develop measures that could be adopted widely by port health authorities to measure their future performance in specified port health functions
• to develop Good Practice Guides to raise work methods in these area and encourage consistency across port health authorities.

The Syniad Benchmarking Centre co-ordinated and facilitated this study, working with a benchmarking club whose members represented port health authorities throughout the UK, plus LACORS and DEFRA. The Food Standards Agency and the Association of Port Health Authorities (APHA) were also involved and supported the study financially.

The 'Step Change' project will draw on the work of the Benchmarking Study when producing guidance on imported food.