As the country seized up without petrol, delegates at Harrogate were intent on moving on the issues of the day. Deirdre Mason joined the traffic

When the whole country was paralysed by fuel blockades, the "Moving on" congress theme took on an unintended irony. "Holed up" would have been more like it. There was soon no petrol within a 15-mile radius of Harrogate. The sepulchral chimes of the clock at the Majestic Hotel brought to mind Poe's Masque of the Red Death as we fortunate congress delegates were insulated from the realities of panic buying and cancelled NHS operations. It was a memorable congress, if not entirely for the best of reasons.

Predictably, junior environment and transport minister, Lord Whitty, did not appear. His paper was delivered by the DETR's chief scientist, Dr David Fisk, who is also director of central strategy. Had he been able to give a paper in his own right, the question session afterwards could have been illuminating. As it was, he did his best to deliver the usual past-tense stream of policies and achievements, and deftly passed responsibilities to where they belonged.

"Strategy" became a sensitive word at congress. The changes to the Chartered Institute's structure recommended by the strategic review working party hit an obstacle, with voters insisting on more time for consultation. Nevertheless, CIEH president, David Purchon, was not to be deflected from his vision of a leaner and fitter operation. The Chartered Institute, he told delegates, will be more active in the national and regional assemblies (policy officers have been appointed to cover the Greater London, Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies respectively). Global work will continue through WHO collaboration and through the business arm, CHGL. Working with equivalent bodies such as the Environmental Health Officers Association of Ireland and with the Royal Environmental health Institute of Scotland (Rehis) will also be important, to influence others in the world and gain mutual recognition for qualifications. However, the crisis in applicants for the various environmental health degree courses could have far-reaching effects:

"We now have the service agreements we all support, and which are sound public policy. But, to attain all the targets that are set for us, we need skilled workers as well as resources."

Partnerships, he warned, could be threatened by any future shortage in skilled professionals to manage them - urban renewal would be one example. The crisis is real - this is the first time that a 25-strong team of careers advisors had space at congress to "sell" these degree courses. We heard delegates urged from the platform to offer students placements - even half a placement - if their local authority was not one of those still taking on students. Will we see future issues of EHN full not - as in the past - of letters from students chasing practical training placements, but from local authorities desperate to fill places set up in response to this year's call?

student placements
A session on practical training during congress showed different ways to help existing students - training up existing technical officers on a part-time basis, sponsoring third-year students, and even "end on" training.

Brian Curtis, senior principal EHO at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), said:"Ideally, we should like local authorities to appoint student EHOs but we accept that financially, this could be difficult. We would urge them to take students on temporary placement, paid or unpaid". Giving a personal, but, one suspects, an insider view, Mr Curtis said that sooner or later, the FSA would have to take a look and see how the present approach to student placements in local authorities affects food control. Be warned.

Changes in governmental structures and proposed introduction of European agencies will have their effects, whether on environmental protection or food control. The new Greater London Authority has considerable powers for air quality and waste, for example. "The Mayor has very real teeth," warned Tim Everett, executive head of public protection for Sutton LBC and a Local Government Association advisor on that body's public protection committee. Even where the powers are informal, as for ambient noise, the test will be whether boroughs suffer any legal fallout either from ignoring the GLA line, or from adhering to it.
The Welsh Assembly has had a head start over the others, and problems, as well as successes, are emerging. Huw Morgan, pollution control divisional officer at Swansea CC and secretary of the Welsh Pollution Panel, gave his personal view of the ups and downs for local government officers:
"The downside is a slower process of regulation. There are too many statutory steps for secondary legislation."
This has meant that Wales is still short of a contaminated land regime and behind on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control. "It seems we can't just Welshify the general circular (on contaminated land). Our law must be right for Wales. On IPPC, the feeling is, no - we can't do that as set out. But, our ideas have been quietly squashed by Bristol (the Environment Agency) and there will be an IPPC scheme very similar to the main one."
The upside, however, is smaller, more intimate groups with a better understanding. All environmental protection players get to know one another and there is more merging of work in Wales than elsewhere, Mr Morgan told delegates.

This, in turn, puts a great deal of pressure on working local authority officers who are deputed to represent the local government interest at the Assembly. They are overstretched in specialised areas, and that can lead to a conflict with service provision on their home patch in small departments.
"We (meaning the CIEH) will have to be far more radical and effective as an organisation. Otherwise, our best field staff will not be doing what they are best at doing," said Mr Morgan. There are clearly tensions between local government and central agencies at the moment, with health and safety officers, for example, wondering whether the Health and Safety Executive is making a bid for some, at least, of their present responsibilities. The same goes for food, with a general agreement that the Food Standards Agency - and the proposed European food authority - are beneficial, but could also pose a threat.

food inspections
A lighthearted trial, to establish Lacots's cause of death, threw up some serious points. Looking at the forthcoming FSA audits in particular, Miranda Steward, assistant director of environmental health at Enfield LBC, wondered whether they carried a hidden agenda. Could the data gathered be used by the FSA not to kill food inspection but to eliminate the local level? Stephen Oldridge, whose authority, Ryedale, has been through audit, sees a potential for audit to cause harm and was concerned that it focused attention inwards - on the system and not the job to be done.

John Barnes, from the FSA's audit branch, reassured EHOs that even if local authorities were failing on inspection levels through staff shortages but were giving good advice and doing good work elsewhere, the audit would take that into account. However, on one point he stood firm:

"No punishment is too harsh for food managers who fail to protect food." His fairmindedness did not protect him (to be precise, the FSA) from a verdict of corporate manslaughter as regards poor old Lacots. Yet, the Lacots awards to liaison groups showed that innovation and energy have not been squeezed out of local authority food protection by a long chalk. Is there room on the audit forms for that?