Thank you for your e-mail requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

We will proceed with the request which we received today. It is our
intention to have the information delivered to you as soon as possible
otherwise within the statutory 20 working days.

In considering the request, it may be subject to exemptions that the
Council rely on to refuse the information. Some exemptions are absolute
and some only apply where the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs that of disclosing the information.
[1]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

Please note that should you be requesting information under the
Environmental Information Regulations although we provide free access to a
wide range of information through our website, access to any public
registers which we hold and for inspecting information at our offices, we
are allowed to charge you a reasonable fee for providing certain
information.
If applicable, we will issue you with a fee notice. This will detail the
tasks involved in responding to the request, and associated costs. Further
information is available on the EIR page of Bedford Borough Council’s
website at the following link:

[2]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

Any future correspondence you may have with the Council in relation to
this matter should be emailed to [3][email address]

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Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure

Dear Adam Bychawski,

Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request No.20347

I refer to your recent enquiry for information held by the Council. 

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must
state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold
the information requested.

Please find the information you requested below.

For each of the financial years 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21,
2021/22, 2022/23 please provide me with the following:

 1. The total number of staff employed (directly or indirectly) by the
local authority to inspect residential properties for category 1 or 2
hazards.

Date Total number of staff
2017/18 10
2018/19 6
2019/20 9
2020/21 9
2021/22 9
2022/23 9

 2. Of (1), the total number who were qualified Environmental Health
Officers.

Date Total number of Environmental Health Officers
2017/18 10
2018/19 6
2019/20 5
2020/21 6
2021/22 6
2022/23 5

 3. The total number of inspections carried out by either (1) or (2) to
see whether category 1 or 2 hazards exist in residential properties
which are owned by the council or social housing providers, or
privately rented. (Please refer to section four of the Housing Act
2004 if in doubt about the nature of the inspections.)

Date Total number of inspections
2017/18 210
2018/19 426
2019/20 317
2020/21 56
2021/22 123
2022/23 269

These figures relate to the number of formal inspections undertaken on
properties which are carried pout when the informal approach of issuing a
schedule of works listing disrepair issues that require resolution
identified after an initial property visit has not been complied with.

 4. The total number of complaints that the local authority has received
about hazards or poor conditions in residential properties which are
owned by the council or social housing providers, or privately rented.

Date Total number of complaints about residential properties
2017/18 801
2018/19 788
2019/20 615
2020/21 659
2021/22 551
2022/23 590

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector information please
see link below

If after viewing the information you are for whatever reason unhappy with
our response to your application you are entitled to pursue any
dissatisfaction through the Council's Internal Review Procedure.  Pursuant
to Section 17 (7) of the Act the procedure provided by the Council for
dealing with complaints about the determination of this request for
information is the Council’s FOI Complaints Procedure, a copy of which can
be obtained on request or is set out at: 
[1]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

Yours sincerely,

Daniela Hanson
Customer Feedback Officer
Customer Services & Customer Feedback
Bedford Borough Council, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AP
Tel: 01234 276749
Website: [2]www.bedford.gov.uk  
‘Bedford Borough Council – Working with our partners to make the Borough a
better place to live, work and visit.’

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