Review of registration and qualification routes gets underway as new CIEH steering group meets for the first time

A new CIEH steering group established to review routes to qualification and registration has held its inaugural meeting.

The CIEH Qualification & Registration Review Steering Group has been set up, partly in response to a motion put forward at our 2023 Annual General Meeting.

In this blog, Chair and CIEH Senior Professional Standards Advisor Kathryn Preece (pictured below) introduces herself and her professional background, explains the purpose of the group's work, and shares key insights from its first discussion, including the priorities that will shape the review in the months ahead.

My background in Environmental Health

I have been a member of CIEH for over 35 years, graduating from University of Salford in 1994. I trained with Coventry City Council and worked in the Food team on qualification. I later moved to Wrekin District Council which became the unitary Telford & Wrekin whilst I was there. I gained a broad experience at Telford working in food, health & safety, public health, private water and participating in the out of hours rota which exposed me to a fascinating, and sometimes frightening, range of work.

I moved on promotion to North West Leicestershire District Council and within a few years became Head of Environmental Health with responsibility for the full range of EH disciplines with the additional challenge of Licensing and the Border Inspection Post at East Midlands Airport.

Following a reorganisation and with great sadness I left local government, however the skills, experience and knowledge I had gained as an Environmental Health Practitioner (EHP) have been put to good use as a civil servant for the Better Regulation Delivery Office and currently the Office of Product Safety and Standards. I head up the Regulatory Capability team there focusing on entry route programmes and ensuring staff have the skills and capability necessary to carry out regulatory functions competently.

It is my background coupled with my recent experience that gives me the skills and knowledge to chair the Qualifications and Registration review.

What is the purpose of the group?

The review will address the concerns raised in the 2023 motion regarding the robustness, consistency and creditability of the qualification and registration arrangements for EHPs.

We will do this through an evidence-based review of the current arrangements, considering the alignment of the qualification routes and curriculum content, exploring what the expectations are of a 'day one' practitioner and looking towards the future thinking about what skills and knowledge EHPs will need to be a trusted, credible and recognised professionals.

A positive first meeting

The first meeting of the Qualifications and Review Steering Group was very positive. The Group has been selected based on the skills, experience and knowledge of individuals and consequently there is representation across the three nations, from the experienced to the recently qualified, the public, the private sector and academics.

The first task of the group was agreeing the priority focus and as such myself and Jon Buttolph, Executive Director of Professional Standards, will be concentrating on reviewing the current qualification routes as a first action. The group is committed to transparency and as part of this we are publishing its composition, terms of reference and the notes of the first meeting below.

I am looking forward to progressing this work and will ensure as members you are kept up to date with the work that is being undertaken.

Qualification & Registration Review Steering Group composition of members:

• Chair Kathryn Preece - CIEH Senior Professional Standards Advisor CIEH
• Jon Buttolph – CIEH Executive Director of Professional Standards
• Jo Seymour – CIEH Head of Environmental Health Workforce
• Rachel Flowers - Public Health Professional Development Senior Lecturer, London South Bank University (UKPHR Board Member and member of CIEH Environmental Health Services (EHS) Committee)
• Chris Day
• Ian Gray

CIEH Environmental Health Services Committee

• Rob Easton - Strategic Risk and Safety Director, Shield Safety
Local government
• Annie Albon - Association of Chief Environmental Health Officers (ACEHO)
• Sian James or Lisa Griffin - Environmental Health Wales
• [awaiting nominee] - Environmental Health Northern Ireland
Private sector
• Richard Webster - Director of Safety, Marstons
• Abigail Fletcher - Abigail Miller Consulting

New to the profession

• Rebecca Brook – Environmental Health Officer (EHO), Coventry City Council
• Ben Kingston – EHO, Halton Borough Council
Academics
• Julia Wilson - MSc course leader, Middlesex University
• Hasan Erdogagn - BSc EHP apprenticeship course leader, Middlesex and member of CIEH EHS Committee
• Marie Vaganay Miller - BSc course leader, University of Ulster
• Alastair Tomlinson - Principal Lecturer in Environmental Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University
• Graeme Mitchell - BSc Environmental Health course leader, Liverpool John Moores University

The notes of the first meeting can be found here.

The terms of reference for the group can be found here.