Non Executive Directorships

Members – Food Standards Agency x6

Location: Various

Date Posted: 17/01/2025

Closing Date: 14/02/2025

£8000 pa – 20 days pa

About the appointment

Introduction

Thank you for your interest in this role. For more information, please read the candidate information pack at the bottom of this link.

Introduction from the Chair

Dear Candidate,

I am delighted that you are considering applying for a non-executive role as a Member of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board.

The FSA is a regulatory department, charged by law with protecting public health, and the wider interests of consumers, in relation to food. Our overarching aim is to ensure that the public can trust that their food is safe and authentic. We act on the basis of science and evidence, and we put public health and the consumer interest first in our decision making. We operate with high levels of transparency, including holding our Board meetings in public and inviting questions from the public on our work, to sustain trust and confidence in food standards.

Our status as a non-Ministerial Government Department, serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland gives us a high degree of independence. The FSA works closely with our sister department in Scotland, Food Standards Scotland.

The Board sets the strategic priorities to fulfil the FSA’s statutory purposes, and reviews progress against agreed outcomes. The Board takes major decisions on public health and regulatory matters and assures the delivery of our programmes and plans.

In 2022 the FSA published its strategy for improving food over the next five years and recommitted to its mission of food you can trust. The five-year strategy reflects the FSA’s greater responsibilities now that the UK is outside of the EU and also commits the FSA to working alongside other government departments towards healthier and more sustainable food.

You can find out more about our Board and see the Board in action by watching a video of a previous Board meeting via our website: FSA Board Meetings | Food Standards Agency

The Board’s ambition is for the FSA to be regarded as an excellent, accountable, modern regulator. We have a very committed and cohesive Board with Members from a range of backgrounds who share their knowledge and expertise in support of this goal. We hold Board meetings in public on four occasions each year, with two private Board retreats and regular briefings and stakeholder visits. We are united by a common purpose to uphold and enhance food standards. People across the UK, and in those countries we export to, care about food and if you join us, your contribution will help uphold and enhance the food standards we are proud of in the UK.

In this pack you will find additional information about the FSA and its work, details of the Board roles we wish to fill, and how to apply. I look forward to receiving your application.

Professor Susan Jebb

Chair of the Food Standards Agency

Appointment description

Ministers are seeking to make up to 6 appointments to the board of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Role description

To ensure the FSA discharges its statutory duties in line with the requirement to protect public health and consumer interests in relation to food.

To set and to reinforce the FSA’s core values through the development and monitoring of strategic objectives, plans, and policies.

To represent the FSA and its values in communications with key stakeholders.

To monitor the performance of the Executive in meeting agreed objectives and targets, including: the delivery of services; continuous improvement; financial performance, and risk management.

To assist with the appointment of the Chief Executive.

To play an effective part in Board meetings, discussions and decisions, and work towards shared success.

To participate as a member or Chair of one or more of the Board Committees: Business, and Audit and Risk Assurance.

To act in the public interest at all times, not as a representative of the interests of any particular sector, and without regard to any personal interests.

To give approximately 20 days per annum to the FSA and to travel to meetings across the country, for which expenses are payable. In addition, Board members are expected to read widely to develop personal skill and ensure effectiveness in the role.

Board members receive advice and support from the Executive in respect of their duties and are provided with background information in order to carry out their responsibilities. There is a dedicated secretariat to support the Board.

Organisation description

The FSA was established by the Food Standards Act 1999, in the wake of the BSE crisis, as a non-Ministerial Government Department and a regulator; created to be at arm’s length from Government and independent of sectoral interests. Our primary duty, set out in statute, is to protect public health and otherwise protect the interests of consumers in relation to food and feed.

Our statutory functions include developing, or assisting in the development of, policies connected to these areas, carrying out and commissioning research, setting the standards for and monitoring performance of enforcement authorities, and providing advice to the public. So, as well as being a regulator, we act as a policymaker, generate evidence and watchdog for the food system. Our five-year strategy sets out our mission is food you can trust, by which we mean food that is safe, food that is what it says it is and food that is healthier and more sustainable.

We are concerned with the safety of food right along the food supply chain, from when it is produced, to when it is served on the plate. As the national authority responsible for food safety, we set the regulations that food businesses are obliged to follow, and work with delivery partners across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to make sure those regulations are enforced.

We want the public to have trust in the food they eat, and that is why we work in an open and transparent way, making sure that consumer health and interests are at the heart of everything we do. Our Chief Scientific Adviser is critical in this, ensuring that we are making evidence-based decisions driven by sound, unbiased and relevant science.

Food and feed policy is a devolved matter. The FSA is accountable to Ministers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and we work closely with Food Standards Scotland (FSS). We are governed by an independent Board appointed by Ministers in the countries we serve. We work to provide a robust and coherent regulatory regime, to make sure that consumers across the UK can have confidence that the highest level of food standards are being set and maintained. We have a budget from the HM Treasury and Devolved Administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland of around £140 million. To help achieve this aim, the department has offices in London, Cardiff, Belfast, and York and employs almost 1,400 staff.

We not only work with a range of other government partners, which includes providing advice to Ministers across three governments, but also actively engage internationally. We make sure that we play an important role in supranational standard setting and sharing best practice with other national competent authorities.

There are nearly 600,000 food businesses in the UK. They have statutory duties to make sure the food they sell is safe and is what it says it is. The FSA, along with FSS in Scotland, and local authorities are the primary regulators who make sure that businesses are complying with these rules, and who deliver “official controls” set out in law, such as regular inspection.

The FSA directly inspects a minority of riskier food businesses (for example meat plants and abattoirs) but for most of the food industry it is local authorities who deliver these controls. Local authority environmental health and trading standards officers invest time and effort working with local businesses to make sure the food they sell is safe and authentic. For small businesses in particular, a food hygiene inspection can be a vital source of guidance and advice about how to improve food safety practices.

The FSA oversees this system of controls, monitors performance and acts to mitigate risk in the system, for example by working with local authorities to manage thousands of food incidents every year.

As the central authority for food and feed safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we face a large range of complex and time-dependent challenges. Food and Drink is the UK’s biggest manufacturing sector and the Agri-food sector as a whole contributed £146.7bn to national Gross Value Added in 2022.

A major challenge facing the Agri-food sector is an increased potential for illegal and illicit activity through food crime due to the rapidly changing regulatory landscape. The FSA is fully committed to ensuring the authenticity and provenance of food right along the supply chain, through the work of the National Food Crime Unit.

Furthermore, the national and global context in which the FSA operates is changing at great speed, and the FSA needs to continue to evolve to meet changing public demands. With dynamic global trade bringing greater choice to UK consumers than ever before, the advent of new purchasing practices and changing dietary preferences, and the need for holistic approaches to health, wellbeing, and the environment, the FSA must keep pace with societal expectations. In doing so, the FSA must take advantage of new technologies and data-driven processes to support a risk-based approach to both standard setting and enforcement of thousands of businesses.

Further information about the FSA’s work can be found on our website at:

Homepage | Food Standards Agency

The FSA Brochure

FSA Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23

Our Food 2023

FSA Board Operating Framework

Performance Report Q2 2024-25

Board composition

Three Board meetings and 2 retreats are held at various locations around England. One Board meeting per year is held in either Northern Ireland or Wales. Board meeting will be held on the following days:

27 & 28 January 2025

25 & 26 March 2025

17 & 18 June 2025

16 & 17 September 2025

13 & 14 October 2025

09 & 10 December 2025

Regulation of appointment

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website

Person specification

Essential criteria

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

Board members do not represent a particular industry or sector and it is not essential for Board members to have specialist or scientific knowledge of any part of the food chain.

Strong decision-making skills, able to assess complex evidence and explain the basis for a decision.
Experience of working with, or on behalf of the public and an ability to represent consumer interests.
Strong strategic thinking and experience, able to help shape the FSA’s strategic direction.
Ability to achieve significant change and to operate across complex networks.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including championing diversity and able to confidently deal with difficult situations sensitively.

Desirable criteria

In order to achieve a balanced Board, new members will ideally be able to bring skills and experience in one or more of the following areas:

Experience in public (or environmental) health in relation to food
Operational experience of Local Government
Experience in the food sector (primary production, manufacture, supply chain, retail – including small and medium-sized enterprises)
Expertise in safety and standards in the food industry
Veterinary experience
Experience in corporate or commercial financial strategy
Experience in regulatory compliance, audit and assurance
Criminal investigative skills
Experience in (or understanding of) how a national regulator works

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Location: London

Date Posted: 17/01/2025

Closing Date: 12/02/2025