Monday November 2nd 2026
Ro, the dog who heled police and trading standards uncover thousands of cigarettes in two recent raids (copyright: West Lothian Council)
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian remains “ahead of the curve” in tackling staff shortages in the face of growing national demands in health and safety laws.
Councillor Craig Meek, chair of the Public and Community Safety PDSP paid tribute to officers in the Trading Standards and Environmental Health team.
Nationally locally authorities are struggling to retain staff, with an ageing workforce and fewer people entering the profession.
This at a time of ever growing demand in improving food standards and the merging of other responsibilities into the department including animal control and stray dogs.
Craig Smith, the council’s Environmental Health & Trading Standards Manager, gave councillors an annual update of his department ahead of a national gathering of Trading Standards teams from across Scotland’s 32 councils.
Mr Smith admitted “It’s challenging.”
In his report to committee he added: “There has been a significant drop in staffing numbers nationally between 2016 and 2026.
“Across Scotland the total number of staff on establishment has dropped from 890 to 705, with staff actually in post in 2026 being 626.5. That is a drop of 20.7% over that period.
“The staffing position in West Lothian has been stable since 2016, with staff reductions having taken place before 2016.
“The number of vacant posts nationally is 78.5 (11%). In West Lothian the figure does fluctuate but is currently 1.2 FTE ( full time equivalent).”
The percentage of staff aged 55+ years old nationally is currently 28.9%. The percentage in West Lothian is 53%. Whilst not an absolute determinant this measure does reflect a vulnerability to age related departures of staff.
As an average indicator of retirement age is taken as 62 years old, there is a projection that a further 7% of the workforce will leave in the next 5 years. In West Lothian that figure would be 34%.
West Lothian has in the past trained staff on the job and this has helped retention but that brings its own issues.
Mr Smith said that West Lothian was luckier than many given its position in the Central Belt. Some authorities struggle to recruit and retain staff once trained because they wish to return to their home areas.
In the last ten years, as staffing has reduced there has been increased demands on the environmental health profession in terms of new legislation, and responding to different events, such as Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
Other notable increases in demand have come from changes to the food law inspection rating system by Food Standards Scotland. It is estimated that this has increased the inspection demand on local authorities by 32%.
A number of local authorities are also reporting an increase in demand for pest related issues post Covid, and dog control work has also increased for a number of authorities.
Mr Smith said: “There has definitely been an upturn in demand for environmental health in West Lothian alongside the challenges of staffing resources.
“Steps were taken to prioritise service delivery and the type of response which can be given to aspects of work. Work involving animal welfare and dog control was moved from environmental health to the trading standards team, and the management of the pest control team was also moved to trading standards. Pest control also took on responsibility for stray dogs.”
He added: “Even with adaptations in the service there remains a significant backlog of food premises overdue a routine food safety inspection, compounded by staffing vacancies, the changes in inspection rating scheme, and an ongoing increase in the number of new food establishments opening in West Lothian.”
Mr Smith told the meeting: “We have a good track record in training our own staff to take on jobs”.
Councillor Maria MacAulay, the depute SNP group leader, praised the team for its work. “I’m really pleased that there’s 25 going through education and training within West Lothian. I hope that we can retain them”.
Councillor Alison Adamson said: “It has always surprised me that there are not more young people coming into the industry.
“What concerns me is an estimated 32% increase in inspection demand. I would imagine that funding has not increased by 32%. I would hope that, because it’s a Scotland- wide issue, that would be addressed.
“It is all very well changing laws to make things safer but if we don’t have the staff to deliver I can see what that would cause issues.”
Councillor Meek praised the team for keeping West Lothian “ ahead of the curve” in terms of tackling staffing shortages and developing in-house training.
“Long may it continue. Staff shortages are a serious issue we cannot underestimate how serious an issue it is.”
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