An official website of the United States government.
<p>There are two main evaluation workstreams, i) an impact evaluation assessing the impacts of the scheme and ii) a process evaluation exploring scheme operation and how it is affecting consumers, businesses and Local Authorities. Findings from both workstreams will be drawn together in the form of a synthesis report at the end of the research programme.</p>
The specific research objectives are to provide an assessment of:
<ul><li>consumer awareness and understanding of the FHRS and FHIS;</li>
<li>the impact of the FHRS and FHIS on consumer behaviour;</li>
<li>uptake of the FHRS and FHIS by local authorities;</li>
<li>impact of the FHRS and FHIS on the local authorities' programme of planned inspections and other visits to food businesses, and on Local Authority resources;</li>
<li>businesses' understanding of the FHRS and FHIS and impact on business turnover;</li>
<li>impact of the FHRS and FHIS on business compliance levels; and</li>
<li>impact of FHRS and FHIS on the incidence of foodborne illness.</li></ul>
<p><b>Impact Evaluation</b>
<br/>This part of the evaluation aims to assess the impact of the FHRS/FHIS on the incidence of hygiene standards in businesses and foodborne illness, taking into account a range of information on Local Authority demographics and characteristics and the impact of any existing 'local' rating schemes. A range of existing data sources has been identified for evaluation. For example, data on business compliance with food hygiene regulations and reported cases of foodborne illness.</p>
<p><b>Process Evaluation</b>
<br/>This part of the evaluation will be conducted in two stages. The first will cover early implementation and delivery of the schemes, and the second will focus on longer term operation and delivery. The process evaluation will include interviews with FSA and Local Authority staff and a series of case studies, covering local authorities throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The case studies will be an in depth exploration of how the FHRS and FHIS have been implemented and how the schemes are operating within a local authority area. A range of different research methods will be used to investigate the perspectives of Local Authorities, businesses and consumers. For example, further interviews with local authority staff, observation, and consumer and business surveys.</p>
<p><b>Publication of Findings</b>
<br/>Final impact evaluation and synthesis reports are due in 2014. Full findings from the first stage of the process evaluation, which looks at early implementation of the schemes, were published in March 2013.
In the meantime, early findings on the specific issue of the display of ratings/inspection results at food premises have been drawn out of data collected for the wider evaluation exercise and summarised in an interim report. </p>
<p>Background: The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS) for Scotland are FSA / Local Authority partnership initiatives designed to provide consumers with information about hygiene standards in food premises at the time of their most recent inspection.</p>
<p>The FSA is committed to an independent and robust evaluation of the FHRS/FHIS to provide evidence to help assess the effectiveness of the schemes, feed into further policy development and inform robust post implementation reviews.</p>
<p>Evaluation Design: Independent advice was commissioned on how best to evaluate the FHRS/FHIS. As part of this work, stakeholder workshops were utilised to help unpack the ‘theory’ underpinning the schemes, to describe the underlying causal mechanisms for change, and how these mechanisms are expected to produce desired short term and longer term outcomes. The resulting ‘theory of change’ was used to inform the evaluation design. In addition to commissioning independent advice on the evaluation design, an independent Advisory Group has also been set up to oversee the project and review key outputs and fieldwork materials. </p>