The key findings from the second Pest Management survey undertaken by the National Pest Advisory Panel (NPAP) were presented on 21 September during the CIEH organised Best of the Best conference held at the Telford International Centre.
Overall the results were, unfortunately, much to be expected. The role of pest control units within Local Authorities and the scope of their activities continues to show a decline. The survey was undertaken in February 2009, since when further authorities will have thrown-in the pest control towel and this is before any further potential cuts post the government spending review to be announced in October.
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The survey was managed on behalf of NPAP by Dr Gai Murphy from Salford University, but regrettably Gai was unable to be present to unveil the results. Jonathan Peck, also a member of NPAP, stepped into the breach. The survey undertaken in early 2009 is a follow-on survey from the one also undertaken by NPAP in 2002 when 270 authorities replied. With a few small exceptions, the questions were repeated, so the results are comparable. This time there were 255 responses from a comparable mix of just over 400 authorities. The headline data shows that the number of local authorities who still do provide a pest control service has fallen from 99% of respondents to 90%. This was accounted for by only three authorities in 2002 who did not offer pest control to 26 authorities spread equally around the country. Of those offering pest control services, the number who have contracted out these activities has nearly doubled – from 13% in 2002 to 22% in 2009. |
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Turning its attention to the treatment of individual pests, it comes as no surprise to see that the ratio of in-house versus contractor treatments has shifted. Without exception the proportion of pest types treated by contractors has risen. Take rats as the example, in 2002 over 80% of treatments were performed in-house. This had fallen to just over 60% in 2009. Whereas the comparable figures for contractors, shows a rise from 17% in 2002 to well over 20% in 2009. Mice show a similar trend. Finally, and of equal concern, the number of authorities involved with organised regional pest liaison groups has declined from 70% in 2002 to 57% in 2009. A summary of results covering all questions contained within the survey will be published by NPAP in due course. More details wil also be available in the next edition (issue 11) of Pest magazine. |
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