Dr Phil James, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has written to both contenders in the tory party leadership race - Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss - requesting that whoever wins the selection and becomes prime minister commits to maintaining environmental health as a "strong resource and a valuable profession."

Dr. James pointed to the "vital role" played by environmental health professionals - both in the pubic and private sectors - throughout the covid 19 pandemic and reminded the leadership rivals that environmental health was very much part of the public health community as well as being key to supporting the levelling up agenda across various priorities within public health and well being, housing standards, food safety , air pollution and climate change planning. But, he also sounded a warning.

In his letters to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, Dr. James warns that the environmental health profession is facing a crisis with 87% of local authorities using agency staff because of "resource shortages" and recruitment delays with 56% of authorities stating that they had environmental health team vacancies unfilled for periods of 6 months or more.

A DLUHC recommendation to ring fence resources aimed at getting new apprenticeships up and running within local authorities to "support and sustain" the environmental health workforce had not come to fruition and without this, Dr. James says, the "profession faces a decidedly uncertain future, and with it, severe repercussions for our communities.