Agenda item

To receive a report on the Councils response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Decision

 

(a)       That the Council’s response to the Covid emergency   response is              noted;

 

(b)       That all Council staff be thanked for their part in responding to the emergency;

 

(c)        That this report is referred to the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee for members to consider the effectiveness of  Dorset Council’s response and

 

(d)       That the focus of the work of the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee  be to learn from Dorset Council’s experience of responding to the Covid-19 emergency and not to scrutinise the effectiveness of other agencies and any decisions which are rightly the responsibility of the Council’s partners.       

 

Reason for the Decision

To ensure that cabinet are fully informed and assured of the way that services have been managed under the Council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to date.

 

 

The Chairman introduced the report by stating that as of 4 May 2020 174 members of Dorset’s community had sadly lost their life due to COVID-19. 46 of those were from local residential care homes.

He asked the committee to take a moment to sit quietly for a short period of reflection.

The Chairman advised that the report set out a summary of the council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and identified some of the many changes that had taken place in the way that services were being managed, and the command structures enacted to do this. He commended the response from Dorset Council officers in the face of this crisis and advised that the report aimed to set out what had been achieved to date and what issues might be faced in the future.

The Chief Executive reported the strategic approach to the pandemic.  He took the opportunity to thank local residents, communities and businesses in Dorset for their continued support.  He also thanked local volunteers for their contribution and those individuals who had worked on delivering such national initiatives as the Community Shielding work. He highlighted the work being carried out to deliver business grants and support for council taxpayers facing hardship.

Dorset Council was classed as a Category 1 Emergency Responder under the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act, alongside emergency services (police, fire, ambulance); coastguard; health and the environment agency. All Category 1 responders were also members of Dorset's Local Resilience Forum (LRF). The Forum was the principal mechanism for multi- agency planning and co-operation in response to an incident.

The Executive Director for Corporate Development advised that his role within this was to act as the Council’s “Covid Gold Lead” and to coordinate the council’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. The complexity of the arrangements put into place by the council were set out at appendices  A & B of the report. The role had dealt with issues such as obtaining the emergency provision of PPE, testing for Covid-19, communications, discouragement of visitors to Dorset and promoting social distancing regulations. The LRF were also now planning the way back to the new normality.

The Director of Public Health set out an overview of the Public Health challenges.  He advised that he was working closely with Public Health England in order to give appropriate advice to the local public health system. Because of the adherence to the lockdown and social distancing measures put into place, Dorset had not, to date, been significantly impacted by the virus compared with other areas within the UK.  He further highlighted that at the moment the main concern related to pressure that was in and around local residential care homes. 

The Executive Director for People (Children) reported on the council’s community shielding work which coordinated the provision of food, medicine and emotional support to individuals and families identified on the Government ‘shielded’ list. She further reported on the work to support Dorset’s children by ensuring the provision of enhanced services in relation to school and early years provision for vulnerable children and those of keyworkers; Remote education for children not able to attend school, teacher resilience during COVID-19 closures, the provision of free school meals and domestic abuse issues.

The Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health set out the response to the pandemic in respect of People Services (Adults).  She stated how inspired she had been by the Community Shield work including the role of community volunteers. She also referred to the Council’s PPE drive through hubs which had supported local residential homes and funeral directors.

The Porfolio Holder also referred to the Covid response help-lines and indicated that the council had increased care facilities which had freed up and enabled greater capacity in the acute hospital setting. Lessons could be learnt from the work carried out so far and she commended the report and welcomed the scrutiny of it by Resources Scrutiny Committee.

The Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Help expressed his thanks to all the staff within school settings to ensure that children continued to be educated, receiving pastoral care and making sure that safeguarding was in place.  He also praised careers and foster careers during this time of home schooling.  He thanked social workers for their efforts to ensure that children in care and young leavers remained safe.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety commended the report as a fundamental piece of historical  work.  He set out the efforts taking place within the housing provision and advised that at the outbreak of the virus, the housing team had found accommodation for the rough sleeping community within a 4 day period. They now continued to provide the necessary outreach support to these individuals.

The council was working hard with its partners to deal with issues as they occurred as a number of households presented as homeless had increased since the restrictions were introduced. These were a separate group of people to the rough sleeping community and the main reasons for the increase related to persons who were sofa surfing or renting a room from a friend being asked to leave due to concerns about self-isolation.

In respect of domestic abuse concerns, the community safety team were working with partners to monitor the situation and support the Police with a domestic abuse communications campaign.

The Executive Director for Place indicated that he was the officer lead in respect of the recovery process.  A recovery coordinating group (RCG) were working in parallel to the LRF and within the framework of national guidance.  The aim of the RCG was to enable and support progress which allowed individuals, families and communities to attain their proper level of functioning through the provision of information and resources. He further advised that the group would undertake an initial impact analysis and define the recovery strategy for Dorset, focusing on the economy and welfare and wellbeing of residents and employees.

In respect of the Place directorate, members were advised that many employees within the directorate provided key services and it had been important that these were maintained.  Other employees had been redeployed to support the distribution of food and prescriptions to vulnerable people.

The Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment reported that transport services were being adapted to ensure the safety of drivers and the general public. The council fleet had been moved to County Hall in order to free up the Old Radio Station site. He reported that it was essential to continue the work of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Executive Advisory Panel, although some officers had been temporarily re-deployed. It was also noted that vehicle movements within Dorset had reduced by 70% with this slightly peaked over the weekends.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning reported that the planning service had been adapting to new ways of working and business was being conducted remotely. Case Officers were having to change working practices as site visits were currently on hold, the planning services was continuing to operate.  Progress continued on the local plan although there were some immediate impacts of COVID-19 that had put a halt to some work within the service. 

However the Local Plan Executive Advisory Panel was to re-commence to oversee the achievement of key milestones and planning policy.  He also referred to the work being carried out in respect of Neighbourhood plans and reported that government guidelines had been amended to indicate that plans awaiting referendums could be given significant weight in planning decision making.

The Portfolio Holder for Customer, Community and Regulatory Services took the opportunity to thank community and voluntary bodies for their support. He also referred to the Town and Parish Councils’ work during the emergency period. He reported on the changes to the registration services, in particular for the registration of deaths, which were now being carried out by telephone appointment. Members were further advised of the work of Weymouth Crematorium which continued to provide funerals where close family and friends could attend.  Plans were also in place to accommodate higher numbers of cremations over the next weeks and months, if that was required.

Trading Standards and Environmental Health were providing support and advice to businesses, helping them to navigate through business closure and social distancing requirements in the workplace. He also referred to the customer service activity which had been support by library staff whilst the Dorset Library’s were closed.

The Corporate Director for Legal and Democratic reported on the work of the emergency planning team and the excess death planning arrangements. These arrangements had been made and facilities put in place in the Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council areas in order that COVID deaths would be well managed and both the deceased and the bereaved treated with respect.

In respect of the workforce and their well-being, the Executive Director for Corporate Development advised that COVID-19 had impacted on businesses in many different ways.  Dorset Council staff had been developing new services and working flexibly.  An internal skills agency was being developed to ensure that key services could continue to be maintained.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Assets advised that the full financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Dorset Council was still being analysed whilst the emergency response was ongoing. There would be a significant impact from the suspension of income generating services, additional expenditure and incurred, and planned transformation savings that had not been achieved.

These would require mitigation during 2020/21 (and beyond) once the full compensation package from central government was known.

The Portfolio Holder for Corporate Development and Change and the Corporate Policy and Performance Officer reported that during the COVID-19 response, impact screening tools and assessments had been undertaken where a permanent change in service delivery had been made.

A draft EqIA for the COVID-19 pandemic was currently being produced which covered all the protected characteristics and the additional characteristics that Dorset Council consider important. Once finalised, the EqIA would be shared publicly, however, it should be noted that this was an ever-changing situation and the EqIA would need to be updated on a regular basis.

Following a set of round table conversations with councillors, a copy of the EqIA report would be presented to a future meeting of Cabinet.

The Chairman invited Scrutiny Chairmen to address the committee.  The Chairman of Resources Scrutiny Committee asked Cabinet to support the recommendations and took the opportunity to set out how the Resources Scrutiny Committee would monitor and review its progress.

The Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee indicated that it was likely that a joint health scrutiny meeting would be held with BCP in the near future to discuss the areas’ response to COVID-19 along side the two councils’ partners including the NHS.

In response, the Portfolio Holder for People Adult Services agreed that it was important that the council was part of an integrated health system.  Members also agreed that being a unitary council had enabled them to respond to the crisis in a cohesive manner.

In response to questions from the Chairman for Place Scrutiny Committee, the Chairman confirmed that work on communication flyers be it electronic or in paper form continued.  He would also discuss the possibility of contact details being made available on the local transport system with the communications team.

In respect of climate change, the Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment agreed that it was essential that the council learnt lessons from the crisis, in order to work smarter in the future and these matters would be discussed at a future meeting of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Executive Advisory Panel.

The Chairman of the Audit & Governance Committee asked Cabinet about the 109 decisions taken by officers during the pandemic, were they operational or would they had required a scrutiny process? In response the Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Health advised that these were decisions that had been taken at speed and within the council’s scheme of delegation.

In respect of a question relating to local food banks, the council had been working with Public Heath Dorset in respect of this provision and many had seen an increased need.  The council had supported these food banks with social distancing, healthy start vouchers, lanyards, financial contributions and advice on  how volunteers could remain safe. The council had been in weekly contact with all the food banks who provide data so that this information can be mapped and measured in the future.

In respect of questions around mental health support, the Portfolio Holder of Adult Social Care and Health agreed that this was critical, in supporting employees and local residents. Established multi agency groups were bringing together a tiered approach to cover areas of bereavement, well-being support, self help, skills training or telephone line support.

In response to a question on safety on school transport, the Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Years advised that the council was waiting for further advice in respect of school transport provision.

The Chairman of People Scrutiny Committee asked the Cabinet about support in terms of children already being home schooled and those being looked after by the council.

The Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Years confirmed that the council’s focus had been around those children with social workers and those who were looked after children.  Some of those were home schooled.  The number of children within care had not changed during this period.

The Executive Director advised that schools were contacting children on the vulnerable list on a weekly basis. There were, however no secure beds available across the county and it remained a challenge to provide this type of care facility as it did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chairman, thanked all those that had contributed to the creation of the report, including multi-agency partners and local residents.

Cllr P Wharf proposed an amendment to the recommendation set out within the report, this was accepted by Cabinet.

Decision

 

(a)       That the Council’s response to the Covid emergency   response is                   noted;

 

(b)       That all Council staff be thanked for their part in responding to the emergency;

 

(c)        That this report is referred to the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee for members to consider the effectiveness of Dorset Council’s response and

 

(d)       That the focus of the work of the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee be to learn from Dorset Council’s experience of responding to the Covid-19 emergency and not to scrutinise the effectiveness of other agencies and any decisions which are rightly the responsibility of the Council’s partners.       

 

Reason for the Decision

To ensure that cabinet are fully informed and assured of the way that services have been managed under the Council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to date.