Agenda item

Matt Armstrong (Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service)

Jessica Howell from the Gloucestershire County Council Civil Protection Team (CPT) introduced the overview of the provision of Emergency Management support services.  She explained that borough council (CBC) had statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to prepare for, respond to and recover from any emergency that affects its staff, the environment and any communities or businesses in the borough.  The council had a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the CPT for the provision of emergency management support services which assisted the council in fulfilling its responsibilities.  The SLA was underpinned by a business plan which outlined areas of support and a monthly work program which detailed work priorities.  This SLA included a dedicated Civil Protection Officer (CPO), which had until recently been Matt Armstrong, seconded from the Fire Service and his replacement would be Lionel McCrea.  The CPO worked closely with the council’s District Emergency Planning Liaison Officer (DEPLO) and the Local Resilience Forums, taking a lead on developing and reviewing emergency plans for the Local Resilience Forums on behalf of the council.  The Local Resilience Forums were based on Police Forces, meaning the Forum which the council formed part of was a Gloucestershire Forum which included the Police, Fire Service, NHS and Environment Agency and a key part of the work of the Forum was planning for some specific emergencies (Flu Pandemic/Floods/etc) and some more generic emergencies.  The council had some specific emergency plans which included the Charlton Kings Rapid Response Catchment Plan, which was developed after the Environment Agency identified Charlton Kings as an area prone to flash flooding.  There were 4 rest centres in Cheltenham (Leisure@, All Saints Academy, Dean Close School and the Salvation Army Church and the plans for each contained contact information and site details.  These plans were up to date and following a recent exercise were shown to be robust.  Emergency Response Teams were made up of volunteer staff and regular sessions provided to ensure that people were adequately trained.  A requirement of the Civil Contingencies Act is for the council to have Business Continuity Plan in place which details the actions required to maintain a service to the public.  The CPT and DEPLO had worked hard to ensure procedures were robust and had recently undertaken a successful desktop exercise to test the arrangements.  The SLA offered a Duty Officer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and in response to an incident would contact the DEPLO and depending on the scale/type of incident, he would contact others. 

Jessica gave the following responses to member questions:

• At present only Leckhampton with Warden Hill Parish Council had a Community Resilience Plan.  Predominantly these plans were established on a parish or ward basis but that was not to say that they needed to be.  It was acknowledged that in urban areas, communities may exist within or across ward boundaries and it was noted that there was no restriction on size.  The Local Resilience Forum Community Resilience Group was working with CBC and Gloucester City to address the urban area issue.   
• In other District Council’s Emergency Planning fell within the portfolio of the Leader of the Council or a Cabinet Member.
• The CPO produced end of year reports which summarised progress against the work plan and SLA.  Officers would look at whether this was something that could/should be shared with members.  
• CBC were currently reviewing their out of hours arrangements.  It would not be appropriate for all members to have contact details for the Duty Officer. 
• There was no, set criteria as to what constitutes an incident, it depended on the scale and impact.  Any agency within the forum could declare a major incident where they were overwhelmed and their ability to undertake day to day service was compromised.
• The role of the CPT in relation to business continuity was merely to assist the council in producing robust plans, they were not responsible for helping to deal with any disruption.  The plan, as members would be aware, prioritised some services.  The plans should be easily accessible to all staff.
• Once a major incident is declared a mechanism is in place to ensure that it is communicated to all, including Government and support offered by other agencies.
• The A&E incident at the Gloucester Royal Hospital was a business continuity issue, rather than a major incident and they enlisted the assistance of other NHS providers to address the issue.

There were no resolutions arising from this item.

The Chairman thanked Jessica for her attendance.