Issue - meetings

Emergency planning and business continuity activity in BCP Council over the reporting period has been focused on getting back on track following the significant response to COVID and the disruption this caused to the planning side of resilience. Significant progress has been made in business continuity and the council’s response arrangements have been put to the test with numerous large scale emergency responses. These have been dominated by extreme weather and fires and evacuations.  At a national level the resilience agenda continues to evolve and the impacts of this are being looked at and incorporated into planning and response activities locally.

The Emergency Planning and Resilience Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'E' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

It was reported that emergency planning and business continuity activity across the BCP Council over the reporting period had been focused on getting back on track following the significant response to COVID and the disruption caused to the planning side of resilience.

Significant progress had also been made in business continuity and the Council’s response arrangements had been put to the test with numerous large scale emergency responses dominated by extreme weather and fires and evacuations. 

At a national level the resilience agenda continued to evolve and the impacts of this were being looked at and incorporated into planning and response activities locally.

The Chief Executive reminded the Committee that overview and scrutiny work was being scoped to include a role for some aspects of emergency planning and more specifically Charter Trustees and ward councillors during responses to issues like fires and evacuations.  

RESOLVED that Audit and Governance Committee notes

a)    The emergency planning and business continuity activity that has taken place during the monitoring period;

b)    The significant progress in delivering the business continuity management programme;

c)    The ongoing development of resilience governance arrangements including the process for debriefing, capturing learning and monitoring the implementation of recommendations;

d)    The national level update on resilience and the implications of this locally.

Voting: Unanimous