Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies were received from Cllr P Hall and Cllr D Farr.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications. 

None

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

None

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s2305/Public%20Items%20-%20Meeting%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf 

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public questions, statements or petitions for the meeting.

To note and comment on the attached action sheet which tracks decisions, actions and recommendations from previous meetings.

The Chairman advised that the minutes from the previous meeting were not yet published but referred to the action sheet from the previous meeting. The Chairman confirmed that the recommendations had been reported to Cabinet and partially accepted.

To consider an update from the Chief Executive, Public Health Dorset and relevant Portfolio Holders on the Council’s actions in relation to the impact of Covid 19.  Verbal updates will be presented at the meeting. The following councillors are invited, along with relevant officers, to attend for this item and provide updates in relation to their service areas:

Councillor Drew Mellor, Leader of the Council

Councillor Nicola Greene, Portfolio Holder for Covid Resilience, Schools and Skills

Councillor May Haines, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety

The Chairmen of the other Overview and Scrutiny Committees of the Council are also invited to attend and participate in this item.

The Chairman invited the Portfolio Holder for Covid Resilience, Schools and skills to provide the meeting with an update on the current situation. The Portfolio Holder advised the Board of the current situation regarding Covid-19 and how the Council were responding to it. The Portfolio Holder acknowledged the attendance of the Chairman from the Children’s Services and Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committees but acknowledged that although there may be some crossover in some of the issues covered both Committees had their own meetings scheduled over the following few weeks. The Portfolio Holder invited the Director of Public Health to provide the Board with the latest information on Covid-19 prevalence.

The Director of Public Health gave a presentation to the Board which outlined the numbers testing positive for Covid-19 and the age groups of positive cases, which were predominately the younger age groups but this was slowly creeping up in the older age groups where risk was greater, as evidenced in the heatmaps shown to the Board. Over the past 7 days there were 953 cases within BCP. There were currently 138 people in hospital in the local system with Covid-19. The Director advised that he would provide further information to the Board on where outbreaks were occurring. All hospitals in the area were in major incident standby mode.

The Board was advised that most of the current cases would have contracted the illness prior to the national lockdown measures. However, it was noted that according to Google mobility data there appeared to be no reduction in workplace traffic since lockdown measures were put into place.  It was noted that outbreaks in high risk setting such as schools and care homes were being managed well.

The Director advised the Board about a number of measures regarding the testing programmes in place and changes to these, including the piloting of rapid antigen testing. Information was also provided on the planning for vaccine provision and development. The Board were advised that post lockdown the aim was for the Council to emerge into tier 1 restrictions, but this was dependent upon whether current case rates fell. The Board considered further information on the planning for post-lockdown, including intelligently targeted communication and engagement work, enhanced contact tracing, additional support for the national test and trace offer and the availability of local resources. In reflection of the impact on Council resources, additional funding was being provided. Members asked a number of questions to the Portfolio Holder and Director of Public Health including:

A Councillor asked what assurance could be given to residents if they had to go into hospital that the risk there wasn’t higher than at home due to the recent outbreaks. The Board was advised that the outbreaks at the hospitals were now under control and both hospitals had been working closely with Public Health England to make sure the right measures were in place. The Director advised that the follow up measures were in place but agreed to follow  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

To consider and amend the Board’s Forward Plan as appropriate.

The Chairman advised that this had been discussed in the training and development session held earlier in the afternoon and that this would be amended and reported back to the next meeting of the Board.

To note the following meeting dates and locations for the 2020/21 municipal year:

·         7 December 2020

·         4 January 2020

·         1 February 2021

·         1 March 2021

·         1 April 2021

All meeting will be held via video conferencing until further notice.

The Board noted the future meeting dates for the remainder of the 2020/21 municipal year.