Minutes:
The Assistant Director of Public Health Dorset, the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Health and Adult Social Care as well as the Chief Executive all provided updates to the Board. The Leader advised that she had taken part in a conference call with the MHCLG at lunchtime to provide an update. However following the Prime Minister’s announcement the staying at home procedures which had been discussed at the management team meeting had already changed from the government update at lunchtime. The Boar was advised that legal changes were expected tomorrow allowing for Council meetings to be varied to allow for remote engagement and the requirement to hold an annual Council would be suspended. The finance team were working on support for businesses, looking at rules around the hardship fund. There were also a number of sub-groups working on particular areas of concern. The Council would need to take a lead on community resilience and was setting up steering group in next 24 hours to co-ordinate and take forward support. Non-essential travel had been stopped and events were being cancelled. There would be an assessment undertaken of what Council meetings were necessary and what could be done in a different.
The Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and the Health and Wellbeing Board next Thursday were still due to take place. If the Board had questions which could not be responded to this evening then answers would be supplied at either the Cabinet meeting or Health and Wellbeing Board.
The Assistant Director for Public Health provided an update on the official advise against going to large venues, events and travel. The recommendations on self-isolating were outlined. Up to this point public health was receiving updates on all cases within BCP although this was now expected to cease, and only particularly significant cases would now be reported. Locally published figures of 5 cases for the BCP area were all linked to overseas travel. London was ahead in terms of community transmission. The situation was no longer business as usual, there was a need to do things differently and respond differently.
The Chief Executive commented on the Council’s emergency response and planning. There were tactical groups meeting within the BCP area – which included Public Health, HR and Communications representation.
This was the most serious public health threat experienced by all and there was therefore no external support available. It was important to identify the correct role which Councillors could play in this situation. The Council would look at which services could be maintained which could be reigned back on. There would be a major impact and therefore the budget would need to change significantly. There would be a paper taken to the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, identifying immediate budget issues. Other actions which were being taken included: cancelling events, looking into the hardship fund business rates rebilling and working with social care providers. However, the Emergency Planning in place was strong but there would be an impact on services. There was a need to look at Council governance arrangements and put something in place for decision making and scrutiny. It was expected that staff absence would have an impact on services.
The Portfolio Holder for Health and Adult Social Care confirmed that Tricuro was putting resilience measures into place. Those staff who can work from home were working from home, but others needed to go out into the community. The Board was advised that there would be people not known to the Council and it was felt that Councillors often did know about those who need help within their community.
In response to a question about timescales the Assistant Director of Public Health advised that the Chief Medical Officer had suggested a 10 – 12 week peak. Dependent upon control measures and suppression of the peak. The US President suggested an outbreak in the US until July or August.
A Councillor asked about schools remaining open but being told to socially distance and how this could be done. There was specific guidance for the education sector and there will be a time when schools need to close, However, this would mean that the NHS and care sector lose a significant proportion of their workforce. There was also the role schools had in feeding children and additional support. Schools were making preparations to create space to help children learn from home.
Schools were being asked to be sensitive to the issue of vulnerable children and siblings or children of those who were vulnerable, especially with regards to absences and issuing fines. (Not BCP fines). The Board also asked about maintain contact arrangements for children in care.
In response to a question about the BCP website not having a banner headline it was confirmed that the Communications team were already looking into this.
A Councillor asked about how do we interact with work colleagues and loved ones. The Government statement was that we needed to be living our lives in a different way and avoiding unnecessary travel and social environments.
It was important that the public was directed to reliable sources of information. The Gov.uk website had all information and the NHS website has medical information.
Work was taking place in terms of the Council’s role in community support and it was hoped to have something in place by the end of the week. The Leader advised that an update would be sent to Councillors Will send update to members. Issues would need to be shared with community groups and fed back in a controlled way. Want Council to work as one team on the issues which need action and look to all support in this. Work was also ongoing in terms of business continuity and staff absences.
In terms of community resilience, a councillor commented that it would be helpful to know where to signpost people so that the response was properly co-ordinated and efforts were not duplicated. Communications would be made to the public and to staff. Everyone was advised to try to steer people to official advice and help stop misinformation.