Agenda and minutes

Agreed:- That Councillor Saghir Alam of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council be appointed Chair of the Emergency Planning Shared Services Joint Committee (Rotherham and Sheffield) for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

(Councillor Alam assumed the Chair)

Agreed:- That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Emergency Planning Shared Services Joint Committee (Rotherham and Sheffield), held on 5th December, 2016, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair.

·         2016/17 outturn position

·         2017/18 Forecast

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Emergency Planning and Safety Manager, containing the budget out-turn position for the 2016/17 financial year and the budget forecast for the current, 2017/18, financial year for the Emergency Planning Shared Service (Rotherham and Sheffield). The Joint Committee discussed the recommendation for the forecast budget under-spend being carried forward to the next financial year, as has been the practice in previous years.  It was noted that:-

: the under-spent amount during the 2016/17 financial year had been largely as a consequence of an unfilled vacant post within the Service and that amount had been carried forward into the current, 2017/18, financial year; it was noted that a review of the Service establishment structure would soon be undertaken;

: the submitted report highlighted areas of work for which the unspent balance and accumulated budget surplus could be utilised.

Agreed:- (1) That the financial report, as now submitted, be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the proposal to carry forward any under-spent amount from 2017/18 into the 2018/2019 financial year, as detailed in the report now submitted, be approved.

·         Business Plan and Performance

·         Improving Places Select Commission (Rotherham MBC scrutiny)

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Emergency Planning and Safety Manager, containing an overview and update of the governance of the Emergency Planning Shared Service arrangement between Rotherham MBC and Sheffield City Council. The report contained specific details of the business plan and team action plan and of the key performance indicators of the Shared Service. A copy of the Business Plan 2017 – 2019 was appended to the submitted report.

Members discussed the arrangements for training for staff and for Elected Members and noted the success of the corporate training exercise which had been undertaken with Sheffield City Council during March, 2017.

Agreed:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the report to the next meeting of this Joint Committee shall include further details of the training provided for Elected Members about emergency planning.

The Emergency Planning and Safety Manager provided a general update on the key issues and work streams affecting the Emergency Planning Shared Service.  Specific reference was made to:-

: Cabinet Office – publication of guidance on risk assessments;

: Local Resilience Forum – review of community resilience being undertaken with partner organisations of this Forum;

: assessment of the arrangements for an emergency planning response in the event of an inundation (tidal surge) of the East Coast of the United Kingdom; provision of temporary accommodation in South Yorkshire for displaced people from the East Coast areas;

: the Emergency Plan (Major Incident Plan) for the Rotherham Borough is being reviewed and refreshed (Overview and Scrutiny Management Board 11 October 2017, Minute No. 19);

: the Emergency Plan (Major Incident Plan) for Sheffield has been reviewed and refreshed during 2017, with formal dissemination of the Plan due to take place early in 2018;

: the generic plan for the Shared Service has to be reviewed at intervals of two years;

: cross-border issues (eg: incidents affecting motorways; Meadowhall shopping centre), as well as involvement in responding to major incidents such as the bomb explosion at the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017;

: emergency response arrangements in respect of an influenza pandemic (working in co-operation with the Health services);

: specific training exercises (eg: exercise ‘Jasmine’ in respect of counter-terrorism at the Meadowhall shopping centre, including means of evacuating the centre);

: training exercise to be undertaken in respect of large-scale fires;

 : emergency planning training sessions taking place for Rotherham Borough Council’s Elected Members on 28 November and 5 December 2017; further training will be arranged in the future;

: use of premises as a temporary mortuary, including the use of demountable structures (located in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield);

: development of the national fuel plan.

Agreed:- That the information be noted.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Emergency Planning and Safety Manager, containing an update of the training and exercising sessions, delivered since November 2016, for staff identified as part of the two Councils’ Emergency Response arrangements.  An overview of the future training and exercising proposals was also included in the report.

The report stated that, in keeping with best practice and guidance, each person involved in a local authority’s emergency response arrangements should undertake training and exercise opportunities at least once per year.

The Joint Committee noted that a training needs analysis would be carried out during 2018, with a view to identifying and focusing on different catchments of responders (eg: Elected Members, Strategic Officers), as well as reviewing the content and frequency of current provision. Future training provision would also be informed by the work of the Emergency Planning College in this regard.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That this Joint Committee supports the objective that each person involved in a local authority’s emergency response arrangements should undertake training and exercise opportunities at least once per year.

In previous years, the general pattern has been two meetings per year of the Joint Committee, as well as two informal briefings for elected members, all at quarterly intervals

Consideration was given to the frequency and proposed dates of the future meetings.

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Emergency Planning Shared Service Joint Committee shall take place during June or July 2018, at the Town Hall, Rotherham.