Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Debbie Pons 

Items
No. Item

19.

Minutes of the previous meeting held on December 2019 pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Minutes:

Agreed:- 

 

That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Emergency Planning Shared Services Joint Committee (Rotherham and Sheffield), held on 3 December 2019 be approved as a correct record.

20.

Incident Management - Volunteer Recruitment (Officers to report)

Minutes:

Officers provided a verbal update on incident management volunteer recruitment.

 

It was noted that there had been no significant developments in this area since the previous meeting on 3 December 2019. The Head of Service, Community Safety and Regulatory Services advised that at Rotherham an exercise regarding a regional flooding incident was planned. The Director of Business Strategy and Regulations advised that despite efforts at Sheffield, the recruitment of volunteers had not been successful. The Head of Service, Community Safety and Regulatory Services noted that this was also a problem at Rotherham, but that noted with increased remote working by staff, and experience developed while dealing with the Covid emergency, that what was asked for from volunteers would most likely change in future.

 

The Chair asked what the experience had been at Barnsley and Doncaster regarding the recruitment of volunteers.  The Emergency Planning and Safety Manager advised that their experience was similar to the experience at Sheffield and Rotherham.

 

Agreed: - That the update be noted.

21.

November 2019 Flooding (Officers to report)

Minutes:

Officers advised that a South Yorkshire wide exercise on a flooding incident was planned in order to build further resilience.

 

Agreed: - That the update be noted.

22.

Coronavirus - Update (Officers to report)

Minutes:

Officers provided a verbal update on the response to the Covid-19 emergency.

 

The Head of Service, Community Safety and Regulatory Services advised that levels of infection were worsening in Rotherham. It was noted that contact tracing activity was building a picture regarding local infection rates that was showing that some areas were increasing faster than others. Officers noted that a range of options to respond to locations and businesses where infections were a problem were being considered. The Director of Business Strategy and Regulations noted a similar situation in Sheffield and advised that the spread on the virus was mostly amongst working age people. It was also noted in Sheffield that there was little evidence of virus spread in licenced premises, but that the problem around spreading infection was related to behaviour around the premises rather than in them. The Director of Business Strategy and Regulations also noted the concern regarding the return of university students and advised that various options for interventions were being considered.

 

The Chair asked whether there was any evidence of cases being imported from foreign travel. Officers advised that no such cases had been detected.

 

The Chair noted that clear public health messaging and communication was needed on key messages, especially with regard to reaching the higher risk BAME communities. Officers provided assurance actions to address these issues was in hand. Officers also noted that the flu vaccination programme was now underway.

 

Agreed: - That the update be noted.

23.

Financial Management (Officers to report)

Minutes:

A verbal update was provided on the current financial position.

 

Officers advised that the previous underspend that had been reported that was based on a vacant post not being filled was still present. Councillor Jones noted that in order to ensure resilience it would be beneficial for vacant posts to be filled.

 

Officers noted the challenges of the financial closedown and advised that some budget variances were still present. Officers noted that they had been advised to view the financial position over a two-year period, over which the budget would balance.

 

Agreed: - That the update be noted.

24.

Resilience Roundup (Officers to report)

Minutes:

25.

Urgent Business

Minutes:

There was no urgent business.

26.

Date and time of next meeting

 

The next meeting of the Emergency Planning Shared Services Joint Committee (Rotherham and Sheffield) will be a virtual meeting held on Tuesday, 15th December, 2020 commencing at 1:30 pm

 

The schedule of meetings for the remainder of 2020-2021 is as follows-:

 

Tuesday, 30th March, 2021 at 1:30 pm

Minutes:

Agreed: -

 

That he next meeting of the Emergency Planning Shared Services Joint Committee (Rotherham and Sheffield) will be a virtual meeting held on Tuesday 15 December, 2020 commencing at 1:30 pm.