Agenda item

Sam Barstow, the Head of Community Safety, Resilience and Emergency Planning, introduced Ajman Ali, the Interim Assistant Director, Community Safety and Street Scene for the next six months.

Sam Barstow presented the report which details the recommendations made by the Task & Finish Group made up from Members of this Commission. The review was completed in August 2017 and the report highlights the progress during this short time against the recommendations along with the refresh of the Major Incident Plan.

Councillor Wyatt, who chaired the review into the Emergency Plan, thanked Sam for responding so quickly to the review and accepting the recommendations in full.

Councillor Wyatt went onto highlight the next phase of the work relates to the monitoring of the recommendations in particular the refresh of the Major Incident Plan on a bi-annual basis. Councillor Alam, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance, has seen the report and shared the same concern as to how the progress of the MIP is undertaken.

A decision has been made to take the recommendations from the review and put them into an action plan which will continue to be updated and presented to Councillor Alam. The MIP will be updated on a continual basis as new learnings are identified.

Councillor McNeely page 33 of the report relates to training/update sessions scheduled for 28^th November and 5^th December. Confirmation was requested if Members need to attend one or both sessions and if notification could be sent to Members informing them of any such sessions.

Sam Barstow confirmed that notification of any future dates would be sent to colleagues in Democratic Services to then inform Members and that it would be satisfactory for Members to attend only one of the training sessions.

Councillor Walsh, referred to mandatory training mentioned in the report, if training is mandatory, will attendance be logged and if any consequences will be felt for non-attendance.

Councillor McNeely requested an update in relation to a facilitated meeting/away day involving the emergency services and Rotherham M.B.C Major Incident staff to promote team working on 6^th November 2017

Also in relation to under the Shared Service Agreement, that funding is secured for a Community Resilience Worker, questioning where this officer will be based.

P35 – What was the outcome of the meeting held by the Joint Committee on 25^th October 2017; how well was it attended and who is the representative from Rotherham who can provide feedback to this Commission.

P35 without IT how can we be confident that the information on the website is updated where appropriate

Sam Barstow provided a response to the questions raised. In relation to IT, this means that computers and IT will be used, but it will not be a bespoke system for Emergency Planning. A database and manual system will be used and the relevant information updated on the website and available to the public

An Elected Member from both Rotherham and Sheffield attended the meeting which is what is required for the meeting to be quorate. Officers from Rotherham have raised this as a concern. A meeting has been arranged with a strategic lead from Sheffield in January 2018 with regards to attendance at these meetings.

With regard to the future workings of the shared service, questions need to be asked about service provision and any answers will need approval from both Rotherham and Sheffield.

The Local Resilience Forum meeting which took place on 6th November 2017 was to identify what exercises the Local Resilience Forum, (LRF) intend to do for 2018 along with picking up learning points from recent disasters in Manchester and Grenfell Towers incident.

Councillor Jepson asked if it was usual for staff working on the Emergency Plan to go out into wards in the Borough to familiarise themselves with the locations and when an application for industrial premises etc. is received by the Council’s Planning Officers is any relevant information shared with the Emergency Planning staff for their consideration.

There are two applications with the Council relating to fracking in the borough and Councillor Jepson wanted reassurances that these are being considered from an emergency planning perspective.

Sam Barstow reported that there is a Gold Command Structure in place to deal with any appropriate response to issues should they arise.

EP is not a statutory consultee in relation to planning applications, however the Fire & rescue Service is and they will notify EP staff of any relevant information.

EP staff do go out and visit various wards to review the community risk register along with identifying any facilities that are available in the wards should they need for them to be used in an emergency situation. However it is unusual to see EP staff visible on a regular basis in the local areas.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the updates in respect of the recommendations made be noted.

(2)  That the Select Commission schedule bi-annual reviews of the Major Incident Plan, in line with the first recommendation.

(3)  That the tracking of the Action Plan be monitored on a regular basis by the Select Commission.