Agenda and minutes

None.

Attached.

Agreed as an accurate record.

To confirm that the items of business marked Part I will be considered in public and that the items marked Part II will be considered in private.  

It was agreed that all items of business were considered in public.

To Follow

The report was withdrawn.

The draft scoping report was considered and Members agreed that the review should only concentrate on the effects of a pandemic on Council services, including schools and further education colleges. The scoping report should be amended to that affect.

This first witness session was to focus on the business and continuity plans that the Council had already in place in the event of a major pandemic.

Mike Price – Civil Protection Manager

Members were informed that pandemic planning had been carried out for a number of years based on Government guidance. Issues raised in the presentation included:

·                 Hillingdon Primary Care Trust was the lead agency for a pandemic in the Borough

·                 The Council had an Influenza Pandemic Group and a   Flu Working Group which met weekly. There was a “Gold Officer” rota which operated 24 hours a day and which could make strategic level decisions 

·                 The Council had been planning for a pandemic for many months, at a local and pan-London level. Reference was made to the London Regional Resilience Flu Pandemic Response Plan and other pandemic documents, which had guided the Council’s planning

·                 The Council’s Corporate Communications Team would be heavily involved and would make sure communication links were clear with the Council’s multi-agency partners

·                 Reference was made to the hygiene information which had been given to staff. This included the covering of noses and mouths with a tissue when a person coughed or sneezed and throwing the tissue in the bin after it was used. Washing hands frequently with soap and water, especially after coughing and sneezing on hands, and after going to the toilet. The cleaning of keyboards, phones and desks before finishing work with surface disinfection wipes. This was particularly important for staff who “hot desked”

·                 Those staff that did not have easy access to hand washing facilities would be issued with hand gels. Hand gels would also be positioned at entrances to Council buildings to enable members of the public and visitors to use them

·                 Work was underway to source mass communications and business continuity software. This followed the identification of a capability gap during snow and power failure events in early 2009. This software would be extremely beneficial not only during a pandemic but also during any other emergency / business continuity response

Steve Palmer – Head of ICT

·                The Council’s IT facilities and Customer Contact Centre had emergency planning for a number of scenarios. Mutual aid was available from neighbouring West London Councils

·                If the Civic Centre’s IT network was not available there was a private network the Council could use which was used across London

·                Priority applications would be run and remote access could be given for around 75 staff

·                The staff in public facing services such as the Customer Contact Centre were multi-skilled.  Home working would be an option to reduce the threat of the spread of a virus

·                Multi-skilled staff had been trained in areas such as Council Tax to enable these essential services and duties to be carried  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The Work programme was amended to reflect the witness session for 8 September 2009 meeting.

 Resolved –

1.  That the Work Programme as amended be noted.

Noted.