To receive an update from the Cabinet Member for Community Well Being on his portfolio.
Minutes:
The Committee had before it and NOTED a * report of the Cabinet Member for Community Well-Being highlighting areas within his portfolio.
The Cabinet Member outlined the contents of the report by service highlighting the following headlines:
Public Health and Regulatory Services:
· Two lead Environmental Health Officers had gained Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner Status and two other officers were currently working towards that status
· The service had been undertaking non-Covid infectious disease work on behalf of Public Health England to free up PHE capacity
· The service had been engaging with local businesses over Covid compliance and providing advice alongside wider public health and health inequalities work. Officers had also enforced H&S legislation where required and had rolled out multi-contact Covid-secure checklists to support business.
· The service had been mandating adequate Covid risk assessments for (permitted) planned events through the multi-agency Mid Devon Safety Advisory Group.
Licensing
· The team had successfully rolled out new mandatory safeguarding provision and training for taxi drivers following key updates to taxi licensing policy in 2019. The scheme of delegations for officers and the Licensing/Regulatory Committees had also been reviewed and updated
Environmental Health
· The Food Standards Agency had temporarily relaxed all Local Authority inspections requirements on lower risk premises due to the Covid pandemic, which had helped to redeploy some staff into the Covid front line.
Emergency Planning
· Emergency Plan procedures had been updated following severe weather events
· An updated Recovery Plan had been launched and training delivered at all levels
· The Covid response had dominated emergency planning activity during 2020
Community Safety
· The team had delivered strongly against the planning activity in the East and Mid Devon Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Action Plan
· Following the departure of the Police chair of the CSP, the authority had stepped in to take over the chair and was working with all statutory partner agencies.
ICT
· Once the team were back to full capacity there was a comprehensive review planned for upgrades to telephony, the potential roll out of Office 365 plus a new CRM business case would be progressed for consideration early in 2021
· The decision had been taken to use Zoom for virtual committee meetings. MS Teams would be progressed but that was a major project for the future.
Strategic Grant Reviews
· A working group of the Community PDG had been set up to consider the review of the grants programme.
Land Charges
· The team had been very busy, with income up on the previous year.
Leisure
· The current position was outlined which included a reopening strategy following the first lockdown to ensure a continued Covid-19 safe service. (Note: the report had been written prior to the second lockdown)
· The Leisure Service had been key in supporting other colleagues in the Council across other services for delivery during the lockdown and recovery period.
Play Areas
· Refurbishment projects were explained
Market Square
· The town square in Crediton was being resurfaced to improve appearance and drainage
Consideration was given to:
· Licensing – the work of all agencies with regard to the 2 Sisters plant in Willand and the fact that modern slavery issues had been mentioned in the report. The Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services stated that the report referred to migrant workers; issues such as unlicensed taxis and transport to and from the site had been addressed along with one issue of modern slavery
· Food safety issues
· Emergency Planning - liaison with Parish Councils who had a Parish Plan and whether official training sessions had taken place and whether the emergency plan covers all major incidents. Devolved responsibilities with regard to the pandemic
· ICT and the use of Zoom, how Zoom was performing compared to MS Teams; remote working for officers and the roll out of equipment and the plans for the telephony system
· Help for the public who had problems accessing online functions
· The closure of the leisure centres as of 5 November, in line with national restrictions.
The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for his report.
Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes
Supporting documents: