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Meeting Details

Emergencies Board
17 Apr 2020 - 11:00 to 14:00
Occurred
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Agenda
Notification
Recording of Meeting of Emergencies Board: 17 April 2020
Standard Items
Apologies
Apologies from members.
Declarations of Interest
Members are asked to declare an interest in any item(s) on the agenda and to provide a brief explanation of the nature of the interest.
Councillor Campbell declared an interest in item 2 on the agenda as she was an employee of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde but not in the Council's area and intimated that she would remain in the meeting during consideration of the item.
Chair
Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided.
In Attendance
S Black, Chief Executive; S Quinn, Director of Children's Services; M Crearie, Director of Communities, Housing & Planning Services; G McNeil, Director of Environment & Infrastructure; A Russell, Director of Finance & Resources; L McIntyre, Head of Policy & Commissioning, L Mahon, Head of Communications & Marketing and P Fara, Web and Multi-media Editor (all Chief Executive's); J Trainer, Head of Childcare & Criminal Justice and Chief Social Work Officer (Children's Services); O Reid, Head of Communities & Public Protection and C Dalrymple, Communities & Regulatory Manager (both Communities, Housing & Planning Services); K Graham, Head of Corporate Governance, L Neary, Head of Transformation, HR & OD,  M Conaghan, Legal & Democratic Services Manager and L Belshaw, Democratic Services Manager (all Finance & Resources); D Leese, Chief Officer and S Strachan, Acting Head of Health & Social Care (Paisley) (both Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership); V Hollows Chief Executive (Renfrewshire Leisure); and D Mair, Civil Contingencies Officer, Civil Contingencies Service.
Recording of Meetings
Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this and future meetings of the Board would be recorded and that the recording would be available to watch on the Council's website later on the day of each meeting.  The Convener indicated that this was an important step for the Board which had not been able to hold its meetings in public due to government guidance on social distancing and the restriction on travel for non-essential purposes.  She highlighted that it was important that steps were taken to make the proceedings of the Board open to scrutiny not only by the public but also by the other elected members of the Council who were not members.
Next and Future Meetings
5

The Convener intimated that, as the CoSLA Leaders' meeting was now being held fortnightly at 11 am on Fridays, to allow the Leader and the Chief Executive to attend,  the next and future meetings of the Emergencies Board scheduled to be held at 11 am each Friday would now be held at 3 pm on the same dates; the next meeting being held on 24 April 2020.

DECIDED: That it be noted that meetings would now be held on Fridays at 3 pm and that the next meeting would take place at 3 pm on Friday 24 April 2020.

Items Of Business
Minute of Meeting of the Emergencies Board held on 9 April 2020.
  1. pdf min090420 (184Kb)
1

There was submitted the Minute of the Meeting of the Board held on 9 April 2020.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

Report by Chief Executive
2

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the Council’s current arrangements and response to the ongoing international Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic.  The report provided an update on the numbers of cases and deaths at both Scottish and UK levels and noted the publication of figures and analysis from the National Records of Scotland which highlighted the number of deaths that were happening within Care Homes – currently around 25% of all COVID-19 related deaths recorded.

The report provided details of confirmed cases of COVID-19 (figures from the report to the Board on 9 April 2020 in brackets).  It was noted that when the report had been prepared there were 103,093 (55,242) confirmed cases of COVID – 19 in hospitals; there had been 13,729 (6159) deaths in hospital across the UK. In Scotland there were now 7102 (4565) confirmed hospital cases and 779 (336) deaths. Of these, 1742 (1166) cases were within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area.  The report highlighted the support being provided to communities; the numbers and types of support provided to the most vulnerable “shielded” group of residents; and the establishment of a national helpline to allow other vulnerable residents to access support where they might not have access to families or existing community support. Information was also provided on the arrangements in place to ensure that the procedures and safeguards to protect vulnerable adults and children remained strong and that oversight of these arrangements was maintained throughout the period of the pandemic.

The report also outlined the support being provided to local businesses, including the number of small business grants already distributed and around £220 million of additional support that had been announced recently and which would be available for businesses and the self-employed from the end of April 2020.

The report detailed the key operational changes that had been made by the Council and its key partners to respond to the pandemic and provided an update on the current position in relation to availability of personal protective equipment (PPE); guidance being followed in terms of its use, and the procedures in place to secure supplies at a time when the supply chain for PPE was under significant pressure.  The report also referred to the temporary suspension of the Council Change programme and the development of a temporary redeployment process to allow employees to be focused on supporting and delivering priority and critical services. The current position in relation to the impact of shielding procedures and absence on the availability of employees was also outlined.

The report provided an update on service changes in relation to the Health and Social Care Partnership, Children’s Services and Communities Housing and Planning Services.    

The Chief Executive provided an update in relation to the further three-week national lock-down that had been announced by the government on 16 April 2020,  intimated that there would be no relaxation on movement and referred to the Council's current arrangements in relation to critical and essential services and home working.  The Board then heard from the Acting Head of Health & Social Care (Paisley) in relation to the arrangements in place for care homes, both Council and other providers, the measures put in place to support residents and staff; and in relation to the availability of PPE; from the Chief Social Work Officer in relation to arrangements to ensure adult and child protection during the pandemic; from the Head of Policy & Commissioning in relation to support for shielded and vulnerable residents; from the Director of Finance & Resources in relation to the grant supports and reliefs for local businesses; and from the Director of Environment & Infrastructure on the continued closure of amenity sites Scotland-wide in terms of national guidance.

Officers then responded to members' questions.

It was proposed (a) that members be provided with information in relation to the definition of 'front line' workers and (b)  that information on the Council's financial position arising from the pandemic, be submitted to the next meeting.  This was agreed.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the current national and local situation with regards to COVID-19 and the impact on communities, businesses and the Council and its partners be noted;

(b) That the response measures being put in place by the Council and partners as set out in the report be noted;

(c) That members be provided with information in relation to the definition of 'front line' workers; and

(d) That information on the Council's financial position arising from the pandemic be submitted to the next meeting.

3
It was noted that there were no items for decision by the Board.
EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
The Board may by resolution exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the press and public are present, there could be disclosure to them of confidential information.
The Board resolved to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it was likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the press and public were present, there could be disclosure to them of confidential information.
Hear reports from Services
4
It was noted that there were no updates to be reported.

Attendance

Name
No other member attendance information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for Sending ApologySubstituted By
No apology information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for AbsenceSubstituted By
No absentee information has been recorded for the meeting.

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
Councillor Michelle Campbell2Councillor Campbell declared an interest as she was an employee of GG&CHB but not in the Council's area. She indicated that she would remain in the meetingNon-PecuniaryCouncillor Campbell remained in the meeting

Visitors

Visitor Information is not yet available for this meeting