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.

Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided.

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 & 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, P Murray, Head of ICT; L Neary, Head of Transformation, HR & OD, M Conaghan, Legal & Democratic Services Manager and D Low, 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); F Naylor, Head of Finance and Corporate Services (Renfrewshire Leisure); and D Mair, Civil Contingencies Officer, Civil Contingencies Service.

Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this meeting of the Board would be recorded and that the recording would be available to watch on the Council's website.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Board held on 12 June 2020.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

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 information on the national position including the number of cases and deaths at both Scottish and UK levels. The recent publication of updated figures and analysis from the National Records of Scotland was also included which showed that the rate of increase in deaths from COVID-19 was beginning to slow. A summary was also given of policy and guidance updates that had been released since the previous meeting of the Board on 12 June 2020.  It was noted that as at 18 June 2020 there were 300,469 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in hospitals in the UK up from 291,409 reported on 12 June 2020. In Scotland there were now 18,077 confirmed hospital cases (up from 15,682). Of these, 4,813 cases were within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area (up from 3,995). In GGCHB area there were 249 people in hospital (down from 272) with fewer than five in intensive care as either confirmed or suspected cases.

The report intimated that there had now been 42,288 deaths across the UK (up from the 41,279 deaths reported on 12 June 2020). The UK ranked third for overall numbers of recorded deaths, behind both Brazil and the United States where over 120,160 deaths had been recorded (363 per million population). The latest National Records of Scotland report showed that at 14 June 2020, there had been a total of 4,070 deaths registered in Scotland where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate – up 70 from 4,000 deaths registered up to 7 June 2020.

The report highlighted some positive indicators in relation to the response to the outbreak in Scotland. Of the total number of deaths registered in the week from 8 to 14 June 2020, there were 70 where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, a decrease of 19 from the previous week. There had been a reduction in the weekly increase each week since 26 April 2020. The proportion of all deaths involving COVID-19 had also decreased for the seventh week in a row falling from 8% of all deaths registered in the previous week to 7% of all deaths in week 8-14 June 2020. Appendix 1 provided an overview of all deaths involving COVID-19 in Renfrewshire. 

The report outlined a number of Scottish Government policy announcements: the establishment of a Scottish Recovery Tourism Taskforce had been announced, and a provisional date of 15 July had been set for when tourism businesses might be able to resume, dependent on public health advice; an Aerospace Recovery Group had been established to work together to safeguard as many jobs across the aerospace sector in Scotland as possible; an Expert Reference Group had been set up to better understand the impact on minority ethnic communities of coronavirus; and the Help to Buy scheme had been extended by a year to March 2022 and would provide £55 million of funding for 2021/2022.  A number of further funding announcements had also been made, including £27.6 million to continue the provision of school meals during the summer holidays and contribute towards the costs the Council had incurred and would continue to incur to support people experiencing barriers to accessing food when they were required to shield or self-isolate; and a £230 million “Return to Work” package to help stimulate Scotland’s economy.

The report referred to the announcement made by the First Minister on 18 June 2020 that elements of Phase 2 of the routemap for easing lockdown could be introduced on a phased basis.   Various restrictions in relation to social distancing, shielding and meeting with other households would be relaxed and registration services for essential purposes could restart on 29 June 2020, when marriages and civil partnerships would be able to be held outdoors and with restricted numbers. Routemap updates in relation to support for local businesses, HSCP and Children’s Services were detailed in the report. In relation to Children's Services, in line with a Scottish Government announcement, the Council’s local recovery plan would be submitted to Education Scotland by 24 June 2020. The recovery plan submitted would outline the supports that had been put in place for children and families and the model of blended learning that had been designed for August.

The report set out support for communities including care homes. Sadly 113 people had been reported by care homes as dying with COVID-19 since 18 March 2020. Two care homes were reporting residents with symptoms of COVID-19, or had confirmed cases, with a total of two residents now reported as symptomatic or confirmed. 

The Chief Executive provided further information in relation to the establishment of the Aerospace Recovery Group, unemployment statistics, the continuation of free school meals and £230 million ‘Return to Work’ package; the Chief Officer, Renfrewshire HSCP in relation to testing; the Head of Childcare & Criminal Justice and Chief Social Work Officer in relation to domestic abuse; the Director of Environment & Infrastructure in relation to the development of spaces for people; and the Director of Children’s Services in relation to the recruitment of teaching staff for the 2020/21 school session.

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 its partners be noted;

(c) That the Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Convener of the Education and Children’s Services Policy Board, be authorised to prepare and submit the Recovery Plan for reopening schools on behalf of the Council by the deadline of 24 June 2020 for review by Education Scotland; and

(d) That it be noted that the Recovery Plan for reopening schools would be presented to the Emergencies Board on 3 July 2020 for information, together with any feedback received from Education Scotland.

It was noted that there were no items for decision by the Board.

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.

It was noted that there were no confidential updates.