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Agenda item

Update on the Council Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Committee is asked to review the Cabinet report along with any further information provided at their meeting and decide whether they wish to make any recommendations.

Minutes:

The Committee received an update on the Council’s response to the covid-19 pandemic covering the period since the previous update provided at the Committee meeting held on 26 May 2020. The update was presented by the Chief Executive of Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, a copy of the presentation can be found on the following link –

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=166&MId=2152&Ver=4

During the presentation the following information was noted:-

  • The pandemic continued with the Council responding as needed. The Gold and Silver emergency response arrangements remained in place along with reporting into the London response arrangements.
  • As services began to reopen a significant focus had been placed on the continued support for vulnerable residents who had been shielding and support for the provision of mobile testing.
  • When decisions were made to reopen services the key principle was safety first, with all reopening’s approved by the Director of Public Health.
  • The Council’s website had a full list of the services that had reopened and provisional dates for those still to open. The Waste & Recycling and Registrar’s services had opened first, with parks and public toilets also now open. Access Croydon had reopened to the public using an appointments system. Six libraries were due to open later in week and preparations were being made to reopen leisure centres.
  • There had been 14,814 vulnerable residents on the Government’s Shielding list. 700 of these would require ongoing support once the scheme ended on 31 July.  Services were working to ensure that plans were in place for these individuals from that date.
  • The test and trace system would be one of the resources used to support local authorities to manage outbreaks within their local area. New powers were expected to be granted from the Government to support the work of the Director of Public Health in controlling outbreaks and preventing the spread of the virus. It was expected that these would include powers to either restrict access to or close premises, prohibit certain events and restricting access to or closing outdoor spaces.
  • Croydon had received £23m in funding from the Government, but at present there was still a significant funding gap. Three submissions had been made to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government  (MHCLG) setting out covid-19 related expenditure, with further submissions due to be made.
  • The crisis had demonstrated that the Council was able to adapt and deliver change quickly, such as setting up a digital solution for shielding residents within days of the programme starting. The crisis had also demonstrated that community resilience in the borough was strong and existing partnerships had worked well together to provide support for vulnerable residents. Another learning point from the crisis was there was greater scope to use digital solutions than had previously been thought.
  • At present there was very low numbers of positive Covid-19 cases across London, with only four new cases in Croydon in the past seven days.

Following the presentation, the Committee had the opportunity to ask questions on the information provided. The first question asked whether the Council was in a position to manage local outbreaks and whether the right level of data was being provided to allow outbreaks to be promptly identified. In response, reassurance was given that the Council had been planning from an early stage in the pandemic to manage any local outbreaks, using experience elsewhere in the country and scenario testing to continually refine these plans. At present, not all the data needed was being provided, but assurance had been given that it would be forthcoming. In the meantime, the Council was receiving data on positive covid-19 tests which could be used to identify potential outbreaks.

As recent Government guidance had made the wearing of face coverings in shops mandatory it was questioned what someone unable to wear a covering for medical reasons was able to do. It was advised that anyone unable to wear a face covering would be able to obtain an exemption. The exact process for obtaining an exemption was still to be confirmed, but it was likely that the process would involve their physician. The Public Health team worked closely with providers on the guidance and would be using a communications strategy to ensure a consistent message was disseminated. It was noted that the input from Councillor Jerry Fitzpatrick as the Council’s Autism Champion would be welcomed.

As a follow up it was questioned whether support was being provided to local businesses to manage potential issues that may arise around the use of face coverings. It was advised that advice for businesses was being provided on the Council website, on the Growth Hub and through webinars.

Concern was raised about the impact of the pandemic upon the care home and domiciliary care sector, particularly how robust the sector was going forward. Information was requested on the support being provided by the Council the sector through this difficult time.  It was advised that the Council had worked closely with care homes with a dedicated team in place to provide support. The Public Health team continued to work to ensure that the right level of support was in place in the event of a second wave, while all partners were working together to provide support in the event of an outbreak.

In response to a question about the provision of face coverings for shielding residents it was advised that the Council had been helping care homes and other groups with the provision of PPE throughout the crisis, but would not be able to supply the wider public without funding to do so.

It was suggested that the provision of face coverings for vulnerable people on the Shielding Programme may be something that the Government could supply.  In response, it was highlighted that the Government had indicated that once the Shielding Programme ended funding for support such as food supplies may not continue. It was agreed that the issue of supplying face coverings for vulnerable residents would be taken away for further investigation and an update provided for the Committee once available.

In response to a question about the powers for local authorities over unlicensed events it was advised that these type of events were difficult to prevent, but action to address this issue was being discussed by the Local Strategic Partnership. The Police actively monitored for unlicensed events and stopped any once they became aware of them. Going forward the Council would be using its powers of dispersal in consultation with the Police, with joint communications being prepared to raise awareness.

It was agreed that further information would be provided to the Committee on whether there had been any disruption to clinical waste collections during the pandemic and whether the Council had used different methods to boost its social media messaging to ensure that its messages were being disseminated widely.

At the conclusion of the item, the Chair thanked the officers for the presentation and their engagement with the questions of the Committee.

Information Requests

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee requested to be provided with the following information:-

  • An update on the provision of face coverings for vulnerable residents on the Shielding Programme.
  • An update on the performance of clinical waste collections during the pandemic.
  • An update on methods used to boost the Council’s social media messaging.

Conclusions

Following discussion of this item the Committee concluded that although the uncertainty over exemptions for the wearing of face coverings was as much a national issues as a local one, effective communication from the Council with local residents, businesses and community groups was essential.

 

Supporting documents: