Agenda item

To consider an update on the Council’s response to Covid-19 in relation to Corporate Recovery, including the results of a public survey and developments relating to the Test & Trace programme.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 13 to 24, which provided an update on the Council’s Covid-19 recovery activity. The report also gave details of the feedback provided by a Residents’ Survey and outlined progress relating to Test and Trace and the Borough’s Outbreak Management Plan.

Susan Parsonage (Chief Executive), Sally Watkins (Assistant Director, Digital and Change) and Meradin Peachey (Public Health Consultant) attended the meeting to present the report and answer Member questions.

The report stated that the Council’s Covid-19 recovery activity was a co-ordinated programme of work which supported Council services and the community in reconstruction of economic infrastructure and restoration of emotional, social and physical wellbeing for residents across the Borough. In addition, the process had identified strategic opportunities which went beyond traditional ways of working, aiming to achieve longer term benefits for the community.

The Corporate Recovery Programme (CRP) was initiated by the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) in May 2020. The programme aimed to address four key themes:

·                Impact – to ensure that WBC understood the impact of Covid-19 on the community and the Council (services, staff, budgets);

·                Options – to identify options to harness the innovation which arose during the initial response phase;

·                Co-ordination – co-ordinating services and the community in the reconstruction of economic infrastructure and restoration of emotional and physical wellbeing;

·                Restoration – establishing a framework of support for businesses and any affected areas in the Borough.

The CRP initially comprised ten workstreams which aligned with individual service recovery activity, with CLT having overall responsibility for the Recovery Co-ordinating Group. The ten workstreams included community engagement, community wellbeing, test and trace, communications, business and economy, staff and accommodation and contracts and finance. By working alongside partners such as Town and Parish Councils, the voluntary sector and other community groups, the Council was able to ensure a community voice in the recovery planning process.

In order to assess the impact of Covid-19 on residents, businesses, partners and WBC staff, the Council undertook several engagement activities including an online residents’ survey, a workshop for internal and external partners and interviews to develop deeper insights on service delivery.

The residents’ survey garnered 1,477 responses and produced the following headline messages:

·                67% satisfaction with the Council’s overall response to the pandemic;

·                Ability to connect with family, friends and community, stress and anxiety and diet/eating habits were the top three issues residents struggled with during the lockdown period;

·                Supporting local businesses/employment, mental health and reducing social isolation and loneliness in vulnerable people were seen as the biggest future priorities for the Council;

·                The biggest positive impacts of Covid-19 were the environmental impact, time spent indoors, sense of community and willingness to help each other, time spent with immediate family and work-life balance.

The report stated that Test and Trace at the local level had two main components – outbreak management and case tracing. These areas, led by the local Public Health team, connected to the national response to Covid-19. Governance of Outbreak Management consisted of:

·           Gold Command – comprising CLT and Public Health;

·           The Local Outbreak Engagement Board (LOEB) chaired by the Council Leader;

·           The Outbreak Management Group – led by WBC Public Health and including WBC Assistant Directors;

·           The Incident Control Team – led by Public Health England – attended by local Public Health Teams and WBC senior managers.

The report gave details of the recent launch of local contact tracing which aimed to supplement the NHS Test and Trace system. Where contact could not be made through the national system, resident data was provided to the Council. The Council would then use local intelligence to contact those residents with positive test results. A team of contact tracers had been developed. The team could be flexed as required, depending on the number of positive cases in the Borough.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points:

In relation to communications around the new QR codes made available for hospitality and leisure, why was there a delay in the Council’s press release? Sally Watkins undertook to check on the initial communications and provide feedback.

WBC Case Tracing – what were the resource implications and which services would be impacted by the redeployment of staff? Sally Watkins stated that the Council had sought volunteers to carry out this work. The Council’s involvement had commenced on 13 October 2020. Modelling had been carried out in order to assess the resource implications based on 50 cases per day, up to 400 cases per day. As redeployment happened an assessment would be made on which services to pause. In the meantime, the Council was seeking to take advantage of the Kick Start scheme in order to bring in additional resources.

In relation to the Residents’ Survey – what was the intention, what was the Council’s response to the feedback provided and were there plans to carry out further surveys? Sally Watkins commented that the survey had provided useful information on the impact of the pandemic on residents and their concerns and challenges for the future. At the moment there was no specific date for a follow-up survey. A more targeted follow-up, for example in relation to mental health, would provide useful information. Mental health was an issue of specific focus for the Council.

A key issue was the impact of the pandemic on Council staff in relation to fatigue, stress and mental health. Susan Parsonage stated that the wellbeing of staff was very important. Support measures were in place for staff working remotely and managers were looking out for signs of stress and burn-out. The absence of face-to-face meetings added a new range of issues to be monitored and managed.

What was the impact of the Berkshire Recovery Group? Sally Watkins stated that the group had been initiated through the Berkshire Chief Executives’ group. The aim was to share learning and work together where possible, for example by working with the Local Enterprise Partnership to address the needs of business and make contact with hard to reach companies and local businesses.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the Borough was increasing towards the threshold for Tier 2 restrictions. How confident was the Council that it could avoid moving through Tier 2 into Tier 3? Meradin Peachey confirmed that infection rates were increasing in the Borough (currently 77 per 100,000). To date the Council and partners had been very effective at managing outbreak, so there was some confidence that Tier 3 could be avoided. Susan Parsonage commented that the Borough’s residents had, to date, been largely compliant with the Government guidelines. The Council was working hard to develop better data and local intelligence about the potential sources of community transmission of the virus. This data would help to shape the Council’s future actions and help to keep infection rates as low as possible.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Susan Parsonage, Meradin Peachey and Sally Watkins be thanked for attending the meeting to provide the update on current activity relating to the Covid-19 pandemic;

2)     the updates on corporate recovery, residents’ survey and test and trace be noted;

3)     the Committee receive further updates on the latest developments relating to the Covid-19 pandemic at future meetings.