Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 September, 2017, were signed as a true record, subject to an amendment to the list of members present to indicate that Councillor Clifford is the Deputy Chair of the Committee.

Briefing Note of the Director of Adult Services

Councillor Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership, has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

The Committee considered a Briefing Note, together with a comprehensive presentation which provided information regarding local Resilience arrangements, together with the context for responding to major incidents and emergencies in Coventry and the work of the Resilience Team.

Resilience covers both Emergency Planning and Business Continuity and is the activity to ensure that the Council can deal with internal and external incidents and emergencies.

Coventry City Council is a Category 1 Responder and is required under the Civil Contingencies Act to fulfil its statutory duties, of which there are seven, which are essentially to Plan, Prepare and Respond to emergencies and for business disruptions. The Council maintains a number of plans in each area of resilience to ensure it can respond to emergencies as required.

The Briefing Note covered the following areas:-

  • Responsibilities for resilience

  • Arrangements for response

  • How it all fits together

  • The roles of Members in an Emergency

  • Multi agency response structures

The presentation provided details in relation to:-

  • The overview and purpose of the Resilience Service

  • Emergency Plan and Business Continuity

  • Command and control structures

  • Roles and responsibilities

  • Rest centres in Coventry and staffing and support for those centres

  • Incidents and exercises in the last 12 months

Members questioned officers on aspects of the Briefing Note and presentation, including:-

  • Lessons learnt from the Grenfell Tower disaster

  • Proactive and reactive work

  • Multi agency work in this regard, particularly with the Police

  • Arrangements at rest centres

  • The roles of Councillors in the event of an emergency and

arrangements in place to ensure Ward Councillors are provided with

  information.

The Committee noted that two training sessions for all Members in relation to their role in the event of an emergency had been arranged and that there was a support “Z-Card” available for members which contained key information.

The Committee thanked the officers present for the presentation and their work in this regard.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:-

(1)  Notes and welcomes the presentation delivered, together with the responses received in relation to questions.

(2)  Are reassured in relation to local arrangements for Emergency Planning and Resilience in Coventry

(3)  Request that Emergency Planning and Resilience be reviewed annually by the Committee

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator and presentation by the Executive Director of Place 

Councillors A Khan and P Akhtar, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities and Councillor L Kelly, Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner and Member of the Strategic Policing and Crime Board have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item, along with  Inspector S Tamblin, West Midlands Police

The Committee considered a Briefing Note, together with a presentation, which provided an overview of the current Police, Crime and Community Safety Plan.

The Briefing Note indicated that the current priorities for the Plan are:-

  • Drugs and Substance Misuse

  • Domestic Violence and Abuse

  • Hidden Harm and Vulnerable Victims

  • Connect Build and Engage with Our Communities

  • Anti-Social Behaviour and Environmental crime

  • Reoffending and reduction of Harm

  • Tackling National and International Threats

More information relating to the above priorities was detailed in the presentation, which was also appended to the report. Many of the themes in the Plan are cross cutting and have already been or are planned to be picked up in different Scrutiny Board Work programmes, details of which were contained in the Briefing Note.

Members questioned officers on aspects of the Briefing Note and presentation, particularly in relation to:-

  • Information relating to the Action Plan and how the priorities detailed in  the Plan will be addressed and delivered

  • Information and data comparing people’s perception of crime with

  actual recorded crime figures

  • Resource issues for the West Midlands Police, the City Council and all

    other partners in delivering the Plan.

The Members requested that, in relation to the next meeting and consideration of the item on “WMP2020 – West Midlands Transformation Programme”, officers and West Midlands Police are given a clear indication of what information the Committee will require for the meeting.

RESOLVED that the Committee note the Briefing Note and presentation and request that copies of the Action Plan be circulated to all Members of the Committee. 

Councillors R Brown and J Mutton, the Council’s representatives on the West Midlands Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee will report at the meeting

The Committee received and noted a report back provided by Councillor J Mutton on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the West Midlands Combined Authority held on 12 September, 2017, which covered the following items considered at that meeting:-

  • Transferring Governance of the West Midlands Fire and Rescue

 Authority to the West Midlands Combined Authority

• Governance of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

• Membership of Task and Finish Groups.

Report of the Lord Mayor, Councillor T Skipper

The Committee received a report of the Lord Mayor, Councillor T Skipper, which provided feedback on the Civic Visit to Kiel, Germany held between 8 to 11 September, 2017.

RESOLVED that the report be endorsed.

All outstanding issues are detailed in the Work Programme

The Committee noted that all outstanding issues had been dealt with in the Committee’s Work Programme.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee received and noted their Work Programme for the current Municipal Year and requested that a future meeting of the Committee be held at Friargate.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee considered a Briefing Note which indicated that the following two suggestions for topics for scrutiny had been received from members of the public:-

  • Scrutiny of Phases 1 and 2 of the bus lane removals in relation to the

  safety of road users, including pedestrians and cyclists.

  • Uber taxis

The Committee noted that the review of Phases 1 and 2 of the bus lanes removals was included in the Work Programme for the Business, Enterprise and Economy Scrutiny Board on a date yet to be determined and that the issue relating to Uber taxis would be considered by the Committee at their meeting to be held on 20 December, 2017.

RESOLVED that the members of the public who suggested the issues for consideration be informed of how these matters will be dealt with as detailed above.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no additional items of urgent public business.