Agenda item

This was a joint presentation by Laurie Grasty and Paul Lehane.

Mr Lehane commenced his presentation by examining the contents of a ‘Grab Bag’ belonging to an Emergency Planning Officer; in this case the bag was fictional. Out of the bag, Mr Lehane withdrew several items, including ‘lucky dice’, lucky heather, a four leaf clover and a lucky horse-shoe. There was also a piece of wood that Mr Lehane referred to as ‘touch wood’. The common denominator in all of the items was ‘luck’, and Mr Lehane made the point that LBB could not rely on ‘luck’ and had to plan for emergencies and serious incidents.

The Committee heard that an Emergency Response Plan existed, but that LBB only had one Emergency Resilience Officer. This did not compare favourably with other Boroughs:

·  Croydon        4

·  Greenwich  3

·  Lewisham  3

·  Bexley  2

A You Tube video entitled ‘Out of a Clear Blue Sky’ was played.

The link for the video is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMYnPykeT7o&feature=youtu.be

This was a video about different types of emergencies, and the response of emergency services.

The Committee heard that LBB had a statutory duty to assist in dealing with any sort of major incident affecting the borough.

The Committee were informed that LBB had a team of trained volunteers that would assist as required. This included individuals who were trained to manage an emergency control centre. There were also staff trained to work as liaison officers and run rest centres. These would act as the interface between the public and the emergency services.

Ms Grasty informed the Committee that emergency plans had been written for most risks. These could include incidences like a flu pandemic, flooding, gas explosions, power outages and terrorism. Overall control would be with a control room in London. Plans needed to be reviewed to make sure they were up to date, and scenarios needed to be practised. With this in mind, a ‘snow emergency’ scenario was being planned for 9^th February 2017, which was based on the snow event of 2010. 

Another matter that Ms Grasty referenced was the issue of Business Continuity. In the event of a major incident, how would LBB continue to undertake its core functions and services?

It was noted that the last time an emergency response was required was in the summer of 2016, which was a major gas leak in Penge. There was also an incident during Christmas 2016 which was also a gas leak in Penge.

A member stated that in the case of 7/7, the mobile network failed and there were problems with communicating in the London Underground. The member wondered how the Resilience Team would communicate if the same situation was repeated. Ms Grasty responded that the Team did have air way radios but there was no contingency for a mobile network collapsing. A member asked if this had therefore been logged officially as a risk. Another member expressed the view that the mobile network was unlikely to collapse, and that in the case of 7/7 it was more likely that the Police had shut down the network deliberately. It was also noted that the 4G network was a more robust network than the one that was operating during 7/7.

A member stated that the current system that had been set up with regard to volunteers was flawed and dangerous. A more robust and guaranteed plan needed to be set up, with a rota in operation. The member enquired if LBB’s resilience and business continuity plans were audited, and by whom. It was noted that a form of auditing was undertaken by London Resilience. A member expressed the view that what was taking place was not a proper audit, like the audits carried out by Ofsted. Ms Grasty responded that it was possible to show the Committee the action plans that had been developed after working in conjunction with London Resilience.

A member stated that it was a very serious weakness that LBB only had one Resilience Officer. He also emphasised the importance of good training for volunteers, which would enable them to respond in an effective and professional manner.  The member continued by asking if LBB were fulfilling their legal and statutory obligations. Ms Grasty answered that it was the case that LBB were fulfilling their statutory obligations with respect to Emergency Planning. However, she felt that corporately, business continuity oversight was weak.

A member asked Mr Lehane if the service was under-resourced, and the response was affirmative. Another member asked that if LBB needed to relocate because of an emergency, where would it relocate to? Mr Lehane responded that each team/division had a plan, but there were potential vulnerabilities in this area.

The Chairman asked if a follow-up report would be useful, and the Committee thought that this was a good idea. She also stated that what was required was clarification from the Head of Service as to what was required in terms of budget to plug the resource gap. There was concern across the Committee at what appeared to be a serious resource gap for Emergency Planning and Business Continuity.

The Chairman asked if there was a perception that other Boroughs were more vulnerable. Ms Grasty responded that it depended on the perceptions of individual councils.

The Committee agreed that swift action was required by the Portfolio Holder to provide the requisite funding to adequately support the service. 

RESOLVED that

(1) A follow-up report on Emergency Planning and Business Continuity be brought to a future meeting of the Committee

(2) The Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Safety take swift action to provide the budget required to plug the resource gap in the Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Team