Agenda item

To update the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the actions taken by the Council to date in dealing with implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members considered the COVID-19 update report presented by Councillor Boden. 

Councillor Boden stated that this report was a summary and he would be happy to provide greater detail should any members require it. 

Members meeting asked questions, made comments and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Wicks asked why it took so long for residents aged 70 plus to receive a letter from the Council outlining the assistance available. He did not receive his letter until 3 or 4 weeks after lockdown and yet he is a member of the Council.  Councillor Boden apologised that the letter sent in his name was received later rather than sooner, however council members are not prioritised. He explained that the Council was attempting to communicate with as many people as possible, and had to use a variety of methods in the form of a rolling programme to ensure they captured each one as there is no single database available. They started with the most elderly as a priority by getting their names from a list of those exempt from jury service and as Councillor Wicks is not in that category, his letter was received later. Councillor Boden pointed out that we were in fact ahead of the game as once other councils saw what we were doing, they followed suit. 

2.    Councillor Booth commented on the timeliness of the report saying it should be seen as an interim rather than final report. It would have been useful to get feedback on areas where we could improve in the future, e.g. the lack of coordination with the national delivery scheme working with the Council.  Members of staff needing to change or request a food delivery do not know which company is providing the delivery; there are a lot of groups working in the right direction but it could be tightened up. Councillor Boden stated that it is indeed an interim report as we are still in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.  Feedback is welcomed and the working of the COVID-19 hub will be subject to further scrutiny. He explained that this meeting was to talk about the COVID response and next month would be highlighting to Council the future and implications as a result. Councillor Boden also agreed that national and local coordination has not been entirely seamless, which has been a source of frustration for many.  He explained that on government instructions, the County Council hub has taken a lead on the shielded list and they are liaising with the national support network and not ours; if they did there would be more crossed wires. We have had to go with the structure set up by national government but he would encourage shielded residents to contact the FDC hub with any issues so staff can then contact the CCC hub and community volunteers to ensure matters are addressed. However, given the scale of the exercise, relatively few issues have been raised. 

3.    Councillor Miscandlon asked what members can do to improve the cohesion between national and local service providers. Councillor Boden advised that there is nothing that can be done by individual members but reiterated that they encourage individuals to report issues to the FDC COVID hub for them to put forward.  It is tempting to help individually, but we have to operate through the system set up and not take short cuts that may cause further confusion. 

4.    Councillor Wicks questioned the amount of information members are receiving regarding the amount of support available within their own wards. He is not aware of what is available and he would welcome more information in order to alleviate pressure on Council staff.  Councillor Boden thanked Councillor Wicks but pointed out that the job of the COVID hub is not to provide continuing support and information to residents but to provide the links to the community so they can provide the assistance directly as required. Once these links are made and maintained, there is no longer a need for individuals to come back to the hub. He said that local members are usually aware of the local organisations operating in their area. Councillor Boden added that we have not emailed a list of who is cooperating in the area to local councillors but will do that and apologised to those who have slipped through the net. 

5.    Paul Medd said that lead time was tight due to the rapidly evolving situation. When the Prime Minister announced lockdown on 23 March, it took just two days for the Council to be proactive in mobilising the hub, which has proved vital and supported nearly1900 residents since its inception for a whole matter of support. Recently the Council was trying to ensure that as many businesses as possible received support grant payments and members were contacted with the details of businesses officers had been unable to contact. Therefore, members can assist officers with trying to contact those businesses within their wards that officers have not heard from. Furthermore, the Communications Team have been proactive in sending information as soon as they have it. He pointed out that as and when members are contacted by constituents, members can point them to our website or signpost them to the relevant organisation for help as all the information is available. 

6.    Councillor Booth pointed out that his ward set up a helping hands scheme early on and as a result he receives a large number of daily email notifications; therefore the information has been coming through and there is some useful information about the different organisations. If this was sent to members it would alleviate pressure on the FDC hub. However, as a local volunteer he found it slightly frustrating to have to go through the general FDC telephone number and asked if a special number could be made available to volunteer groups. Councillor Boden said careful examination would be needed on this; he was not aware of a problem or delays in getting through on the general number and having a direct line for volunteers would not help if staff are already dealing with other calls. 

7.    Councillor Cornwell asked Paul Medd why the FDC hub was set up on 25 March when the Prime Minister had announced on 16 March that isolation was to commence that weekend.  He also asked if the local resilience forum was active in the background or did FDC have to set up the hub with direct responsibility placed on us by central government. Councillor Cornwell further asked was there a leadership role for the County Council?  They took the lead and we did the signposting exercise, however members have been receiving reports of the success of the services provided by some of the people referred to.  Councillor Cornwell said he was interested to know how prepared were those organisations to respond to what was being reported to them and he felt we should ask for evidence of that. He agreed that a lot had happened in a short time but suggested that we may not have been quick enough. In the meantime Councillor Cornwell wanted to thank the refuse team for the amount of work they have undertaken to carry on the service despite a lot of extra work as a result of people undertaking clearance projects in lockdown. He pointed out that the problem was the County Council closing the household waste sites. If there had been a resilience forum in operation, it would have kept them open. 

8.    Councillor Miscandlon said on behalf of the O&S panel he would like to thank and congratulate all FDC staff and all the other organisations within the district that have gone above and beyond what they would normally do.  

9.    Paul Medd thanked Councillor Cornwell for his observations. Regarding timeliness there had been a general awareness that the pandemic was spreading but in the early days it was unclear as to the impact and extent and the Corporate Management Team were closely monitoring and discussing events, hence why when the official lockdown was announced it only took two days to get the FDC hub up and running. The local resilience forum was working behind the scenes but cannot step out of its remit.  As County Council is the upper tier of local government, they were asked to support the NHS shielding role and FDC would complement their role by working with other residents.

10.  Paul Medd thanked Councillors Cornwell and Miscandlon for their comments regarding staff; he agreed that third parties, i.e. an army of volunteers and organisations had done a sterling job, and all council services had continued to run despite the challenges. There had been an impact on some projects but vital frontline services, in particular Refuse and Cleansing, had stepped up and continued to deliver.

11.  Councillor Yeulett asked what economic challenges the Council is facing with reduced finances and asked if any extra expenditure has been incurred as a result of the pandemic; particularly as the Government are facing big challenges going forward. 

12.  Councillor Boden said the position remains uncertain; much is unknown in the coming weeks and months hence at the next meeting of Overview & Scrutiny, we will be looking at what the likely implications are financially for the Council. We are monitoring and reporting monthly to the MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) and current estimates suggest there would be a £4m impact to our budget. Costs have been increased and we have lost income. The final situation will depend on a number of outcomes but we are in a stronger position than other local authorities as we had a budget surplus for 2020/21 of some £2.5m so are better off than those with a balanced budget. 

13.  Councillor Booth reiterated the work done by council staff to keep services running and to other groups. He feels that there has not been recognition for the good neighbours running little errands for their neighbours in the community.  Without these people, then the voluntary groups would have had more work to do and would have overwhelmed local service providers. The key message is that communities are pulling together and looking after one another. Councillor Miscandlon agreed. 

14.  Councillor Wicks said that he was aware of only one national supermarket that, to his knowledge, provided a dedicated Freephone number to vulnerable people. He added that FACT stepped up and made a private arrangement with the store manager to assigned one vehicle to their community champion for next day delivery when they are a supplier of transport. He wanted to know what other national supermarkets had done.

15.  Councillor Boden agreed that FACT is not a delivery service and was set up to provide community transport but because of lockdown, many individuals were not able to go anywhere at all so as an organisation it has a resource and number of vehicles available and knew who needed help. He added that there are many community organisations throughout Fenland who have risen to the challenge and there are other national and local supermarkets that are supporting organisations in the area; however it is not appropriate for this Council to discuss national supermarket policy and we cannot direct it.  Most supermarkets offer priority shopping times and access to key workers and the NHS and we have not had any involvement in that. However, if any resident is struggling please ask them to contact FDC via the general number.

16.Councillor Hay said it was important to remember there are a fair number of supermarkets across Fenland that are not following national head office guidance but doing what they can in their own area and we should recognise all the supermarkets are trying to do their bit. 

17.Councillor Booth agreed life has been a lot easier with them on board and reiterated his personal thanks. However, he did feel there could be better coordination with neighbouring authorities in respect of volunteers helping people living on the border. 

18.Paul Medd agreed that was a good point and had been brought to our attention by Wisbech volunteers early on. Residents north of the boundary were given our contact centre details to request support.  A service was provided but not sustainable given calls for support coming from within Wisbech itself.  This was raised with colleagues at Kings Lynn West Norfolk BC in order that respective communications could make clear where people on the border could go for support.

19.Councillor Mason advised that Whittlesey Food Aid had received a lot of help from local supermarkets and would be happy to talk to Councillor Wicks to update him.

20.  Councillor Humphrey congratulated all on the response so far, the pandemic had brought massive implications and there was no baseline to work from.  We will learn with the benefit of hindsight we will learn, information is available on social media. The Council’s website briefings are really good and he congratulated all those involved in the maintenance of essential services.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the content of the COVID-19 update report.

(Councillor Boden declared an interest by virtue of the fact that he is on the board of FACT)

(Councillor Skoulding declared an interest by virtue of the fact that he is a volunteer with FACT)

(Councillor Booth declared an interest by virtue of the fact that is a volunteer with FACT)