A Government website with practical advice to help in emergencies.
|
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local resilience Forum
Meeting of 20 June 2005 at Sherwood Lodge Police HQ
Draft Minutes
Attendance
Roger
Latham Nottinghamshire County Council (Chair)
Cherry Brandon Nottingham City Council
(Secretary)
Chief Insp David Powell Nottinghamshire Police
John Severn
Nottinghamshire Police
Dick Dawson Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Paul
Kilgallan East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS)
Richard Arnold HQ 49 (East) Brigade
John
Perkins Government Office for the East Midlands
Nigel Chapman HM Coroner
Rob
Fisher Nottinghamshire County Council
Sallyanne Johnson Nottingham City Council
Paul
Millward Nottingham City Council
Sarah Southwell Nottingham City Council
Christine
Manby Representing voluntary agencies
Sarah Webb Health Protection Agency
Vivienne
Carmicheal Bassetlaw PCT
Teresa Shaw Nottingham PCT
Mark Sitton-Kent Environment
Agency
1. Introduction and Apologies - Roger Latham, Acting Chair
Roger Latham opened the meeting.
Apologies were received from the following:
ACC Peter Ditchett, Nottinghamshire Police
(Chair)
Lt Col Dixon-Warren, Military Liaison Officer
Martin Emberson,
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Richard Hodge, Nottinghamshire County Council
Louise
Newcombe, Bassetlaw PCT
Samantha Milbank, Nottingham City PCT
2. Minutes of last meeting (previously circulated) & matters arising
The minutes were taken as a true record.
There were no matters arising and all outstanding actions had been discharged.
3. Update on the Civil Contingencies Act / Regional Resilience issues
John Perkins summarised the progress towards CCA implementation. The Regulations and Guidance had been re-published in May, following a period of consultation. GOEM had circulated a paper summarising the changes. Publication of ‘Responding to Emergencies’ which replaces ‘Dealing with Disaster’ had been delayed until July. Implementation would be required by 15 November, with a further 6 months to implement the requirement relating to business continuity advice. Further guidance on Risk work was awaited.
The County Council had produced a useful summary of the Act and its requirements and Roger Latham offered to share this document with Forum members.
John Perkins reported that the RRF had met on 7 June. Issues of note were that the Forum had approved the Capability Delivery Plan for the East Midlands, and new Ministers had been appointed at national level.
4. Introduction of new Chair of the Emergency Planning Liaison Group
Chief Insp. David Powell introduced himself as the new Chair of the Emergency Planning Liaison Group, referring to his letter that had been previously circulated. He raised concerns about CCA deadlines and sought commitment from the LRF to examine additional resources or acknowledge that there may be a need to re-prioritise work streams within partner agencies.
It was suggested that this was likely to be a generic issue, the position of other forums should be established and a formal letter of concern drafted.
Actions
John Perkins to raise the issue of CCA deadlines and workload at the meeting of Regional LRF Chairs and with other colleagues across the country
Rob Fisher to draft a letter from the Forum Chair setting out the shared concerns and the reasons behind them, appending clear evidence from the Risk Assessment Working Group
5. Update on CCA Steering Group
John Severn presented the CCA Steering Group Implementation Plan and sought approval to continue as proposed.
Rob Fisher presented the Strategy document as a first step to consultation with partner agencies, and asked for comments to be sent to him. He explained that a Tactical document would be produced in due course.
Paul Millward demonstrated the proposed structure of the new LRF Website, www.nottsprepared.gov.uk. The site would be aimed at the public and would promote the work of the LRF and assist in meeting the requirement to Warn and Inform. It would provide links to other key sites and include an Extranet section for Emergency Planning professionals. The following issues were raised:
- Non-electronic access – the information would be replicated in non-electronic form but this work would not be complete before October
- Resilience if the City Council website went down – this issue was as yet unresolved
- Security – this was being looked at
- Other languages – this work was in progress
Attention was drawn to the proposed new LRF logo.
The Forum endorsed the following:
- The Action Plan to date
- The proposed split between the Strategy and Tactical documents and the start of consultation on the former
- The logo
- Arrangements for the Launch on 11 October
- Direction of the Website
6. Local Resilience Mapping
Summaries of updates on the work streams were distributed prior to or at the meeting and verbal reports were received.
Lack of central government guidance was delaying progress on Mass Fatalities and Mass Evacuation.
Animal Diseases was also progressing at a slow pace.
With regard to Site Clearance, difficulties had been encountered in establishing appropriate links with Mines Search and Rescue. John Perkins undertook to assist in this.
The Risk Assessment Working Group requested approval to pursue their work without coming back to the Forum at each stage. The Forum approved this request.
7. Planning
CBRN Protocol
The CBRN Protocol had been approved at the last RRF, but would need to undergo constant review and revision. There were proposals to produce a similar document dealing with accidental release of toxic substances.
8. Formal representation of LRF on RRF
John Severn suggested that the LRF might wish to nominate someone to represent them on the RRF. Roger Latham agreed to undertake this role if he attended, or otherwise nominate another member to do this. The Forum endorsed this arrangement.
9. Items referred from the RRF
Community involvement in Civil Contingencies issues
This item was deferred until the next meeting. The papers to be circulated after the meeting
Regions – Core Brief
John Perkins invited comments on this paper, to be circulated after the meeting.
10. LRF Communications
Paul Millward offered the services of a City Council press officer to lead on PR matters on behalf of the LRF until the launch, but it was decided that this was not necessary since the function was already covered by the existing Communications group. It was agreed that existing ad hoc arrangements were adequate.
11. Protocol between Health and LRFs
John Perkins reported that the protocol had been approved at the last Health Sub-Group and referred to the RRF. A copy would be circulated with the minutes.
12. Incidents
Dick Dawson reported that the Fire Service had successfully dealt with a serious fire adjacent to a plastics factory at StantonHill. The response went well and it was considered that a multi-agency debrief was unnecessary.
The Environment Agency was looking at rainfall hotspots in the event of intense rainfall, to avoid an incident such as happened at Boscastle.
Sarah Webb updated the Forum on the current status of flu transmission in the Far East.
13. Training / Exercises
A calendar of events had been circulated in advance.
14. Date and time of next meetings
Wednesday 14th September 2005, Fire Brigade HQ, Bestwood Lodge
Friday 9 Dec 2005 at Police HQ