Members considered the proposal for a shared Emergency Planning service for Berkshire.

The Lead Member explained that the council had a number of factors and high profile locations that influenced its Emergency Planning risk profile:

·           Fluvial Flood Risk from River Thames and tributaries

·           Crowded Spaces - Significant National and Regional Tourism Sites

·           Ministry of Defence facilities

·           Transportation - Heathrow Flight Paths, Motorway network

·           VIP presence - Royal Household, Eton College

·           Public Events - Ascot Racecourse, Horse Show

Members noted that the current Berkshire Emergency Planning model was introduced in 1998 and was based on each unitary authority employing dedicated resource with informal joint working arrangements across a range of shared activities. Resourcing levels for the six services had changed in each authority.  There was now interest in a shared service.

A recent review had highlighted a number of issues with existing arrangements, for instance:

·      A lack of resilience in each authority due to a reliance on one or two key individuals, with vulnerabilities identified where vacancies or prolonged periods of absence occurred.

·      No consistent approach and therefore on occasion duplicate work, wasted resource so inefficient use of resource

·      Disparity in the resourcing of Emergency Planning between the councils, resulting in the cost of multi-agency work being funded inequitably.

·      A lack of career structure/personal development framework with opportunities for succession planning to aid retention.

·      Multiple points of contact for communication with partner agencies.

The review concluded that the Emergency Planning services had demonstrated a high level of professionalism and some joint working.  However, the operating framework established in 1998 was no longer effective or sustainable. 

A team of five FTE was proposed.  This would comprise two teams of two FTE with each team covering one of two regions, Berkshire West and Berkshire East.  An Emergency Planning Team Manager would be based in the Lead Authority with the two operational teams working across the six authorities. The Lead Authority would be West Berkshire, which had a higher profile than the Royal Borough due to the location of the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment.

There were six critical success factors determined for the proposal: Enhanced resilience, enhanced effectiveness, strengthened mutual aid arrangements, no increase in costs, a local presence and an enhanced working relationship with Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum.

There were a number of day to day operations that crossed over with the Emergency Planning function that would need support and input from any proposed shared service, for example the Safety Advisory Group and Ceremonial Events Group.  These functions would be satisfactorily covered within the agreement entered.  In additional the proposed Emergency Planning model incorporated Business Community Planning, supporting council service areas in developing robust continuity plans. 

The new team would coordinate out of hours arrangements for Emergency Planning.  This was currently shared across Heads of Service and Service Leads in the Operations and Customer Services Directorate.  The arrangement would mean that qualified Emergency Planning personnel would provide out of hours cover going forward. This would not remove the need for a local ‘duty officer’ to lead on the Royal Borough’s out of hours response and to initially fulfil the Local Authority Liaison Officer role.

The Highways, Transport and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel had requested to see the final arrangements before implementation, and for the scheme to be reviewed over time. The Lead Member agreed that a report could go back to the Panel and for the Panel to be involved in future review of the service.

The Deputy Lead Member for Ascot Regeneration commented that Ascot Racecourse believed that they would be the location people were directed to in the event of a major disaster and it would be useful for them to have contact details of Emergency Planning staff in the service. The Chairman stated that officers would ensure Ascot Racecourse received the details.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet notes the report and:

i)     Delegates authority to the Interim Strategic Director of Operations & Customer Services in conjunction with the Lead Member for Environmental Services including Parking to implement a shared Emergency Planning service subject to a satisfactory inter authority collaboration agreement being achieved, including provision for one FTE to have its primary base as Windsor & Maidenhead.