Councillor Chris Jones thanked the Director of Public Health and the whole Public Health Team for the fantastic work they had undertaken during the Coronavirus Crisis.

Councillor Jones introduced a report by the Director of Public Health recommend to the Cabinet the local structure and governance of Outbreak Management for all outbreaks, but specifically in relation to COVID-19.

The Director informed the Cabinet that HM Government has asked Local Authorities and Directors of Public Health to undertake several actions as part of an outbreak management framework.  This includes the establishment of a local Outbreak Management Plan, Outbreak Management Board and Health Protection Board.

The Cabinet noted that it was the intention of the Government that cross-party and cross-sector working would be strongly encouraged, and all tiers of government were intended to be engaged in a joint endeavour to contain the virus, including Local Resilience Forums, NHS Integrated Care Systems and Mayoral Combined Authorities. Councils were to be free to work at wider geographic levels if they so wished.

It was also noted that the Council would partner and attend regional outbreak management groups/boards across Merseyside and Cheshire, and support the arrangements across Wirral, it had been recommended that a local Outbreak Management Board and Health Protection Board be initiated.

Directors of Public Health working with Public Health England’s local health protection teams building on existing health protection plans would put in place measures to identify and contain outbreaks and protect the public’s health.

The Director’s report set out her responsibilities and the support available to her, provided details on outbreak management, the Outbreak Management Board and on contract tracing. 

The Director reported that decisions on steps to be taken by the Council in respect of local incidences were executive decisions (prior to the Council’s Annual Meeting). These decisions were likely to be taken in urgent response to advice from her and information provided by the test and trace service, Health Protection Board and NHS linkages.

The Cabinet was informed that Local authorities across England had been allocated a share of £300 million to support the new Test and Trace Service.  The funding was intended to help local communities develop and action plans to reduce the spread of coronavirus in their area. The Council had received its share of the funding - £2,733,018 in June 2020.

As there was a risk that the cost of implementing the local and regional infrastructure for outbreak management may exceed the budgeted amount allocated, a governance process had been put in place to oversee the spend of the Test and Trace Funding.  The Outbreak Management Board had regular oversight of how the fund was allocated. The Chief Executive and Chief Internal Auditor had regular oversight of how the fund was administered to ensure the grant conditions were met.

Attached to the Director of Public Health’ report was:

·  Appendix 1 – Terms of Reference for Outbreak Management Board and Health  Protection Board;

·  Appendix 2 – Outbreak Management Governance Structure Chart; and

·  Appendix 3 – Outbreak Management Plan.

Councillor Janette Williamson put on record her thanks to Councillor Chris Jones, the Public Health Director and her team of officers for the amazing work that they had done during the pandemic that had hit the country.

Councillor Pat Hackett thanked Councillor Chris Jones for the detailed and vital report in respect of the health of people in the borough.

RESOLVED:

That the terms of reference of the Health Protection Board and Outbreak Management Board detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, along with related governance structure summarised in Appendix 2 of the report be agreed.