Minutes:
Question 1
From Councillor Freeborn
“In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, can the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services explain what steps are being taken to provide support to our local businesses, many of whom will face financial hardship as a result of this crisis?”
Response
The Cabinet Member explained that the Council was responsible for administering the Government’s Business Rates holiday scheme for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, as well as grant schemes for small businesses. The Council had been allocated £27m and, to date, it had paid out 70% totalling around £19m. The grant scheme was being extended to cover other businesses such as those operating in shared workspaces. Those not eligible for Government relief were able to apply for debts to be waived on a case-by-case basis, via a hardship application process.
The Council had received hundreds of enquiries and was signposting businesses to relevant advice groups and Government information through the Council’s website and regular newsletters via its Business Forum.
Barking Market traders’ pitch fees had been frozen since the market closed and a guarantee given that, on the reopening of the market, the traders could return to their pitch location.
Question 2
From Councillor Freeborn
“Last week, the UK death toll from Coronavirus tragically reached over 30,000 – the highest in Europe. Given the failure of the Government to recognise the importance of the World Health Organisations recommendation for testing at the start of the epidemic, can the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration please advise what measures are being taken to testing, tracing and reducing the COVID-19 virus in the borough?”
Response
The Cabinet Member explained that staff were being directed to the Government’s self-referral testing website to book a test. Test results were issued direct to the individual and not their employer. Testing of care home staff had been coordinated directly with providers through the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), although difficulties had been experienced with booking tests. The CCG had also been requested to provide testing statistics, but the information had not been made available.
The Director of Public Health and the Director of People and Resilience had subsequently assumed responsibility for COVID-19 testing in the Borough’s care homes to ensure that testing of staff and residents was better coordinated and that each care home had a functioning and resourced testing programme with measures in place to reduce transmission of the virus.
Question 3
From Councillor Ingrid Robinson
“Worrying evidence is suggesting that COVID-19 is having a disproportionate effect on people from BME backgrounds, including those working in our NHS and as frontline workers. Could the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration confirm what is being done to protect local BME health workers, including whether line managers are carrying out risk assessments in hospitals and local care homes?”
Response
The Cabinet Member stated that there were likely to be a number of contributing factors in the general population such as overrepresentation of BAME populations in lower socioeconomic groups, multi-family and multi-generational households, co-morbidity exposure risks, and the disproportionate employment in lower band key worker roles such as health and social care settings where there was greater exposure to the virus.
In respect to the latter, the Council was working with care home managers to ensure that individual conversations with staff about risk and the appropriate use of PPE were in place to make them feel safe and supported, using a risk assessment approach.
Question 4
From Councillor Haroon
“In recognising the admirable work of our frontline officers in the current unprecedented times, especially those in refuse collection and street cleansing, can the Cabinet Member for Public Realm inform Assembly how our refuse collection and street cleansing services have managed during the current lockdown?”
Response
The Cabinet Member informed that an emergency plan has been produced for the service which included regular service updates and requests to help address evolving issues, the establishment of a staff sickness reporting/support line, the provision of hand gels, wipes and nitrile gloves and additional crews available daily as well as agency staff on call.
A high level of service continuity and good staff morale was being maintained with improved and increased briefings with staff and unions in order to respond to real-time issues quickly. A near normal service had continued to operate throughout lockdown with a workforce capacity that had never fallen below 80%.
Following the recent relaxation of some of the lockdown restrictions and with the appropriate safety measures put in place, the Frizlands Lane Recycling Centre re-opened on 11 May 2020.
In response to a supplementary question, the Cabinet Member reiterated that all refuse and street cleansing frontline staff were being fully equipped with PPE and were expected to respect social distancing, including in the vehicles.
Question 5
From Councillor Choudhury
“As the events to mark this year’s Women’s Empowerment Month did not go ahead because of this dreadful COVID-19 virus, can the Cabinet Member for Equalities and Diversity advise how this Council will continue to empower and support women in our borough including whether any of the planned events will be rescheduled later in the year?”
Response
The Cabinet Member confirmed that a number of events, including the launch of Women’s Empowerment Month, had already taken place with others delivered online. Many people had been able to view the fantastic display by the East End Women’s Museum in the Town Hall lobby prior to the lockdown. Other planned events such as the Annual Awards event would hopefully take place later in the year with others organised online, including Black History Month and a fund raiser by the Women’s Group in support of the Hedgecote Food Bank.
The Council would continue to look for opportunities to deliver against its commitments in the Gender Equality Charter including its response to tackling domestic abuse. Also, in the months ahead the Council would consider how the virus had affected the different groups in the local population in different ways.
Question 6
From Councillor Oluwole
“Can the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services confirm how much financial support the Council has received from the government to help provide vital local services and support for our residents and businesses who have been hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic?”
Response
The Cabinet Member referred to his earlier comments and reiterated that the Government had not provided anything like enough funding to local authorities and the Council would continue to lobby for further injections of financial support.
In response to a supplementary question regarding how the Council and local businesses would operate in the future once the current crisis has passed, the Cabinet Member confirmed that he expected many things to be done differently. He suggested that shopping habits were likely to change even after the current lockdown was relaxed and many people would be reluctant to visit restaurants. He commented that many businesses may not survive, given that in the last quarter the economy contracted by the biggest amount in a decade
The Council would, of course, continue to support local businesses where it could but it would be incumbent on the Government to develop new measures and ways to stimulate local economies.
Question 7
From Councillor Oluwole
“Can the Cabinet Member for Community Engagement & Leadership update the Assembly on the contributions of our community to support the vulnerable in our borough in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak?”
Response
The Cabinet Member stated that theresponse of the community and the voluntary sector has been amazing since the current crisis began. BDCAN had, to date, supported 1,500 residents with essential items, working across nine locality partners coordinated by the BD Collective. In addition, Community Solutions had coordinated further support through local organisations such as Independent Living Agency and DABD.
Other social sector organisations including the faith communities had made contact with over 25,000 residents providing a network of help, support and friendship.
Responding to a supplementary question regarding volunteers, the Cabinet Member commented that the Council was very proud that over 360 residents had signed up to volunteer, with many more working through the various faith groups, and it was the intention to stay in touch with every one of them and utilise their range of skills and knowledge in the future.
Question 8
From Councillor Miah
“Can the Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement outline what actions schools have taken to support children and families during the COVID-19 outbreak?”
Response
The Cabinet Member stated that she was proud of the way that Barking and Dagenham schools had responded to the challenge and she was very grateful to school leaders, staff and the unions. There continued to be a high degree of flexibility and, above all, the best interests of pupils and families were at the heart of decisions.
Since the closures on 23 March, the Borough’s schools had put in place arrangements to offer key workers’ children and vulnerable pupils a school place, with more than 400 pupils having attended at the end of the Spring term, rising to over 600 last week. Schools had worked closely with BDTP, the borough’s main provider of free school meals, to get free school meal hampers to families.
Schools had put in place a variety of creative arrangements to support pupils’ learning at home and at school, including making use of a wide range of online resources. They were also proactively carrying out welfare checks on pupils’ families who were considered at risk or in need.
In response to a supplementary question, the Cabinet Member confirmed that students due to take exams this year would have their results based on teacher assessments, which would take account of both the outcomes of mock exams already sat and course work completed before the lockdown was imposed.
It was not clear at the present time how students due to be sitting exams in 2021 would be assessed, although the Cabinet Member had every confidence that the schools were well placed to support their students to make sure they would not be disadvantaged and she would be working with education officers, the schools and unions to make sure this was the case.
Question 9
From Councillor Lumsden
“Can the Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety set out the challenges the Council’s enforcement services have faced since the outbreak of COVID-19, and what it has done in response?”
Response
The Cabinet Member explained that Council officers had worked closely with the Police to enforce the new Health Protection Coronavirus (England) Regulations 2020. including the closure of specified premises and venues, ensuring compliance with social distancing requirements, patrolling parks and town centres, carrying out visits where there was a duty to inspect because of imminent risk or harm as well as providing general advice and guidance to shops etc.
A dedicated email address had been set up (covidabuse@lbbd.gov.uk) which had been very busy dealing with issues of overcharging at the start of the crisis and, more recently, shops not respecting social distancing rules.
Responding to a supplementary question, the Cabinet Member confirmed that she had conducted unannounced visits with enforcement officers to ten businesses in the shopping areas in Barking, Dagenham Heathway and Chadwell Heath, and all were complying with social distancing requirements at the time. However, officers would follow up with further visits to any shop businesses reported to have flouted the regulations.