Agenda item

To consider a progress report on individual risks identified in the Council’s Strategic Risk Register and to consider the controls being implemented to manage the strategic risk relating to security.

The Committee considered a deep dive into the Strategic Risk ‘Security’ which included the sub-risks (a) Terrorism related act at major events and in publicly accessible locations and (b) Pandemic infection / health security concern (human and animals). The Chair noted that as this had the potential to be a sensitive topic, the meeting could move into private session if necessary.

Mr Alan Cavill, Director of Communications and Regeneration, provided the Committee with an update in respect of sub-risk (a) and advised that the Council had a good working relationship with the emergency services, in particular the Police and military. Multi and single agency plans were in place to deal with incidents and security assets were deployed as necessary for events, for example barriers provided at the Airshow and fireworks events.

The Committee discussed Mr Cavill’s update and was advised that a new location for the CCTV control room had been identified, which was a better facility, would have more/replacement cameras and work would be undertaken to ensure that there was no gap in CCTV provision whilst the transfer took place.

In response to questions from the Committee Mr Cavill provided an overview of a recent incident that had taken place at in the vicinity of Blackpool North Train Station and how the multi-agency teams had worked together to manage the incident. In relation to lessons learned from the Manchester Arena bombing, the Committee was advised that regular updates were received from Counter-Terrorism officers to anticipate outcomes and implications from the Public Inquiry. The Council’s aim was to ensure that the public felt safe at events and would act on any recommendations from the Inquiry.

In relation to the impact of new developments within the town, pre-application discussion took place to ensure that security was built into design where appropriate. The Committee’s attention was drawn to the example of the Quality Corridor Scheme whereby the pedestrian route between the train station and the conference centre had been protected through the use of bollards.

Dr Dianne Draper, Consultant in Public Health and Mr Tim Coglan, Head of Public Protection, provided an overview of security sub-risk (b). Work continued with the Health Protection Board and the UK Health and Security Agency to share situational analysis and keep up to date on new issues. The Health Protection Board continued to meet now that the Country was starting to live with Covid and quarterly meetings were in place which helped to build good multi-agency relationships. The Lancashire Resilience Forum continued to meet to review pandemic plans going forward and to ensure processes were in place to ensure effective arrangements for health protection incidents and outbreaks, with key risks identified and appropriate mitigation measures undertaken. Work in relation to vaccinations, both Covid-19 and seasonal influenza, continued and the vaccine bus was still in use. Dr Draper commended the response of the service, the level of commitment, communication and hard work in responding to an unprecedented situation.

In relation to animal health outbreaks, such as avian flu, Mr Coglan advised the Committee that the audit on animal health outbreak planning had been requested by the service. Recommendations had been broadly complied with and six members of the Public Protection Team had achieved a qualification to enable them to effectively respond to an animal health outbreak. A lead officer had been identified in the Public Protection Team to deal with animal health incidents, with a second officer identified to support Public Health with human health incidents. Policies and plans for dealing with such incidents had undergone a full review and were now in a final draft before implementation. A field incident guide had been developed which followed national guidance.

The Committee considered the update and in respect of future risks, the Council was proactively putting its own plans and strategies in place, rather than wait for this to be a requirement and to ensure that projects were locally-led where possible. Effective health surveillance, situational analysis and monitoring procedures were in place to try any mitigate against any future outbreaks. In response to questions from the Committee, Mr Coglan confirmed that in his opinion the audit process had been beneficial to the service.

The Chair of the Committee thanked Dr Draper and Mr Coglan for attending and their respective teams for their hard work on these matters.

Resolved: To note the update.

[Dr Draper and Mr Coglan left the meeting].