Issue - meetings

The report of the Director – Neighbourhoods is attached.

The Director – Neighbourhoods presented his report, which focused on the impact of Covid-19 on the Council internally and explained that this topic had been split into two parts to enable meaningful scrutiny, with the second report discussing the external impact to follow in May 2022. The report outlined how Rushcliffe Borough Council had responded and reacted to Covid-19, and how the Council had activated its emergency plan to respond to the pandemic. The report also outlined events which had occurred just prior to the pandemic, including serious flooding in parts of the Borough, which had been dealt with. The second part of this report detailed the effect of Covid-19 on the Council’s staff, services, and projects and it concluded with a reflection on some of the lessons learnt with a view to improving similar responses in the future.

The Group questioned whether there would be any alterations to the Council’s emergency plan and the Director – Neighbourhoods explained that it was a generic document, designed to be deployed when an emergency situation arose and no changes were anticipated for the current plan, as it was still fit for purpose.

The Group referred to paragraph 4.18 of the report and indicated that the whole of the Borough was affected by broadband and mobile connectivity issues, not just officers. The Director – Neighbourhoods indicated that the Council was in a good position with many officers already working from home prior to the pandemic.  It was noted that there were 1.8% of houses within the Borough without broadband and that despite vouchers being made available from Nottinghamshire County Council, there were still issues and both the suppliers and the County Council should be encouraged to ensure that no one was without broadband or mobile phone connectivity.

The Director- Neighbourhoods reminded the Group of a recent Communities Scrutiny Group meeting, when the County Council had given an excellent presentation on the broadband roll out programme and future phases and suggested that if the topic was to be added as a scrutiny matrix, then the County Council should be involved.

The Director – Neighbourhoods explained how the Council had remained connected with its employees by encouraging staff to work from the Arena or the Contact Centre once or twice a week and it was hoped that this would help to attract and retain talent. Councillors recognised that officers were also able to remain connected with events such as the Red Umbrella sessions and virtual coffee mornings for home schooling parents. Based on the extreme hard work and adaptivity of the Council, Councillors asked questions about financial recognition and how it would be achieved. The Director – Neighbourhoods advised the Group that there had been some renumeration for those who have taken on extra roles, responsibilities, and duties during the pandemic but that it was not always possible to recognise staff financially. The Group was informed that there were different reward systems in place such as staff compliments in the Council’s weekly newsletter, and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15