East House, Riduna Park, Station Road, Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1RT

Members: All Councillors

Full Council

Members are invited to a Meeting of the Full Council to be held in the Deben Conference Room, East Suffolk House, Melton on Wednesday, 25 September 2019 at 6:30 pm

An Agenda is set out below.

Part One – Open to the Public Pages

1 Apologies for Absence To receive apologies for absence, if any.

2 Declarations of Interest Members and Officers are invited to make any declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary or Local Non-Pecuniary Interests that they may have in relation to items on the Agenda and are also reminded to make any declarations at any stage during the Meeting if it becomes apparent that this may be required when a particular item or issue is considered.

3 Minutes 1 - 24 To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 July 2019

Pages

4 Announcements To receive any announcements from the Chairman, the Leader of the Council, members of the Cabinet, or the Chief Executive, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 5.1(e).

5 Questions from the Public No questions have been submitted by the electorate as provided by Council Procedure Rule 8.

6 Presentation on C For the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Economic Development to introduce a presentation from Jim Crawford, Sizewell C Project Development Director for EDF Energy

7 Questions from Members The following questions from Members have been submitted in pursuance of Council Procedure Rule 9:

(a) Question from Councillor M Deacon to the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Economic Development:

Councillor Byatt and I recently met with a senior ABP representative and were given a full briefing about the contribution ABP makes to Port and the surrounding area. Will the Deputy Leader extend an invitation to ABP Port Management to address Full Council about their operations and share their vision for the future part they can play in local economic development?

(b) Question from Councillor T Gandy to the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health:

Given the serious implications for public safety, how satisfied were you with the emergency evacuation procedures in place for the recent emergency in Normanhurst Close, and what lessons may have been learned for any future incidents requiring evacuation of residents and others?

(c) Question from Councillor P Byatt to the Leader of the Council:

Following the previous disappointment in July with the Future High Streets Funds, does the recent announcement about our success with the New Towns Fund mean that plans for the Heritage Action Zone can be incorporated into this funding stream?

8 Petitions No petitions have been received as provided by Council Procedure Rule 10.

Pages

9 Notices of Motion No Notices of Motion have been made as provided by Council Procedure Rule 11.

10 Political Balance of East Suffolk Council ES/0150 25 - 28 Report of the Leader of the Council

11 Establishment of Community Partnerships ES/0156 29 - 37 Report of the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Communities, Leisure and Tourism

12 Update of the Anglia Revenues Partnership Agreement ES/0154 38 - 97 Report of the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Resources

13 East Suffolk Food and Health and Safety Service Plan 2019/20 98 - 174 ES/0151 Report of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health

14 Cabinet Members' Report and Outside Bodies Representatives' 175 - 188 Report to Council ES/0152 To receive the Cabinet Members' Report and Outside Bodies Representatives' Report to Full Council

Part Two – Exempt/Confidential Pages

There are no Exempt or Confidential items for this Agenda.

Close

Stephen Baker, Chief Executive

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Agenda Item 3 Unconfirmed

Minutes of a Meeting of the Full Council held in the Conference Room, Riverside, on Wednesday, 24 July 2019 at 6:30 pm

Members of the Committee present: Councillor Melissa Allen, Councillor Paul Ashdown, Councillor Edward Back, Councillor David Beavan, Councillor Stuart Bird, Councillor Chris Blundell, Councillor Elfrede Brambley-Crawshaw, Councillor Norman Brooks, Councillor Stephen Burroughes, Councillor Peter Byatt, Councillor Jenny Ceresa, Councillor Judy Cloke, Councillor Maurice Cook, Councillor Tony Cooper, Councillor Linda Coulam, Councillor Janet Craig, Councillor Mike Deacon, Councillor Graham Elliott, Councillor John Fisher, Councillor Tony Fryatt, Councillor Steve Gallant, Councillor Andree Gee, Councillor Tony Goldson, Councillor Louise Gooch, Councillor Colin Hedgley, Councillor Ray Herring, Councillor Mark Jepson, Councillor Richard Kerry, Councillor Geoff Lynch, Councillor James Mallinder, Councillor Chris Mapey, Councillor Frank Mortimer, Councillor Trish Mortimer, Councillor Mark Newton, Councillor Keith Patience, Councillor Malcolm Pitchers, Councillor Carol Poulter, Councillor David Ritchie, Councillor Craig Rivett, Councillor Keith Robinson, Councillor Mary Rudd, Councillor Letitia Smith, Councillor Rachel Smith-Lyte, Councillor William Taylor, Councillor Ed Thompson, Councillor Caroline Topping, Councillor Steve Wiles, Councillor Kay Yule

Officers present: Stephen Baker (Chief Executive), Andrew Jarvis (Strategic Director), Nick Khan (Strategic Director), Hilary Slater (Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal and Democratic Services), Paul Wood (Head of Economic Development and Regeneration) and Nicola Wotton (Deputy Democratic Services Manager).

Others present: David Walker, Offshore Development Director for Scottish Power Renewables, and Philip Watkins, Director of Eastern Edge Ltd.

1 Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Bond, T Gandy, T Green, TJ Haworth-Culf, S Lawson and D McCallum.

2 Declarations of Interest

During the consideration of Confidential Item 14, Lowestoft Full Fibre Project, Councillor K Patience declared a Local Non Pecuniary Interest, as he was a Member of Lowestoft Town Council and he chose to leave the meeting during the discussions on this item.

1 3a Minutes of the Annual East Suffolk Council meeting held on 22 May 2019

RESOLVED

That the Minutes of the Annual East Suffolk Council meeting held on 22 May 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Monitoring Officer has recommended that the Minutes of the past and Shadow Authorities be received as good governance and for the avoidance of Minutes remaining unconfirmed.

3b Minutes of the District Council meeting held on 28 March 2019

RESOLVED

That the Minutes from the Suffolk Coastal District Council meeting held on 28 March 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Monitoring Officer had recommended that the Minutes of the past and Shadow Authorities be received as good governance and for the avoidance of Minutes remaining unconfirmed.

3c Minutes of the Waveney District Council meeting held on 20 March 2019

RESOLVED

That the Minutes of the Waveney District Council meeting held on 20 March 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

3d Minutes of the East Suffolk Shadow Authority Meeting held on 28 February 2019

RESOLVED

That the Minutes from the East Suffolk Shadow Authority meeting held on 28 February 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

4 Announcements

The Chairman of the Council:

The Chairman of the Council took the opportunity to inform Members about the interesting and varied number of public engagements that he and the Vice Chairman had attended, since the Annual Council meeting which was held on 22 May 2019. The list of engagements included:

Chairman's Attendance:

* Civic Parade and Service * The Suffolk Show * The start of the OVO Women's Tour in * Mayor's Civic Service

2 * Launch of Suffolk Day at Felixstowe Town Hall * National Care Homes Open Day at Harleston House, Lowestoft * Bangladesh Festival Launch Event in * Village Fete * Dedication of the new Lowestoft Pilot Boat * Felixstowe Mayor's Reception

Vice Chairman's Attendance:

* The 40th Anniversary of Lowestoft Police Station * Southwold Hospital Project * Lord Kitchener's Annual General Meeting in Lowestoft * Lord Mayor of Great Yarmouth's Civic Service

The Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council reported that he was pleased to announce that Councillor T Cooper, who was previously an Independent Councillor and therefore a Member of the GLI, had decided to join the Conservative Group. It was noted that the Conservatives welcomed Councillor Cooper to their Group and they very much looked forward to working with him.

The Leader reported that he had appointed 3 Assistant Cabinet Members and they were as follows:

Councillor A Cackett had been appointed as Assistant Cabinet Member for Transport; Councillor M Cook had been appointed as Assistant Cabinet Member for Finance; Councillor M Jepson had been appointed as Assistant Cabinet Member for Community Health.

The Leader then reported that, as mentioned in previous forums, the Council's vision for East Suffolk, and more specifically what the Council will be doing over the next four years, needed to be set out in a new Business Plan for East Suffolk. Historically, formulating and creating Business Plans had always been a lengthy process, sometimes taking up to a year to fully develop and to agree content and format. So, the Council was going to take a new approach using something called a Hothouse. A Hothouse creates a unique environment where people with knowledge and skills across a broad spectrum are dedicated solely to solving a given business objective, which means immediate collaboration, feedback and momentum to provide for creative solutions. All 55 Members will be invited to the Hothouse session, which will be held over a three day period at the beginning of October, at BT Adastral Park in . Key officers would also be in attendance to provide specialist knowledge and collaboration. It was important for as many Members to attend as possible for the full three days, to fully feed in to the creation of the new Business Plan for East Suffolk Council. Members were asked to respond to the invitation as soon as possible, as numbers for the session needed to be managed. Invitations would be sent out after this meeting, to all 55 Members.

Councillor Ritchie, Cabinet Member for Planning and Coastal Management

3 Councillor Ritchie, Cabinet Member for Planning and Coastal Management, took the opportunity to report that the Council's Building Control Team had been successful at the recent Eastern Region Building Control Awards Ceremony. The Building Control Team had submitted 12 projects for consideration and 9 of those projects had been short listed. The Council had been highly commended for its Building Control Partnership with Ipswich Council and for one of its Commercial Building Projects in Ipswich. The Council had won the categories of Best Social Housing Project, for its St Edmunds Road development in Southwold and the Best Local Builder had been Stephen Elphick from .

The Chief Executive

The Chief Executive was pleased to report that the Council had appointed a new Head of Service - Emma Bloom, who would be responsible for Customer Services, Communications and Marketing. He took the opportunity to confirm that her arrival was eagerly anticipated and that we would all very much look forward to working with her in the future.

On a personal note, the Chief Executive reported that he had become a grandfather again for the third time earlier today, with the safe arrival of grandson. All those present congratulated the Chief Executive on his new arrival.

Former Suffolk Coastal District Councillor, Terry Hodgeson

The Chairman then invited Councillor M Deacon to say a few words about former Suffolk Coastal District Councillor, Terry Hodgeson, who had sadly passed away. Councillor Deacon reported that he and former Councillor Hodgeson had first been elected, together, in 1983. Since then, Terry Hodgeson had worked tirelessly for the public and had been appointed Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee as well as Leader of the Council. He had a tenacious character and was a keen cyclist and he had helped to instigate the payments for cycles miles within the Members Allowance Scheme. He worked passionately for his constituents and he would be greatly missed. The Chairman then invited all those present to stand for a Minutes' Silence as a mark of respect for Terry Hodgeson.

5 Questions from the Public

No questions had been submitted by the electorate as provided by Council Procedure Rule 8.

The Chairman of the Council reported that he had changed the order of the agenda to allow for the Presentation on Scottish Power Renewable Energy to be received at this point in the proceedings.

6 Presentation on Scottish Power Renewable Energy

The Chairman welcomed David Walker, Offshore Development Director for Scottish Power Renewables, and Philip Watkins, Director of Eastern Edge Ltd, to the meeting and invited them to commence their presentation.

4 Members noted that there was a Government and National commitment to the Low Carbon agenda. The aim was for 30% of electricity to be generated by offshore wind by 2030 and for the UK to be carbon neutral by 2050. At a more local level, Suffolk County Council (SCC) has the ambition of becoming the Greenest County in the UK and had also declared a climate emergency. The offshore wind industry would therefore play a significant role in achieving these aims. The East Anglia One development was currently under construction and would be fully operational by 2020, with an expected generation of 714 MW. East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two were currently in the fourth Consultation Stage, with construction planned to commence in 2023 and they would be expected to generate 800 MW and 900 MW respectively. The East Anglia Three development had an anticipated construction commencement date of 2022 and was expected to be fully operational by 2025, which would generate 1200 MW.

The construction phase of these developments would last for approximately 10 years, providing much needed jobs in the local area. Members were pleased to note that the operations and maintenance base for the off shore wind farms would be located at Lowestoft's PowerPark, for at least 25 years. Other local businesses were also benefiting from the construction phase and these included Associated British Ports (ABP Lowestoft), Cefas, James Fisher, Stowen Group, Palmer Group and Turner ICENI. This equated to £25 million worth of contracts being awarded to suppliers across the East of and an additional £45 million being awarded to local companies for future work. £30 million had also been spent on regenerating Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Ports.

The development of offshore wind had also highlighted the need to develop the skills of local people, to ensure that there were sufficiently trained staff to operate and maintain the wind farms. As such, Scottish Power had been involved in a variety of initiatives to improve skills development in the local area. This included a Skills Strategy in Partnership with SCC and East Suffolk Council (ESC), Suffolk Skills Show, STEM Ambassadors engaged with schools, East Coast College Career Talks, Lowestoft Skills Academy Workshops, Cambridge Science school events, UEA Masters Scholarships, 2019 Graduate recruitment and Women in Engineering. In terms of investment, £55,000 had been spent on student places at the Offshore Wind Skills Centre, over £200,000 had been spent on scholarships at the UEA and 83 STEM workshops had been delivered to 3,000 East Anglian pupils.

It was noted that there continued to be ongoing engagement throughout the development of East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two, which included regular meetings with Natural England, Historical England and the MMO, liaison with statutory bodies and a dedicated Tourism Working Group. There had also been a dedicated workshop for the Community and a Community Update for . Various matters had been raised by the Local Planning Authorities and these had been addressed. These included additional substantial landscape planting of 24 acres within the order limits of the sub-station, changes to transport routes for large vehicles and providing additional Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) ponds over and above the design requirements to provide improvements to a historical flood issue.

5 Members noted that a Community Fund had been created for the communities directly affected by the development of the offshore industry, namely and Friston. The Community Fund was distinct from the Section 111 Planning Agreements and had been developed in partnership with the Suffolk (Community) Foundation and the Scottish Power Foundation (which was charity focused). There were five main principles which underpinned the Community Fund and they were: Education, Environment, Culture, Economy and Community and the lifetime of the Fund was 25 years, which mirrored the predicted life of the wind farms. The value of the fund was £2.5 million, which equated to £100,000 per year.

It was confirmed that Scottish Power Renewables wind farm projects were fully aligned with national / local strategy and planning policy and that there had been extensive stakeholder engagement, with a variety of mitigation measures undertaken to address the feedback received. The projects had also delivered significant benefits to date in respect of jobs, investments and skills and these long term benefits would be extended and enhanced should East Anglia Two and East Anglia One North be supported and consented.

Councillor Goldson queried why underground cables were not being used to take the energy from the wind farms to the onshore substation? Confirmation was provided that the cables would be underground from the wind farms to the land fall point. This would help with fishing and the environment and it was noted that there would be no restrictions regarding fishing around the turbines. The only restrictions on fishing would be during the construction phase, due to safety reasons.

Councillor Patience sought reassurance about the security of the turbines and as he was concerned that they could become a target for terrorists in the future. It was reported that the design and engineering of the turbines, particularly the bases, were meant to withstand significant forces and they were made of steel. The turbines would not be damaged by being rammed by a boat and it was noted that there was no evidence globally of wind turbines being a target for terrorism.

Councillor Lynch reported that off shore racing was popular and queried whether the turbines would hinder further racing events. It was confirmed that the turbines were an operational asset, however they would not work when there was insufficient wind and they could also be turned off when wind levels were too high or gusty, for safety reasons. Despite this, the wind turbines were anticipated to have a high output of over 50%, as the North Sea was known to have sustainable wind levels to facilitate the turbines. They should not adversely affect any future racing events.

Councillor Topping stated that she was pleased to learn that there would be 24 acres of additional planting around the sub station, however she requested that any trees planted should not have the plastic tubes surrounding their trunks, as they served no real purpose and contributed to litter and pollution over time. It was confirmed that this request would be taken forward and Mr Walker thanked Councillor Topping for her suggestion. He also reported that specialist advice would be sought about the species of trees that would be planted, to enhance and supplement the existing woodland in that area.

6 Councillor Smith-Lyte queried why Friston had been chosen as the location for the sub- station for the wind farm, as the area was very rural and environmentally sensitive. It was reported that the wind farm had to link up to the existing infrastructure that was already in place at Friston as it was suitable to transport the electricity generated by the wind farm. The electricity could then be fed into the national grid, which had capacity to accept this additional electricity. Unfortunately, there was no suitable infrastructure available in Lowestoft and the development of such a sub station would be prohibitively expensive. Although concerns had been raised about the Friston sub station, the site itself was located outside of the Area of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB) and significant planting would be undertaken to mitigate the visual impact.

Councillor Herring commented about the £2.5 million Community Fund which would be created and administered by the Suffolk Foundation. He queried whether the funds would be targeted on the local areas most affected by the proposals? It was reported that the cable route to Grove Wood in Friston and the surrounding area would receive some of the fund monies. It was noted that the Community Fund would also focus upon the coastal areas too, although the exact geographic extent of those coastal areas had yet to be decided.

The Chairman thanked David Walker and Philip Watkins for their lively and informative presentation and he paused the meeting momentarily to allow them to leave the meeting at this point in the proceedings.

7 Questions from Members

(a) Question from Councillor E Brambley-Crawshaw to the Cabinet Member for Transport:

What progress is being made to install Rapid Electric Vehicle charging points in Council owned car parks and other publicly accessible locations?

Response from Councillor N Brooks, Cabinet Member for Transport:

Like other authorities in Suffolk, East Suffolk has started some projects to test the optimum way of installing the infrastructure needed to support electric vehicles. With a likely investment requirement running to several millions of pounds, it is vital that we get the technology right before committing to a district wide roll out. However, we have been actively pursuing some pilot schemes and we are working new installation points into our new builds and redevelopments.

We have delivered an installation in Felixstowe, funded by Highways England, on a pilot basis. This is use at the Manor Road car park and has been providing us with data on take up an CO2 avoidance. As part of this programme we have selected a hardware and software provider – eVolt/ SWARCO – and early indications are that this is working well.

In terms of engaging with technology providers, we are exploring with other providers the potential to link our emerging ‘cashless parking’ offer to a network of charging points in car parks. Our meetings have shown us that this technology is emerging – as are usage patterns. For example, it is currently considered to be the case that people

7 with EVs will ‘graze’ on power whilst away from home and use their home chargers to fully recharge. Therefore, our hardware will have to support this type of use. In terms of installing equipment as part of redevelopments - there has been installation of charging as part of the Deben pool development, and at both Riverside and East Suffolk House. We are also exploring the viability of installing charging points as part of any new on street parking scheme. Charging points will be the default position in new developments and have been included in the business case for Pool, and in the budget.

We have recently appointed a Strategic Parking Manager, so we will be using this learning to draft a strategy for the roll out of charging points in all council run car parks. This strategy will be delivered later this year.

Supplementary Question from Councillor E Brambley-Crawshaw:

Can I seek assurances that the Council will consult widely with partners, including Town and Parish Councils, regarding the future location of these charging points?

Response from Councillor N Brooks, Cabinet Member for Transport:

Yes, we will consult widely about this, as we want to have the best locations possible.

(b) Question from Councillor C Topping to the Cabinet Member for Customer Services & Operational Partnerships

The former Waveney District Council requires residents to put their food and kitchen waste in the black bin and this is sent for incineration. The former Suffolk Coastal District Council allows food waste with garden and this is turned into a valuable soil conditioner. When will this disparity in service within our single Council be rectified? And can we be assured that we adopt the higher of these two standards?

Response from Councillor S Burroughes, Cabinet Member for Customer Services and Operational Partnerships

The Government’s draft waste strategy proposes that food waste will be collected at every household as part of a drive to increase recycling rates. Consultation will continue over the next twelve months. If the result of this consultation is that there is a requirement to collect food waste from every home then all Suffolk authorities will need to consider their investment plans, and the infrastructure needed to deal with food waste at a district wide scale.

In terms of current arrangements: There is a variance between the approach in the two ‘old’ districts. The reasons for this continuing variation is that Suffolk Coastal had a contract with a processors – Biogen – that runs until the end of May 2021. This contractual commitment means that we are not able to substantially change our current operation until then. But clearly, we need to be exploring other options as the direction of national strategy is clear.

8 A separate food waste collection service across the district would, it is estimated, cost the council an additional £1.8m per year. This is mainly due to additional collection costs.

Adding food waste into the green bin collection – the model in the former Suffolk Coastal district – would cost the authority in the region of an additional £400,000 per annum.

There are issues with this approach. It is possible – even likely - that the Waste Strategy may well render the ‘co-mingled’ food waste approach obsolete and require the council to collect a separate food waste stream; i.e. not mixed with garden waste. In addition, this approach does not address the 50% of households in the district that do not have a green bin. Finally, this approach requires the council to pay £42 on every ton of garden and food waste – instead of £20 per ton for single stream garden waste. Therefore, whilst this approach may seem the most straightforward, it may not be viable.

Another key issue is how we reduce food waste in the first place. East Suffolk have been involved in working with Hubbub, a national charity, to reduce food waste by improving access to information. This has included delivering the ‘Food Savvy’ programme – and innovations such as the community fridge project in in Lowestoft, which provides access to fridges for people with surpluses rather than disposal in the black bin.

East Suffolk Council – and other local authorities – has proposed that the costs of separate food waste collections are covered by waste ‘producers’ through the extended producer responsibility component of the strategy.

As it is uncertain whether the government would introduce a policy that put additional costs on food producers, we do need to consider other ways in which the council could deliver this service, without adding to the current £5.5m cost of collecting waste materials.

We welcome discussions with town and parish councils where radical new approaches to waste collection might be supported.

Supplementary Question from Councillor C Topping:

Can I be assured that the Council will work with the Suffolk Waste Partnership to ensure that any waste from East Suffolk, that is sent overseas for recycling, is being recycled and is not being dumped into landfill overseas?

Response from Councillor S Burroughes, Cabinet Member for Customer Services and Operational Partnerships:

The Council is committed to reducing waste and is working closely with the Suffolk Waste Partnership to increase recycling wherever possible. We are also working to reduce the large amount of food waste that is generate, which will help the environment.

9 N.B. Councillor P Byatt took the opportunity to state that many companies were working hard to reduce their impact on the environment and he reported that all of the waste collected by Biffa was recycled and nothing was put into landfill.

(c) Question from Councillor L Gooch to the Cabinet Member for the Leader of the Council:

I understand that prior to the Merger, Waveney District Council offered interim payments to applicants for Universal Credit if their payments were delayed. If that is so, can the Portfolio Holder please explain for the benefit of all Councillors how that is now working as part of East Suffolk's support to struggling residents?

Response from Councillor S Gallant, Leader of the Council:

The Council continues to award the statutory two week run on of Housing Benefit when Universal Credit is claimed – the so called ‘transitional payment’. This additional payment is automatically awarded by the Benefits service irrespective of when the DWP will pay Universal Credit. The Council continues to support customers to claim Universal Credit, working in partnership with the DWP Jobcentre and Citizen’s Advice, who will assist customers to claim an advance payment from the DWP.

Supplementary Question from Councillor L Gooch: There has historically been a low take up of these transitional payments. What is the Council doing to ensure that the public know that the transitional payments are available?

Response from Councillor S Gallant, Leader of the Council: The Council signposts people to our partner organisations including the DWP, Job Centre and Citizens Advice Bureaux and we do all we can to help raise awareness of the support available. However it should be noted that not all claimants are in need of transitional payments.

(d) Question from Councillor P Byatt to the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development:

I am sure we all share the disappointing news that Lowestoft has missed out with its application to the Government’s Future High Street Funds to support development in Lowestoft. This is particularly frustrating as our neighbours just up the coast were successful. Can Councillor Rivett shed any light on how this came about, given the significant needs of Lowestoft?

Response from Councillor C Rivett, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development:

A comprehensive expression of interest was compiled by officers from a number of teams across the council. The bid clearly articulated the challenges currently facing Lowestoft town centre alongside the significant opportunities for redevelopment if funding was secured. The submission was strongly evidence based (using robust data sets covering town centre uses, vacancy rates, demographics, deprivation indices etc.) and presented a strong case for investment linked to our ambitious vision for the town

10 centre. Furthermore, the bid was also strongly supported by 15 local and regional partners across the private, public and voluntary sectors e.g. New Anglia LEP, Suffolk CC, ABP, CEFAS, Anglia Water, Lowestoft TC, Access Community Trust.

The Future High Street Fund was a competitive, national fund, with all high streets and town centres from across the county eligible to apply. Of the over 300 applications submitted only 51 were successful and will now progress the full business case phase. Regrettably, on this occasion Government decided not to put the Lowestoft EoI through to the next stage.

Three towns in Suffolk submitted applications (Ipswich and Haverhill in addition to Lowestoft) and none were successful whilst 2 towns in , Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn were successful. The next stage of the process guarantees smaller amounts of revenue funding to work up feasibility reports / business cases but does not guarantee capital funding at the end of the process.

Great Yarmouth had a town centre masterplan in place, which possibly resulted in them being further along in the process in terms of setting a vision and having projects sufficiently worked up. The initial general feedback from government said it was focussing on those places that have “shovel ready” projects where there might be opportunities to accelerate these. This was disappointing since the funding criteria did not state this and in fact stated that if successful in the EoI stage, funding would be made available to work up investment plans.

A second round of funding will be launched early 2020 and the ambition is for Lowestoft to resubmit. In the meantime, a Town Centre Officers Group is working on commissioning a town centre masterplan to ensure the town is in the best possible position for a revised bid. Regardless of the future success of any funding bids for the revitalisation of the town centre ESC is committed to an ambitious redevelopment which includes significantly broadening the offer to include more leisure, community, residential and business uses in order to maintain the relevance and increase the footfall in the high street.

Response from Councillor P Byatt:

Thank you for your thorough answer. We really need to get behind Lowestoft and highlight all of the opportunities that are available - there are many great things happening such as the Third Crossing, Tidal Barrier and the First Light Festival.

8 Petitions

No Petitions had been received, as provided by Council Procedure Rule 10.

9 Notices of Motion

The Chairman advised that two Notices of Motion had been received for this meeting and that each Notice of Motion would be considered individually. In accordance with the Council's Constitution, a Motion could only be discussed with the consent of the Council, otherwise Notices of Motion would be referred to the Cabinet or the most relevant Committee. The Chairman then handed over to the Leader of the Council to invite the Councillors who had proposed the Motions to speak to them.

11

(a) Councillor R Smith-Lyte has submitted the following Notice of Motion:

"This Council pledges to: 1. Declare a Climate Emergency. 2. Set up a Policy Development Panel, commencing by October 2019, to investigate ways to cut East Suffolk Councils carbon and harmful emissions on a spend to save basis, with the ambition to make East Suffolk Council (including all buildings and services) carbon neutral by 2030. 3. To work with Suffolk County Council and other partners across the county and region, including the LEP and the Public Sector Leaders towards the aspiration of making the county of Suffolk carbon neutral by 2030. 4. To work with Government to a) deliver its 25 year Environment Plan and b) increase the powers and resources available to local authorities in order to make the 2030 target easier to achieve."

Councillor Elliott, Leader of the GLI Group, stated that he wished to make a very small amendment to the Notice of Motion. The change would be to replace the words 'Policy Development Panel' with Cross-Party Task Group within the second pledge. He confirmed that this change had been requested by the Cabinet Member for the Environment and had been agreed with the Notice of Motion's proposer, Councillor Smith-Lyte.

Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was unanimously APPROVED.

Councillor Byatt, Leader of the Labour Group, then took the opportunity to propose a further amendment, that 'the Task Group would report back on progress at quarterly intervals'. This would ensure that Councillors were kept apprised of any developments and that progress would continue to be made.

The Chief Executive reported that there had been two amendments made to the Notice of Motion and he took the opportunity to check that Councillor Smith-Lyte was content to accept the changes. Councillor Smith-Lyte confirmed that she was satisfied with the changes and was happy for the Motion to be voted upon. The amended Notice of Motion was duly proposed and seconded and upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED

That the Notice of Motion, with the two proposed amendments, be APPROVED and it was also CONFIRMED that the Motion would be debated by Full Council this evening.

Councillor Burroughes queried whether the proposed quarterly updates on progress would be brought to Full Council or the Cabinet. There followed some discussion in this respect and it was confirmed that the update reports would be brought to the Cabinet, as all Working Groups/Task Groups needed to report back to the Cabinet, in accordance with the Council's Constitution.

Councillor Smith-Lyte reported that she had submitted the Notice of Motion as there needed to be urgent action to address climate change. Advice needed to be sought on

12 what the Council and its residents could do to help, as excessive carbon was significantly affecting the climate and ocean density. There was plenty of evidence to show that carbon was causing the changes to the climate that were being experienced around the world. The issue of climate change was not party political and cross-party consensus was needed to decide on the best way to proceed and the measures the Council could practically take to address this issue. West Council had ventured into generating solar energy and they were able to sell their excess energy back to the national grid. This Council needed to work proactively and look at different ways that it could make a difference. The leadership of the Council should be looking at ways of future proofing against climate change and ways to reduce it and it should look to embrace the opportunities that arose as a result of this change. The Council should take the lead in the district and encourage others to look at a wide range of ways to become carbon neutral. She took the opportunity to thank Councillors for their support and she sought commitment that this matter would receive ongoing consideration in future.

Councillor Mallinder, the Cabinet Member for the Environment, thanked Councillor Smith-Lyte for submitting this Motion, which was supported by Councillors and touched everyone's lives. The Council had a responsibility to take action and could make changes in effect to food waste, rubbish collections and recycling and was ultimately responsible for the direction of the Environmental Strategy that the Council would follow. It was noted that small changes could make a significant difference and all targets set would need to be achievable in order for there to be meaningful changes. The Council was also taking part in several pilot schemes, including one in Southwold which involved reducing the number of times that grass was cut, which would assist in helping wild flowers and insects to flourish. To date, the pilot scheme had worked well and it was hoped that it would be expanded more widely in future. East Suffolk Council definitely meant business and as such it would be working closely with colleagues and partners to help improve efficiency and make the right choices for the future.

Councillor Ritchie, Cabinet Member for Planning and Coastal Management, reported that climate change had a significant impact upon his portfolio. The coastline was dynamic and continuously changing and should the sea levels rise as a result of global warming, this would have a tremendous impact upon the district. and Benacre had a pumping station close to the sea and should that pumping station be overwhelmed by the sea, it would lead to the flooding of 100 hectares. in Lowestoft was also prone to tidal surges. A tidal barrage was planned for Lowestoft, which would be able to cope with a maximum of 0.5 metre increase in sea levels. This work was essential and the government would need to assist with additional funding to assist with these important schemes.

Councillor Brambley-Crawshaw reported that urgent action was needed to help mitigate climate change. A recent report had stated that there was only 12 years in which to act to prevent devastating climate change, and the changes needed to be front loaded, so the majority of the changes needed to be made during the next 18 months. The world was facing rapid and unprecedented changes and action was required before it was too late. The Council could use its influence and collaborate with other organisations and agencies. It could also use some of the environmental toolkits which were available and which could be used as a practical guide to make real

13 change. This Motion was the first step on an important journey which must be taken in order to avoid unprecedented climate change.

Councillor Elliott took the opportunity to thank the Cabinet Member for the Environment for his support for the Notice of Motion and he commended the questions that he had asked at the last Cabinet meeting, regarding environmental matters. It was important that all Members of the Council worked together to tackle the underlying issues, which would cause changes to the way that we live our lives. He also thanked the Liberal Democrat Councillors for taking a step back and not seconding the Motion, although they were very supportive of it. The subject of climate change required political maturity at this time, with Councillors working for the best outcome rather than political point scoring. The Leader of the Council, in his opening speech back in May 2019 had mentioned the environment several times and had quoted David Attenborough and he had agreed with everything that was said. The planet would ultimately survive and would bounce back from the devastation of climate change, but it would not be a planet that we recognised or could continue to live with. The Leader had also mentioned a 30 year vision of East Suffolk Council in his opening speech, which would take us to almost the year 2050. What will life be like for us then? Would many of us be climate refugees if we take no action now? He reported that he was very supportive of the Motion and it was time to become part of the solution.

Councillor Bird stated that he also supported the Motion and he commented that new record temperatures or weather phenomena were now being experienced on a regular basis, which demonstrated that climate change was real. It was important not to make empty promises, and that real action was required. This would involve looking at the way that we live, how we use various electrical gadgets, how we heat and cool our homes, and the clothes we wear. Words were easy, however actions were much more difficult and it was important that Councillors took the opportunity to ask challenging questions during meetings, to ensure that reducing climate change remained a focus of the Council.

Councillor Mapey thanked Councillor Smith-Lyte for her Motion, which he agreed was extremely important. It was a momentous day, as this was the first Motion for East Suffolk Council and it was good to hear the Leader's speech being quoted by Councillor Elliott. Councillor Mapey was also a Woodbridge Town Councillor and he reported that a climate change emergency had recently been declared at that Council's last meeting. It was important for all Councils to do this and to recognise the seriousness of the situation. Councils had a duty to act to mitigate the effects of climate change. He also stated that it was important for people to reduce climate change without being required to live 'lesser lives' in order to do so. He also said that whilst there had been several mentions of reducing levels of carbon during the debate, it was actually the carbon dioxide emissions which had a negative impact on the environment and which needed to be reduced. Carbon was a different element entirely.

Councillor Byatt reported that national government had already declared a climate emergency and there was no time to waste, otherwise things could spiral out of control. He reported that other countries had taken a different approach to climate change and had already taken other steps to reduce litter, such as chewing gum and cigarette ends. Education was the key and it was important to let everyone know how important small changes could be over time. Recycling rates and the use of single use

14 plastics needed to increase. It was also important to plant more trees as they would use up carbon dioxide, whilst producing valuable oxygen.

Councillor Deacon reported that Felixstowe Town Council had already declared a climate emergency and several young people had helped to raise the profile of this issue, in a very eloquent way. It was important for everyone to think about what they could do to help reduce climate change.

Councillor Gallant, Leader of the Council, confirmed that it was a cross party matter and the establishment of a Task Group was the best way for the Council to achieve this. It was important to look at all possible ways of engaging with a variety of other organisations to help reduce climate change, however it should be noted that the Council could not achieve miracles and instead should lead by example and encourage others to do their best too.

Councillor Gooch stated that she endorsed all of the comments made to date. East Suffolk Council was in a unique position as it was surrounded by off shore energy. She also said that the former Waveney District Council had supported the reduction in neonicotinoids in the . The quarterly updates on the progress of the Task Group would be welcome as it was important to maintain the profile and momentum of this. It was important for the Council to do as much as it could to help reduce climate change and pollution in general.

The Chief Executive then read out the amended Motion in full. It was then moved by Councillor Smith-Lyte, seconded by Councillor Gooch and it was

RESOLVED

“This Council pledges to:

1. Declare a Climate Emergency. 2. Set up a Cross Party Task Group, commencing by October 2019, to investigate ways to cut East Suffolk Council’s carbon and harmful emissions on a spend to save basis, with ambition to make East Suffolk Council (including all buildings and services) carbon neutral by 2030. The Cross Party Task Group will report on their progress on a quarterly basis. 3. To work with Suffolk County Council and other partners across the county and region, including the LEP and the Public Sector Leaders, towards the aspiration of making the county of Suffolk carbon neutral by 2030. 4. To work with Government to a) deliver its 25 year Environmental Plan and b) increase the powers and resources available to local authorities in order to make the 2030 target easier to achieve.”

The Leader then reported that Full Council would consider the second Notice of Motion.

(b) Councillor G Elliott has submitted the following Notice of Motion:

"This Council notes that: • the former Waveney District Council had a policy of actively supporting

15 Fairtrade whilst the former Suffolk Coastal District Council had no such policy. • Suffolk has eight “Fairtrade Towns”, five of which are in the East Suffolk Council area, two in the former Waveney District and three in the former Suffolk Coastal District. • Global Fairtrade sales last year generated £142 million in Fairtrade Premium. Farmers in 73 countries have invested this money in their communities, increasing business productivity and contributing to the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). • Despite this positive news, exploitation remains rampant in global supply chains. More than 40 million people are trapped in modern slavery, including forced labour, and 152 million young people in child labour. Hundreds of millions more are earning less than a living income or wage.

This Council resolves to: • Renew the commitment to Fairtrade of the former Waveney District Council and expand this to the new East Suffolk Council. • Actively promote Fairtrade locally, through support for local groups, in the media including social media, and events, including during Fairtrade Fortnight. • Review its procurement policy, including its catering offer, to ensure that Fairtrade produce is chosen wherever possible, and that Fair Trade considerations are included as a preference in any contracts going out to tender."

Councillor Elliott proposed the Motion and this was duly seconded by Councillor Brambley-Crawshaw.

Councillor Gallant, Leader of the Council, stated that he would like to propose an amendment to the Motion. He wished to include an additional paragraph, which would appear after the first paragraph, and to amend the final paragraph to read:

This Council, nevertheless, recognises that: • The Fair Trade scheme, while making a positive contribution to global wellbeing, is but part of a wider range of initiatives that all play their part in raising living standards. • Overall, the dramatic global reduction in levels of absolute poverty we have seen over the last 30 years or so, and commensurate increase in living standards, has been a direct result, not of Fair Trade, but of expanding free trade, free markets and capitalism across many previously poor countries of the world. • Any support for a particular scheme such as Fair Trade must be set against other, often competing local and global challenges, such as supporting local producers, reducing food miles, and improving healthy eating.

Therefore, this Council resolves to: • Support food-based initiatives, including Fairtrade, that demonstrate a commitment to improving living standards and raising people out of poverty, while supporting our local economy. • Promote Fairtrade as part of this wider ethical approach, including through support for local groups, in the media including social media, and events, including during Fairtrade Fortnight. • Review its procurement policy, including its catering offer, to ensure that Fairtrade produce is included where possible, and that Fair Trade and other ethical

16 considerations are given appropriate weighting when drawing up any contracts going out to tender.

The proposed amendment was moved by Councillor Gallant, Leader of the Council, and was seconded by Councillor Blundell.

Councillor Elliott spoke and said that he was unable to accept the proposed amendment. He felt that it took the focus away from Fair Trade, which was a worthy and ethical cause to support. Fair Trade products such as tea, coffee and chocolate were important as they were products which could not be grown in the local area due climatic factors. Therefore Fair Trade played an important role, globally, in reducing poverty. He felt that it was not appropriate to link Fair Trade with other initiatives in this way. Councillor Elliott said that he was saddened at the amendment and he was unable to support it.

Councillor Mapey reported that he was pleased to see that the proposed amendment included the Council reviewing its procurement policy and the catering offer in its offices. He highlighted other initiatives which helped the environment and also reduced poverty, such as the Rainforest Alliance. It was important to reduce food miles and support local businesses.

Councillor Brambley-Crawshaw stated that she was saddened by the conflict which had been created by the proposed amendment. She stated that the Fair Trade Motion focused on produce which was not grown in the UK and that there was no other equivalent to Fair Trade. She was saddened that an amendment was being proposed, which changed the focus and meaning of the Motion. The Motion had been a way of continuing the good work and the decision of the former Waveney District Council, to support Fair Trade, with Lowestoft becoming the first Fair Trade town in Suffolk, as a result. Fair Trade was not just about growers selling their produce for a fair price, it was also about values, ideals and ethics. She reiterated that she was very upset that the Motion was being amended in this way.

Councillor Byatt reported that he agreed with Councillors Brambley-Crawshaw and Elliott and he echoed their sentiments. The Motion should be about Fair Trade only and he felt that the amendment was not relevant on this occasion.

Councillor Gooch reported that ethical food production in the local area was important in its own right, however, this was being confused with Fair Trade, which had unique values and ideals.

Councillor Topping stated that she agreed. The sign welcoming visitors to Lowestoft stated that it was Suffolk's First Fair Trade Town and that Fair Trade was unique. She said it would be helpful to have signs in the cafe to inform people that they were purchasing Fair Trade goods and were making a difference.

Councillor Ritchie reported that he had a family member who lived in Argentina and they had provided some different perspectives on how Fair Trade operates abroad. He reported that he had been told that Fair Trade would only help and support local farmers on their own terms. It was also suggested that Fair Trade had had a negative impact upon some smaller, independent producers. Therefore, it was important to

17 realise that there were positive and negative impacts to all initiatives and they needed to be carefully evaluated.

Councillor Blundell stated that Fair Trade was a means of allowing producers abroad to develop and sell their goods for a fair price, which significantly helped poorer countries. Whilst it was important to support Fair Trade, however, it was also important to be pragmatic, as not all of the funds raised were paid back to the farmers. Therefore, it was appropriate to support all initiatives which helped to support farmers, locally and abroad, and to reduce food miles and damage to the environment.

The Leader of the Council reported that he was surprised by the level of debate around the proposed amendments, which he felt had enhanced the Motion. A vote was taken on whether or not to accept the amendment. On being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED

That the amendment to the Motion be approved.

Councillor Elliott, as the proposer of the original Motion, reported that although he was disappointed that it had been amended, he still felt that it was a positive Motion and there were further discussions on to have on it, and further amendments to be made.

The Chief Executive sought advice from the Monitoring Officer at this point during the meeting, regarding further amendments and speeches. The Monitoring Officer referred to sub-paragraphs 13.6 (d) and 13.6 (e) of the Council's Constitution, and advised that the amended motion had taken the place of the original motion. It had become the substantive motion on which further amendments could be moved. So, the question was whether there were further amendments to be made to the substantive motion, and if not, it could be put to the vote.

Councillor Elliott stated that he whilst he did not agree with the amendment, he accepted that it had been approved, however, he felt that the discussions which had taken place so far, were only about the amendment, they were not about the substantive Motion and the importance of Fair Trade.

He then stated that he would like to propose a further amendment, whereby the Council 'acknowledges the great work done by the 5 Fair Trade towns in the .' Confirmation was provided that he would like this amendment to be added to the last bullet point of the Motion and the amendment was duly seconded by Councillor Brambley-Crawshaw.

Councillor Goldson reported that there were many smaller villages and organisations which were working with Fair Trade and therefore, it was unfair to ignore the good work being undertaken by others. Councillor Gallant, Leader of the Council, stated that Councillor Goldson made a valid point. Councillor Elliott then WITHDREW his proposed amendment.

18 Councillor Herring then raised a point of order, as he stated that there had not been sufficient debate about the substantive Motion, and he felt that this was unfair to Councillor Elliott.

The Chief Executive reiterated the advice previously provided by the Monitoring Officer. There being no further amendments, he then read out the Motion in full prior to it being put to the vote, where it was

RESOLVED

This Council notes that:

• the former Waveney District Council had a policy of actively supporting Fairtrade whilst the former Suffolk Coastal District Council had no such policy. • Suffolk has eight “Fairtrade Towns”, five of which are in the East Suffolk Council area, two in the former Waveney District and three in the former Suffolk Coastal District. • Global Fairtrade sales last year generated £142 million in Fairtrade Premium. Farmers in 73 countries have invested this money in their communities, increasing business productivity and contributing to the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). • Despite this positive news, exploitation remains rampant in global supply chains. More than 40 million people are trapped in modern slavery, including forced labour, and 152 million young people in child labour. Hundreds of millions more are earning less than a living income or wage.

This Council, nevertheless, recognises that:

• The Fair Trade scheme, while making a positive contribution to global wellbeing, is but part of a wider range of initiatives that all play their part in raising living standards. • Overall, the dramatic global reduction in levels of absolute poverty we have seen over the last 30 years or so, and commensurate increase in living standards, has been a direct result, not of Fair Trade, but of expanding free trade, free markets and capitalism across many previously poor countries of the world. • Any support for a particular scheme such as Fair Trade must be set against other, often competing local and global challenges, such as supporting local producers, reducing food miles, and improving healthy eating.

Therefore, this Council resolves to:

• Support food-based initiatives, including Fairtrade, that demonstrate a commitment to improving living standards and raising people out of poverty, while supporting our local economy. • Promote Fairtrade as part of this wider ethical approach, including through support for local groups, in the media including social media, and events, including during Fairtrade Fortnight. • Review its procurement policy, including its catering offer, to ensure that Fairtrade produce is included where possible, and that Fair Trade and other ethical

19 considerations are given appropriate weighting when drawing up any contracts going out to tender.

10 Membership of the Audit & Governance Committee, Scrutiny Committee, Licensing Committee, Appointments of Assistant Cabinet Members, Heritage Champion and Outside Bodies (Non Executive Function) The Leader of the Council presented the report, which sought to make a number of appointments to the Council's Committees. It was noted that the Council appointed to its Committees at its Annual meeting in May each year. Members who were appointed to Council Committees were expected to have received the appropriate development / training to enable them to carry out their roles effectively on whichever body they serve.

Since the Annual Meeting, Councillor F Mortimer had advised that he was no longer able to be the Vice Chairman or a Member of the Audit & Governance Committee, with immediate effect. He then took the opportunity to propose that Councillor Back be appointed Vice Chairman of the Audit & Governance Committee, for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

It was noted that Councillor Cook had recently been appointed as the Assistant Cabinet Member for Resources, therefore he was no longer eligible to sit on the Audit & Governance Committee, which resulted in two vacancies on that Committee. It was therefore proposed that Councillor Cooper and Councillor Cloke be appointed to the Audit & Governance Committee with immediate effect.

The Leader reported that since the Annual Meeting, Councillor William Taylor had advised that he is no longer able to sit on the Scrutiny Committee and the Leader then proposed that Councillor Back be appointed to the Scrutiny Committee, for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

Additionally, Councillor Haworth-Culf and Councillor Taylor have advised that they are no longer able to sit on the Licensing Committee. The Leader then proposed that Councillor Coulam and Councillor Goldson be appointed to the Licensing Committee, for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

The Leader of the Council reported that it was his decision regarding the size and membership of the Cabinet, which was exempt from the political proportionality rules under the Local Government Act 2000. He then took the opportunity to announce that he had made 3 Assistant Cabinet Member appointments:

- Councillor Alison Cackett has been appointed Assistant Cabinet Member for Transport. - Councillor Maurice Cook has been appointed Assistant Cabinet Member for Finance. - Councillor Mark Jepson has been appointed Assistant Cabinet Member for Community Health.

The Leader reported that Heritage England encouraged all local authorities to appoint a Heritage Champion, in order to support the protection of the historic environment at a local level. He stated that it would be beneficial for East Suffolk Council to have a Heritage Champion and due to its significance, he took the opportunity to propose that

20 this role be filled by Councillor Craig Rivett, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development, as it fits well within his Portfolio.

Since the Annual Meeting on 22 May 2019, the North East Suffolk Citizens Advice Bureaux had been contacted and they have responded that they would like to have a representative from East Suffolk Council. There have been a number of nominations received for this position, therefore there will need to be a vote to fill this position. There followed some discussion in this respect, during which Councillors Beavan, Byatt, Cooper and Patience withdrew their nominations. Therefore Councillor F Mortimer was appointed to this Outside Body unopposed.

Councillor Topping sought clarification regarding the last recommendation, which granted the Leader of the Council delegated authority to make amendments to the Council's Outside Body appointments as appropriate. The Monitoring Officer reported that vacancies may arise during the year, if so the Group Leaders would discuss the matter and agree a way forward, with the delegation for the decision resting with the Leader of the Council.

The Leader moved the recommendations en bloc and this was duly seconded by Councillor Rivett and it was

RESOLVED

1. That a Councillor Cooper be appointed to the Audit & Governance Committee for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year with immediate effect to replace Councillor F Mortimer.

2. That a Councillor Cloke be appointed to the Audit & Governance Committee for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year with immediate effect to replace Councillor Cook.

3. That Councillor Back be appointed as Vice Chairman of the Audit & Governance Committee for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year with immediate effect.

4. That Councillor Back be appointed to the Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year with immediate effect to replace Councillor Taylor.

5. That Councillor Coulam be appointed to the Licensing Committee for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year, with immediate effect to replace Councillor Haworth-Culf.

6. That a Councillor Goldson be appointed to the Licensing Committee for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year, with immediate effect to replace Councillor Taylor.

7. That the Group Leaders make revisions to their appointments to the Council’s Committees, as appropriate and necessary, during the year.

8. That Council notes that Councillor Cackett has been appointed as the Assistant Cabinet Member for Transport.

21

9. That Council notes that Councillor Jepson has been appointed as the Assistant Cabinet Member for Community Health.

10. That Council notes that Councillor Cook has been appointed as the Assistant Cabinet Member for Resources.

11. That Councillor Rivett, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development be appointed as the Council’s Heritage Champion.

12. That Councillor F Mortimer be appointed as the Council’s representative on the North East Suffolk Citizens’ Advice Bureaux, for the remainder of the 2019/20 Municipal year.

13. That the Leader of the Council be granted Delegated Authority in order to make revisions to the appointments on the Council’s Outside Bodies (Non Executive Function) as required, in consultation with the other Group Leaders, when appropriate.

11 Appointments to Working Groups

The Leader of the Council reported that the Council appoints to a number of Working Groups each year, as part of its corporate governance framework, in support of the democratic process and decision-making arrangements. The Councillors appointed to the Working Groups work to help address local issues and to achieve sustainable solutions, which helps to deliver a strong and sustainable local economy and improves the quality of life for everyone living and working in the District. The proposed Council Working Groups for 2019 / 20 are:

1 The Local Plan Working Group 2 The Housing Benefits and Tenant Services Consultation Group 3 The Member Development Steering Group 4 The Lowestoft Transport and Infrastructure Prospectus Steering Group

The Working Groups each have clear terms of reference outlining their roles, responsibilities and reporting mechanisms, thereby increasing openness and transparency and making the best use of resources. This information was contained within Appendix A and where specific post holder nominations were required, these were also outlined in Appendix A. It was noted that the Membership of the Member Development Steering Group and the Lowestoft Transport and Infrastructure Prospectus Steering Group had already been provided by the Group Leaders and was included within Appendix A to the report.

With regard to the Local Plan Working Group, the Leader suggested that the vacancies for 2 Planning Committee Members should be delegated to the Planning Committee North and Planning Committee South to decide, with each Committee filling one vacancy. There remained 3 vacancies for Other Members and the Leader sought nominations for those vacancies. There were 4 nominations received - Councillors Deacon, Elliott, Pitchers and Yule. Following a vote, it was confirmed that Councillors Deacon, Elliott and Pitchers would fill the 3 vacancies. It was confirmed that other

22 Members could attend the Local Plan Working Group Meetings by invitation, if they were interested.

In respect of the Housing Benefits and Tenant Services Consultation Group, it was confirmed that there was one vacancy for a Member of the Scrutiny Committee. The Leader of the Council suggested that this vacancy should be delegated to the Scrutiny Committee to fill. There were also vacancies for 4 other Members and the Leader sought nominations for those vacancies. There were 5 nominations received - Councillors Beavan, Jepson, Mapey, Patience and Robinson. Following a vote, it was confirmed that Councillors Jepson, Mapey, Patience and Robinson would fill the 4 vacancies.

RESOLVED

1. That the membership of the Member Development Steering Group and the Lowestoft Transport and Infrastructure Prospectus Steering Group for the 2019/20 Municipal Year be appointed, as supplied by Group Leaders.

2. That the membership of the Local Plan Working Group and the Housing Benefits and Tenant Services Consultation Group for the 2019/20 Municipal year be appointed, as supplied by the Group Leaders and the outstanding vacancies be filled as follows:

- Local Plan Working Group - that the vacancies for 2 Planning Committee Members be delegated to the Planning Committee North and Planning Committee South to decide, with each Committee filling one vacancy and that Councillors Deacon, Elliott and Pitchers would fill the remaining 3 vacancies.

- Housing Benefits and Tenant Services Consultation Group - that the vacancy for a Scrutiny Committee member should be delegated to the Scrutiny Committee to fill and that Councillors Jepson, Mapey, Patience and Robinson would fill the remaining 4 vacancies.

3. That the Leader be granted Delegated Authority to make any necessary changes to the membership of the Working Groups for the remainder of the 2019/20 Municipal Year, in consultation with the other Group Leaders.

12 Cabinet Members Report and Outside Bodies Representatives Report to Council

The Leader of the Council reported that he had given the Cabinet Members the opportunity to provide Members with an update on their areas of responsibility and a number of updates were contained in the report for this evening. The Cabinet Members did not have any additional information to provide at the meeting and there were no questions from Members. It was confirmed that there were no Outside Body Representatives Reports to Council for this meeting.

RESOLVED That the report be received.

13 Exempt/Confidential Items

23 RESOLVED

That, under Section 100(a)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the public be excluded from the Meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

N.B. The Chairman took the opportunity to adjourn the meeting from 9.10 pm to 9.20 pm to allow Members to consider two additional documents that had just been tabled and circulated in relation to the Lowestoft Full Fibre report. The documents were an Addendum and a Business Case. Members read through the documents during this interval and the meeting reconvened at 9.20 pm.

N.B. Councillor K Patience declared a Local Non Pecuniary Interest during the consideration of Item 14 - Lowestoft Full Fibre, as he was a Lowestoft Town Councillor and the matter under consideration would include CCTV. He then chose to leave the meeting at 9.35 pm, during the consideration of this item, and he took no part in the debate or voting thereon.

14 Lowestoft Full Fibre Project

• Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

The meeting concluded at 9:45 pm

………………………………………….. Chairman

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Agenda Item 10

ES/0150

COUNCIL

Wednesday, 25 September 2019

POLITICAL BALANCE OF EAST SUFFOLK COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Membership of Committees and Sub-Committees of East Suffolk Council is determined under the terms of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 (the Regulations).

2. The Regulations require the Authority to ensure that the seats on Committees are allocated by Group Leaders in proportion to the political groups’ membership of the Council. Also, under paragraph 17 of the Regulations, to review the representation of the various political groups’ allocations, as soon as practical after any notice of change in the numbers of each Groups’ membership.

3. This report contains recommendations on the allocation of seats on the Council’s Committees and Sub-Committees, following the recent decision by former Independent Councillor T Cooper to join the Conservatives.

Is the report Open or Exempt? Open

Wards Affected: All Wards in the District

Cabinet Member: Leader of the Council

Supporting Officer: Hilary Slater Head of Legal and Democratic Services 01394 444336 [email protected]

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1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The overall political composition of the Council must be reflected in the appointment of Members to Committees and Sub-Committees, in accordance with the Regulations. 1.2 As soon as practical after a change in the overall political balance, the authority is required to undertake a review and to consider any implications for representation on the Council Committees. 1.3 This report is to provide an update on the current political composition of the Council, following Councillor T Cooper’s move to the Conservative Group, which was announced at the last full Council meeting on 24 July 2019.

2 POLITICAL COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL Previous Overall Political Composition of the Council 2.1 The Council has 55 Councillors. 2.2 Following the election, the Councillors from the Green Party, Liberal Democrat Party and the Independent Councillors agreed to form a group, known as the GLI Group. 2.3 The composition of the Council, following the elections on 2 May 2019, is shown below: Conservative 39 Labour 7 GLI 9

2.4 As a result of Councillor Cooper’s change of Group, the current political composition of the Council is as follows: Conservative 40 Labour 7 GLI 8

3 POLITICAL PROPORTIONALITY OF THE COUNCIL’S COMMITTEES

3.1 There are currently 61 Committee places that need to be shared out on a politically proportionate basis. 3.2 At the Annual Council meeting on 22 May 2019, Council Cooper was allocated a seat on the Planning Committee South. 3.3 It is proposed that Councillor Cooper retains his seat on the Planning Committee South, as a Conservative Councillor. This will ensure that the political proportionality of the Council is maintained.

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3.4 The table below provides the proposed distribution of Committee seats, for information:

Total Conservatives Labour GLI

District Councillors 55 40 7 8

Audit and Governance 9 6 1 2 Committee Licensing Committee 15 11 2 2

Planning Committee North 9 7 1 1

Planning Committee South 9 7 1 1

Scrutiny Committee 13 9 2 2

Appointments Committee 6 4 1 1

Total Proportional 61 44 8 9 Allocations (Seats)

4 FINANCIAL AND GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS 4.1 The Local Government & Housing Act 1989 and the Regulations require that the political balance of the Council be reflected in the appointment of Members to Committees and Sub-Committees of the Council. Any changes in the political balance will impact on the allocation of seats on Committees, and the Council is under a duty to review those allocations, as a result of any change.

5 OTHER KEY ISSUES AND OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED 5.1 The Council is required to undertake a review, following any change to the political balance of the Council. The Council also needs to appoint to Committees / Sub- Committees in order to carry out its business effectively. Appointment to these bodies gives Members an opportunity to carry out their community leadership role and enables cross party views to be given on specific issues which is healthy for democracy and good decision-making.

6 REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION 6.1 To ensure that Members are aware of the political balance of the Council and that Members are appointed to the Committees for the 2019 / 20 municipal year, in accordance with the politically proportionality rules and that decision-making is undertaken in a democratic way.

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RECOMMENDATIONS 1. That the updated political balance of the Council and the composition of the Committees be noted. 2. That Members note that Councillor Cooper has retained his seat on the Planning Committee South, as a Conservative Councillor.

APPENDICES – None

BACKGROUND PAPERS – None

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Agenda Item 11 ES/0156

COUNCIL

Wednesday 25 September 2019

ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this report is to explain what Community Partnerships (CPs) are, and to outline their purpose, structure, governance and funding. The report seeks Council approval for their establishment in East Suffolk, and the necessary funding to facilitate this.

Is the report Open or Exempt? Open

Wards Affected: All Wards

Cabinet Member: Councillor Steve Gallant, Leader of the Council Councillor Letitia Smith, Cabinet Member for Customers, Communities and Leisure

Supporting Officer: Nicole Rickard Head of Communities 01502 523231 [email protected]

Luke Bennett Partnership Manager (East Suffolk Partnership) [email protected]

29 1 WHY HAVE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS? 1.1 During the consultation process on the creation of the East Suffolk Council (ESC), concerns were expressed about the larger wards which were proposed, and the increased populations in each, averaging 3,670 residents per Councillor. 1.2 There was also concern about the size of the geographical areas of each ward to be covered by the 55 newly elected Councillors of the ESC. It was anticipated that it might be a challenge for Councillors to develop and maintain good working relationships with the Town and Parish Councils in their wards, as some would have more than 40 Parish Councils and Meetings to attend. 1.3 Therefore, the Constitution and Governance Working Group of the Shadow Authority for the ESC, at its meeting on 22/10/19 endorsed the concept of CPs, as a means to address these concerns. 1.4 In paragraph 13 of the Summary of the ESC’s Constitution, on page 8, under the heading “Partnership Working”, the ESC acknowledged the importance of collaboration, in assisting it to meet its vision and objectives. It specifically stated that the ESC may establish up to eight CPs which would cover the district.

2 WHAT ARE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS? 2.1 It is proposed to create eight CPs, based on logical, geographical groupings of communities, using the ESC ward boundaries as the building blocks. Each of the eight CPs will include between two and six wards. The proposed CPs are shown on the map at Appendix A to this report.

2.2 The CPs will • provide a positive way for Councillors to reach into their communities and bring them together, with other stakeholders, at regular meetings, workshops and events. • Discuss, analyse and understand local needs based on facts, figures and local insight provided by the Suffolk Office of Data Analytics (SODA), and develop collaborative solutions to meet those needs. • facilitate partnership working and collaboration at a much more local level. • enable ESC to pool and devolve funding, and involvement in decision making, to its communities. • be innovative, informal and develop to suit the needs of each CP area. 2.3 Each ESC Councillor for a CP area will be a member of that CP, so there will be between 4 and 14 ESC Councillors per CP. The table below shows the wards in each area, the number of councillors and the number of residents registered to vote in each CP area: Community Partnership Name Wards Cllrs Population Lowestoft 5, 10, 12, 16, 17, 21 14 52,766 Beccles, Bungay & 2, 3, 11 7 25,646 Kessingland, & Southwold 6, 15, 25, 29 5 18,061 & 9, 13, 27 4 14,271 Leiston & 1, 24 4 13,731 Woodbridge, Melton & Deben 7, 19, 22, 28 5 18,058 & Martlesham 4, 14, 18, 23 8 29,506 Felixstowe 8, 20, 26 8 29,054

30 2.4 To maximise their effectiveness and ability to innovate, it is hoped that CPs will evolve differently in each of the eight localities, within a framework agreed by ESC. It is not envisaged that each CP will be the same because they will develop to suit the needs of their own locality. No one size fits all. Each CP is different, in terms of its geography, population and needs. 2.5 It is intended to launch CPs in October/November 2019 by offering an open invitation to a community workshop in each of the eight areas. At this workshop, key facts and figures about the CP area will be presented, and local intelligence/feedback will be gathered about the needs of each CP. This will be followed by an interactive process to establish the initial priorities for each CP area. These Community Workshops will be run annually. 2.6 The first meetings of the CPs will be held in January/February/March 2020. These sessions will be by invitation only to those groups of representatives which will constitute the CP, the membership of which is outlined below. The CPs will be chaired by an East Suffolk Councillor for at least the first year. 2.7 Each CP will meet at least quarterly.

3 WHO WILL BE INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS? 3.1 Each CP will include all of the ESC Councillors for that area – between 4 and 14 Councillors per CP. The other core members of each CP are as follows: • Town and Parish Council representation (agreed through the Suffolk Association of Local Councils – SALC) • Suffolk County Councillors whose Divisions cover all or any of the wards within a CP area • VCS representation (agreed through the VCS infrastructure organisation – Community Action Suffolk) • Youth representation Other members are likely to include local representation (agreed individually with these organisations) from: • Suffolk Police • The relevant Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) – Great Yarmouth and Waveney CCG or Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG • Business representation – agreed through the Business Forums/Chambers of Commerce • Three CPs will include the relevant place-based initiatives – Lowestoft Rising, Leiston Together and Felixstowe Forward 3.2 Positive meetings have been held to date with Suffolk County Council, SALC, Community Action Suffolk and the Police who are all supportive and keen to work with us to develop the ESC CP concept further. 3.3 For example, Christine Abraham, Chief Officer of Community Action Suffolk said “Community Action Suffolk is delighted to be supporting East Suffolk Council to develop the new Community Partnerships. We will work together to find effective ways to engage voluntary and community organisations in shaping and influencing the priorities for each CP as well as identifying groups that can provide solutions through the delivery of local services and activities”.

31 4 HOW WILL COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS WORK? 4.1 CPs will be interactive and participatory meetings rather than formal area committees. Meetings will be held in the CP area in an accessible and suitable venue. 4.2 Each meeting will be in two parts. One part will focus on the priorities identified by Town and Parish Councils and communities, gathered through a variety of mechanisms for example social media, through the various representatives at the meeting (e.g. Town and Parish Council, VCSE, young people) and the Youth Voice suggestion boxes in schools and youth settings. The other will focus on the priorities identified through the initial workshop in each CP area, against which funding will be allocated through either a grant offer or commissioning process. 4.3 The ambition is that each CP will evolve organically to reflect local distinctiveness, assets and needs. 4.4 The Chair of each CP will automatically join the Strategic Partnership Board. This will provide an opportunity for the eight CP Chairs to meet with strategic partners such as the Police, County Council, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), VCSE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) organisations), business sector and Greenprint Forum. This will provide an opportunity for all to come together to discuss the challenges common to more than one CP and to identify collaborative solutions. 4.5 It is proposed that there will be an annual East Suffolk-wide Forum where representatives from all eight CPs can come together with community stakeholders, business representatives and strategic partners to jointly problem-solve, promote their achievements and share examples of good practice. This will further evolve the existing ESP Forum which meets annually at Trinity Park and regularly attracts around 200 delegates.

WHAT RESOURCES WILL EACH COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP HAVE? 4.6 Each CP will have a budget of £10,000 in year 1 (2019/20), and £25,000 per annum in the following three years which can be spent against one or more priorities agreed by the CP (and consistent with the ESC Business Plan). 4.7 ESC will also make available a strategic CP Budget of £150,000 in 2019/20 and £300,000 per annum for the next three years that CPs, through their Chair, can bid to for bigger projects and/or projects that cover more than one CP area. 4.8 ESC Staff will be expected to engage with the CPs. The Communities and Economic Development Teams are already aligned to work to the proposed CP areas. 4.9 Additional staffing resource will be supported through the New Homes Bonus to support CPs, including the provision of a CP Manager. Staffing will also be made available from the Democratic Services team for the arrangement of the CP meetings, including the booking of venues, publication of agenda, reports and action notes. There is also a budget for venue hire, refreshments etc. 4.9 It is proposed that both SALC and Community Action Suffolk be provided with funds of up to £10K each, from the ESC, to assist them to support Town/Parish Councils and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations respectively, in working with the CPs.

32 5 HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE EAST SUFFOLK BUSINESS PLAN? 5.1 CPs will support the delivery of the ESC Vision ‘Maintain and sustainably improve the quality of life for everyone growing up in, living in, working in and visiting East Suffolk’ at a very local level. 5.2 CPs have a key role to play in relation to the ESC’s Enabling Communities ambitions and will support Economic Growth through engagement with the business sector and with local businesses and business people. Potentially all of the ten critical success factors – Economic Development & Tourism, Leisure, Planning, Housing, Benefits, Customers, Communities, Community Health, Green Environment, Resources – could be a focus for the CPs, depending on the priorities agreed by each CP, and the key issues raised within each CP area. 5.3 CPs have the potential to support the delivery of a range of actions in the Business Plan and indeed have the potential to inform the development of the new ESC Business Plan – these include actions around improving mental and physical health and wellbeing, particularly in light of the ageing population and the desire to increase the number of years that East Suffolk residents live in good health, and economic growth.

6 FINANCIAL AND GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS 6.1 The ESC will act as an accountable body for CPs, as it does for ESC’s three place-based initiatives and as did the former Councils of Suffolk Coastal, and Waveney in relation to the East Suffolk Partnership. This means that the funds are held, and accounted for, by the ESC, in order to facilitate partnership projects and secure buy in from our key partners. 6.2 It is anticipated that this approach will enable the CP meetings to be open, inclusive and interactive, with a workshop style, rather than that of a formal board or committee meeting. 6.3 Each CP will agree how frequently (minimum of four per year) it is to meet, and some ground rules about how the meetings will be run, which will be developed in their Terms of Reference (to be agreed at an early meeting of each CP). Each would develop a short annual Work Plan identifying their priorities, aligned to the ESC Business Plan, and report back on progress against this Work Plan through an Annual Report to the ESC’s Cabinet. 6.4 All CP decisions will be based upon reasoned briefing notes and sufficient information (which would be publicly available). This approach, which builds upon the effective ESP model, would enable quick decision making, maximise progress between meetings and minimise bureaucracy. 6.5 The funding for each CP area, if a grant-based approach is the preferred option, would be allocated through a multi-agency Funding Panel made up of the ESC Councillors who sit on the CP, together with a Town and Parish Council, local business, VCSE and SCC representative. This Panel would make recommendations, through the CP Chair, to the Leader of the ESC who would sign off the recommendations in accordance with accountable body principles. 6.6 The CP budgets will be allocated against clear criteria (linked to the ESC Business Plan) designed to ensure that funding is not used for purposes beyond the ESC’s powers or indeed the law. A robust and scored (against an agreed scoring matrix) assessment of each project would be undertaken by the Funding Team of all projects submitted for

33 funding, and this would be presented to the Funding Panel. Monitoring would be undertaken to ensure that each project achieves its intended outcomes. 6.7 The proposed funding allocation for four years through the New Homes Bonus was agreed by the Shadow Authority for East Suffolk at its meeting on (DATE)(Paper XXX refers). The updated, proposed expenditure for the CPS is shown below, and is slightly lower than that originally proposed:

New Homes Bonus Funding - Community Partnerships and Community Grants Enabling Communities Budgets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 55 Councillors x £7,500 each 413 413 413 413

Community Partnerships

8 Partnerships x £25k (Year 2 onwards) 80 200 200 200 Resourcing and Engagement 120 124 128 132 Strategic Partnership Pot 150 300 300 300 Exemplar Grants 160 0 0 0 East Suffolk Partnership 100 0 0 0

7 OTHER KEY ISSUES 7.1 This report has been prepared having considered the results of an Equality Impact Assessment. The EqIA identifies that the Community Partnerships have the potential to have a positive impact on a number of the protected characteristic groups, led as they are by data about needs in each specific area, particularly young and older people (age), disability and economic disadvantage.

8 CONSULTATION 8.1 A Working Group of ESC Councillors, consisting of a Councillor from each of the new CP areas, plus the Leaders of the other political parties (or their representative), has been involved in developing the ESC’s proposed approach to CPS. This has enabled these proposals to be discussed and challenged at a Councillor level through the two meetings held to date. 8.2 Engagement with key partners around the purpose and benefits of CPs will continue to be very important, as will developing some key messages – along the lines of those in Appendix B – to ensure wider, public understanding of what CPs are and how they will work.

9 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED 9.1 Various options have been considered in relation to the form and function of CPs.

10 REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION 10.1 A commitment has been made to develop and deliver CPs, in response to concerns about a potential democratic deficit caused by the ESC having fewer Councillors, covering larger geographical areas, with larger populations than before it was created. A significant

34 amount of time has been spent investigating different models at a national level and scoping out the proposed form and function of the ESC CPs. 10.2 The model proposed in this report provides an exciting, new opportunity to engage with our communities and their representatives in an innovative and unique way. It will involve the CPs in addressing local issues based on data, evidence and insight and in developing solutions, using devolved funding, in exactly the way the Government intended, under the Localism Act 2011.

RECOMMENDATIONS That Full Council: 1. Approves the establishment of eight Community Partnerships, one for each of the areas shown on the map at Appendix A to this report 2. Endorses the proposed purpose, remit, governance, structure and funding for Community Partnerships in East Suffolk, as set out in this report 3. Approves the proposed budget for the Community Partnerships, as set out in the table at paragraph 6.7 of this report 4. Agrees to do all it can to ensure that the East Suffolk Community Partnerships are a success and 5. Reviews the establishment, workings and success of the Community Partnerships in 3 years.

APPENDICES

Appendix A Map of Community Partnership Areas

Appendix B Overview of Community Partnerships

BACKGROUND PAPERS None

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LITTLE Agenda Item 11 ES/0156

Community Partnerships are an innovative new way for the Council, partners and communities to work together to ‘bring ideas to life’ by taking a solution focussed approach to local priorities Why? • During the consultation on forming the new East Suffolk Council (ESC), concerns were expressed about the 55 Councillors covering larger geographical areas, more Town and Parish Councils and more people, and becoming disconnected from local people How Many? • 8 Community Partnerships (CPs), based on natural groupings of communities and using the new ESC ward boundaries as the ‘building blocks’ • Each ESC Councillor for an area will sit on their CP – which means between 4 and 14 ESC Councillors per CP area and between 13,731 and 52,766 population Who? • Key partners will be Town and Parish Councils (through SALC), Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Police, Great Yarmouth & Waveney / Ipswich & East Suffolk CCGs, businesses, voluntary organisations (through Community Action Suffolk), community groups and youth representatives • Will complement our three Place Based Initiatives - Lowestoft Rising, Leiston Together and Felixstowe Forward How? • Informal bodies with a solution-focussed workshop style, rather than a formal board or committee • Focussed on priorities identified using data (facts and figures) and local insight • Open invite workshops to be held in each area in October and November 2019 • First Community Partnership meetings from January 2020 • Each CP will have simple Terms of Reference, short Work Plan and report annually to Cabinet • All eight CP Chairs to sit on the Strategic Community Partnership Board, alongside key partners including the CCGs and Police, SCC, SALC, CAS and the Greenprint Forum • Ambition is that CPs will evolve organically in each area to reflect local distinctiveness • Annual Forum bringing representatives from all 8 CPs together Resources? • Each CP will have a £10,000 budget in 2019/20 and then £25,000 per year for the next three years to be spent against one or more priority agreed by that Partnership • There will also be a Strategic budget of £150,000 in 2019/20 and £300,000 a year for the next three years, overseen by the Strategic Board, that CPs can bid into (New Homes Bonus) • Each of the 55 East Suffolk Councillors has an Enabling Communities Budget of £7,500 • CPs will be supported by a Community Partnerships Manager and staff in the ESC Democratic Services, Communities, Communications, Economic Development and Funding Teams

37

Agenda Item 12

ES/0154

COUNCIL

Wednesday, 25 September 2019

UPDATE OF THE ANGLIA REVENUES PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To consider the updated Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP) Agreement following the change in ARP Membership pursuant to the abolishment of four member authorities and the creation of two new member authorities in their place on 1 April 2019 and to update other approved changes in the Partnership Agreement.

Is the report Open or Exempt? Open

Wards Affected: All

Cabinet Member: Councillor Steve Gallant, Leader of the Council

Supporting Officer: Nick Khan Strategic Director 01502 523606 [email protected]

38

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Following the exercise of powers by the Secretary of State, with effect from 1 April 2019 two new non-metropolitan districts and councils were established for East Suffolk and respectively and Suffolk Coastal, Waveney District, Forest Heath District and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils were abolished. These councils form part of the Anglia Revenues Partnership (ARP). Provisions within the Orders and Regulations mean that the ARP could have continued under the existing 2015 agreement, however the ARP took the opportunity to update the agreement to reflect the new councils, changes approved since the 2015 agreement was signed and to ensure the agreement remains fit for purpose. 1.2 This revised agreement at Appendix A has been reviewed and approved by the ARP Joint Committee (17 September 2019) and now needs to be considered by each individual partner authority to allow the agreement to be signed and sealed by the 5 partners. Review of Partnership Agreement 1.3 Through consultation with the ARP Operational Improvement Board and the ARP Joint Committee, the 2015 ARP Agreement was reviewed and updated to reflect the current ARP operations. The overarching principles of the agreement and the decision making provisions within the agreement will not change. It is recommended the Partnership Agreement is updated: • to reflect the abolishment of the four councils and the creation of the two new councils. • to reflect the agreement is now between five partners rather than seven. • to ensure the agreement reflects any delegations approved by Joint Committee and the partner councils between 2015 & 2019. • to allow for some administrative “tidying up” in order to update the budget shares to 2019 approved values, updating to reference GDPR, legislation updates for Joint Committee services and ensuring the ARP Enforcement Agency is now included.

2 HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE EAST SUFFOLK BUSINESS PLAN? 2.1 The ARP delivers revenues and benefits service on behalf of the five partner authorities. Changes to the make up of the ARP need to be appropriately reflected in the Partnership Agreement so that it is able to function effectively. 2.2 The proper functioning of the ARP enables the continued delivery of cost-effective services to the residents and businesses of East Suffolk, improve their quality of life and help deliver a strong and sustainable economy.

3 FINANCIAL AND GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS 3.1 A revised partnership agreement clarifies the continuation of arrangements now that the new Councils mergers are complete. 3.2 The revised agreement includes the current approved budgets for the partnership. 3.3 If there is not agreement between all partners as to the proposed course of action, this could undermine the wider performance and decision making of the partnership.

39

4 OTHER KEY ISSUES 4.1 An Equality Impact Assessment has not been completed when preparing this report, as it relates to technical changes to a governing document and there is no change to service provision as a result.

5 CONSULTATION 5.1 The Operational Improvement Board and Joint Committee (both consisting of representatives from all five Councils) have been consulted according to the provisions of the Partnership Agreement prior to approval being sought from the respective authorities.

6 REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION 6.1 The revised agreement will meet the requirements of all partner Councils creating a new equitable partnership and ensuring that the Partnership Agreement is up to date.

RECOMMENDATIONS That the revised ARP Partnership agreement at Appendix A be approved to have effect from 1 April 2019

APPENDICES

Appendix A Anglia Revenues Partnership Revised Agreement

BACKGROUND PAPERS None.

40 Agenda Item 12 ES/0154

DATED 2019

BRECKLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL

and

EAST DISTRICT COUNCIL

and

FENLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL

and

WEST SUFFOLK COUNCIL

and

EAST SUFFOLK COUNCIL

______

AGREEMENT FOR THE RECONSTITUTION OF THE ANGLIA REVENUES PARTNERSHIP

______

41 CONTENTS

Clause Subject matter Page

1. INTERPRETATION ...... 4 2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 2015 JOINT COMMITTEE ...... 10 3. THE 2015 JOINT COMMITTEE, ITS ROLE, MEMBERSHIP, MEETINGS AND OFFICERS ...... 11 4. HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY ...... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 5. ARP MANAGEMENT TEAM AND OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT BOARD ...17 6. FINANCE, BUDGETING AND AUDIT ...... 19 7. EMPLOYEES OF THE ARP ...... 22 8. ARP PREMISES, ASSETS, CONTRACTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY .25 9. INDEMNITIES INSURANCE AND LIABILITIES AND CONDUCT OF CLAIMS ..43 10. COMMENCEMENT AND TERMINATION ...... 30 11. REVIEW OF AGREEMENT ...... 32 12. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES ...... 33 13. CONFIDENTIALITY ...... 34 14. DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ...... 35 15. WAIVER AND SEVERABILITY ...... 36 16. ENTIRE AGREEMENT...... 37 17. EXTENT OF OBLIGATIONS AND FURTHER ASSURANCE ...... 37 18. NO PARTNERSHIP OR AGENCY ...... 37 19. CONTRACTS (RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES) ACT 1999 ...... 37 20. VARIATIONS ...... 38 21. PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION/ BRIBERY ...... 38 22. MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION ...... 39 23. ASSIGNMENT AND SUBCONTRACTING ...... 39 24. GOVERNING LAW AND ENFORCEMENT ...... 40 25. NOTICES ...... 40 26. COUNTERPARTS ...... 42 27. COSTS ...... 42 SCHEDULE 1 ...... 64 Part I and Part II Joint Committee Services SCHEDULE 2 ...... 67 Agreed ARP Budget 2019/20 Financial Year SCHEDULE 3 ...... ……………………………………………………………………..………72 ARP Accountancy Protocol SCHEDULE 4……………………………………………………………...... ……………..…78 General Legal Advice and Services

42 THIS AGREEMENT is made the day of 2019 BETWEEN

(1) BRECKLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL of Elizabeth House Walpole Loke Dereham Norfolk NR19 1EE (“Breckland”) of the first part

(2) EAST CAMBRIDGESHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL of The Grange Nutholt Lane Ely Cambridgeshire CB7 4EE (“East Cambridgeshire”) of the second part and

(3) FENLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL of Fenland Hall County Road March PE15 8NQ (“Fenland”) of the third part

(4) WEST SUFFOLK COUNCIL of West Suffolk House Western Way Suffolk IP33 3YU (“West Suffolk of the fourthpart

(5) EAST SUFFOLK COUNCIL of East Suffolk House, Station Road, Melton,Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 1RTU (“East Suffolk”) of the fifth part

Together referred to as the ‘Five Councils’

RECITALS

(i) The parties hereto have entered into this Agreement having recognised that significant efficiency and financial gains can be made by working together to deliver revenues and benefits services in partnership thereby enabling them to secure administrative advantages and economies of scale and to provide a robust and flexible service to their councils.

(ii) On the 01 April 2015 Breckland District Council, Fenland District Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Forest Heath District Council, St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Suffolk Coastal District Council and Waveney District Council (then referred to as the Seven Authorities) being duly empowered to do so under their constitutional arrangements and by law in force at the time agreed to form a joint committee (“the 2015 Joint Committee”) pursuant to Section 101 (5) and Section 102 of the LGA 1972, Section 20 of the LGA 2000 and the 2000 Regulations and 2012 Regulations.

(iii) On the 01 April 2019 Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council were abolished and a new non-metropolitan district council,

43 2 West Suffolk Council, was created by virtue of the West Suffolk (Local Government Changes) Order 2018.

(iv) On the 01 April 2019 Suffolk Coastal District Council and Waveney District Council were abolished and a new non-metropolitan district council, East Suffolk Council, was created by virtue of the East Suffolk (Local Government Changes) Order 2018.

(v) On the 01 April 2019 the functions of the abolished councils referred to in recitals (iii) and (iv) above became the functions of the new district councils by virtue of the Local Government (Boundary Changes) Regulations 2018 and the Seven Councils referred to in all arrangements for the creation of the 2015 Joint Committee will mean the Five Councils referred to in this Agreement.

(vi) The 2015 Joint Committee was created for the purpose of:

(a) Jointly managing the administration and performance of the Five Councils’ respective statutory functions relating to the collection of council tax and non-domestic rates and the payment of housing and other relevant benefits;

(b) To establish a joint operational unit known as the Anglia Revenues Partnership (“ARP”) under the control and management of the 2015 Joint Committee to provide the Five Councils with such services (“the JC Services);

(c) To enter into a Reconstitution Agreement to regulate the constitution and proceedings of the 2015 Joint Committee and the relationships between the Five Councils and between each of the Five Councils and the 2015 Joint Committee and the future operation and funding of the ARP and making provision for:-

1. the constitution, meetings, officers and funding of the 2015 Joint Committee;

2. the transfer to the control and management of the 2015 Joint Committee the existing ARP.

.

44 3 (vii) This Reconstitution Agreement will for all intents and purposes replace the Reconstitution Agreement made between the Seven Councils on the [date of agreement] subject to the 2015 Joint Committee which will continue to remain in effect from 00.01 hours on the 01 April 2015.

(viii) The Five Councils have pursuant to Section 95 of the LGA 2003 formed a wholly owned company limited by shares registered under the Companies Acts (“ARP Trading Limited”) for the purpose of them being in a position to jointly trade commercially in their functional activities in respect of the JC Services.

(ix) The Five Councils have mutually exchanged information concerning their performance of their statutory functions within the definition of the JC Services (including financial reports and audit reports in respect of the previous two Financial Years together with other independent reports and assessments relevant to such performance).

NOW THIS AGREEMENT WITNESSES:

1. INTERPRETATION

1.1 In this Agreement:

“Accountancy Protocol”

means the Budget Policies and Procedures at Schedule 3 of this Agreement

“Action Plan” means a written plan agreed by the Five Councils under Clause 10.3;

“ADR Notice”

means a notice given pursuant to Clause 22.2;

“Alternative Business Structure”

means for the purposes of this Agreement, further Joint Committee partnership; limited company; Arms Length Management Organisations;

45 4 or such business vehicles that may be available for the running and management of local authority services.

“ARP”

means the operational unit entitled the Anglia Revenues Partnership controlled and managed by the 2015 Joint Committee pursuant to this Agreement;

“ARP Management Team”

means the working group of senior employees of the ARP established by the 2015 Joint Committee pursuant to Clause 5.1;

“ARP Trading Limited”

means the company limited by shares of which the Five Councils are equal shareholders pursuant to Section 95 of the LGA 2003;

“The Chair”

means the person who is the Chair of the 2015 Joint Committee from time to time elected under Clause 3.13;

“Commencement Date”

means the 1st April 2019 when West Suffolk and East Suffolk Councils were created;

“DPA and GDPR”

means the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation;

“DWP”

means the Department of Works and Pensions

“Employment Costs”

46 5 means all salaries, wages, sick pay, holiday pay, pension contributions, bonuses, commission, maternity, paternity and adoption pay, redundancy pay, expenses (including, but not limited to travel and subsistence allowances and disturbance pay), tribunal awards or pre dispute resolution settlements income and other taxes, national insurance contributions and levies of any kind for which an employer is accountable and all other normal employment costs;

“Financial Year”

means a period of one year commencing on 1st April in any year and ending on 31st March in the next following year;

“FOIA”

means the Freedom of Information Act 2000

“Five Councils”

means together the parties hereto;

“JC Member”

means a member of the 2015 Joint Committee appointed in accordance with Clause 3.1;

“JC Services” means the functions and services listed respectively in Part I and Part II of Schedule 1 of this Agreement;

“LGA 1972”

means the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended);

47 6 “LGA 2000”

means the Local Government Act 2000 (as amended);

“LGA 2003”

means the Local Government Act 2003 (as amended);

“2015 Joint Committee”

means the joint committee formed by the Seven Councils and now the Five Councils pursuant to the resolutions of the Five Councils to that effect pursuant to the terms of this Agreement;

“Operational Improvement Board”

means the working group of senior employees from ARP and the Five Councils established by the 2015 Joint Committee pursuant to Clause 5.4;

“Review Report”

means a report referred to in Clause 11.1;

“Secretary”

means the Secretary of the 2015 Joint Committee for the time being appointed pursuant to Clause 3.21;

“Service Delivery Plan”

means the document agreed by the 2015 Joint Committee on an annual basis regarding service standards;

“Statement of Intent” means the Statement produced under Clause 10.4.1 setting out the reasons of the Council producing it for intending to serve a notice of withdrawal under Clause 10.3;

48 7 “Support Services” means any service required to support the operations of the ARP including but not limited to human resources finance ICT internal audit procurement and legal;

“2000 Regulations”

means the Local Authorities (Arrangement for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000 No. 2851) as amended by the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001 No.3961);

“2012 Regulations”

means the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions (England) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1019);

“Treasurer”

means the officer appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of the 2015 Joint Committee pursuant to Clause 3.22;

“TUPE” means the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 as amended;

“Value for Money Objectives”

means the responsibility incumbent upon all councils to ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent responsibly balancing the need for high quality service delivery with the need to reduce costs;

“Vice-Chair”

means the person who is the Vice-Chair of the 2015 Joint Committee elected from time to time under Clause 3.13;

49 8 “Working Days”

means Monday to Friday (9am – 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4.30pm Friday), with the exception of public holidays in England.

1.2 In this Agreement (unless the context requires otherwise):

1.2.1 references to Clauses Schedules and Paragraphs are to the clauses Schedules and paragraphs of this Agreement. Any reference to a sub-clause or a sub- paragraph is to the relevant sub-clause or sub-paragraph of the Clause or Schedule in which it appears;

1.2.2 the table of contents and headings are not part of this Agreement and are not to be taken into account in the interpretation of this Agreement;

1.2.3 the use of the masculine gender alone includes the feminine and neuter genders and the singular includes the plural and vice versa;

1.2.4 references to legislation (including subsidiary legislation) determinations and directions include all amendments replacements or re-enactments thereof and all regulations determinations directions and statutory guidance made or given under them save that the treatment under this Agreement of any such amendment or modification that imposes any new or extended obligation or liability adversely affecting the parties or any of them shall be determined by the 2015 Joint Committee after consultation with the Five Councils;

1.2.5 any reference to a requirement for “consent” or “approval” shall be taken to be the prior written consent or approval of the relevant person or body;

1.2.6 the terms “including” and “in particular” are illustrative only and are not intended and shall not limit the meaning of the relevant words that precede them;

1.2.7 the term “persons” means individuals, companies, industrial and provident societies, limited liability partnerships, statutory bodies, or other bodies with a legal personality and includes H.M. Government, Government Departments, and the European Union and its constituent parts.

1.3 The Schedules to this Agreement are to have effect as if set out in full in the body of this Agreement and references to this Agreement include the Schedules.

50 9 2. THE 2015 JOINT COMMITTEE

2.1 Each of the Five Councils agree that the 2015 Joint Committee shall have all the powers of Breckland, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, West Suffolk and East Suffolk (with effect from the Commencement Date) over the finances made available by Her Majesty’s Government the European Union and other sources of finance to each of the Five Councils in relation to or in respect of the establishment, maintenance and development of the JC Services.

2.2 Each of the Five Councils hereby warrants that it shall not do nor omit to neither do nor permit to be done anything that prevents or inhibits or seeks to prevent or inhibit the 2015 Joint Committee from carrying out all or any of the JC Services.

2.3 Each of the Five Councils shall at all times co-operate with each other and shall work within the spirit of openness, honesty, trust, and with a co-operative approach in respect of each of the others of the Five Councils and with the 2015 Joint Committee.

2.4 Each of the Five Councils hereby agrees that it will make to the Treasurer of the 2015 Joint Committee such payments as are provided by this Agreement in full in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and shall meet such liabilities and carry out such obligations in respect of the establishment, maintenance and proceedings of the 2015 Joint Committee and of the operation of the ARP as may be provided by this Agreement or may be determined in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

2.5 The 2015 Joint Committee and the Five Councils shall keep under review (having regard to each of the Five Councils’ Value for Money Objectives) whether the performance of the JC Services should continue to be managed through the 2015 Joint Committee and may decide to consider and agree alternative mechanisms for the performance of the JC Services.

2.6 Where any of the Five Councils considers that its Value for Money Objectives require it to do so it shall have the right (after consultation with the others of the Five Councils and the 2015 Joint Committee) to make other arrangements for the performance of any of its statutory functions within the JC Services provided that to do so shall not be inconsistent with its obligations under this Agreement.

5110

3. THE 2015 JOINT COMMITTEE, ITS ROLE, MEMBERSHIP, MEETINGS AND OFFICERS

Joint Committee Members

3.1 Subject to Clause 3.2 each of the Five Councils shall appoint one of its members for the time being to be a member of the 2015 Joint Committee. In addition each of the Five Councils shall appoint two substitutes, who may attend meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee in the absence of their Council’s JC Members.

3.2 All such appointments (whether made under Clause 3.1 or 3.4) shall be made in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions of Sections 101 and 102 of the LGA 1972 and of the 2000 Regulations or 2012 Regulations, as they may from time to time be applicable to each of the Five Councils.

3.3 Each JC Member shall remain in office until removed or replaced by his or her appointing Council or until ceasing to be a member of his or her appointing Council (or of the executive if Regulation 12 of the 2012 Regulations is applicable to his or her appointment).

3.4 Each of the Five Councils may remove and replace its JC Members at any time by giving notice of such removal or replacement to the 2015 Joint Committee by sending such notice to the Secretary within 5 days of effecting such removal or replacement.

3.5 The proceedings of the 2015 Joint Committee shall not be invalidated by any vacancy or by any defect or purported defect in the appointment of any JC Member.

Meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee

3.6 Part I of Schedule 12 of the LGA 1972 and the provisions of Clauses 3.7 to 3.17 shall apply to meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee.

3.7 Meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee shall normally be held once each quarter, subject to the need exceptionally to call additional meetings. The Chair shall

5211 decide the venue, date and time of all meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee. Wherever practicable, at least ten Working Days notice of such meetings shall be given to each JC Member, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Monitoring Officer and to each of the Five Councils.

3.8 Any JC Member may requisition a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee by giving notice of such requisition to the Chair and to the Secretary. Immediately upon receipt of such requisition, the Chair shall call a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee in accordance with Clause 3.7.

3.9 The standing orders applicable to council meetings of Breckland shall apply to meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee except in so far as the 2015 Joint Committee may agree amendments thereto or may adopt its own standing orders. All recommendations taken to the 2015 Joint Committee shall be voted upon and the majority shall prevail. Please refer to Clause 3.17 should an equality of votes arise.

3.10 No business may be transacted at a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee unless a quorum is present. The quorum for a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee shall be Five JC Members or their substitute present in person. In the unlikely event that a JC Member or one of their substitutes is unable to attend a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee a proxy arrangement may be agreed between the affected party and the remaining parties to this Agreement and a named member of the affected party may attend as such proxy. A substitute member or proxy member will count towards a quorum but will be unable to chair the meeting nor to vote on any issues.

3.11 If a quorum is not present within fifteen minutes of the time set for the commencement of a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee (or a quorum ceases to be present during a meeting) the meeting shall be adjourned to the same day time and venue seven days later or to such other date time and venue as the Chair (or other person who is chairing the meeting) shall determine.

3.12 One of the meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee referred to in Clause 3.7 shall be held during May or June of each calendar year and shall be the annual meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee at which the election of the Chair and Vice-

5312 Chair of the 2015 Joint Committee shall take place together with such other business as may be appropriate in the opinion of the outgoing Chair.

Chair and Vice-Chair

3.13 The 2015 Joint Committee shall at each annual meeting elect a new Chair and a new Vice-Chair to hold office for the next ensuing year. The persons eligible to be elected as Chair shall not be the appointees of a Council whose appointee held that position in any of the four previous years. The persons eligible to be elected as Vice-Chair shall not be the appointees of a Council whose appointee held that position in the previous year. The Chair and Vice-Chair shall not be appointees of the same Council.

3.14 The Chair or Vice-Chair may be removed by a majority vote of all JC Members present at a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee subject to the Chair or the Vice Chair being given the opportunity to address the meeting before the vote is taken to put his or her case why he or she should not be removed.

3.15 If the Chair or the Vice-Chair is removed by a vote of the 2015 Joint Committee or resigns or is otherwise unable to continue as Chair or Vice Chair he or she may be replaced by the election of a JC Member as Chair or Vice-Chair as the case may be who is the appointee of the same Council as the outgoing Chair or Vice-Chair.

3.16 The Chair shall preside at all meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee. If the Chair is not present within five minutes of the time for the commencement of a meeting, or being present does not wish to preside, or is unable to do so then the Vice-Chair shall preside at that meeting. If (in the event of the absence or non- availability of the Chair) the Vice-Chair is not present within five minutes of the time for the commencement of the meeting or does not wish to preside or is unable to do so, the meeting shall appoint a JC Member to chair the meeting.

3.17 In the event of an equality of votes the person chairing a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee shall have a second or casting vote.

Responsibilities of the Chair and Vice-Chair

3.18 The responsibilities of the Chair are as follows: -

5413 3.18.1 to act as an ambassador for the 2015 Joint Committee and to represent the views of the 2015 Joint Committee to the general public and other organisations;

3.18.2 to seek to ensure that the meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee are conducted efficiently;

3.18.3 to give all JC Members and/or their substitutes/proxy an opportunity to express their views;

3.18.4 to establish a constructive working relationship with, and to provide support for, any sub-committees or officers of the 2015 Joint Committee or of the ARP to whom the 2015 Joint Committee have delegated any of its powers and functions;

3.18.5 to encourage the 2015 Joint Committee to delegate sufficient authority to officers of the 2015 Joint Committee or of the ARP to enable the statutory functions within the provision of the JC Services to be carried out efficiently between meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee;

3.18.6 to ensure that the 2015 Joint Committee monitors and controls the use of delegated powers.

3.19 The role of the Vice-Chair is to deputise for the Chair during any period of the Chair’s absence and during that period his or her responsibilities shall be the same as those of the Chair.

3.20 Except as provided by this Agreement neither the Chair nor the Vice-Chair has any authority or powers beyond those of any other JC Member.

Officers of the 2015 Joint Committee

(i) Secretary 3.21 The Secretary of the 2015 Joint Committee shall be the officer for the time being designated by the 2015 Joint Committee. The Secretary shall be responsible for the recording of the minutes of all meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee and for the circulation of draft minutes to each JC Member within five days of each meeting and responsible for the sending out of all notices and agendas of meetings. Minutes and records of the meetings of the 2015 Joint Committee shall be maintained by the Secretary in accordance with the requirements of the LGA 1972.

5514 (ii) Treasurer 3.22 The Treasurer of the 2015 Joint Committee shall be appointed by the 2015 Joint Committee at each annual meeting for the next ensuing year from the Five Councils. The Treasurer as the Chief Financial Officer of the 2015 Joint Committee shall perform the functions of the relevant officer responsible for the administration of the financial affairs of the 2015 Joint Committee under Section 151 of the LGA 1972, Part VIII of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations 2003.

The Treasurer shall also perform the role of the accounting officer in respect of all funds held on account for or paid to the Five Councils or any of them by Her Majesty’s Government the European Union or other sources of finance for any purposes of the JC Services and to make or provide all appropriate banking and accounting arrangements and services required for the due and proper receipt, holding and application of such funds in accordance with the requirements of Her Majesty’s Government and in accordance with best practice.

(iv) Legal Advice and Services in Respect of the Constitution and Governance of the 2015 Joint Committee 3.23 Legal advice and services as detailed in Schedule 4 of this Agreement should be sought from the Head of Legal Services or equivalent for the time being of one of the Five Councils or, where the ARP Management Team considers it appropriate, and on the advice of a Head of Legal Services or equivalent of the Five Councils, from external legal sources on specialist matters, or in the event that a conflict of interest may arise or has arisen. Where the use of legal advice and services from an external source is required, the 2015 Joint Committee shall be required to approve the use of such external legal sources and their proposed fees for providing such legal advice and services. The precise manner in which such advice and services will be provided shall be the subject of a separate agreement between the Five Councils.

The Role of the 2015 Joint Committee

3.24 The Role of the 2015 Joint Committee is to discharge the Five Council’s statutory functions in respect of the JC Services including to: -

5615 3.24.1 approve the Service Delivery Plan for each Financial Year including the approval of staffing requirements to be met by the Five Councils;

3.24.2 approve the annual budget for the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP;

3.24.3 approve the annual report of the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP;

3.24.4 monitor expenditure and income of the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP against the agreed annual budget;

3.24.5 set progress and performance targets for the JC Services, approve the Service Delivery Plan for the performance of such Services and monitor and review the performance of such Services against such targets and delivery plan;

3.24.6 recommend to the Five Councils any amendment of the terms of reference of the 2015 Joint Committee or of this Agreement;

3.24.7 regularly review and update the ARP Health and Safety Policy having particular regard to any amendments required by reason of a change of law which Policy the Five Councils shall have developed as soon as is practicable following the entering into of this Agreement;

3.24.8 appoint one or more sub-committees of the 2015 Joint Committee (in accordance with Regulation 11(4) of the 2000 Regulations) as it may consider to be required and to delegate specific functions to such sub-committees. Any sub-committee shall comprise a majority of JC Members (one of whom shall chair the sub-committee) but may include non-JC Members (namely from the membership of the Five Councils) and the 2015 Joint Committee shall determine terms of reference of each sub-committee the term of office of each sub- committee member and the quorum for meetings of each sub-committee and the financial limits within which it shall operate;

3.24.9 delegate specific functions to officers of the 2015 Joint Committee or of the ARP in accordance with the provisions of Section 101 of the LGA 1972 and Regulation 11(4) of the 2000 Regulations.

5716 4. HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY

4.1 The Five Councils shall through the 2015 Joint Committee regularly review and update an ARP Health and Safety Policy having particular regard to any amendments required by reason of a change of law.

5. ARP MANAGEMENT TEAM AND OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT BOARD

ARP Management Team 5.1 The 2015 Joint Committee has established a working group of ARP senior employees to be known as the ARP Management Team.

5.2 The members of the ARP Management Team shall continue to comprise the following officers of the ARP: -

The Head of ARP

The Strategic Manager (Billing and Benefits)

The Strategic Manager (Revenues)

The Strategic Manager (Support)

and such other officers of ARP as the 2015 Joint Committee may decide.

5.3 The responsibilities of the ARP Management Team shall be to: -

5.3.1 manage the performance of the JC Services so as to ensure, so far as is possible and practicable, the delivery of such Services in accordance with the Service Delivery Plan and the progress and performance targets for the JC Services set by the 2015 Joint Committee pursuant to Clause 3.25.5;

5.3.2 review the JC Services following a subsidy reclaim made by the DWP and in the event of such reclaim from the DWP or equivalent body to review the matter to which the reclaim relates and determine whether in the circumstances of the case the payment of the reclaimed amount shall be shared in accordance with the agreed percentages payable by the Five Councils for the period of subsidy reclaim;

5.3.3 report to the 2015 Joint Committee meetings on the progress and performance of the services provided by the ARP in connection with the provision of the JC

5817 Services against the Service Delivery Plan and the progress and performance targets set by the 2015 Joint Committee pursuant to Clause 3.25.5;

5.3.4 strive to ensure that the services provided by the ARP are delivered equitably between the Five Councils, so far as may be practicable;

5.3.5 prepare and submit to the 2015 Joint Committee for its approval on or before 31st December in each year an annual budget, and annual Service Delivery Plan for the next Financial Year;

5.3.6 report to the 2015 Joint Committee on the income and expenditure of the ARP against the approved budget;

5.3.7 seek to ensure so far as is practicable that the JC Services are provided within the budget (to include the allocation of new burdens funding) approved by the 2015 Joint Committee and to notify the 2015 Joint Committee of any material divergence from the annual budget and the reasons therefore;

5.3.8 recommend to the 2015 Joint Committee the resources (including staffing resources) required to provide the JC Services to the requisite performance standards and any changes required in such resources to maintain such performance standards;

5.3.9 make appropriate recommendations to the 2015 Joint Committee on any matter of relevance to the business of the 2015 Joint Committee and of the ARP.

Operational Improvement Board

5.4 The 2015 Joint Committee has established an Operational Improvement Board.

5.5 The members of the Operational Improvement Board shall continue to be a working group of senior employees from ARP and the Five Councils as established by the 2015 Joint Committee. 5.6 The Operational Improvement Board shall meet monthly and report to the 2015 Joint Committee.

5.7 The responsibilities of the Operational Improvement Board shall be to:-

5.7.1 clarify service standards/levels provided by the ARP on behalf of each of the Five Councils in particular:-

5.7.1.1 interface with client services;

5918 5.7.1.2 performance management requirements;

and ensure a clear relationship between the ARP and client services in terms of areas of responsibility and fairness of cost/benefit arising;

5.7.2 shape future services both for each of the Five Councils and the ARP by identifying issues and prioritisation of them by the ARP management;

5.7.3 provide a basis to resolve problems and improve service incrementally over time;

5.7.4 where no Support Service arrangements have been agreed, or where it is deemed time to review the existing Support Service arrangements, decide how on going Support Service arrangement should be provided for ARP and

5.7.5 receive reports on specific employee Employments Costs.

5.7.6 consider and agree any future spending in respect of additional funding

6. FINANCE, BUDGETING AND AUDIT

Finance – Budgets

6.1 The budget for the provision of the JC Services on behalf of the Five Councils for the Financial Year 2019/20 set out in Schedule 2 has been approved by the Five Councils.

6.2 A draft budget for each Financial Year subsequent to 2019/20 shall be prepared by the ARP Management Team in collaboration with the Heads of Finance and Chief Finance Officers (or equivalent) of the Five Councils respectively and submitted to the Treasurer for consideration. The draft budget shall be based upon the budget for the previous Financial Year updated for any anticipated changes considered necessary and shall take account of the information in Schedule 3, paragraph 2.1

6.3 The draft budget shall also have appended to it a Schedule detailing the payments estimated to be required to be made by each of the Five Councils during the relevant Financial Year.

6.4 After being considered by the Treasurer, the draft budget shall be submitted to the 2015 Joint Committee for approval and thereafter submitted to each of the

6019 Five Councils so as to be received by them by no later than 31st December in each year.

6.5 Any comments of the Five Councils on the draft budget shall be submitted to the ARP Management Team who shall report to the 2015 Joint Committee the comments of each of the Five Councils and the effect thereof and the 2015 Joint Committee shall, having taken such comments and the report of the ARP Management Team into consideration, decide whether or not to approve the draft budget whether in the original or an amended form.

6.6 If the 2015 Joint Committee approves the draft budget (whether or not as amended) it shall become the approved budget for the relevant Financial Year and a copy of the approved budget shall be submitted to each of the Five Councils.

6.7 If the 2015 Joint Committee fails to approve a budget for the relevant Financial Year the process referred to in Clauses 6.2 to 6.6 shall be repeated in an attempt to secure an approved budget as soon as possible and in the meantime the JC Services shall be provided on the basis of the approved budget for the previous Financial Year with such amendment as the 2015 Joint Committee may determine.

6.8 In the event that the budget for the current Financial Year requires amendment to meet any overspend or increase in the costs of the provision of the JC Services by the ARP for that year, the ARP Management Team shall report thereon to the 2015 Joint Committee. If the 2015 Joint Committee agrees that the budget requires amendment it shall notify the Five Councils thereof and of the proposed amendments to the budget and of any increased payments it proposes that should be required from the Five Councils. The 2015 Joint Committee shall consider any comments on the proposals and determine whether or not and how the budget shall be amended and the amount of any additional payment required to be made by each of the Five Councils to meet the overspend or increase in the ARP’s costs.

6.9 The ARP Management Team shall report as soon as practicable to the 2015 Joint Committee on any deficit or surplus arising during the current or immediately preceding Financial Year as compared with the approved budget.

6120 Any such deficit shall be met or any such surplus shall be dispersed by reference to the Accountancy Protocol.

Payments to be made by the Five Councils

6.10 The Five Councils shall in each Financial Year each pay to the funds of the 2015 Joint Committee sums in respect of the expenses of the 2015 Joint Committee and the costs of provision of the JC Services on behalf of each of them by the ARP.

6.11 The budget for the Financial Year 2015/16 set out in Schedule 2 and referred to in Schedule 3 formed the baseline position from which all further adjustments to the budget would be calculated. For each Financial Year subsequent to 2015/16 the cost of any increases or savings from any decreases in the ARP budget are allocated to each of the Five Councils in line with the agreed percentages set out in Paragraph 5.1 of the Accountancy Protocol. The agreed ARP percentage figures will be reviewed annually as set out in Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol.

One-off Costs

6.12 The One-off Costs shall be paid by each of the Five Councils in accordance with the percentages provided by Clause 6.11 upon receipt of an invoice from the Treasurer.

6.13 Each of the Five Councils shall pay the sums and percentages provided by Clauses 6.10 and 6.11 to the Treasurer for the credit of the funds of the 2015 Joint Committee in each Financial Year during which this Agreement remains in force.

Accounts and Audit

6.14 The Treasurer shall maintain the accounts of the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP in accordance with the requirements of the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 and the Local Authority Accountancy Act 2014 and with the requirements of the Department of Social Security, H.M. Treasury, H.M. Revenue and Customs, and all other applicable requirements.

6221 6.15 Independent and objective internal audits of the JC Services shall be undertaken by the Five Councils in accordance with the provisions and schedules contained with the Service Level Agreement appended [TO BE APPENDED] to this Agreement.

7. EMPLOYEES OF THE ARP

7.1 The Five Councils shall ensure that sufficient and appropriate employees shall be made available to undertake and manage the activities necessary or expedient for the proper and adequate provision of the JC Services as approved in the annual staffing establishment by the 2105 Joint Committee on behalf of the Five Councils. A draft staffing establishment for each Financial Year subsequent to the establishment of the ARP shall be prepared by the ARP Management Team in collaboration with the Heads of Human Resources (or equivalent) of the Five Councils respectively and submitted to the Treasurer for consideration. The draft establishment budget shall be based upon the establishment for the previous Financial Year updated for any anticipated changes considered necessary.

7.2 Any employee allocated by any of the Five Councils, as the case may be, to carry out any activities necessary or expedient for the provision of the JC Services shall be required to report to the 2015 Joint Committee unless his or her terms of employment require otherwise and subject to the obligations of the council as his or her employer.

7.3 Each of the Five Councils warrant and represent that:

7.3.1 it shall (subject to Clause 7.5 and without prejudice to the indemnities in Clause 7.3.5) continue to pay all Employment Costs for each of its employees allocated to carry out work in respect of the 2015 Joint Committee and the provision of the JC Services (to be covered by the payment detailed in Clauses 6.10 and 6.11);

7.3.2 the allocation of such of its employees to carry out work in respect of the 2015 Joint Committee and the provision of the JC Services does not breach the terms of their contracts of employment;

6322 7.3.3 it shall use reasonable endeavours to ensure that its employees so allocated shall perform their duties with the skill care and diligence to be expected of a competent employee engaged in the performance of those duties having regard to the grade and experience of such employees;

7.3.4 it shall use reasonable endeavours to ensure that nothing is done by it or by its employees or agents which results in a breach of the contract of employment of any member of the ARP employees or of any employee of another council so allocated;

7.3.5 it shall indemnify the others of the Five Councils against all claims by or in respect of its employees allocated to the 2015 Joint Committee or the ARP in respect of the delivery of Support Services in the provision of the JC Services caused by the fault negligence or omission of that Council or its employees or agents in respect of the provision of the JC Services and take disciplinary action against such employees, if the employing Council deems appropriate; and

7.3.6 (in respect of issues arising under 7.3.5) it shall be responsible for all claims by or in respect of its employees allocated to the 2015 Joint Committee or the ARP in respect of the provision of the JC Services caused by the fault negligence or omission of that Council or its employees or agents towards those employees.

7.4 The Five Councils agree to indemnify each other against all costs in relation to pensions and pensions’ contributions in respect of any employees transferred/working within ARP in accordance with the percentages in Paragraph 5.1 as may be amended by Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol (Schedule 3).

7.5 Each of the Five Councils shall where relevant cooperate and give assistance to and act in good faith towards each other in order to enable each of the others of these Councils to comply with their legal obligations in respect of their own employees.

7.6 In the event that an employee of the 2015 Joint Committee is to be offered early retirement, redundancy or termination with associated payments, then such an offer to a specific employee will be reported to the next available Operational Improvement Board meeting.

6423 7.7 In the event that: -

7.7.1 the 2015 Joint Committee is dissolved pursuant to Clause 10.2 because of a decision by any or all of the Five Councils to withdraw from the 2015 Joint Committee; or

7.7.2 such Council no longer requires any part or element of the JC Services to be performed on its behalf by the ARP; and

7.7.3 TUPE does not apply to transfer the contracts of employment of all or any of the relevant employees of the others of the Five Councils carrying out work in connection with the performance of the JC Services on behalf of that Council or to any new contractor engaged by that Council

then that Council shall indemnify the others of the Five Councils against all contractual and statutory redundancy payments and notice payments made to employees dismissed by those others of the Five Councils for the reasons of redundancy arising from such withdrawal of that Council from the 2015 Joint Committee or the cessation of the performance of all or any of the JC Services by ARP on its behalf.

7.8 The Employment Costs incurred by any of the Five Councils in respect of any of its employees allocated to the 2015 Joint Committee or the ARP, other than the costs covered by the indemnities in Clauses 7.3.5, 7.5, and 7.6, shall be a charge against the accounts of the 2015 Joint Committee.

7.9 In the event that all Five Councils wish to consider dissolution and transfer to an Alternative Business Structure, all Five Councils agree:

7.9.1 that all Five Councils shall jointly instruct a pensions expert to undertake an actuarial and valuations assessment of the 2015 Joint Committee employee pensions contributions and liability, being both current and inherited liability (“Pensions Valuation Report”) as at an agreed date, prior to dissolution; and

7.9.2 that full disclosure of the information submitted by or on behalf of the Five Councils in respect of Clause 7.9.1 shall be available to all Five Councils, together with any drafts and final copies of the most recent Pensions Valuation Report; and

6524

7.9.3 that upon receipt of the most recent Pensions Valuation Report, each Council shall be liable for a proportion that directly relates to the caseload undertaken at the time of the dissolution, as calculated under Paragraph 5.1 or as may be amended by Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol and to the extent that it is necessary to indemnify the others of the Five Councils of any outstanding liability; and

7.9.4 that all Five Councils must then consider whether to transfer the 2015 Joint Committee employee pensions and liability detailed in the most recent Pensions Valuation Report to the Alternative Business Structure.

8. ARP PREMISES, ASSETS, CONTRACTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Premises 8. The costs of the premises at Breckland House, Thetford occupied and used by the 2015 Joint Committee or by the ARP for the provision of the JC Services shall be charged to the accounts of the 2015 Joint Committee in accordance with Clause 2.1 of Schedule 3

Assets

8.1 Any assets allocated for use by the ARP for the provision of the JC Services shall remain the property of the Council who owned it prior to the formation of the 2015 Joint Committee.

8.2 Any jointly used new assets procured by one of the Five Councils (as determined by the 2015 Joint Committee) on behalf of and at the cost of the 2015 Joint Committee (subject to the standing orders of the procuring Council and any applicable procurement legislation) shall be owned by the Five Councils in proportion to the percentages determined under Paragraph 5.1 or as may be amended by Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol.

8.3 The 2015 Joint Committee shall be responsible for the security, maintenance and repair of all assets used by it and the ARP for the provision of the JC Services.

6625 8.4 A register of assets shall be maintained by the Treasurer showing the ownership, the date of its allocation to, or purchase for, the purposes of the 2015 Joint Committee for use by the ARP and the date of disposal of all assets allocated to or used by the 2015 Joint Committee formerly used by the ARP.

Contracts

8.5 All contracts (whether for goods, equipment, supplies, services or use of intellectual property rights) entered into on behalf of the 2015 Joint Committee or its predecessor for use by the ARP shall (subject to the provision of any necessary licence or approval of the other contracting party) be continued in effect.

8.6 Any new contracts required for the purposes of the 2015 Joint Committee for the benefit of the ARP for the provision of the JC Services shall be procured by one of the Five Councils (as determined by the Operational Improvement Board) on behalf of the 2015 Joint Committee in accordance with the acquiring Council’s standing orders and any applicable procurement legislation and the procuring Council shall remain contractually liable for any rights obligations and liabilities arising under the contracts and shall act in that regard in the best interests of the Five Councils and the 2015 Joint Committee and account for any monies received to the 2015 Joint Committee and be entitled to seek recompense from the funds of the 2015 Joint Committee for any expenditure properly and reasonably incurred in that respect.

Intellectual Property

8.7 Each of the Five Councils shall grant to each of the others of the Five Councils a royalty free licence to copy and use through the 2015 Joint Committee all materials relevant to the JC Services in which it has intellectual property rights for use by or for the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP only. The Council owning such intellectual property rights shall indemnify the others of the Five Councils in respect of any claim for infringement of the intellectual property rights of a third party and shall notify the others of the Five Councils and the 2015 Joint Committee as soon as it receives notice of any such claim.

6726 9. INDEMNITIES INSURANCE AND LIABILITIES AND CONDUCT OF CLAIMS

Indemnities

9.1 Save as provided under Clause 5.3.2 (subsidy reclaims) and Clauses 7.3.5 and 7.3.6 (employee fault negligence or omission) each of the Five Councils shall indemnify the others of them and their employees and agents against all claims demands actions costs and expenses (including legal expenses on an indemnity basis) which such other of the Five Councils or its employees or agents may incur as a result of any act omission or default of the others of the Five Councils as the case may be or of their employees or agents in respect of this Agreement and:

9.1.1 breach of contract;

9.1.2 damage to real and personal property; or

9.1.3 injury to persons including injury resulting in death.

9.2 Save as provided by Clauses 7.3.5 and 7.3.6, (employee fault negligence or omission) each of the Five Councils shall indemnify the others of them from and against any damages or awards paid to any of its employees or his or her personal representatives or payment made in settlement of any claims made by an employee or his or her personal representative arising from a breach by that Council of this Agreement or from negligence of that Council or its employees or agents (including legal expenses on an indemnity basis).

9.3 Save as provided under Clause 5.3.2 (subsidy reclaims) and Clauses 7.3.5 and 7.3.6 (employee fault negligence or omission) each of the Five Councils shall release and indemnify the others of the Five Councils and their members and officers from and against all liability for any of the following which arise out of or in consequence of the obligations under this Agreement, including but not limited to:

9.3.1 breach by that Council of its supply contracts for goods or materials or equipment made or to be made available to the 2015 Joint Committee for the purposes of the JC Services; or

6827 9.3.2 breach by that Council of the terms of any other of the Five Councils’ supply contracts for such goods or materials or equipment.

9.4 Where one of the Five Councils enters into such a supply contract as is referred to in Clause 9.3.1 then the others of the Five Councils shall release and indemnify the contracting Council in respect of any breach by those others of the Five Councils (or of their officers or agents) of the obligations under such a supply contract arising from or in consequence of any non-performance or part performance acts defaults omissions breaches and negligence of any obligation under that supply contract.

9.5 A Council shall not be responsible or obliged to indemnify any other or others of the Five Councils for:

9.5.1 any liability under Clause 9.3 which arises as a direct result of one of the Five Councils acting on the instructions of any other or others of the Five Councils (to the extent that the other Council is or other Councils are entitled to give such instructions); or

9.5.2 any injury loss damage cost and expense caused by the negligence wilful misconduct or a breach of this Agreement by any other or others of the Five Councils or an agent contractor or employee of any other or others of the Five Councils.

9.6 None of the Five Councils shall be liable in tort to any other or others of the Five Councils for any negligent act or omission of that other Council or those other Councils relating to this Agreement and the only remedy of such other Council or Councils is under this Agreement. Each of the Five Councils shall use reasonable endeavours to procure that no agent, contractor or employee of it brings a claim in tort or otherwise against any of the others of the Five Councils.

9.7 Any indemnity under any provision of this Agreement shall be without prejudice to any indemnity by the same Council under any other provision of this Agreement.

9.8 None of the indemnities under this Agreement shall apply and there shall be no right to claim damages for breach of this Agreement in tort or on any other basis whatsoever to the extent that any loss claimed is for loss of profits, loss of use,

6928 loss of production, loss of business or loss of business opportunity or is a claim for consequential or for indirect loss of any nature allegedly suffered by any Council.

Insurance and Liabilities

9.9 Each of the Five Councils shall take out and maintain with a well established insurance provider or underwriter of repute for so long as may be necessary the following insurances in respect of their own employees premises and assets allocated to the 2015 Joint Committee for the use of the ARP: -

9.9.1 public liability insurance for a value of not less than £10 million for each and every claim;

9.9.2 employer’s liability insurance for a value of not less than £10 million for each and every claim;

9.9.3 buildings and/or contents insurance;

9.9.4 any other insurances required by law or agreed by the 2015 Joint Committee to be appropriate.

9.10 In respect of any assets owned by any of the Five Councils and allocated to the 2015 Joint Committee for use by the ARP, the Council nominated by the Joint Committee shall take out and maintain the insurances referred to in Clause 9.9.

9.11 Any new assets or any accommodation or premises leased or acquired pursuant to Clauses 8.2 or 8.3 shall be insured by the Council nominated by the 2015 Joint Committee to acquire or lease such assets accommodation or premises on behalf of the 2015 Joint Committee for the purposes of the ARP.

9.12 In relation to the insurances referred to in Clauses 9.9, 9.10 and 9.11: -

9.12.1 the interests of the others of the Five Councils shall be noted on the policies;

9.12.2 none of the Five Councils shall take any action or fail to take any action nor allow anything to occur which would entitle an insurer to refuse a claim under any of the insurance policies or which may render such a claim wholly or partially repayable;

7029 9.12.3 each of the Five Councils shall provide to the others of the Five Councils copies of insurance policies referred to in Clauses 9.9, 9.10 and 9.11 and evidence of the payment of the premiums and that the insurances are in full force and effect.

9.13 In the event of a default by the responsible Council in taking out and maintaining any requisite insurance one of the others of the Five Councils may pay the premium or take out the requisite insurances and recover its costs from the responsible Council as a debt.

9.14 Other than in respect of the insurances referred to in Clauses 9.9.1 and 9.9.2 a Council responsible for taking out or maintaining insurances may (subject to the prior agreement of the 2015 Joint Committee) decide to self insure in respect of any risks or interest as defined and agreed by the 2015 Joint Committee and to accept and meet liability thereof as if it were an insurer of such risks or interest.

Conduct of Claims

9.15 The conduct by one of the Five Councils of claims made by a third person against it in relation to a matter related to this Agreement in connection with a potential liability described in Clauses 9.1 to 9.8 shall be dealt with under the procedures set out in Schedule 4 of this Agreement.

10. COMMENCEMENT AND TERMINATION

Commencement of the Agreement

10.1 This Agreement shall come into at the date at the beginning of this Agreement and shall replace the Reconstitution Agreement dated [date of Agreement 2015] subject to Clause 2 of that Agreement which shall continue to be in force.

Withdrawal of a Party from this Agreement

10.2 Subject to the requirements of Clause 10.3 any of the Five Councils may withdraw from the 2015 Joint Committee on giving two years notice to the others of the Five Councils, in accordance with Clause 25. On the effective date of any such withdrawal, being two years after the date of service of the notice set out in Clause 25, this Agreement shall terminate and the 2015 Joint Committee shall

7130 be dissolved (save that any of the remaining Councils may enter into a new joint arrangement on such terms as the remaining Councils may agree).

10.3 Before serving a notice under Clause 10.2 the Council wishing to withdraw from the 2015 Joint Committee must have:- 10.3.1 served a Statement of Intent on the others of the Five Councils setting out the reasons underlying their intention to leave the 2015 Joint Committee and 10.3.2 discussed the Statement of Intent with the others of the Five Councils with a view to agreeing an Action Plan at a meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee that shall be convened to take place within 28 days of the date of service deemed under Clause 25 but

10.4 failed to agree an Action Plan to address the concerns expressed or improved outcomes cited following discussion to deal with these.

10.5 Where an Action Plan is agreed the Five Councils will ensure that it is carried out.

10.6 Where an Action Plan is not agreed, then the Treasurer shall agree the appointment of an independent actuary to value assets, for the purposes of redistribution/sale or repayment to the Council leaving the 2015 Joint Committee, in accordance with the percentages set out in Paragraph 5.1 or as may be amended by Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol, and the Provisions on Termination set out under Clause 10.7 shall be applied.

New Member

10.7 If at any time it is agreed by the Five Councils that one or more other local authorities shall join in or benefit from the activities of the 2015 Joint Committee this Agreement shall be terminated and the 2015 Joint Committee shall be dissolved on such date as may be agreed by the Five Councils and a new joint committee arrangement entered into on such terms as the Five Councils and such one or more other local authorities may agree.

Provisions on Termination

10.8 From receipt of a notice of withdrawal given under the provisions of Clause 10.2 until the date of termination of this Agreement and without prejudice to any other

7231 rights or remedies that the Five Councils have against each other under the terms of this Agreement:

10.8.1 each of the Five Councils shall continue to make the payments provided for in this Agreement in respect of the maintenance of the ARP and the costs of the ARP’s provision of the JC Services in respect of that Council until date of termination. This shall be subject to any redistribution/sale or repayment to the Council in relation to the ARP assets, in the agreed proportions set out under Paragraph 5.1 as may be amended by Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol, such assets to be valued in accordance with Clause 10.5;

10.8.2 each of the Five Councils shall co-operate with each other to ensure a smooth and timely handover of the JC Services to each of those Councils or to any contractor or contractors appointed by them or any of them or to any successor to the ARP and

10.8.3 each of the Five Councils shall act in good faith and use reasonable endeavours to minimise loss or harm to the others of the Five Councils arising from such a termination of this Agreement.

Provisions when dissolving ARP and transferring to an Alternative Business Structure

10.9 In the event that the Five Councils resolve that they wish to dissolve ARP and move to an Alternative Business Structure, the Treasurer shall agree the appointment of an independent actuary and pensions expert, for the purposes of valuing assets and liabilities, including, although not limited to those detailed under Clause 7.11 and that, subject to Clause 8.5 shall be apportioned in accordance with the percentages calculated under Paragraph 5.2 of the Accountancy Protocol.

11. REVIEW OF AGREEMENT

11.1 At any time any one or more of the Five Councils may seek a review of this Agreement and the operation of the ARP and its performance of the JC Services by submitting a report detailing the reason for the review (Review Report) to each of the other of the Five Councils and the 2015 Joint Committee.

7332 11.2 Upon receiving the Review Report the 2015 Joint Committee shall advise the OIB and task it with conducting the review.

11.3 On production of the Review Report the Five Councils will have 8 weeks in which to submit their comments to the OIB in order to allow time for committee/member briefing cycles.

11.4 On receipt of comments from each of the Five Councils within the timescale referred to in Clause 11.3 (or any extension thereof agreed by the OIB) the OIB shall meet to consider the content and recommendations of the Review Report in the light of the comments received from the Five Councils and submit to the Five Councils and the 2015 Joint Committee the revisions and amendments (if any) it proposes be made to this Agreement and this Agreement shall be amended (or if not amended shall be deemed to have been amended) to accord with the proposals of the Review Report (as revised and amended by the OIB) with effect from such date as determined by the OIB. The outcome of the review shall be reported to the next meeting of the 2015 Joint Committee.

12. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

12.1 The Five Councils shall work together through the 2015 Joint Committee to deliver the provision of the JC Services to a high standard of quality in a manner which is fair and equitable to all sectors of the communities of the Five Councils and their employees allocated to ARP and to this end each of the Five Councils shall agree: -

12.1.1 to adopt policies to comply with their statutory obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and any modification or re-enactment thereof and will not treat any person less favourably than any others because of that person’s gender, sex or sexual orientation, marital or other status, race, nationality, ethnic origin, disability or age and will comply with all relevant codes of practice;

12.1.2 if found guilty of unlawful discrimination which relates to the ARP, to take steps to avoid a repetition of such unlawful discrimination and provide details of such steps to the others of the Five Councils; and

7433 12.1.3 as far as possible to observe all relevant codes of practice for equal opportunities in employment especially in relation to the employees allocated to the ARP.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY

13.1 Each of the Five Councils agrees that (except as required by law) it will:

13.1.1 keep confidential and not divulge to any person any agreed confidential, technical or commercial information concerning the business accounts finance technology expertise contractual arrangements or other dealings transactions or affairs of the others of the Five Councils; and

13.1.2 not use any such information for its own purposes (except as contemplated in this Agreement).

13.2 Each of the Five Councils agrees to use its reasonable endeavours to prevent the publication or disclosure of any such confidential information.

13.3 Clauses 13.1 and 13.2 do not apply to any confidential information (as agreed by the Five Councils) used, divulged or communicated:

13.3.1 pursuant to a contract for the supply of goods or services;

13.3.2 pursuant to the procurement of goods and services in accordance with Clauses 8.2 and 8.6;

13.3.3 pursuant to this Agreement;

13.3.4 on the instructions of any other or others of the Five Councils;

13.3.5 to its employees and professional advisers on terms that this information is confidential to them; or

13.3.6 under any Court order or where there is statutory obligation to disclose it.

13.4 Each of the Five Councils undertake that they will not without the consent of the others of the Five Councils make any press or other announcement concerning any aspect of this Agreement or make any use of the names of the others of the Five Councils in consequence of this Agreement.

7534 14. DATA PROTECTION AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

14.1 Each of the Five Councils agrees that in relation to any personal data (as defined in the DPA and GDPR) it holds in relation to this Agreement it will comply as a data controller if necessary with the DPA and GDPR including:

14.1.1 the seven data protection principles listed in Article 7 to the GDPR;

14.1.2 (subject to any exemptions) requests from data subjects for access to data held by it; and

14.1.3 the requirements relating to notification to the Information Commissioner by data controllers under Article 33 of the GDPR.

14.2 Each of the Five Councils agrees that if it acquires personal data from any other party in connection with this Agreement it will:

14.2.1 maintain a valid and up to date registration or notification under the DPA which covers all processing of such data which it undertakes;

14.2.2 only undertake processing of such personal data where it is reasonably required in connection with the performance of its obligations under this Agreement;

14.2.3 not disclose such personal data to any third party other than:

14.2.3.1 disclosure on terms substantially the same as and no less stringent than those required by this Clause, to its employees agents and contractors to whom such disclosure is reasonably necessary in connection with the performance of its obligations under this Agreement; or

14.2.3.2 as required by court order; or

14.2.3.3 as may be required under relevant exemption under the DPA & GDPR.

14.2.4 bring into effect and maintain all technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and accidental loss or destruction of or damage to personal data including taking reasonable steps to ensure the reliability of employees having access to the personal data; and

14.2.5 (save as under any relevant exemption, where exemptions under the DPA & GDPR apply to obtaining consent) obtain the consent of data subjects to the disclosure of any personal data disclosed under this Agreement.

7635 14.3 Nothing in this Agreement requires any of the Five Councils to disclose any information to another party if that Council considers that to do so would be in breach of the DPA and GDPR.

14.4 In the event that any of the Five Councils receives a request for information under the FOIA (relating to the JC Services provided by the ARP to the Council) then the Five Councils agree that the ARP shall provide all the necessary assistance as reasonably requested by the Council to enable the Council to respond to the request for information within the time for compliance set out in Section 10 of the FOIA.

14.5 The Council in receipt of the request for information shall be responsible for determining at its absolute discretion whether the information requested is exempt from disclosure in accordance with the provisions of the FOIA or may be disclosed.

15. WAIVER AND SEVERABILITY

15.1 A failure or delay by any of the Five Councils in exercising any rights, powers or privileges under this Agreement will not operate as a waiver of them. The single or partial exercise of any right power or privilege does not prevent any other exercise of it or the exercise of any other right power or privilege (whether arising out of the same factual situation or otherwise). Any waiver of a breach of this Agreement is not to be effective unless given in writing signed by the Council waiving its entitlement. No waiver is to be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach or default nor is it to affect the other terms of this Agreement.

15.2 The receipt of money does not prevent the Council receiving it questioning the correctness of the amount or any other statement in respect of money.

15.3 If any term of this Agreement is illegal void or unenforceable the remainder of this Agreement will continue in force as though that term had not been included in it.

7736 16. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

16.1 This Agreement sets out the whole agreement between the Five Councils in relation to the transaction it provides for.

16.2 Each of the Five Councils warrants that it has not entered into this Agreement on the basis of any representation made by any one or more of the others of the Five Councils except to the extent that such representation is expressly included in it (but nothing in this Clause 16 excludes any liability for fraudulent misrepresentation).

17. EXTENT OF OBLIGATIONS AND FURTHER ASSURANCE

17.1 Nothing in this Agreement is to require any of the Five Councils to act in any way that is inconsistent with its obligations or duties as a local authority.

17.2 Each of the Five Councils undertakes (subject to Clause 17.1) to do all things and execute all further documents that may reasonably be required by one or all of the others of the Five Councils to give effect to this Agreement.

18. NO PARTNERSHIP OR AGENCY

18.1 Nothing in this Agreement is to constitute or be deemed a partnership within the meaning of the Partnership Act 1890 the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 or any other legislation concerning partnerships or limited liability partnerships.

18.2 None of the Five Councils shall hold itself out as the agent of any one or more of the others of the Five Councils or to have any authority to bind any one or more of the others of the Five Councils except to the extent that this Agreement expressly provides otherwise.

19. CONTRACTS (RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES) ACT 1999

No term of this Agreement is enforceable under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 by any person who is not a party to this Agreement.

7837 20. VARIATIONS

20.1 Except as provided by Clause 11.4 no person has authority on behalf of any of the Five Councils to agree to any variation to this Agreement except where the amendment is agreed to in writing by each of the Five Councils.

20.2 No consents to any variation to this Agreement are required from any person other than the 2015 Joint Committee (acting pursuant to Clause 11.4) or all of the Five Councils as detailed under Clause 20.1.

21. PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION/BRIBERY

21.1 Where any of the Five Councils or any person employed by or acting on behalf of any of the Five Councils (whether with or without that Council’s knowledge) has offered or given or agreed to give to any person or received or agreed to receive from any person any gift or consideration of any kind as an inducement or reward for:

21.1.1 doing or not doing or having done or not having done any action in relation to the obtaining or execution of this Agreement or any other contract with that Council; or

21.1.2 showing or not showing favour or disfavour to any person in relation to this Agreement or any other contract with that Council; or

21.1.3 where in relation to any contract with such a Council the Council or any person employed by that Council or acting on that Council’s behalf has:

21.1.3.1 committed any offence under the Bribery Act 2010 or legislation revoking or amending the same; or

21.1.3.2 given any fee or reward the receipt of which is an offence under the LGA 1972 or Bribery Act 2010;

then the others of the Five Councils, if they all agree in writing so to do, may withdraw from this Agreement pursuant to Clauses 10.3. to 10.6 and recover from the aforesaid Council the amount of any loss they may suffer as a result of such termination of this Agreement.

7938 22. MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION

22.1 If any dispute arises out of this Agreement the Five Councils shall attempt to settle it by mediation in accordance with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (“CEDR”) Model Mediation Procedure (“the Model Procedure”).

22.2 To initiate mediation, the Chief Executive of any of the Five Councils seeking such mediation shall give notice in writing (“ADR Notice”) to the others of the Five Councils requesting mediation in accordance with Clause 22.1 and shall notify CEDR of the dispute.

22.3 If the Five Councils cannot agree the identity of the mediator within 10 Working Days of the date of the ADR Notice the mediator is to be appointed by CEDR.

22.4 The mediation will start not later than 20 Working Days after the date of the ADR Notice.

22.5 None of the Five Councils may commence any court proceedings or arbitration in relation to any dispute arising out of this Agreement until they have attempted to settle it by mediation and that mediation has terminated.

22.6 If the dispute has not been settled by the mediation within 35 Working Days from the date of the ADR Notice the dispute shall be referred to arbitration under the Arbitration Acts 1950 to 1996 by a single arbitrator appointed by agreement between the Five Councils. If the Five Councils cannot agree the identity of the arbitrator within 10 Working Days of one or more of the Five Councils proposing at least two possible appropriate arbitrators to the others of the Five Councils the arbitrator is to be appointed by the President or next most senior officer available of the Law Society on the application of one or more of the Five Councils.

23. ASSIGNMENT AND SUBCONTRACTING

23.1 None of the Five Councils may transfer assign mortgage or pledge its rights or obligations under this Agreement.

23.2 None of the Five Councils may subcontract any of its obligations under this Agreement except with the consent of the others of the Five Councils (such

8039 consent not unreasonably to be withheld or delayed) but any Council who so subcontracts is to be liable for the performance of its subcontractors.

23.3 No rights under this Agreement are to devolve by operation of the law or otherwise on any receiver administrative receiver liquidator or assignee.

24. GOVERNING LAW AND ENFORCEMENT

24.1 The formation construction performance validity and all aspects of this Agreement are to be governed by English law and subject to Clause 22.6 each of the Five Councils agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

24.2 The rights and remedies given by this Agreement are cumulative and do not exclude any other rights or remedies given by law under this Agreement.

25. NOTICES

25.1 Notices or other communications under this Agreement will be duly served if given in writing and sent to the nominated representative of the Five Councils or to JC Members or to officers of the 2015 Joint Committee and shall be deemed to have been served in accordance with the following table with the date of service and method of proof being as set out therein.

Method of service Date of service Proof of service

Personal delivery to the Day of delivery. Proof of handing to the nominated representative. nominated representative.

Personal delivery of a Day of delivery if Proof of delivery. letter addressed to the before 16.00 on a nominated representative Working Day at the address for otherwise 10.00 on service. the next Working Day thereafter.

8140 First class letter 48 hours after Proof of posting unless addressed to the posting if that is a returned through the nominated representative Working Day Post Office undelivered at the address for otherwise 10.00 on service within 21 days service. the next Working Day of posting. thereafter.

Facsimile addressed to Day of transmission if Transmission report the nominated before 16.00 on a showing a successful representative at the Working Day transmission to the address for service. otherwise 10.00 on correct number plus the next Working Day proof of posting of a thereafter. hard copy.

Electronic mail Date of transmission Delivery receipt addressed to the if before 16.00 on a nominated Working Day representative’s otherwise 10.00 on electronic mail address the next Working day thereafter

25.2 Each of the Five Council’s address for service is the address set out at the start of this Agreement or such other address as it may notify to the other of the Five Councils and the Secretary in writing.

25.3 The nominated representative for the receipt of notices under this Agreement is the Chief Executive of each of the Five Councils or such other person as the relevant Council may nominate by written notice to the others of the Five Councils and to the Secretary.

8241 26. COUNTERPARTS

This Agreement may be executed in five counterparts each of which shall be deemed to be an original and the counterparts shall together constitute one and the same agreement.

27. COSTS

Except in so far as the costs of the preparation negotiation and completion of this Agreement shall be within the One-off Costs each of the Five Councils shall bear their own costs in relation to the negotiation and completion of this Agreement.

IN WITNESS whereof each of the Five Councils have executed and delivered this Agreement as a Deed on the above date.

8342 SCHEDULE 1 PART I

JC Services

The JC Services shall comprise the statutory functions of each of the Five Councils under each of the following enactments: -

(a) Local Government Finance Act 1988 Part III sections 43 to 51 and 62 to 67;

(b) Local Government Finance Act 1992 Part I Chapter I sections 43 to 51,

sections 62 to 67, section 103 and Schedule IX;

(c) Social Services Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 Part VII section 123

and sections 130 to 137;

(d) Social Services Administration Act 1992 sections 5, 6, 7, 7A, 16, 75, 76,

110A, 110AA, 111, 112, 113, 139E, 139F, 139G, 139H, 140, 140A, 140B,

140C, 140D, 140E, 140EE, 140F and 140G and Regulations made under

sections 7A and 76;

(e) Local Government Act 1972 section 111(1) (in so far as it relates to anything

done thereunder that is calculated to facilitate or is incidental or conducive to

the discharge of any statutory function or functions referred to in sub-

paragraphs (a) to (d) above);

(f) Tribunals, Courts & Enforcement Act 2007 in so far as it relates to

enforcement of debts for Council Tax, Non Domestic Rates and other debts

collected by the ARP

(g) Any other statutory functions of the Five Councils which relate directly or

indirectly to the collection of council tax and non-domestic rates and/or the

administration of housing benefit council tax benefit and other relevant

benefits.

8443 (h) The collection and/or enforcement of non-revenue debt as agreed in writing

by each of the Five Councils.

8544 SCHEDULE 1

PART II

JC Services

The JC Services of the Five Councils in respect of the collection and administration of council tax and non-domestic rates (business rates) and the payment of housing and other benefits shall comprise the following services:

1. Council Tax including calculation of tax base

1.1 Billing

1.2 Recovery including enforcement

2. Business Rates including granting rate relief

2.1 Billing

2.2 Recovery including enforcement

3. Benefits Administration including recovery of overpayments

4. Anti-Fraud measures

8645 SCHEDULE 2

Baseline Budget – 2015/16

7(5)Partners 4 (3) Partners Total 2015-16 2015-16 2015-16 £ £ £ Breckland Council 1,590,842 281,525 1,872,367 East Cambridgeshire Council 923,914 167,441 1,091,355 Fenland Council 1,151,977 0 1,151,977 Forest Heath Council 785,400 136,689 922,089 St Edmundsbury Council 1,121,313 224,491 1,345,804 Suffolk Coastal 1,185,218 0 1,185,218 Waveney Council 1,643,273 0 1,643,273 8,401,937 810,146 9,212,083

Agreed ARP Budget for the provision of the JC Services on behalf of the Five Councils for the 2019/2020 Financial Year

2019-20 Budget 5 Partners 3 Partners Total 2019-20 2019-20 2019-20 Budget Budget Budget £ £ £ Breckland Council 1,624,756 218,377 1,843,134 East Cambridgeshire Council 926,615 130,174 1,056,789 East Suffolk Council 2,985,568 0 2,985,568 Fenland Council 1,235,369 0 1,235,369 West Suffolk Council 1,957,656 280,673 2,238,330 8,729,965 629,224 9,359,189

8746 SCHEDULE 3

ANGLIA REVENUES PARTNERSHIP

Accountancy Protocol

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The formulation of these budget polices and procedures has been written with reference to details contained within this Agreement.

1.2 Any issues resulting from any of the Five Councils not approving the budget approved by the 2015 Joint Committee should be pursued in accordance with the arrangements detailed within this Agreement.

2.0 RECAP OF MAIN BUDGET ISSUES FROM THIS AGREEMENT

2.1 The baseline budget was set in 2015/16 and was split between all seven (now Five) Councils for the majority of agreed costs and income, however a small part of the baseline budget was split between Breckland, East Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk Councils only (Three Councils). The agreed items which are charged only to these Three Councils are:

• Rent & Rates at the Thetford Offices • Magistrates Court Costs • Fax Machines • Support service recharges from Breckland & West Suffolk agreed in advance

2.2 A draft budget for each Financial Year subsequent to the 2015/16 baseline split is prepared by the ARP Management Team in collaboration with the Heads of Finance and Chief Finance Officers of the Five Councils respectively and submitted to the Treasurer for consideration and thereafter submitted to the Section 151 Officers of each of the Five Councils, by 30th October in each year. The draft budget for the next Financial Year shall be based upon the budget for the previous Financial Year with the agreed Three Councils and Five Councils baseline split, updated for any anticipated changes considered necessary and shall take account of:-

• The cost of employees required to perform the JC Services during the relevant Financial Year • The agreed goods, services, plant etc. required to be procured during the Financial Year • The share of cost of the accommodation occupied by the employees of the ARP for the Three Councils split only • The cost of implementing any change in the legal or other requirements affecting the performance of the JC Services • Any capital requirements • Any agreed changes to the JC services to be provided in connection with the performance of the JC Services

8847 • Indexation • Support services agreed in advance • Any projected under spend or over spend for the current Financial Year that may be required to be taken into account in the budget for the next Financial Year. • Income receivable in respect of costs that are charged to the partnership

2.3 The draft budget shall also have appended to it a Schedule detailing the payments estimated to be required by each of the Five Councils during the relevant Financial Year.

2.4 After being considered by the Section 151 Officers the draft budget shall be submitted to the Treasurer for consideration and then to the 2015 Joint Committee for approval and thereafter submitted to each of the Five Councils so as to be received by them no later than 31st December in each year.

2.5 In the event that the budget for the current Financial Year requires amendment to meet any over spend or increase in the costs of the performance of the JC Services by the ARP for that year the ARP Management Team shall report thereon to the 2015 Joint Committee.

2.6 The ARP Management Team shall report as soon as practicable on any deficit or surplus arising during the current or immediately preceding Financial Year as compared with the approved budget, first to the Section 151 Officers and subsequently to the 2015 Joint Committee. Any such deficit shall be met, or any such surplus shall be dispersed, by reference to this Accountancy Protocol.

3.0 THE BUDGET

3.1 Introduction

The budget must be set in line with the arrangements and timetable detailed in this Agreement.

3.2 The process

• The Five Councils will hold a “Client” account and a “Partnership” account

• Costs chargeable to the “Partnership” account (taking into account the three & Five partner splits detailed in 2.1 above) are: o Employee related expenses o Transport related expenses o Premises related expenses o Supplies and services o Any Support Service costs agreed in advance by the Five Councils as chargeable to the “Partnership” account because of the obvious service/benefit provided o Any income that is received in respect of costs that are chargeable to the “Partnership” account.

• Costs chargeable to the “Client” account are:

8948 o Support Services not specifically agreed as chargeable to the “Partnership” account o Income not received in respect of costs that are chargeable to the “Partnership” account o Corporate costs not directly attributable to the work of the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP.

3.3 Once all of the costs are identified the Council who will be making the various payments should be clearly identified. This will form the basis of future budget monitoring and control.

3.4 It will be necessary for the OIB to review each budget line each Financial Year to confirm the following:

• the basis of calculation is acceptable to each of the Five Councils and

• the reasonableness of the cost and the benefits to the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP.

4.0 TREATMENT OF COSTS

4.1 “Partnership” account costs must adhere to the following principles:

• Costs must be based on actual usage/cost • Costs must be directly attributable to the work of the 2015 Joint Committee and the ARP • Costs are assessed on an annual basis in accordance with Value for Money Objectives

4.2 The annual budget of the 2015 Joint Committee must not include any corporate or client costs or previously un-agreed costs from any of the Five Councils.

4.3 The annual budget of the 2015 Joint Committee will include the costs chargeable to the “Partnership” account as set out under Paragraph 3.2 of this Accountancy Protocol.

5.0 APPORTIONING THE PARTNERSHIP BUDGET

5.1 The “Partnership” account will be apportioned to each of the Five Councils: by taking the agreed baseline (detailed in Schedule 2) & apportioning any increase or decrease in costs between the councils, in accordance with paragraph 2.1, in the following proportions:

9049 2019-20 Budget apportionment (based on 1 August 2019) 5 Partners 5 Partners 3 Partners (Excl Bailiff) Bailiff Only Breckland Council 17.89% 34.90% 20.60% East Cambridgeshire Council 10.55% 20.60% 9.81% East Suffolk Council 35.23% 0.00% 33.22% Fenland Council 13.53% 0.00% 10.99% West Suffolk Council 22.80% 44.50% 25.38%

Costs and income from Enforcement Agent activity (Tribunals, Court and Enforcement Act 2007) will be shared in relation to the percentage of liability orders passed, in respect of each of the Five Councils, to an Enforcement Agency Service

5.2 These percentages are based on a combination of caseload data, which include the number of hereditaments, the number of businesses chargeable to business rates and the number of benefits claimants (and in the case of the Enforcement Agency liability orders passed for enforcement). This data will be reviewed annually on 1 August, and the new percentage data used with respect to the budget for the following Financial Year.

5.3 The Treasurer shall prepare a Schedule setting out the payments due from each of the Five Councils, taking into account each Council’s share of the ARP budget and the costs incurred by each Council. This Schedule shall be agreed by the OIB. Amounts due shall be payable in equal instalments on the first Working Day of each month.

5.4 Any new capital acquisitions shall be jointly funded by the Five Councils in accordance with the percentages set out in Paragraph 5.1 of this Accountancy Protocol, or amended in accordance with Paragraph 5.2 of this Accountancy Protocol.

6.0 BUDGET MONITORING AND CONTROL

6.1 The Treasurer will act as the lead for monitoring and control of the budget which will be undertaken as follows:

• The budget will be set as detailed in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Accountancy Protocol. • Payments will be made by the relevant Council as identified when setting the budget (as provided in Paragraph 3.3 of this Accountancy Protocol). • Within 7 Working Days of the end of the quarter, each of the Five Councils will provide the Treasurer with a Schedule of payments made against the annual budget of the 2015 Joint Committee. • The Treasurer will compile an overall position against budget and raise any queries with the each of the other Councils. • The Treasurer will compile a quarterly monitoring report to the OIB and the 2015 Joint Committee, showing actual against budget and a forecast position for the year end.

9150

7.0 BUDGET CHANGES AND AMENDMENTS

7.1 Budget changes may result from:

a) New initiatives b) Additional expenditure not previously identified c) Over spends d) Additional Government funding received during the year e) Under spends

7.2 Budget changes a)-d) above should be dealt with as detailed in Paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5 of this Accountancy Protocol.

7.3 In these cases each of the Five Councils will share this cost in addition to the fixed fees in the ratio as detailed in Paragraph 5.1 of this Accountancy Protocol.

7.4 Budget changes resulting from Paragraph 8.1d) of this Accountancy Protocol should be reported to the 2015 Joint Committee once confirmation of the under spend is confirmed.

7.5 In all cases variations to the budget involving changes to or additions to a previously agreed budget will need reporting to the 2015 Joint Committee for approval and thereafter to each of the Five Councils for approval in line with each of the relevant Council’s Standing Orders and Terms of Reference regarding budgets.

8.0 ASSETS

8.1 Any new assets shall be procured by one of the Five Councils (as determined by the 2015 Joint Committee) on behalf of and at the cost of the 2015 Joint Committee (subject to the standing orders of the procuring Council and any applicable procurement legislation) and shall be owned by the Five Councils jointly in proportion to the percentages set out in Paragraph 5.1 of this Accountancy Protocol for the purposes of the 2015 Joint Committee.

8.2 A register of assets shall be maintained by the Treasurer showing the ownership, the date of their allocation to or purchase for the purposes of the 2015 Joint Committee for use by the ARP and the date of disposal of all assets allocated to or used by the 2015 Joint Committee formerly used by the previous Joint Committee.

9251 SCHEDULE 4

General Legal Advice and Services

Subject to the 2015 Joint Committee deciding otherwise the Legal Advice and Services will include and be provided by the following of the Five Councils:-

West Suffolk

1.1 Securing outstanding liability orders for unpaid council tax and business rates by obtaining a charging order on the property and registering the same;

1.2 Where a charging order has been made by the court, applying for an order for sale when instructed to do so;

1.3 Investigating the possibility of collecting outstanding liability orders for both council tax and business rates by way of insolvency proceedings and commencing such proceedings when instructed to do so;

1.4 Advising generally on alternative methods of enforcement; and

1.5 Advising in connection with the recovery of overpaid housing benefit and other benefits and commencing proceedings when instructed to do so.

Any of the Five Councils

2.1 General Constitutional Advice to be the Council whose Monitoring Officer has been appointed

2.2 Commencing and conducting fraud prosecutions, although at the Commencement Date this is provided by external Solicitors, as previously arranged through ARP, or in respect of West Suffolk Council - by their Council, and may change at the request of one of the Five Councils to undertake their own prosecutions/or all of the prosecutions on behalf of the Five Councils.

9352 Conduct of Claims

3.1 If one of the Five Councils (“the Notifying Council”) receives a notice demand letter or other document concerning such a claim for which the Notifying Council may be entitled to be indemnified under this Agreement the Notifying Council shall notify the others of the Five Councils in writing as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within twenty (20) Working Days of its receipt.

3.2 The Notifying Council shall be free at any time to give notice to the others of the Five Councils that it is retaining or taking over conduct of any defence dispute compromise or appeal of any claim made by a third party in connection with any matter described in Paragraph 3.1 or any incidental negotiations. On receipt of such notice the others of the Five Councils shall promptly take all reasonable steps necessary to transfer the conduct of such claim to the Notifying Council and shall provide to the Notifying Council all reasonable co-operation access and assistance for the purposes of considering and resisting such claim. If the Notifying Council gives any notice pursuant to this Clause then the others of the Five Councils shall be released from any future liability under its indemnity in respect of such claim.

3.3 If one or more of the others of the Five Councils pays to the Notifying Council an amount in respect of an indemnity and the Notifying Council subsequently recovers (whether by payment discount credit saving relief or other benefit or otherwise) a sum which is directly referable to the fact matter event or circumstances giving rise to the claim under the indemnity the Notifying Council shall immediately repay to the other or others of the Five Councils the lesser of:-

3.3.1 the sum recovered (or the value of the saving or benefit obtained) less any out of pocket expenses and costs properly incurred by the Notifying Council in recovering it; and

3.3.2 the amount paid to the Notifying Council by the others of the Five Councils in respect of the claim under the relevant indemnity.

3.4 There is no obligation on the Notifying Council to pursue a recovery under Paragraph 3.3. The other or others of the Five Councils is to be repaid only to the extent that the amount of recovery aggregated with the amount paid by the other or others of the Five Councils exceeds the Notifying Council’s losses.

9453 3.5 Each of the Five Councils shall comply with the requirements of any insurer who may have an obligation to consider any claim made in respect of any liability arising under this Agreement.

9554 The Common Seal of BRECKLAND ) DISTRICT COUNCIL was affixed hereto in ) in the presence of )

The Common Seal of EAST ) CAMBRIDGESHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL ) was hereto affixed in the presence of )

Head of Legal and Democratic Services

The Common Seal of FENLAND DISTRICT ) COUNCIL was hereunto affixed in the ) presence of )

Authorised Signatory

The Common Seal of WEST SUFFOLK ) COUNCIL was affixed hereto in ) the presence of )

Authorised Signatory

The Common Seal of EAST SUFFOLK ) COUNCIL was hereunto affixed ) in the presence of )

9655 Authorised Signatory

9756 Agenda Item 13 ES/0151

COUNCIL

Wednesday, 25 September 2019

EAST SUFFOLK FOOD AND HEALTH AND SAFETY SERVICE PLAN 2019/2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. The Council is required to produce a Food and Health and Safety Service Plan in the format prescribed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in its Framework Agreement on Local Authority Law Enforcement and as required by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as set out in the National Local Authority Enforcement Code – Health & Safety at Work England, Scotland and Wales.

2. The Service Plan must be submitted for member approval and must be reviewed to identify the Council's performance against the Service Plan, any variance from the plan and areas for improvement in the service.

3. This year’s Service Plan includes information on the Council's performance in meeting targets, set out in the Service Plan for 2018/19, and recommends to Council the approval of a Food and Health and Safety Service Plan for 2019/20.

Is the report Open or Open Exempt?

Wards Affected: All Wards in the District

Cabinet Member: Councillor Mary Rudd Cabinet Member for Community Health

98

Supporting Officer: Phil Gore Head of Environmental Services and Port Health 01394 444286 [email protected]

99 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Framework Agreement and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) National Local Authority Enforcement Code require the Council to review its performance against the 2018/19 Food and Health and Safety Service Plan, identify any variance from the plan and areas for service improvement. 1.2 As well as reviewing past performance the Council is also required to approve a new Food and Health and Safety Service Plan for 2019/20 (Appendix A).

2 REVIEW OF SERVICE PLAN 2018/19

2.1 The Council’s performance in meeting targets identified within the 2018/19 Service Plan, and any variance, is contained in paragraphs 7.1, 13.1 and 19.1 of this year’s Service Plan, which is attached as Appendix A to this report.

2.2 Members’ attention is also drawn to the key achievements delivered in 2018/19, which are set out in paragraphs 7.2, 13.2 and 19.2

2.3 Areas for service improvement are set out in paragraphs 8, 14 and 20.

2.4 The Council’s performance in 2018/19 shows a small reduction in the percentage of food businesses broadly compliant with food safety requirements but the overall figure remains high and above the national average. The number of food businesses rated 0 or 1 under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (urgent or major improvement necessary) has decreased but there has also been a small reduction in the number of 5 rated premises (very good). Given the overall high levels of compliance, achieving further sustained improvement is challenging and some small fluctuations up and down are to be expected.

2.5 As in previous years the team’s performance in meeting the intervention programme remains very strong. This has been achieved along with the additional work necessary to prepare for the creation of a single authority and following the departure of two long- serving members of staff who retired in 2018/19.

2.6 In 2017 members asked for some comparative national data to benchmark the Council’s performance against. At the time of drafting this report the FSA were still to publish national performance data for 2018/19 and so the national performance data in the following table is derived from the 2017/18 information published on the FSA website.

East Suffolk Performance National Performance 2018/19 (compared with 2017/18 (compared with 2017/18) 2016/17) % food businesses Broadly 97% 90% Compliant % Businesses Registered but 1.6% (down from 2.1%) 90% LAs have less than 10% Not Rated of businesses registered but unrated

100

% Change in Full-Time 0% (no change in -1.0% Equivalents dealing with establishment but some food hygiene posts remained vacant due to recruitment difficulties) % Food Hygiene 97.0% 87% Interventions achieved % Change in Hygiene +28.9% -2.5% Complaints % Change in food sampling -38% -10%

3 FOOD STANDARDS AGENCY REGULATING OUR FUTURE PROGRAMME 3.1 The FSA’s Register a Food Business digital service, which went live in September 2018, is continuing to connect local authorities to the service. The service captures registration data from food business operators and provides guidance to support food businesses and help them understand their responsibilities for producing food that is safe and described correctly. 3.2 The new service is being tested with early adopting local authorities and East Suffolk Council has recently signed up for the service and will provide feedback to inform the future development of the system. 3.3 The service has been developed by the FSA with food business operators in mind and will enable central oversight by the agency of all food businesses registered in the UK. At present food business registration is coordinated and controlled by individual local authorities. 3.4 National Inspection Strategies (NIS) are also being developed by the FSA and Primary Authorities and their partner food businesses which have multiple outlets in a number of local authority areas are working together to develop National Inspection Strategies for those businesses. The FSA intend to ‘go live’ with two NIS for multi- site retailers soon. These will be the first NIS covering food hygiene so they will be treated as extended trials / pathfinders and will evolve as necessary. The FSA also plan further consultation on how the NIS will work alongside the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

4 EAT OUT AND TAKE OUT EAT WELL HEALTHIER FOOD AWARDS

4.1 In 2018 east Suffolk councils worked with the Public Health Team and other Suffolk local authorities on the launch of the Take out Eat Well scheme which builds on the success of the Eat out Eat Well Scheme both of which are designed to encourage and reward food businesses that provide healthy food choices on their menu.

4.2 The Council continues to promote both schemes through its website, through publicity on social media and during inspections. East Suffolk currently has 12 award winning takeaway premises and 43 premises holding an award in the Eat out Eat Well scheme. The schemes encourage food businesses to offer customers food which is low in fat, sugar and salt content with fruit and vegetables widely available on their menu and offering some main meals which are high in starchy carbohydrates.

101 5 PORT HEALTH SERVICE

5.1 The Port Health Team has continued to work with government departments, the FSA, Defra, Port of Felixstowe, ferry operators and importers to plan for the consequences of a no deal Brexit. This has involved further development of the PHILIS (Port Health Interactive Live Information System) online module as a possible national contingency for Traces, the European import declaration system. Officers have also provided input into various Brexit related steering groups and have sat on the IPAFFS (the UK import / export system) project delivery group which has overseen the development of a new UK declaration system.

5.2 2018/19 has also seen a major restructuring of the Management Team at Port Health helping the service to achieve a more business structured approach. The management restructure was a recommendation arising from an external review of the service and has now been fully implemented with some excellent new appointments. The team are currently working on the next phase of the review which recommended the implementation of a competency framework and the My Conversation staff appraisal scheme.

6 HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE EAST SUFFOLK BUSINESS PLAN?

6.1 One of the Council’s three priorities within the East Suffolk Business Plan is economic growth and recognition that a strong local economy is essential for vibrant local communities. Given the importance of local food production, preparation and sale to local tourism, the food and safety service provides essential advice, guidance, training and regulation to ensure that local food businesses provide safe food and can prosper.

6.2 One of the critical success factors underpinning the Vision in the Business Plan is enabling people to take responsibility for their own mental and physical health and well-being, helping them to live active and healthy lives, while remaining safe within their homes and communities. To achieve this the service is not only focussing on the safety of food on offer in the district but is supporting wider public health objectives designed to tackle obesity by encouraging food businesses to offer healthy food options. The service has been working closely with the other Suffolk local authorities and the Health & Wellbeing Board on the Eat out Eat Well and the Take out Eat Well healthier food award schemes. 7 FINANCIAL AND GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS 7.1 There are no new financial implications for the Council from the proposals within this year’s Service Plan. Targets and service improvements will be met from budgets already approved for the delivery of the services in 2019/20.

8 CONSULTATION 8.1 Cabinet and Scrutiny Committee have been consulted on the Service Plan at their meetings on 3 September and 25 July 2019 and recommended the Plan to Council.

9 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED 9.1 The FSA Framework Agreement and HSE National Local Authority Enforcement Code set out in detail the requirements of local authority Food Safety and Health and Safety

102 Service Plans and the framework and guidance has been used in the drafting of the Service Plan attached to this report. No other options were considered.

10 REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION 10.1 The Council is required under the FSA Framework Agreement and HSE National Local Authority Enforcement Code to approve a Food and Health and Safety Service Plan for 2019/20 and review its performance in 2018/19.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. It is recommended that Council: a) Notes the Food Safety and Health and Safety performance against the Service Plan for 2018/19, and b) Adopts the Service Plan for 2019/20.

APPENDICES

Appendix A East Suffolk Food and Health and Safety Service Plan 2019/20

Date Available From

April FSA Framework Agreement 2010 http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/enforcement/frameworkagreementno5.pdf

National Local Authority Enforcement Code May 2013 http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/publications/national-la-code.pdf

103

Appendix A

East Suffolk Food and Health and Safety Service Plan

2019/20

Approved by

Scrutiny on XX/XX/XXXX Cabinet on XX/XX/XXXX East Suffolk Council on XX/XX/XXXX

104 EAST SUFFOLK COUNCIL EAST SUFFOLK FOOD AND HEALTH AND SAFETY SERVICE PLAN 2019/2020

1. SERVICE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1.1 Aims and Objectives

1.1.1 Food and Safety Service

To ensure that all food businesses comply with the relevant standards, are hygienic and have adequately trained staff.

To ensure that food is fit for human consumption and that any outbreaks of food poisoning and other infectious diseases are controlled.

To secure and maintain a safe and healthy environment, for employees and members of the public, in those establishments for which we have an enforcement responsibility.

1.1.2 Port Health Service

The protection of public and animal health at the border by:

• Ensuring the control of infectious diseases into the via the Port of Felixstowe.

• Ensuring that all vessels within the Port Health District comply with international and United Kingdom health requirements, and are maintained in a hygienic condition.

• Operating the Border Inspection Post at the Port of Felixstowe and enforcing the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011.

• Operating the Designated Point of Entry for products not of animal origin and enforcing of The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2009, The Contaminants in Food (England) Regulations 2013 and relevant European Union (EU) legislation at Felixstowe.

• Controlling melamine and Polyamide kitchenware from China in accordance with The Plastic Kitchenware (Conditions on Imports from China) (England) Regulations 2011.

• Ensuring the safety of products not of animal origin imported through Harwich International Port, Harwich Navyard and Mistley Quay in accordance with the Agreement made between Tendring District Council and East Suffolk Council.

• Delivering the port health service at the Port of Ipswich in accordance with the agreement made between Ipswich Borough Council and East Suffolk Council.

105 • Ensure the safety of high risk animal feed imported through Felixstowe in accordance with the agreement made between Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council.

• Support and further developing of the Port Health Interactive Live Information System (PHILIS).

1.2 Links to Council Objectives and Plans

In April 2019 the new East Suffolk Council was launched. One of its early priorities will be to agree a new Business Plan for the new Council. Until then the existing East Suffolk Business Plan 2015 -20231 remains in place.

The Business Plan sets out the vision of the council and its commitment to improving the quality of life for everyone living in, working in, and visiting east Suffolk and encapsulates how the Council seeks to achieve this.

The Plan has three key strands: • Economic growth • Enabling communities • Financial self sufficiency.

For each of these strands the Plan sets out critical success factors and for community health this is: Enabling people to take responsibility for their own mental and physical health and well-being, helping them to live active and healthy lives, while remaining safe within their homes and communities.

Sitting beneath the critical success factors are a range of actions to help deliver the vision in the Plan. These include:

• Develop and launch ‘Eat Out Eat Well’, a healthy food award scheme, to encourage food businesses in Suffolk to offer healthy food choices. This has been completed but work continues to promote the scheme and encourage more food businesses to provide healthy food options on their menu. The scheme has recently been extended to take-away food businesses. • Continue to work, with partners, to ensure east Suffolk remains a safe place for our communities. • Further improve the efficiency, effectiveness and marketing of the Council owned Port Health service software. During 2017/18 work on adapting the software for use at Heathrow Animal Reception Centre has been completed and the software successfully launched. • Complete a pilot project to inform HMRC’s One Government at the Border programme for the control of the movement of goods. This pilot has been completed and government departments are now focusing on a successful exit from the EU.

1 http://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Your-Council/Business-Plan/East-Suffolk-Business-Plan.PDF 106 1.3 All of these actions have been delivered and this will be reflected in the new Council’s Business Plan which will identify new actions to support the revised Plan when published later this year.

1.4 Corporate Team Service Plans for Food and Safety Services and Port Health have been agreed for 2019/20 and are posted on the Council’s intranet and are updated throughout the year. The Council’s performance against the East Suffolk Business Plan will be reported to both Cabinets on a quarterly basis and will be published separately in the Council’s Annual Reports.

1.5 Budget Plans have also been prepared for each service area matching resources to anticipated workloads. These are set out in East Suffolk’s Budget Book 2019/202.

1.6 Regular performance review meetings are held between Heads of Service, their Cabinet Member and the team to monitor performance against targets and to assist in identifying areas for improvement within the service.

2. BACKGROUND

2.1 Profile of the Local Authority

The profile of East Suffolk is set out in the published East Suffolk Economic Growth Plan, 2018-20233. The plan sets out:

• East Suffolk – in numbers • Profile of East Suffolk • Summary SWOT analysis • Strategic context for the refreshed Growth Plan • East Suffolk Economic Growth Plan, 2018-23: Vision and Strategy • Key sectors • Place-based and regeneration priorities • Delivering the Plan • Measuring progress and KPIs • Annex A: Looking back – and projecting forward.

2.2 Organisational Structure

2.2.1 The Council

On 1 April 2019 East Suffolk Council came into being and on 2 May elections were held. The new Council has 55 members, and the Conservative Group holds the majority of seats. The Council operates a Leader and Cabinet structure and the Cabinet Member with responsibility for food safety matters is Councillor Mary Rudd.

The Council comprises of 11 Service Areas:

2 https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Your-Council/Financial-Information/Budgets/East-Suffolk- Budget-Book-2019-20.pdf 3 http://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Business/East-Suffolk-Growth-Plan.pdf 107 • Legal and Democratic Services • Planning and Coastal Management Services • ICT Services • Economic Development and Regeneration Services • Environmental Services and Port Health • Financial Services • Housing Operations and Landlord Services • Operations • Communities • Customer Services and • Audit Partnership.

We work in partnership with Norfolk County Council to provide operational functions such as property maintenance, refuse collection and grounds maintenance.

Each Service Area has a Head of Service, Phil Gore being the Head of Environmental Services and Port Health.

The Corporate Management Team comprises the Chief Executive, two Strategic Directors and 11 Heads of Service. The Chief Executive, Stephen Baker, has overall responsibility for the efficient management and execution of the Council’s functions. See Appendix 1 for further information on the management structure.

2.2.2 Service Area for Environmental Services and Port Health

The Service Area for Environmental Services and Port Health comprises six teams:

• Food and Safety • Port Health • Environmental Protection • Environmental Sustainability • Emergency Planning and • Corporate Health & Safety.

The Food and Safety, Port Health and Corporate Health & Safety Teams contribute to the Council’s aims through activities that include:

• food safety • imported food controls • food hygiene regulation and promotion • health and safety regulation and promotion • the monitoring and control of infectious diseases including food poisoning • the management of health, safety and welfare within the Council and • joint working with others on environmental sustainability.

The Port Health Team is responsible for protecting public and animal health by monitoring the standards of safety of all products of animal origin, non-animal origin products and plastic kitchenware imported into the European Union and the United Kingdom at the Port of Felixstowe and for ensuring the control of hygiene and infectious disease on board 108 vessels. The food and safety service undertakes port health work as Lowestoft Port Health Authority.

The structures of the Food and Safety, Port Health and Corporate Health & Safety Teams are provided in Appendix 2.

The Food and Safety Manager, one Port Health Technical Lead and Port Health Manager have been appointed as Lead Officers for food hygiene and food safety matters, in accordance with the Food Safety Act Food Law Code of Practice. A letter of appointment is contained in Appendix 3.

The Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Ipswich Hospital and Public Health England (PHE), Colindale Food, Water and Environmental Laboratory (United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) Testing Laboratory No. 1734) provide specialist services in food microbiology and pathology. The laboratory services provided by PHE have been formalised in Service Level Agreements. The Council has appointed a number of Public Analysts to provide specialist advice on food composition, labelling, and chemical and physical contaminants of food. Public Analysts are listed in Appendix 4. Port Health has regular meetings with our Public Analysts to exchange information about forthcoming requirements and developments and to keep procedures and performance under review. Port Health identified which Public Analyst is used based on a number of factors including the ability to undertake the required analysis, the service delivery timelines and costs.

The Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) analyse antimicrobial residue samples submitted by the Authority. Samples of fishmeal which are checked for the presence of mammalian bone are submitted to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency at Luddington which is now part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA*) as advised by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The review of the legislation covering foodstuffs at risk of contamination from mycotoxins and pesticides and the introduction of the high risk product legislation has seen an increase in the number of non animal origin samples taken and submitted to the Public Analysts.

We are a member of Campden BRI and as such have access to technical support on food and safety related matters.

2.3 Compliance and Enforcement Policy

We readopted our Compliance and Enforcement Policy in April 2019 covering all of the regulatory services delivered by the Council including the food safety, health and safety and port health services.

The policy reflects changes brought about by the Regulators’ Code which establishes how non-economic regulators should interact with those they are regulating. The code requires regulators to:

• carry out their activities in a transparent way that helps those they regulate to comply and grow • design simple and straightforward ways to engage with and hear the views of those they regulate 109 • base their regulatory activities on risk and share information about compliance and risk • ensure clear information, guidance and advice is available to help those they regulate meet their responsibilities.

Officers, including those with responsibility for the enforcement of food and health and safety laws, must have regard to the policy when making enforcement decisions.

3. FOOD SAFETY SERVICE

3.1 Scope of the Food Safety Service

East Suffolk’s Food and Safety Team carry out all functions relating to food safety eg: • carry out interventions, inspections and other visits at food establishments • contribute to the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme • provide advice to food business operators including help on implementing the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business food safety management system • make checks on inland imported food control at retail and catering establishments etc. • register and where appropriate, approve food establishments • issue Export Health Certificates and Food Safety Premises Endorsements for Export • investigate complaints concerning food, food establishments and food handling practices • investigate cases of suspected and confirmed food poisoning • deliver a food safety education programme, including the level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering and • the Lowestoft Port Health Authority service carries out all functions relating to food safety at ports eg inspect ships and issue Ship Sanitation Control Certificates.

3.2 Demands on the Food Safety Service

The numbers of food establishments approved/registered under food safety legislation in East Suffolk is 2,518. A profile of registered/approved food establishments classified in accordance with the FSA’s main use codes is given in table 1.

Table 1. Profiles of registered/approved food establishments in East Suffolk. Source: Suffolk Coastal and Waveney aggregated LAEMS returns 2018/19. FSA Category Number of establishments in East Suffolk Primary producers 16 Manufacturers and Packers 99 Importers/Exporters 7 Distributors/transporters 18 Retailers 610 Restaurants and caterers 1,768 Total 2,518

There are 34 food establishments in East Suffolk that are approved/conditionally approved under EU Regulation 853/2004 producing fish, meat and dairy products etc. We have wholesale fish businesses, together with a variety of other fish-related businesses eg 110 smokehouses and two shellfish producers with harvesting and depuration facilities. We also have a dairy that pasteurises milk and produces cream, yogurt and ice cream. Two establishments supply raw cows’ drinking milk. We are the originating authority for a large frozen food manufacturer and we also have food businesses that manufacture and export yeast for the bakery industry, mill rice, and one that manufactures sauces and condiments.

Our visitor economy offers a diverse range of tourism experiences. Events attracting several thousands of people are held, these include the Suffolk Show at Trinity Park and the Latitude Festival that takes place at Henham Park. The Food and Safety Team works with the event organisers and others during the planning and delivery of the festival to ensure that the food stored, prepared and served is safe to eat and complies with food safety laws.

The Food and Safety Team perform out of hours inspections where this is necessary eg large outdoor events and Sunday/farmers' markets. Food businesses that are open for business at night, at weekends or in the early hours of the morning may be identified for occasional inspection at these times.

Lowestoft Port Health Authority (as established by The Lowestoft Port Health Order 1981 No. 88) inspects ships under the International Health Regulations 2006 to ensure ships are controlling health risks. We issue Ship Sanitation Control Certificates and charge fees for this service. Port Health Authorities are Category 1 Responders under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The following estimate is based on recent demand and expected future circumstances:

Ships sanitation inspections anticipated in 2019/20: Number of Time per inspection Total time (hours) inspections (hours) Lowestoft Port 36 2.5 90 Health Authority Suffolk Coastal Port See part 15 of this service plan Health Authority

We have a diverse range of food businesses operated by and/or associated with ethnic minorities. This includes Chinese, Bangladeshi, Turkish, Greek, Thai, Portuguese and Polish. The majority of food businesses run by these groups are takeaways, restaurants and retail shops. The food and safety service makes use of FSA translated. Additional translation services may be used where there is a legal requirement to do so, or where it is necessary to help ensure that Food Business Operators (FBOs) understand where action needs to be taken to protect against serious risk to public health, or to assist in efficient and effective service delivery. Additional translation services are rarely needed.

Letters sent to FBOs or customers known to have a poor understanding of English may include sentences in appropriate languages/alphabets advising the recipient of the legal importance of the letter and the need to obtain a full translation. Ship Sanitation and Vessel Food Hygiene Inspections carried out by Lowestoft Port Health Authority frequently involve working with crew and staff from all parts of the world, with the inevitable difficulties associated with a limited understanding of English.

111 Several food businesses cater specifically for people who are vulnerable eg as a result of age or disability. This is taken into account by appropriate risk scoring criteria used in the risk rating of such premises to determine interventions.

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the UK will be treated as a third country and our exports of animals and animal products to the EU will need to be accompanied by Export Health Certificates (EHCs). Those EHCs will be requested from APHA* by the exporter and they will need to be signed by Official Veterinarians and, for fish and fish products and composite products of animal origin (POAO) only; officials in local authorities. Local authorities with enforcement responsibilities in establishments wishing to export fish and fish products or composite products to the EU can expect an increase in the demand for EHCs. Whilst local authorities do not have a statutory obligation to provide this export health certification, we are well placed to support local businesses and may elect to expand their service as mitigation against the impact of EU exit. The demand for EHCs could be up to 1,530 EHCs per calendar year. Fees for issuing EHCs are set on a cost recovery basis and published in the Council’s discretionary Fees and Charges. 4. SERVICE DELIVERY – FOOD SAFETY

4.1 Interventions at Food Establishments

The Food and Safety Team aim to ensure that food in the districts is fit for human consumption and those outbreaks of food poisoning and other infectious diseases are controlled. To achieve this inspections and other interventions are carried out at food establishments using a risk based approach in accordance with the Food Law Code of Practice. Specialist computer software is used to record all food business establishments. These records are updated daily and are used to administer the programme of risk based inspections and other interventions.

Food establishments are risk rated using criteria set out in the Food Law Code of Practice. Establishments receive a risk rating comprised of two sets of criteria: • the nature of their business eg risk associated with the type of food handled, processing methods, number and vulnerability of customers and • the standard of food safety achieved and compliance with food safety law.

Hence establishments may be rated as higher risk either because of the high risk nature of their business or because of the lower standards of food safety or both. Establishments receive an overall risk rating ranging from A (highest risk) to E (lowest risk).

Unrated establishments include new businesses that are waiting for an inspection to be carried out eg they may have registered but are not ready to start trading. Examples include new businesses starting up and existing trading businesses where a new food business has registered to take over in the future. New food businesses should give at least 28 days’ notice before starting food operations.

Establishments in the outside category include premises such as primary producers that do not form part of our risk based intervention programme. The procedure for handling food registrations, including the initial action to be taken where businesses should be registered but are not, is set down in working procedures.

112 Profiles of the food establishments in East Suffolk by risk rating categories A to E are shown below in table 2. The proportion of broadly compliant premises, this means businesses that had compliance levels at the time of the last inspection equivalent to a FHRS rating of 3, 4 or 5, is shown for each risk rating category A to E. Table 2. Profiles of food establishments in East Suffolk according to risk. Source: Suffolk Coastal and Waveney aggregated LAEMS returns 2018/19. Un- Out- A B C D E Total rated side

Total in 7 46 385 968 995 41 76 2,518 category

Broadly compliant in 2 25 347 963 995 - - 2,332 category (number)

Broadly compliant (% 29% 54% 90% 99% 100% - - - rounded)

The minimum intervention frequency as required by the Food Law Code of Practice and the estimated time per intervention for each risk category are set out below in table 3.

The range of available interventions for food establishments includes inspections, monitoring, surveillance, verification, audit, sampling, education, advice, coaching, information and intelligence gathering. The regulatory burden is minimised by selecting the most appropriate intervention appropriate for the risk category of the establishment. Alternative enforcement strategies include the use of questionnaires for appropriate lower risk category E food business establishments.

Table 3. Food Law Code of Practice minimum intervention frequency and locally estimated time per intervention for each risk category. Minimum intervention Estimated time per Category frequency intervention (hours) A 6 months 5 B 12 months 5 C 18 months 3.5 D 24 months 2 Alternative enforcement 1 E every 3 years Unrated - 2

113 The numbers of food interventions due in 2019/20 by risk category in East Suffolk are shown below in table 4.

Table 4. Number of food interventions due and time taken by risk category in 2019/20. Source: Uniform reporting Estimated time per Total time for Interventions Category intervention interventions (number) (hours) (number x hours) A 7 (x2) 5 70 B 45 5 225 C 209 3.5 731.5 D 488 2 976 E 359 1 359 Unrated (estimate) 1104 2 220 Total - 2581.5

The food interventions at predominantly lower risk premises that were not completed in 2018/19 will be picked up during 2019/20 and are shown below in table 5. These are often as a result of access issues with seasonal businesses or because resources were focused on higher risk premises.

Table 5. Number of food interventions due in 2018/19 to be carried forward into 2019/20. Source: East Suffolk’s aggregated LAEMS returns 2018/19. Estimated time per Total time for Interventions Category intervention interventions (number) (hours) (number x hours) A 0 5 0 B 0 5 0 C 4 3.5 14 D 15 2 30 E 17 1 17 Unrated 41 2 82 Total 77 - 143

Interventions are undertaken following documented procedures. The date of a primary inspection may be brought forward eg in response to a complaint, a new food registration, material change in the business, receipt of information from the FSA, an outbreak, or seasonal business that may be closed at the time of the next date due etc. Other interventions are carried out at other times eg in response to customer complaints, alleged cases of food poisoning, food alerts, sampling, revisits and requests for advice.

Most food businesses that supply food direct to the public receive a rating under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS). These ratings range from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good). Businesses that receive a rating of 0, 1 or 2 have a poor level of compliance with food safety and hygiene law ie they are poor compliers. Businesses that are broadly compliant with these laws will receive at least a rating of 3 and the businesses that reach at least the minimum standards of food safety law will receive the top rating of a 5.

4 Estimate based on interventions of unrated businesses carried out in 2018/19. 114 Interventions will be brought forward for poor compliant businesses ie even if the next minimum inspection frequency date is after 31 March 2020. These interventions aim to achieve better and sustained compliance rates at poor compliant businesses. Revisits of poor compliant businesses due in 2019/20 will also be carried out. An estimate of the number of these types of interventions expected in 2019/20 and the estimated time to complete is shown in table 6.

Table 6. Estimated interventions at poor compliers and approved premises in 2019/20. Estimated time per Total time for Interventions Task business interventions (number) (hours) (number x hours) Interventions at 47 6 282 poor compliers Approved premises 34 15 510 Total 792

The estimated number of interventions at poor compliers is based on the number of businesses with a FHRS of 0, 1 or 2 as at April 2019.

The Trading Standards Department of Suffolk County Council has responsibility for food standards matters. Liaison arrangements are in place through the Suffolk Food Liaison Group to develop joint work arrangements and to help ensure that matters of joint interest, such as food labelling, imported food, Animal By-Products and allergens are discussed. Joint visits with Trading Standards Officers are made where appropriate. Copies of all food registrations received are forwarded to Suffolk County Council’s Trading Standards Department.

4.2 Food/hygiene of premises complaints

Officers investigate food complaints in accordance with documented procedures and, where necessary, liaise with Primary, Originating and Home Authorities during the course of investigations. In determining an appropriate course of action, the Food and Safety Team takes into consideration any reports received from the Primary, Home or Originating Authorities, and the food business identified as the cause of the complaint, and will have regard to the Council’s Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

115

Food/hygiene of premises complaints anticipated in 2019/20: Estimate based on 2018/19 complaints. Number of complaints Time per complaint (hours) Total time (hours) 330 2 660

4.3 Food Sampling Policy

We recognise the contribution sampling can make to the protection of public health and the food law enforcement functions of the Authorities. We are committed to providing the resources necessary to carry out a sampling programme. Authorised Officers are responsible for undertaking our food sampling functions and we have a food sampling programme for microbiological and algal toxin purposes. The food sampling is prioritised to concentrate upon one or more of the following criteria: • foods which are produced within East Suffolk • the risk ratings of the premises • any local, regional or national coordinated sampling surveys or programmes.

The majority of samples taken are done so for the purpose of monitoring, surveillance and intelligence gathering. Samples are taken in compliance with the relevant Code of Practice and consideration of our Compliance and Enforcement Policy. Official laboratories as designated by the FSA will be used for samples obtained during the sampling programme. The Public Health England Laboratory, London, Eurofins trading as Public Analyst Scientific Services, the Council’s Public Analyst, CEFAS laboratories at Lowestoft and Weymouth and other accredited laboratories are used for the analysis of samples.

Samples may be taken during manufacturing/production processes, for the purposes of ensuring food safety and for ensuring the effectiveness of the critical controls in the process. Sampling may include swabs taken from surfaces where they are sent to an official control/accredited laboratory. The manufacturer will be notified of the result of any such sample analysis or examination.

We do not currently act as a Home Authority or Primary Authority for any food business. Where sampling identifies a problem with food manufactured outside the districts, the relevant primary, home or originating authority will be notified, and a copy of the certificate of analysis or examination forwarded to them.

Food sampling will not normally be undertaken as a constituent part of food safety intervention. It may take place if, during the intervention, the authorised officer identifies a particular problem that needs further investigation.

Samples of food received as a food complaint may require microbiological examination, chemical analysis or expert identification.

Where a particular premise or food produced in the districts is implicated with a case or cases of food borne disease, food samples may be taken and submitted for examination, for the purpose of identifying any likely source of infection, and controlling any risk to public health. 116

Food samples may be taken and submitted as part of a special investigation eg in response to a food hazard warning, or to other intelligence received about potential food safety and quality issues.

Samples anticipated in 2019/20 Number of samples Time per sample (hours) Total time (hours) 60 3 180

The sampling of shellfish and river water in commercial shellfish production areas is carried out in consultation with the FSA and CEFAS for the purpose of maintaining the necessary EU classifications for those areas and for monitoring the risk of algal toxins. Shellfish and river water is sampled from shellfish beds in the and Butley Creek and their associated depuration plants. Samples of shellfish flesh and water are sent to CEFAS laboratories in Weymouth and Lowestoft. It is anticipated that the main shellfish sampling and follow up action will require up to two working days per month. The majority of the sampling work at these producers is undertaken by the Student Environmental Health Officer.

4.4 Control and Investigation of Outbreaks and Food Related Infectious Disease

The Food and Safety Team will assess and respond accordingly to reports of communicable diseases, including food-associated illness. The investigation of outbreaks of food poisoning is conducted in liaison with the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (CCDC) having regard to the PHE East of England Public Health Response to Notifiable Gastrointestinal Infections (July 2015). Certain infections requiring particular information will be collected as a matter of urgency and passed to the Anglia Health Protection Team, PHE in accordance with the East of England Standard Approach to Investigating Gastro-Intestinal Disease Cases.

Responses to reports of communicable diseases, including food-associated illness are undertaken following documented procedures.

Gastrointestinal disease case notifications anticipated requiring follow up in 2019/20: Number of cases* Time per case (hours) Total time (hours) 70 2.5 175 *Excluding Campylobacter.

117 Joint civil contingency and emergency stand-by arrangements exist to respond to suspected or confirmed outbreaks of infectious disease or food poisoning with either the potential to cause serious harm or death to any person, or debilitating illness or disease to significant numbers of people, or illness or disease to particularly vulnerable populations.

4.5 Food Safety Incidents

Arrangements are in place to receive FSA Food Alerts for Action and take specified action on behalf of consumers.

Food alerts for action anticipated in 2019/20 Number of alerts Time per alert (hours) Total time (hours) 4 14 56

4.6 Primary Authority and Home Authority Schemes

The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 introduced into law the principle of the Primary Authority (PA). All local authorities are required by law, when considering enforcement action against a business with multiple outlets, to follow advice agreed between the business and its PA. The purpose of these requirements is to achieve greater consistency in enforcement action in large, multi-outlet businesses.

We support PA and Home Authority (HA) schemes. Where PA partnerships are registered with the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPS&S), an officer will contact the PA to ensure that proposed actions are not contrary to appropriate advice that the PA has previously issued.

4.7 Advice to Business

We endeavour to build on their existing liaison arrangements with businesses, both to improve existing consultation arrangements, and to encourage and facilitate business growth. The team provides advice to businesses eg: • the provision of proformas to assist businesses in complying with the law • directing enquiries to relevant sources of competent and reliable advice eg FSA website • provision of advice to businesses during interventions, via our own website, over the telephone and via partners etc. and • responding to requests for advice from businesses and members of the public.

Requests for food safety advice/assistance anticipated in 2019/20: Number of requests Time per request (hours) Total time (hours) 375 1.5 562.5

Our website gives information on setting up a new business, online channels for food business registration/application for food establishment approval, an online training course booking and payment system and online forms to submit complaints and notifications. It has other information such as allergens and Safer Food Better Business packs with links to the FSA’s website for more information.

118 Food Registrations/changes to registrations anticipated in 2019/20: Number of Time per registration (hours) Total time (hours) registrations/changes 360 1 360

4.8 Economic Challenge

We are conscious of the need to help deliver conditions for business success whilst meeting our aims and objectives. We are particularly aware of the benefits of listening to the needs of businesses and will continue to: • provide information and advice • signpost sources of information • provide local low cost training • monitor and respond as appropriate to regular feedback from questionnaires • deal with applications to trade in a prompt manner eg food business registration applications and applications for the approval of food business establishments • take account of and respond to national and local influences • regularly review our procedures.

We have supported the work of engaged Suffolk and Norfolk regulatory services working with the Norfolk and Suffolk Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to develop stronger links to help improve the effective and efficient delivery of regulatory services via the New Anglia Better Business for All (BBfA) partnership.

There continues to be a significant number of enquiries received from people seeking advice who are exploring the setting up of their own small business from home eg home catering. Although these tend to be low risk activities they do involve some time in tailoring appropriate advice.

The ministerial Food Law Code of Practice requires that all food establishments should receive an initial inspection. This should normally take place within 28 days of registration or from when the Authority becomes aware that the establishment is in operation. This reflects the importance of ensuring new food establishments are complying with food law.

4.9 Liaison with other Organisations

We have extensive liaison in place with a wide range of other organisations. For food safety matters these include:

• Food Standards Agency • Suffolk Food Liaison Group • Eastern Region Sampling Group • East of England Port Health Network • Association of Port Health Authorities • CCDC and the East of England Health Protection Team, PHE • Food, Water and Environmental (FW&E) Laboratory, PHE • DEFRA • The Thames Estuary, and Suffolk Shellfish Liaison Group

119 • Liaison with HM Revenue and Customs nationally and locally in relation to imported food controls and smuggled products of animal origin • Liaison with Planning and Building Control Teams • Campden BRI - an independent membership-based organisation carrying out research and development for the food and drinks industry • Associated British Ports • Maritime and Coastguard Agency • Trading Standards/Environmental Health Departments nationally as required • Care Quality Commission • Suffolk Adult Safeguarding Board • New Anglia Better Business for All partnership • Marine Management Organisation • Public Health, Suffolk County Council.

4.10 Food Safety Promotion

We promote food safety using materials made available by the FSA that are intended for businesses or the public. Examples include helping business operators meet regulations on food hygiene through promoting and supporting the FSA’s Safer Food, Better Business packs together with the use of FSA material via social media eg Food Safety Week.

The team has a programme to deliver the Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering.

5. RESOURCES

5.1 Financial Allocation

Details of budgetary provisions are included in East Suffolk’s Budget Book 2019/205. Our corporately managed legal services provide support to service areas. There is also financial provision made to enable the use of external legal services, where appropriate.

5 http://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Your-Council/Financial-Information/Budgets/East-Suffolk- Budget-Book-2019-20.pdf

120 5.2 Staffing Allocation

5.2.1 Head of Service

The Head of Environmental Services and Port Health is Phil Gore who provides a 0.45 FTE towards achieving the Food and Health and Safety Service Plan.

5.2.2 Food and Safety Team

The Food and Safety Team has full time equivalents available for food safety related work as follows in table 7.

Table 7. FTE food safety

Professional staff Support staff Food safety 7.07 FTE 0.98 FTE

The resource allocation set out in table 7 above is sufficient to complete the estimated programme of work outlined in the service plan for 2018/19 and set out in table 8. Additional unplanned work may require reprioritisation within the plan.

Table 8. Summary of food work programme: East Suffolk professional staff time allocation Tasks Time allocation (hours) Lowestoft Port Health Authority Ships inspections 90 Food interventions due 2019/20 2,581.5 Food interventions carried over from 2018/19 143 Poor compliers 282 Approved premises 510 Complaints 660 Sampling 180 Gastrointestinal cases investigations 175 Food alerts 56 Advice/assistance 562.5 Food registrations 360 Revisits, report writing, myConversations, procedure updating, officer training and development, lead officer roles, peer review, CPD, team meetings, student training, Eat Out Eat Well and Take Out Eat Well awards, food export/health certificates, FOIs and 4,996 EIRs, media enquiries, data protection requests, further enforcement and advisory work, teaching courses, and website updates etc. Total 10,596

5.2.3 Staff Development Plan

121 Our People Development Strategy has the development of our workforce at its heart. Evidence requirements are around good understanding of objectives and drivers, meeting skills needs, reviewing the learning.

The Council has agreed a set of values and behaviours and has adopted a staff performance and development scheme called myConversation. The values are about a collective, positive attitude; about working together as one team, every day and how we aspire to behave collectively. The five values are proud, dynamic, truthful, good value and united. These values have been embedded as an important part of staff culture and development. As part of the myConversation scheme, officers formally discuss their performance and development with their line manager every few weeks. Progress with the plan is reviewed so any issues can be raised. Relevant training areas are identified to ensure the requirements for authorised officers are met.

Relevant training areas are identified to ensure the requirements for authorised officers in accordance with the Food Law Code of Practice are met.

The Food and Safety Team ensures that all enforcement officers are appropriately qualified and receive regular training to maintain and improve their level of competency. All officers are expected to have access to the equivalent of at least 10 hours of core food CPD and 10 hours of other professional matters ie CPD that will support an officer’s profession. A combination of both internal and external training helps officers to achieve this aim.

The Council supports a well established student EHO training programme. The appointment of the student is coordinated by an officer from the Food and Safety Team who also manages and oversees the student’s training programme.

6. QUALITY ASSESSMENT

6.1 Quality Assessment

The Food and Safety Team has a range of documented procedures which are subject to monitoring and review. A countywide common procedure template, aligned to the current Food Law Code of Practice, has been adopted.

6.3 Inter Authority Audits and Peer Review

The principle of inter authority audits (IAA) is fully supported. The Food and Safety Team has undertaken inter authority inspection and quality and monitoring. Peer review takes place amongst the team eg discussions during team meetings and joint visits.

6.4 Internal Monitoring Arrangements

The Food and Safety Team has the following arrangements in place to assist in the quality assessment of the work carried out: • documented work procedures (under a process of continuous review) • samples of post-inspection reports, letters and notices are checked • a sample number of inspections, either by shadowing or a follow-up visit or file review at team meetings

122 • one to one meetings.

The contents of statutory notices are discussed and agreed, where appropriate, with the appropriate manager or colleague before service.

6.5 Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Complaint Procedures

Customer satisfaction is collected on training courses and business satisfaction is collected via online surveys. A statistical summary of the results of these surveys is shown in Appendix 5.

The Council’s complaint procedures are published on our website. A summary of complaints received in 2018/19 is produced in Appendix 6.

The FSA introduced an Independent Business Appeals Panel in response to the government's small food manufacturers review (part of the Focus on Enforcement Campaign). The Independent Business Appeal Panel considers complaints or appeals against advice given by local authorities in England about food safety and food standards that a food business operator thinks is incorrect or goes beyond what is legally required. No cases relating to our service have been taken to the Independent Business Appeal Panel to date.

6.6 Team Meetings

The Food and Safety Team schedules monthly meetings to discuss all matters relating to operational issues of the service, including issues relating to competency and consistency. The meetings are used to review procedures and provide an opportunity to promote, explore and produce benefits of partnership working.

6.7 Bench Marking

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) publishes on their website the food safety enforcement activity carried out by all local authorities in the UK. This information is collated from the Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring System (LAEMS) statistical returns provided by local authorities and provides a resource to bench mark performance with other local authorities. The FSA also reports this performance data to Government and Europe.

Monitoring performance against the standards set out in the Food and Health and Safety Service Plan is via management meetings and annually to full Council. 7. REVIEW – FOOD SAFETY

7.1 Identification of any Variation from the Service Plan – Food Safety

The Food and Safety Team continue to work hard and perform well during another year of significant challenges.

All officers are authorised over a range of legislation that includes the food safety activities set out in parts 4 to 8 of this service plan and the occupational health and safety activities set out in parts 9 to 14. Officers and support staff work flexibly across both of these types of activities so the proportion of time spent on food safety compared with health and safety varies according to workloads and priorities. 123

Factors that adversely affected the team’s capacity to deliver the service in 2018/19 were predominantly unplanned and not routine.

• Three long standing and experienced officers, one following long term sickness absence, retired during 2018/19. A fourth experienced officer resigned to pursue other interests. We have actively tried to fill the vacancies but, along with other LAs in the East of England, there is a shortage of applicants. A combination of contractors, flexible working and additional hours were used to help cover the resource gap caused by unfilled vacancies.

These factors put pressure on staff but the team responded well to ensure that consumers were protected by adopting a risk based approach to prioritise work.

The Food and Health and Safety Service Plan 2018/19 was largely completed with regards to food safety.

• We liaised with Suffolk County Council (SCC) with the aim of reviewing our database of childminders and follow up with information/advice and check compliance as necessary. However, SCC did not share data they hold on childminders with us. Childminders receive information on food safety from other agencies and typically have low risks associated with food handing.

• We planned to adopt a new KPI: % East Suffolk food businesses improved or remained the same in the FHRS but were unable to because of the migration to a FHRS database for East Suffolk.

7.2 The food safety key achievements in 2018/19 worthy of note are:

• Appointed and coached the team’s first corporately funded Food and Safety Apprentice. The apprentice has become well established and is carrying out core roles to support Environmental Technical Support Officers and authorised officers.

• Adopted and reported on the KPI: % East Suffolk food businesses rated 3-5 FHRS. Target: 95%. End of year actual: 98%.

• As part of a corporately led project we continued to explore improving mobile working options.

• Reviewed, revised and updated many document templates that we use to include changes ready for East Suffolk Council.

• Took samples of shellfish/river water as part of the statutory shellfish harvesting classification programme and algal bio-toxin monitoring programme. This work was largely undertaken by the student EHO as part of practical training.

• Delivered the food hygiene training programme with 42 candidates attending the full day Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering. Three candidates failed, two took the examination again and one passed. Customer satisfaction surveys show that 97% of 124 delegates rate training courses with the top rating of ‘good’ and 3% rated them ‘average’.

• Over 97% of businesses who responded to an online survey following an intervention said that they were treated fairly.

• We published new e-forms on our website to replace paper based forms. The new forms improve our business processes eg by reducing steps involved in processing payments, reduces the risk of accounting errors, and eliminates the risk of returned cheques. It also makes it easier for customers to: • Apply and pay for Export Health Certificates and Food Safety Premises Endorsements for Export • Complete and return a food alternative enforcement questionnaire • Apply for a food business establishment approval • Apply for a food business establishment registration • Submit a Food Hygiene Rating Scheme 'Right to reply' • Submit a Food Hygiene Rating Scheme Appeal • Submit and pay for a Food Hygiene Rating Scheme: Request for a re-visit • Request live bivalve molluscs or shellfish registration documents and • Apply and pay for Lowestoft Port Health Authority Ships Sanitation Inspections.

• We continued working with other Suffolk local authorities to encourage businesses to sign up to the Suffolk Health and Wellbeing Board supported Eat Out Eat Well (EOEW) award. To qualify for the award, businesses must show their commitment to providing healthier choices; this includes keeping fat, sugar and salt to a minimum, making fruit and vegetables widely available and basing main meals on starchy carbohydrates. There are three levels of award: bronze, silver and gold. The level awarded is based on an assessment that takes into account the type of food on offer, cooking methods, and how businesses promote healthy choices to their customers. As at June 2019 there were 43 businesses with an EOEW in East Suffolk award: 10 gold, 25 silver and eight bronze.

• Suffolk’s Take Out Eat Well award was launched in 2018. 12 businesses in East Suffolk have this award. Action point in the East Suffolk Business Plan 2015 – 2023.

• Lowestoft Port Health Authority issued 36 Ship Sanitation Control Certificates/Ship Sanitation Control Exemption Certificates. These certificates are routinely issued to ships engaged in international journeys to identify and record all areas of ship-borne public health risks together with any required control measures to be applied. The certificates carry a six month period of validity and can only be renewed at a port authorised to issue such renewals.

• Produced a Public Health Emergeny Contingency Plan.

• Arranged with the FSA to submit our 2018/19 Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring System (LAEMS) return as a joint East Suffolk set. A summary of the interventions, enforcement actions and compliance data is shown in table 9 below (2017/18 data

125 Table 9. Summary of food interventions, enforcement actions and compliance data for East Suffolk. Source: LAEMS return for 2018/19. East Suffolk LAEMS Criteria 2018/19 2017/18 100% 100% A (23 interventions) (35 interventions) Total % of interventions achieved by premises 100% 100% B category. Interventions (82 interventions) (94 interventions) include: inspections 98.72% 99.36% and audits, verification C and surveillance, (308 interventions) (314 interventions) sampling visits, advice 97.47% 97.95% and education visits, D (577 interventions) (586 interventions) and information/ intelligence gathering. 94.85% 97.93% E (313 interventions) (387 interventions) Unrated 107 interventions 199 interventions % Broadly compliant. All categories 97.13% 97.6% (excluding unrated and outside) % Broadly compliant. All categories 95.5% 95.47% (including unrated) No. of establishments subject to: − Written warnings 543 621 − Improvement notices 1 3 − Emergency Prohibition Notices 0 0 − Prohibition Orders 0 0 − Voluntary closures 4 0 − Seizure, detention and surrender 2 2 of food − Remedial Action Notices 1 2 − Prosecutions 0 0 − Simple cautions 0 0 − Suspension/ revocation of 0 0 approval Samples taken 39 63 Complaint investigations - food 49 38 Complaint investigations – hygiene 279 262 of premises provided for comparison). Higher risk establishments were prioritised for inspection. Outstanding interventions will be rolled over to 2019/20.

126

• Arranged with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to publish Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme (FHRS) ratings as East Suffolk.

• The Food Hygiene Rating scheme (FHRS) helps people choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving information about hygiene standards in places supplying food direct to the public. It also recognises businesses that achieve good standards of food safety and hygiene. Each food business is given a food hygiene rating on a scale from 0 to 5 when it is inspected by a local authority officer. The top rating is ‘5’ – this means the hygiene standards are very good. A business that meets the legal minimum standard will achieve a 5. The bottom is ‘0’ – this means urgent improvement is required. Food businesses are given a sticker that they can put on their window/door. All ratings are published on the FSA’s website. The distribution of ratings is shown in Figure 1 below. Over the seven years up to April 2019, 729 more businesses in East Suffolk achieved a top FHRS rating of 5 compared to 2012.

• In conjunction with our Communication Team we continued to use Twitter to regularly highlight businesses that achieve a top FHRS rating of 5.

• By the end of 2018/19, 2,109 food businesses in East Suffolk, almost 98% of the food businesses in scope, had a FHRS rating of 3-5. A risk based approach will continue to be applied to poor complying businesses. Compliance by businesses that have a history of poor performance is often subject to fluctuation because standards sometimes drop after intervention. The FHRS provides businesses with an incentive to maintain improvements. The mandatory display of ratings, as in Wales and Northern Ireland, would provide a further incentive.

127

Fig 1. Distribution of Food Hygiene Ratings in East Suffolk 20126, 2018 and 2019.

Number businesses of

Food Hygiene Rating Band

6 2012 baseline year when the scheme was introduced locally. 128 • In order to ensure that the FHRS is fair to businesses, it has been designed to include a number of safeguards. These are: an appeal procedure; a right to reply; and an opportunity to request a re-visit when improvements have been made in order to be re- assessed for a new rating. Information about these safeguards is provided to food businesses when they are told of their rating and it is also available on the Council and FSA websites.

Table 10. Food Hygiene Rating Scheme Revisit Requests, Right to Reply and Appeals received 2018/19. FHRS safeguard Number Revisit requests 40 Right to Reply 1 Appeals - upheld 0 Appeals - not upheld 0 Appeals - over 21 days 0

• We registered 361 new food business operators/recorded changes to registrations as detailed below. East Suffolk 2018/19 2017/18 361 408

• We responded to 375 food safety advice/assistance service requests. East Suffolk 2018/19 2017/18 375 406

• Infections requiring particular information to be collected were promptly followed up and passed to the Public Health England (PHE) Anglia Health Protection Team, in accordance with the East of England Standard Approach to Investigating Gastro- Intestinal Disease Cases. A national records system is used to help identify common factors and detect links to cases and outbreaks at an early stage. Cases are confirmed when a stool sample is provided by someone suffering from food poisoning symptoms and is sent to a laboratory by a GP or other health professional. Not all people suspected of having food poisoning contact their GP or provide a stool sample for testing. Therefore, the exact numbers of cases of food poisoning are not known and there is under reporting. Tables 11 and 12 below show cases of infections.

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Table 11. Gastrointestinal disease cases in East Suffolk April 2018 to March 2019 and April 2017 to March 2018. Source East of England Health Protection Team, Public Health England Centre. Disease 2018/19 2017/18 E coli O157 VTEC <10 <10 Salmonellosis 24 22 Campylobacteriosis 287 227 Cryptosporidiosis 19 35 Giardiasis 20 14 Shigella dysentery <10 <10

Table 12. Gastrointestinal disease cases in East Suffolk April 2018 to March 2019 and April 2017 to March 2018, rate per 100,000 population*. Source East of England Health Protection Team, Public Health England Centre. Disease 2018/19 2017/18 E coli 0157 VTEC 0.4 0.8 Salmonellosis 9.7 8.9 Campylobacteriosis 116.2 91.9 Cryptosporidiosis 7.7 14.2 Giardiasis 8.1 5.7 Shigella dysentery 1.6 0.4 Total 143.8 121.9 * ONS mid-year estimates 2017

8. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT – FOOD SAFETY

8.1 In 2019/20 the Food and Safety Team plan to:

• Utilise laptop/tablet technology on site to facilitate more effective communication following interventions and to record observations, photographs etc. at the time of the visit.

• Volunteer to adopt the FSA’s new register a food business digital service. This service has been developed to make it easier for food business operators to register and receive relevant information and guidance and will also enable local authorities to capture consistent and high-quality registration data.

• Continue supporting the local New Anglia Better Business for All programme which will include the New Anglia Compliance Partnership website.

• Work with Public Health Suffolk to promote the Eat Out, Eat Well and Take Out, Eat Well healthy eating awards as part of the Council’s presence at the Suffolk Show and supporting the theme of the investments we are putting into the future of the District.

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9. HEALTH AND SAFETY SERVICE

9.1.1 Scope of the Health and Safety Service

We carry out interventions relating to health and safety matters in those premises for which it has enforcement responsibility eg retail, leisure, catering and hospitality, care homes (employee related only), retail and wholesale distribution warehousing etc. • proactive inspection will be used to target the high risk activities in sectors specified by HSE in the National Local Authority Enforcement Code or where intelligence suggests risks are not being effectively managed • engagement with event organisers in partnership with other agencies via the Safety Advisory Group to address public safety at events • investigation of complaints concerning work premises and practices • investigation of accidents and dangerous occurrences reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 • health and safety education programme, including Level 2 Award in Health and Safety in the Workplace • Sunday trading laws • consultee as a responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003 • registration of skin piercing activities.

9.10 Demands on the Health and Safety Service

East Suffolk attracts many tourists particularly during the summer months. Events attracting several thousands of people are held, these have included the Suffolk Show at Trinity Park and the Latitude Festival that takes place at Henham Park. The Food and Safety Team works with the event organisers and others during the planning and delivery to ensure that persons involved in the events and the members of the public that attend them are protected from risks to their health or safety.

10. SERVICE DELIVERY – HEALTH AND SAFETY

10.1 Health and Safety Premises Inspection and other Interventions

The responsibility for the enforcement of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974 and relevant statutory provisions is governed by the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 that allocate enforcement to either the Health and Safety Executive or Local Authority according to the main work activity. Since 1974 local authorities have been responsible for enforcement of the health and safety laws in places such as shops, retail and wholesale warehouses, offices, catering, restaurants, bars, hotels, care homes (without nursing care), leisure and cultural services such as golf courses, horse riding establishments and motor sports together with consumer services such as undertakers and workshops fitting tyres and exhausts.

The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for the remainder of activities eg factories, building sites, farms, vehicle repair workshops, railways, power stations, care homes providing nursing care, docks, fairgrounds, schools, colleges and Council run services.

131 Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the Care Quality Commission (CQC) now have responsibility for the regulation of health and safety in registered care homes that principally affects the service user under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Local Authorities still have powers under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 in relation to the health and safety of employees. The MoU is currently being reviewed following concerns raised by Local Authorities that the level of protection under health and safety law has been diminished as CQC appear to have more limited powers in the case of a imminent serious health or safety risks.

In May 2013 HSE published the National Local Authority Enforcement Code. The Code is designed to ensure that LA health and safety regulators take a more consistent and proportionate approach to their regulatory interventions. It sets out the Government expectations of a risk based approach to targeting. Each year the HSE hosts national update sessions to cascade the priorities for regulation for the following year. One of the Food and Safety Team officers chairs the Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group and attends this session. The HSE also publish a list of activities in types of premises that are deemed suitable for proactive intervention. The HSE use national accident data, labour force surveys and intelligence from Local Authorities to shape the annual list to ensure that resources are focused in the businesses that present the greatest risk.

HELA Circular LAC 67/2 (rev 8) provides a nationally consistent framework for guiding the Local Authority as to the appropriate interventions based on risk and efficacy where local authorities regulate health and safety. There are no predetermined inspection frequencies as it is expected that the LA will follow the Code and use intelligence such as reported incidents or complaints to decide whether a proactive inspection is justified. We are committed to improving health and safety outcomes where there is greatest risk and will reserve proactive planned inspections for those premises that present a comparatively high risk. Alternative interventions such as awareness raising campaigns and invitations to particular sectors to engage with the management of health and safety will be incorporated into the workplan.

Intelligence will also be sought via the Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group which is chaired by the Senior Environmental Health Officer. The group holds quarterly meetings, with one of these meetings reserved for training, with an objective to share information and successful project plans. These groups are attended by the HSE's Enforcement Liaison Officers for Norfolk and Suffolk (ELO) or their representative.

The Food and Safety Team have used the LA National Code and local intelligence to identify the following priorities for intervention:

National Priorities:

• Fatalities and significant injuries resulting from being struck by vehicles in high volume warehousing or distribution • fatalities and significant injuries resulting from falls from height, amputation and crushing injuries in industrial retail or wholesale premises eg steel stockholders, builders/timber merchants • falls from height, unstable loads and manual handling in high volume warehousing or distribution

132 • crowd management and injuries or fatalities to the public at large scale public gatherings eg cultural events, sports, festivals and live music • buried pipework and bulk storage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) used in food premises and natural gas safety in catering premises will continue to be assessed when the premises are visited for food safety purposes • manual handling in residential care homes • gas safety in catering establishments.

Local Priorities:

• risk of drowning in leisure pools • promoting the safe use of inflatable play equipment eg bouncy castles.

How these national and local priorities will be addressed within the Council’s intervention plan:

• Health and safety in warehousing is a national priority and has been chosen as a priority for all Norfolk and Suffolk authorities. The Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group’s annual training day in June 2019 is focussed on warehousing activities.

• In 2017 the Health and Safety Executive issued revised guidance on the safe management of swimming pools. There have been two deaths in leisure pools in Norfolk and Suffolk recently and more near miss incidents and a successful prosecution of both a pool owner and their health and safety consultant in Norfolk following a near drowning incident. The revised guidance advises that more effective controls are necessary in relation to supervision and life saving at small leisure pools. In 2018/19 the Food and Safety Team brought this new publication to the attention of pool operators and advised them to ensure that the risks of drowning are adequately controlled. In the summer of 2019 all leisure pools in East Suffolk, including those operated on behalf of the Council under contracts with Sentinel Leisure Trust and Places for People, will be visited and assessed on their management of the risks of drowning. The HSE’s Enforcement Management Model will be used to determine the appropriate enforcement action to be taken if any pool operators are found to be failing to control the risk of drowning.

• Inflatable play equipment (bouncy castles) – following a child’s death in Norfolk when playing on an inflatable trampoline and a recent high profile investigation and subsequent prosecution following a child’s death in Essex the Food and Safety Team will be promoting the safe use of inflatable play equipment and ensuring that commercial operators have the appropriate safety documentation, including inspection reports, for the equipment and are able to monitor wind conditions on site.

• Musculoskeletal disorders associated with moving people in the health and social care sector. Nationally there is evidence that employees in the residential care sector are suffering from musculoskeletal injuries as a result of manual handling practices. There is a hierarchy of controls that should be in place that means individuals should not be put at risk and the best way to achieve this is to carry out suitable risk 133 assessments and to use the appropriate equipment to reduce the forces needed to move people and to respect the dignity of the individual being moved. The Food and Safety Team will be investigating any reports of musculoskeletal injuries sustained by employees in the health and social care sector where the LA is the enforcing authority.

• Falls from height - falls from height, including where the person only falls a few feet, are known to cause significant injury and death. Working at height will be included in the selection criteria used to determine whether the Food and Safety Team will respond to injuries and complaints.

• Gas safety in catering businesses – gas safety is a national high priority due to the extreme risks that it poses. Gas safety will be assessed when officers from the Food and Safety Team are visiting catering premises for food safety purposes.

10.2 Investigation of complaints about work activities and workplaces

In addition to planned interventions the Food and Safety team will respond to complaints made by employees or other interested parties about either the place of work or work activities that they believe will affect their health or safety. Officers will use previous history and other intelligence to prioritise complaints.

Health and safety related complaints anticipated in 2019/20: Number of complaints 155

10.3 Investigation of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences

The Food and Safety Team will have regard to the national Health and Safety Executive/Local Authority Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA) Circular 22/13 (rev1) Incident Selection Criteria Guidance to deliver a common proportionate, transparent and targeted approach for the selection and investigation of accidents and incidents. When deciding which incidents to investigate and the level of resource to be allocated to the investigation, account will be taken of the:

• severity and scale of potential or actual harm • seriousness of any potential breach of the law • duty holder’s known past health and safety performance • enforcement priorities • practicality of achieving results • wider relevance of the event, including serious public concern • national guidance on targeting interventions.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have responsibility for investigating injuries and ill health suffered by service users in registered care settings although the provider is still required to notify the relevant health and safety enforcing authority. Such incidents are passed to CQC by Food and Safety Team officers as soon as they are initially received.

134 It is anticipated that there will be the following numbers of Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations reports in 2019/20:

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations reports anticipated in 2019/20: Number of reports 148

10.3 Notification of Asbestos Removal

Notifications of asbestos removal anticipated in 2019/20: Number of reports 1

10.5 Registration, Licensing and Planning consultations

The Council’s Food and Safety Team is involved in the registration process for skin piercing activities eg tattooing under the Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1982. The team is also a responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003 and is consulted on licensing applications.

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10.6 Primary Authority and Home Authority Schemes

In April 2009, the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 introduced into law the principle of the Primary Authority (PA). All local authorities are now required by law, when considering enforcement action against a business with multiple outlets, to follow advice agreed between the business and its PA. The purpose is to achieve greater consistency in enforcement action in large, multi-outlet businesses.

We support the Primary Authority (PA) scheme managed by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Where PA partnerships are registered the team will contact the PA to ensure that proposed actions are not contrary to appropriate advice that the PA has previously issued. We do not have a PA agreement with any company in their districts.

10.7 Advice to Business

The Food and Safety Team endeavour to build on their existing liaison arrangements with businesses, both to improve existing consultation arrangements, and to encourage and facilitate business growth. The team provides free advice to businesses and responds to requests for advice from businesses, members of the public and other partner agencies.

The Food and Safety Team contributes updates to the Council’s website pages and Twitter feeds. These give general health and safety information together with links to the HSE’s website for more information.

10.7 Economic Challenge

The Food and Safety Team endeavour to build on their existing liaison arrangements with businesses, both to improve existing consultation arrangements, and to encourage and facilitate business growth. The team provides advice to businesses eg • provide free information and advice • provide signposts to sources of free information • provide local low cost training • monitor and respond as appropriate to regular feedback from questionnaires • process imported food controls promptly • deal with applications to trade in a prompt manner eg food establishment approvals/skin piercing/general food establishment registrations • respond to national influences and • regularly review our procedures.

We have supported the work of engaged Suffolk and Norfolk regulatory services working with the Norfolk and Suffolk Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to develop stronger links to help improve the effective and efficient delivery of regulatory services via the New Anglia Better Business for All (BBfA) partnership.

10.8 Liaison with other Organisations

There are benefits to be gained by working in close partnership with the Health and Safety Executive and other local authorities. The Food and Safety Team has demonstrated 136 commitment to this by having already undertaken or have plans to liaise with the Health and Safety Executive eg via meetings, other communication and initiatives involving: • our Health and Safety Executive partnership inspectors at district level • the Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group at county level • the Health and Safety Policy Forum at national level.

We have also been involved in the co-ordination and conduct of joint visits and campaigns with Health and Safety Executive inspectors and participated in initiatives involving the Health and Safety Executive and neighbouring local authorities.

The Food and Safety Team has extensive liaison in place with a wide range of other organisations on health and safety matters:

• Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group • CIEH • LGA Practitioner Forum on Health and Safety • HSE eg staff at the local offices, Local Authority Unit • Planning and Building Control • Trading Standards Officers at Suffolk County Council • Clinical Commissioning Groups • Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service • Other LAs directly and through EHCnet • Public Health England • Licensing Team (Licensing Act 2003) • Waveney Safety and Environment Group • Care Quality Commission • Suffolk County Council Adult and Child Safeguarding Teams • Suffolk County Council Trading Standards Team • Highways England • Suffolk Resilience Forum • Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Team • HSE/LA Eastern Region Partnership Forum • Suffolk Police • Maritime Coastguard Agency • Home Office Security Industry Authority • East of England Ambulance NHS Trust and • New Anglia Better Business for All partnership.

137 10.9 Flexible Warranting and local agreements

All of the Suffolk local authorities have signed an agreement under section 113 of the Local Government Act 1972. The agreement provides mutual aid between the participating local authorities by enabling suitably qualified, experienced and competent officers to carry out relevant enforcement functions across the local authorities in the event of: • a major incident such as a significant human or animal health outbreak or a serious incident in a workplace where considerable additional resources are required • an emergency where the enforcing authority does not have a suitably authorised officer available when required • in response to an incident where an officer from another local authority has particular skills, experience or expertise.

11. RESOURCES

11.1 Financial Allocation

Details of budgetary provision are included in East Suffolk’s Budget Book 2019/20.7

We maintain our own legal services to provide support to service areas. There is also financial provision made to enable the use of external legal services, where appropriate.

11.2 Staffing Allocation

11.2.1 Head of Service

The Head of Environmental Services and Port Health is Phil Gore who provides a 0.45 FTE towards achieving the Food and Health and Safety Service Plan.

11.2.1 Food and Safety Team

The Food and Safety Team has full time equivalents available for health and safety regulatory work as follows:

Table 13. FTE health and safety. Professional staff Support staff

Health and safety 1.2 FTE 0.64 FTE

The resource allocation set out in table 13 is sufficient to complete the estimated programme of work outlined in the service plan for 2019/20. However, any additional unplanned work may require reprioritisation within the plan.

11.3 Staff Development Plan

Our People Development Strategy has the development of our workforce at its heart. Evidence requirements are around good understanding of objectives and drivers, meeting skills needs, reviewing the learning.

7 http://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Your-Council/Financial-Information/Budgets/East-Suffolk- Budget-Book-2019-20.pdf 138

The Council has agreed a set of values and behaviours and has adopted a staff performance and development scheme called MyConversations, harmonised their staff appraisal schemes and have published their agreed values and behaviours. The values are about a collective, positive attitude; about working together as one team every day and how we aspire to behave collectively. The five values are proud, dynamic, truthful, good value and united. These values have been embedded as an important part of staff culture and development. As part of the myConversation scheme, officers formally discuss their performance and development with their line manager every few weeks. Progress with the plan is reviewed so any issues can be raised. Relevant training areas are identified to ensure the requirements for authorised officers are met.

To maintain competence, enforcement officers attend training courses run by various organisations including the HSE. The Food and Safety Team will continue to access both local and national training initiatives to ensure that all of its enforcement officers are well trained and competent. Officers will also use the online Guidance for Regulators – Information Point that is part of the Regulators’ Development website.

In past years, individual team members were allocated project areas to research and then provide a training workshop on that subject to help officers increase their own in depth knowledge of a subject and then share their experiences with other officers.

A well established programme helps to provide practical training to student EHOs. Arrangements are in place for Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority to fund the annual appointment of a student EHO to receive practical training. The appointment of the student is coordinated by an officer from the Food and Safety Team who also manages and oversees the student’s training programme.

12. QUALITY ASSESSMENT

12.1 Quality Assessment

The Food and Safety Team has a range of documented procedures which are subject to monitoring and review.

12.2 Inter Authority Audits and Peer Review

The principle of inter authority audits (IAA) is fully supported. The Food and Safety Team has undertaken inter authority inspection and quality and monitoring. Peer review takes place amongst the team eg discussions during team meetings and joint visits. In 2018 the Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group hosted and facilitated a peer review consistency exercise on effective regulation for health and safety Inspectors from Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and the Health and Safety Executive. The health and safety regulatory service is also subject to peer review with Local Authorities in Suffolk and Norfolk via the Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group.

12.3 Internal Monitoring Arrangements

The Food and Safety Team has the following arrangements in place to assist in the quality assessment of the work carried out: 139

• documented work procedures (under a process of continuous review) • samples of post-inspection reports, letters and notices are checked • a sample number of inspections, either by shadowing or a follow-up visit or file reviews and • one to one meetings.

The contents of statutory notices are discussed and agreed, where appropriate, with the relevant manager or colleague before service or, in the case of an immediate prohibition notice, soon after.

12.4 Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Complaint Procedures

Customer satisfaction is collected on training courses and business satisfaction is collected via online surveys. A statistical summary of the results of these surveys is shown in Appendix 5.

We publish complaint procedures and customer service standards on our website. A summary of complaints received in 2018/19 is produced in Appendix 6.

In 2012 the Government established an independent panel to consider challenges to health and safety regulatory advice. The panel looks into issues raised by business where they believe a HSE or local authority health and safety inspector has given advice that is incorrect or disproportionate. The panel will not look at issues where other independent appeals processes exist, such as for enforcement notices or prosecutions. Ministers asked for the panel to be established following a recommendation in the Löfstedt report, which proposed that the Government introduced a challenge mechanism that allows for cases of incorrect, over-application of health and safety legislation to be addressed. No cases relating to our service have been taken to the panel to date.

140 12.5 Team Meetings

The Food and Safety Team holds meetings to discuss all matters relating to the service, including issues relating to competency and consistency. Officers are encouraged to summarise interesting cases and highlight learning points at the regular meetings.

12.6 Bench Marking

We complete the annual LAE1 return to the HSE that can form the basis of national benchmarking. The Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group is a forum to exchange approaches in the way that local authorities and the HSE work.

Monitoring performance against the standards set out in the Food and Health and Safety Service Plan will be via management meetings and annually to full Council.

13. REVIEW – HEALTH AND SAFETY

13.1 Identification of any Variation from the Service Plans - Health and Safety

See also para 7.1 above.

We are continuing to work through a period of significant change to existing working practices and face up to the challenges facing local authorities and reduced staff resources in recent years.

Three long standing and experienced officers retired during 2018/19. A fourth experienced officer resigned to pursue other interests. Two of those posts were filled by officers without recent experience of health and safety enforcement. The Council is actively trying to fill the remaining vacancies but, along with other LAs in the East of England, there is a shortage of applicants with the required competencies as a health and safety regulator. Flexible warranting with neighbouring LAs gives some resilience.

The Food and Safety Team were not engaged in any health and safety enforcement projects in 2018/19 which accounts for the reduction in proactive inspections. However the team has focused on training and increasing regulatory competence and will be targeting health and safety in swimming pools (following recent fatalities and near misses in the Eastern Region), warehousing and MSDs in the movement and handling of persons in residential care.

These factors put pressure on staff but the team responded well to ensure that consumers were protected.

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13.2 The health and safety key achievements in 2018/19 worthy of note are:

• Public safety, in particular crowd safety, has been identified by HSE as a priority and there has been a growth in East Suffolk in commercial and community events that might pose a risk to those who attend them. The multi agency Safety Advisory Group (SAG) routinely meets on a monthly basis and is made up of representatives from local authorities, the emergency services and other relevant bodies and is chaired by a member of the Food and Safety Team. SAGs review event applications to ensure that the emergency services will be prepared in the event of an emergency and advise the organisers on public safety.

• The increasing number of events self-referring to SAG shows that event organisers welcome the opportunity to gain knowledge and assistance in running a safe event. The larger events such as Latitude Festival and the Suffolk Show will always require a multi agency review by SAG due to the nature of the events. The inquiry into the events at Hillsborough 25 years ago has highlighted the need for all involved to understand how their actions might affect others and SAG is a useful forum for this.

• The East Suffolk Safety Advisory Group (SAG) reviewed 60 events in 2018/19, held meetings with the organisers of 18 of those events and was involved in daily site meetings at the Suffolk Show, Latitude Festival and the OVO Women’s Tour international cycle race. The SAG is becoming increasingly important as an intelligence sharing forum as public events are increasing in numbers and diversity across the district. Many event organisers are not established businesses and despite having attended such events they have shown they have little appreciation of health and safety risks associated with running an event.

• In 2018/19 the Senior Environmental Health Officer in the Food and Safety Team chaired the county wide Suffolk Event Safety Advisory Group when the OVO Women’s Tour cycle event that had stages of the race in Suffolk was reviewed. The Senior Environmental Health Officer also contributed to a training initiative on behalf of the Suffolk Resilience Forum for environmental health, building control, licensing, police, fire and emergency planning personnel who were new to the SAG process.

• Supported the progress of the New Anglia Better Business for All (BBfA) partnership. BBfA is a Government supported partnership approach to creating the conditions to support growth. Providing more effective business support to facilitate the growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises is an Action point in the East Suffolk Business Plan 2015 – 2023.

• Reviewed work procedures based on Health and Safety Executive/Local Authorities Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA) Local Authority Circulars eg incident selection criteria and targeting local authority interventions etc.

• The Food and Safety Team supported two Business Showcase events hosted by the Council’s Economic Development and Regeneration Team and gave health and safety advice to business representatives that attended. 142

• The Food and Safety Team was represented at the Norfolk and Suffolk Health and Safety Liaison Group which is chaired by the Senior Environmental Health Officer from the Food and Safety Team. Six of the seven Suffolk LAs work in partnership which has reduced the number of officers at the county liaison group and is less effective for peer review and benchmarking so Suffolk and Norfolk have joined together and will share best practice.

• Buried pipework and bulk storage of LPG serving food premises was assessed when the relevant premises were visited for food hygiene purposes; this initiative will be continued in 2019/20.

• Submitted annual data return to the HSE relating to occupational health and safety (LAE1 Local Authority Health and Safety Return). A summary is shown in table 14 below.

Table 14. LAE1 Local Authority Health and Safety Return summary 2018/19. LAE1 Criteria East Suffolk Proactive inspections 6 Non-inspection interventions 15 Any other targeted contact (not face to face) to educate, 38 advise or engage duty holders Reactive visits 60 Revisits following earlier intervention 3 Improvement Notices 1 Deferred Prohibition Notices 0 Immediate Prohibition Notices 0 Simple cautions 0 Prosecutions resulting in conviction 0

• Acted as responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003 for public safety.

• Received, considered and responded where necessary to licensing consultations and processed skin piercing registrations:

Task Number Temporary Event Notifications 762 Other licensing consultations 111 Skin piercing registrations processed 35

• We published a new and local e-form on our website to enable online registration and payment for skin piercing, tattooing, electrolysis, acupuncture or semi- permanent makeup. The new form improves our business processes eg by reducing steps involved in processing payments, reduces the risk of accounting errors, and eliminates the risk of returned cheques.

143 • 149 events were notified to the Food and Safety Team. SAG considered 60 events at 18 meetings with the organisers and a further 34 event management plans were reviewed by SAG members as a virtual SAG.

14. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT – HEALTH AND SAFETY

14.1 In 2019/20 the Food and Safety Team plan to:

• Utilise laptop/tablet technology on site to facilitate more effective communication following interventions and to record observations, photographs etc. at the time of the visit.

• Recruit qualified officers to replace those who retired in 2018 which will enable the Food and Safety Team to undertake more health and safety interventions than in 2018/19.

• Continue supporting the local New Anglia Better Business for All programme which will include the New Anglia Compliance Partnership website.

• Harmonise skin piercing byelaws for East Suffolk.

144 15. SUFFOLK COASTAL PORT HEALTH AUTHORITY

15.1 Scope of the Port Health Service – Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority (SCPHA)

The Port Health Service has responsibility for all food safety and food standards matters relating to imported foods and materials in contact with food. The service includes the following: • operation of Felixstowe Border Inspection Post (products of animal origin) • imported food control (non-animal origin products) at Felixstowe, Harwich International Port, Harwich Navyard and Mistley Quay • checking catch certificates for specified products to ensure the legitimacy of the products caught and to prevent the Illegal Unreported and Unregulated activities of fishing vessels • enforcement of The Plastic Kitchenware (Conditions on Imports from China) (England) Regulations 2011 at Felixstowe, Harwich International Port and Ipswich • imported food control, vessel inspection, and control of infectious disease at the Port of Ipswich • control of feed covered by EU 669/2009 and EU 884/2014 at the Port of Felixstowe • inspection of vessels to ensure compliance with international and United Kingdom health requirements • food hygiene inspections of vessels within the dock • control of infectious disease • verification of organic produce at point of importation • undertaking monitoring programmes.

Suffolk County Council is responsible for all food standards matters within the District, outside of the Port of Felixstowe and is responsible for non-animal origin (NAO) animal feed arriving at the Port. A contract has been negotiated that sees SCPHA deliver the day to day statutory controls on high risk feed and we are continuing to work with Trading Standards to ensure an effective monitoring procedure for other animal feed imported through Felixstowe.

15.2 Demands on the Port Health Service

The Port Health Service has a number of competing demands which it has to balance in order to remain effective and efficient. These demands can be identified as:

• Commercial Activity • Legislative Framework • Organisational / Business Development • BREXIT • Other.

15.3 Commercial Activity

The Port of Felixstowe is the UK’s busiest container port and one of the largest in Europe. It provides some of the deepest water close to the open sea of any European port.

145 The Port of Felixstowe is a primarily container port handling more than four million TEUs per year and welcoming over 3,000 ships each year including the largest container ships afloat today. Over 40% of the UK’s import and export trade passes through the Port of Felixstowe. Around 17 shipping lines operate from Felixstowe offering approximately 33 services a week to and from 700 ports around the world.

As well as being the UK's largest container port, Felixstowe is also a key gateway for roll- on/roll-off trade with Europe. Demand on the service to Rotterdam has been growing steadily for a number of years. In early 2019 the Port of Felixstowe and leading Danish ferry operator DFDS agreed to increase roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) capacity by over 40%; investment will be made in a new linkspan, tractor units and additional trailer parking facilities for unaccompanied ro/ro traffic.

The Port continues to expand its rail services with the launch of a new daily GB Railfreight service to the Midlands. The ongoing improvements to the Felixstowe branch line will further support the development of rail.

The Port has developed additional container yard behind 8/9 berth to generate additional container storage and handling facilities. This will allow for the optimisation of container handling operations between the berth and the yard to further enhance the service offered to customers. The yard has added 18,000 TEUs of stacking capacity to the 130,000 TEU already available.

The Port continues to invest and innovate. The ongoing work to heighten the cranes on Trinity berth continues – once completed the Port will be able to accommodate 3 mega vessels at the same time. The introduction of remotely operated cranes functionality and trials of remote controlled plant on 8/9 berth all contribute to maintaining the Port of Felixstowe as the UK’s premier port.

The increasing size of vessels and frequency of arrivals at Felixstowe continues to deliver significant challenges for our resource planning. The arrival of larger vessels possibly two or even three at a time gives rise to peaks in workload volume. When this is coupled with the service expectations of our customers and the desire of HM Government (HMG) to ensure flow and trade across borders there is a real challenge for the Port Health service, especially as our role is bound by a comprehensive legislative framework.

As SCPHA works closely with the examination facilities on the Port, the effects of the changes made by the Port can be felt by Port Health.

15.4 Legislative Framework

The legislative framework within which we operate generally continues to evolve incrementally with regular amendments to the products subject to import control measures.

However, a significant change is expected in late 2019 as Regulation 882/2004 is replaced by the new Regulation (EU 2017/625) otherwise known as the Official Control Regulations (OCR). This amalgamates controls across sectors such as plant and animal health, consolidates port approval status into one covering all commodities for which the port has approval – Border Control Point (BCP) and merges the current CVED and Common Entry 146 Document (CED) documents into one document; the Common Harmonised Entry Document (CHED) for use for all products requiring statutory controls.

The provisions of Council Directive 97/78 have been incorporated into the new Regulation and the Directive will be repealed. Currently we are awaiting the subsidiary implementing legislation which will provide the details of how this will affect our day to day work. These implementing regulations are expected in late 2019.

It is anticipated that risk based checks, in particular those relating to physical examination, will be implemented which may lead to a reduction in the number of physical checks being carried out. Once the detail is known we will need to review our procedures and working methods to ensure they are in-line with the requirements. The move to a risk based approach is welcomed as this will reduce the number of compliance monitoring checks, freeing up resource to target the identification of and intervention on non-compliant trade.

A change in the import requirements for composite products (food containing processed animal products combined with vegetable material) has been recently published and the implications of the legislation are under review. There are likely to be procedural changes required, however the implementation date is not until 2021.

The six monthly reviews of the High Risk Products in the Annex to Commission Decision 669/2009 continue. Some advance notice of the likely changes to the list has been available, allowing us to prepare for the changes and ensure information is available for our customers.

Any change to the legislation requires consideration as to how SCPHA implements the requirements and consideration of how that change is best communicated to our staff, service users and the organisations we work alongside. The failure to implement legislative requirements in a timely, fair and effective manner carries a significant reputational risk.

15.5 Organisational / Business Development

The review of the Port Health Service has seen the introduction of a revised management / leadership structure. The process of embedding this into Port Health is currently ongoing. The new structure (see Appendix 2) will facilitate the focus on three key areas: People, Organisation and Technical. This is the first stage of a series of initiatives to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Port Health service.

PHILIS, the IT system developed by SCPHA, and currently licensed to London, Mersey and Southampton and Heathrow Animal Reception Centre (HARC) won the LGC Award for Innovation in March 2018, recognising the significant impact it has had on delivering effective services within Local Government.

Interest in the PHILIS system continues with other Port Health Authorities making enquires about implementation in their locations and a number of online demonstrations to the interested parties have been undertaken. Implementation of PHILIS into Dover PHA is currently ongoing.

The SCPHA ICT team has been actively involved in the development of IT systems to ensure effective port health systems in a post BREXIT environment – not only developing 147 contingency systems for Felixstowe, and our PHILIS customers, but also engaging with BREXIT IT initiatives undertaken by DEFRA and the FSA. This has included representations to the project management board for the future UK Consignment Notification system – IPAFFS (Imports of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System).

The Port Health service continues to embrace technological change and pioneer the use of innovative solutions. It is engaged in National initiatives that are investigating use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality and other processes to facilitate the border control process.

15.6 BREXIT

The preparations for exiting the EU have and continue to place significant demands on the service. A number of Government led projects and initiatives have been instigated to identify impacts and contingency measures across the range of exit options. SCPHA has been engaged with the Border Delivery Group and other HMG departments to advise and shape the discussion in relation to Port Health, not just in Felixstowe but also in the wider sense. SCPHA has, and continues to host, many visits from HMG departments who value the opportunity to see how port health is successfully and effectively delivered in the UK’s premier container port. SCPHA has built relationships with numerous HMG departments, and this has facilitated an insight into the potential challenges ahead.

As part of the early engagement activity, SCPHA hosted a delegation from the NVWA – the body that delivers Port Health across the Netherlands – including the Port of Rotterdam, one of the key Northern European ports. There is significant trade between Felixstowe / Harwich and the Netherlands.

At a local level, BREXIT presents the potential for significant change. The extent and timing of any change is dependent on the outcome of the ongoing negotiations. The uncertainty around the future requirements, coupled with the HMG priority to maintain trade across the border, has required the development of a wide range of contingency measures.

The Port of Felixstowe and Harwich were identified by the Border Delivery Group (BDG) as ports with a high risk of potential change due to BREXIT. As part of this high risk categorisation SCPHA was awarded extra funding in order to prepare for BREXIT. In addition SCPHA has been successful in bidding for additional FSA funding to assist with the engagement and BREXIT preparations it has undertaken. A further bid to the FSA for 2019/20 has been made and is currently awaiting determination.

15.7 Other Service Demands

Whilst the BREXIT decision is awaited, HMG has been looking to the future with the Smarter Risking project and the Infrastructure projects; SCPHA is engaged with both of these HMG initiatives to provide expert opinion, practical information and guidance to help shape future arrangements.

Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA*) continue to conduct audits on Products of Animal Origin controls. We receive one visit per year which will alternate between focusing on the facilities and veterinary checks procedures. Liaison visits will not be undertaken unless audit findings necessitate this. To ensure / assure our internal processes we continue to 148 undertake our own in house verification checks; our revised structure with a compliance manager and two technical leads (subject matter experts) will further enhance the veracity of these checks and facilitate their delivery. We expect audits under the terms of our Contracts from Tendring District Council, Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council.

The Food Standards Agency has not made funding available for additional monitoring of non-animal origin products for this year. The FSA’s Food Fraud Team is targeting products of interest and providing funding on a case by case basis to look at these consignments. SCPHA has recognised the importance of continued monitoring of non-animal origin products to identify any products which may need to be considered for inclusion in the High Risk Product Legislation and so requiring additional checks. We undertake our own sampling plan to ensure full monitoring is undertaken of products imported through Felixstowe. Our monitoring and investigative work helps to inform and shape future UK policy.

A new contract has been negotiated between ourselves and Tendring District Council for the continuation of the delivery of the port health service at Harwich International Port, Harwich Navyard and Mistley Quay. Consideration has been given to changes the exit from Europe may bring to Harwich International Port and the new contract is written to the satisfaction of both Councils to allow each some flexibility within the contract.

We will continue to monitor any changes which affect our role as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

We continue to undertake routine monitoring and testing of products which pass through our district. All our laboratories are linked into the UKFSS Network. This has been a nationally promoted system supported by the FSA which contains details of samples taken and their results. Submission of sample information here can be done automatically through PHILIS. The future of the UKFSS Network is unclear as the system is no longer fully supported.

16. SERVICE DELIVERY – PORT HEALTH

16.1 Port Health Service

Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority’s (SCPHA) Mission; Protection of Public and Animal Health

SCPHA Vision: To be a Port Health Authority where people are at the forefront of delivering an EU leading service

SCPHA Service delivery principles: Effective and Efficient

SCPHA Challenge Is ‘this’ in the best interests of Port Health

Through the implementation of the relevant legislative requirements, SCPHA has undertaken an extensive range of monitoring, documentary, identity, and physical checks, 149 sampling activity and enforcement action. Table 15 below is the Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring (LAEMs) report for 2018/19.

150

Table 15. Key activities during 2018/19 Products of Products Not of Products at Point of Entry into the UK SCPHA 2018/19 Animal Origin Animal Origin 1 Number of Food Consignments Entering the Port 21,246 201,689 2 Percentage of Manifests Checked 100% 100% Number of Food Consignments Checked at Port 3 21,246 50,639 (Documentary Checks) Number of Food Consignments Checked at Port 3a 21,246 1,387 (Identity Checks) Number of Food Consignments Checked at Port 3b 7,884 1,261 (Physical Checks) Number of Food Consignments Checked at 4 External Temporary Storage Facility (Documentary N/A N/A Checks) Number of Food Consignments Checked at 4a External Temporary Storage Facility (Identity N/A N/A Checks) Number of Food Consignments Checked at 4b External Temporary Storage Facility (Physical N/A N/A Checks) 5 Number of Food Consignments Rejected 195 101 6 Reason for Rejection a) Microbiological Contamination 2 6 b) Other Contamination 1 62 c) Composition 0 5 d) Labelling 15 0 e) Other 177 28 7 Number of rejected consignments subject to: a) Destruction 112 34 b) Special treatment or processing 0 1 c) Re-dispatch 83 37 d) Re-directed for use other than human 0 14 consumption Continued…

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Products of Products Not of Table 15. Key activities during 2018/19 - continued Animal Origin Animal Origin Imported Food Enforcement Activity at Point of Entry and Inland - Samples Number of Imported Food Samples Taken for 8 116 88 Microbiological Examination Number of Samples Recorded in (8) Found to be 8a 3 6 Unsatisfactory Number of Samples Taken for 9 676 1,032 Chemical/Compositional Analysis Number of Samples Recorded in (9) Found to be 9a 6 71 Unsatisfactory 10 Other Samples Taken (Radiation monitoring) 0 5 Number of Samples Recorded in (10) Found to be 10a 0 0 Unsatisfactory Imported Food Enforcement Activity at Point of Entry and Inland - Formal Enforcement Number of notices served for Products of Non- 11 96 Animal Origin Number of notices served for Products of Animal 12 195 Origin 13 Number of Seizures 0 0 14 Number of Voluntary Surrenders 0 1 15 Number of Simple Cautions 0 0 16 Number of Prosecutions 0 0

In addition to the statutory samples of NAO required to be taken, SCPHA has recognised the demands of controlling imported foods of non-animal origin and undertakes a risk based sampling programme. A Food Sampling Policy and associated risk targeting helps us to determine where to focus our sampling activity. Where financial resources allow, enhanced sampling programmes are undertaken when potential problems are identified with a product or range of products. The Food Standards Agency has developed an early warning system for products not of animal origin. The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed information is being analysed to look at the frequency of notifications for particular hazards. This information can then be used to target products for sampling and analysis. We are currently using this information to target consignments for sampling.

TRACES, through the reinforced check process, continues to facilitate the checking of the next 10 consignments across Europe where an infringement has been found. Further consignments of the same product which fall outside of the 10 consignments and which must be sampled have to remain on the port to await satisfactory results of the 10th consignment sampled. Alternatively the importer may choose to have these consignments sampled at their expense; these can then be released on satisfactory results for that consignment. The national controls on products where an infringement has been identified remain in place.

152 We have continued to operate our own routine monitoring programme for POAOs received at Felixstowe. This is based on the types of products imported through Felixstowe and is informed by priorities set by the FSA as part of the National Control Plan.

The statutory sampling of NAO products continues with changes to the six monthly lists being accommodated through our internal procedures and delivered through administrative changes to the PHILIS system which allow seamless movements between the old and new lists at the appropriate time. Enhanced sampling of NAO products deemed to be high risk but which fall outside the statutory controls is on-going through our monitoring programme.

Rapid Alerts are monitored to check whether any of the products found to be unsatisfactory elsewhere are imported through Felixstowe. Work done by the FSA on consolidating such information is also assisting to identify sampling priorities. The submission and completion of CED documents for NAO products on TRACES means that rapid alerts for such products are now also being completed on TRACES. Recent revisions of existing Emergency control legislation have incorporated a pre-notification requirement on TRACES for those products so we are able to control and release more consignments via the TRACES system.

Emerging issues are Novel Foods, this complex area is one which is likely to expand in the coming years as greater awareness of issues surrounding these ‘foods’ becomes more widely available. Legislation covering Novel Foods updates the definition of what constitutes a Novel Food and streamlines the application process. It is anticipated the changes will help reduce the burdens on EU and third country business seeking to place novel food products on the market and facilitate consumer access to new food innovations which have been risk assessed and whose proposed use is considered safe. We will monitor what impact these changes have on our service.

Charges for water sampling and examination for legionella and standard drinking water parameters, where such sampling is requested by the master or agent of the vessel, remain. The charges cover the examination cost and the time taken to draw the samples. We will continue to undertake water sampling free of charge where such sampling is undertaken due to public health concerns about conditions on board the vessel.

All samples submitted for examination by the Port Health Team will be tested by the Public Health England, London, Colindale Food, Water and Environmental Laboratory, and all samples or complaints submitted for analysis will be tested by one of the Council’s appointed Public Analysts. CEFAS are undertaking the analysis of food and feed samples from Japan.

153

16.2 Primary Authority Schemes

SCPHA has not been approached by any importer organisations to set up a Primary Authority Scheme and is not seeking to engage in any.

16.3 Advice to Business

We have continued to update our website with all new and any relevant changes to legislation or procedures so Felixstowe importers and agents have the most up to date information and details as to how the clearance process will be affected by the changes and what practical actions they need to take to ensure swift clearance. Links to the relevant information on our website appear on standard faxes sent out to importers and agents, allowing them to obtain further background information about any request/information we have sent to them. A specific BREXIT area has been added to help guide our service users to the relevant information sources.

The Agents’ Forum meetings - a three-way partnership with the Port of Felixstowe Inspection Facilities, major agents and ourselves have continued. The meetings allow discussion around each others’ developments, legislation and its impact, and the efficiencies of the Port Health service.

16.4 Economic Challenge

Under the existing arrangements SCPHA recovers the cost of its activities through the charges levied. Foremost amongst the challenges of the future is to ensure that these or similar arrangements are maintained. Significant representations have been made to HMG with regard to arrangements in a post BREXIT environment.

SCPHA has to be in a position to react to the changing legislative framework, HMG guidance and requirements and the demands of the trade, both in terms of Port developments or service user expectations. Variability of these often competing demands does present a number of economic challenges in terms of resourcing, facilities and developing new income streams.

The BREXIT consideration adds another complicating dimension to these challenges however SCPHA is relatively well placed to accommodate change. It has, through a considered and informed approach, maintained a high quality service and is looking to maximise opportunities that will come with change.

SCPHA continues to attempt to identify new income streams, be that through the application of legislative or cost recovery methods, through to identifying ways in which income can be generated from alternative or non-legislative requirements – such as expanding the PHILIS user base.

16.5 Liaison with other Organisations

The Port Health Team have extensive liaison in place with a wide range of other organisations: (excludes BREXIT specific groups) 154

HMG Departments/ Agencies

• FSA Import and Export Division • FSA Contaminants Division • Animal and Plant Health Agency • DEFRA – Organic Imports Section • DEFRA - International Trade Division • Marine Management Organisation • Maritime and Coastguard Agency • Health Protection Team and Public Health England • State Veterinary Service • Other Enforcement Authorities: HMRC, Border Force, PHSI, HMI, Forestry Commission, MHRA

Ports & Port Health Departments

• Liverpool Port Health Authority • London Port Health Authority • Port of Felixstowe • Port of Ipswich • Harwich International Port • Harwich Navyard • Heathrow Animal Reception Centre • Associated British Ports

Other Bodies and Groups

• Suffolk Food Liaison Group • CIEH East of England Region • Haven Ports Welfare Committee • Local Government Association • Major Port Forum • EETSA Agricultural Focus Group • National Animal Feed Ports Panel • National Trading Standards Board • Campden BRI • Felixstowe Port Users Association • Mistley Quay and Forwarding • Public Health England/Port Health Liaison Group • Trading Standards/Environmental Health Departments nationally as required • World Health Organisation (Facilitator for the Ports and Shipping Group of PAGNet is a member of the port health team) • SHIPSAN Act project - the project aims at developing and establishing an EU integrated strategy for safeguarding the health of travelers and crew of passenger ships and for preventing the international and trans-national spread of diseases through ships.

17. RESOURCES 155

17.1 Financial Allocation

Details of budgetary provision are included in East Suffolk Budget Book 2018/198.

The Council maintains its own Legal Section to provide support to service areas. There is also financial provision made to enable the use of external legal services, where appropriate.

The provisions within the legislation base enables SCPHA to levy a charge for the undertaking of Port Health control checks. In addition, the licensing of the PHILIS system provides an income stream that enables support / maintenance and further development of the system.

SCPHA continues to seek other funding streams and has secured additional funding from BREXIT preparatory funds and support for non mandatory sampling activities. We continue to monitor new legislative proposals to determine if or how we can ensure cost recovery for services we provide.

The Port Health Service places no financial demands on the wider East Suffolk budget.

17.2 Staffing Allocation

17.2.1 Head of Service

The Head of Environmental Services and Port Health is Phil Gore who provides a 0.45 FTE towards achieving the Food and Health and Safety Service Plan.

17.2.2 Port Health Team

The Port Health review has changed the organisational structure within the management team. The new management structure consists of a Port Health Manager, a Compliance Manager, a Business Manager and an Operational Manager. Three Operational posts and one Business Support Team Leader post have also been created. The ICT Team Leader has been retained. To provide expert subject matter advice two Technical Leads have also been created.

Appendix 2 provides a graphical representation.

17.3 Staff Development

The Port Health review recommended the adoption of the myConversation process, this will bring SCPHA into line with the East Suffolk policy and negate the existing appraisal process. The MyConversation process does require adaption to make it suitable for use within Port Health and this process is well underway.

8 http://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/assets/Your-Council/Financial-Information/Budgets/East-Suffolk- Budget-Book-2019-20.pdf

156 Future work to support and enhance the staff development process is planned with investigation of competency frameworks and career pathways. It is envisaged that this will be supported by a learning and development framework and a performance framework.

These are significant pieces of work which will move SCPHA into a continuous assessment and improvement cycle, enhancing our staff development.

We continue to engage with the Setting the Standard management development programme and all newly appointed Team Leaders and Management Team members will undertake this course.

Alongside initiatives from East Suffolk, Port Health continues to identify training that encourages personal awareness and development of wellbeing skills – topics that have been covered include: Diversity, mental health (individual and support skills for managers), stress, relaxation techniques and wellbeing training.

Within the workplace health and safety awareness is vital, all staff are required to undertake the Port of Felixstowe safety induction course and complete, on an annual basis, the organisational health and safety awareness refreshers that are disseminated through Nautilus, the SCPHA intranet.

As part of ensuring the maintenance of professional registration we support and facilitate staff in the acquisition of the required levels of CPD. This varies between groupings and type of registration.

Member CIEH 20 hrs Chartered MCIEH 30 hrs MRCVS 105 hrs over 3 years

A proportion of each of the hours required (10 hrs) must be food related.

Training to ensure competency in NAO feed sampling for those undertaking the work on behalf of Suffolk County Council is ongoing and this is currently being reviewed in light of the new Code of Practice.

Despite the limited number of places available for the UK we have been successful in obtaining a number of places on the EU’s Better Training for Safer Food programmes. These free training courses provide a significant amount of relevant CPD. This programme may be curtailed or become a ‘pay to attend’ course following the UK’s exit from the EU.

Relevant training areas are identified from a wide range of sources to ensure the requirements for Food Enforcement Officers in accordance with the Food Law Code of Practice are met.

18. QUALITY ASSESSMENT

18.1 Quality Assessment

A number of arrangements are in place to ensure the quality of the services provided by the Port Health service. 157

18.2 BSI ISO 9001

SCPHA has successfully transitioned from the ISO 9001:2008 standard to the ISO9 9001:2015 standard.

The new standard covers leadership and ensuring the management systems form part of the strategic direction of the business and increases the use of risk assessment in determining outcomes. Changes have been made to our ISO system to ensure it meets the requirements of the 2015 standard. Further in-house training has been done with the new auditors to familiarise them with our auditing process.

One of the new requirements is to ensure a level of understanding of our Quality Management System and the consequences of not following it within the organisation. To achieve this, feedback is being given at Team Meetings.

18.4 Internal Monitoring Arrangements

The Port Health Team currently has the following arrangements in place to assist in the quality assessment of the work carried out:

• written work procedures (under a process of continuous review) • Technical Leads check all notices and rapid alerts prior to them being served • ongoing internal monitoring of processed consignments • verification checks on POAOs • NAO/quick job monitoring • team meetings of the technical groupings • one to one meetings.

A selection of files and correspondence will be monitored during the course of the year.

Nautilus remains our intranet system to provide a single point of contact for relevant legislation and procedures used within Port Health. New information is being entered into Nautilus as it arises and existing information is being reviewed and migrated onto Nautilus on a rolling programme. Nautilus allows for version control of documents, and can be used for online training and assessment of staff understanding of new procedures; this will assist with staff monitoring should we develop the system in this way.

18.5 Customer Satisfaction Survey

Our regular Agents’ forum meetings have allowed our customers to raise any issues with us directly. The face to face nature of this interaction allows for discussion around any issues and then an outcome to be agreed for delivery. Progress on any agreed outcomes will be reported on at the next meeting or sooner by alternative methods as appropriate. A facility exists on the website to automatically provide feedback on our service by e-mail; this comes into our main inbox so it can be dealt with promptly.

Feedback at our BSI audit suggested that information about customer satisfaction could be recorded through our day to day interactions with customers and the feedback they give us. 158 The feedback received is evaluated and an appropriate action agreed and delivered. Such information and the actions undertaken in response, along with consequences if any suggestions are not taken on board, is now recorded on Nautilus.

18.6 Team Meetings

The Team meeting structure is being revised to ensure it aligns with the new organisational structure. Management Team holds regular meetings to discuss all matters relating to the People, Organisational and Technical issues. Each grouping within the port health service has its own regular meeting with agendas set in the main by meeting participants with management input into each meeting.

18.7 Multi Annual National Control Plan

The FSA’s updated Multi Annual National Control Plan9 has been extended to 2023 and provides a strategic overview to the provision of official controls.

The intention is to develop a flexible risk based plan that links closely with individual BIP sampling plans and which will not create any unnecessary additional costs for the industry. The centrally administered residue monitoring programme has now ceased.

Monitoring performance against the standards set out in the Food and Health and Safety Service Plan will be via management meetings and annually to full Council.

18.8 Complaint Procedures

The Council publishes its complaint procedures and customer service standards on its website. A summary of complaints received in 2018/19 is produced in Appendix 6.

19. REVIEW – PORT HEALTH

19.1 Identification of any Variation from the Service Plans - Port Health

The key targets from the 2018/19 Service Plan have been mainly completed. There are a number of projects in progress which will continue into 2019/20. The delays experienced to some projects have been due to supplier or process issues outside of our direct control. The major project outstanding is the actions required following exiting the EU, we are awaiting the decision as to the type of BREXIT we will be enacting.

19.2 The Port Health key achievements in 2018/19 worthy of note are:

• The external review of Port Health was completed, and its recommendations accepted by Port Health management team. A business case was drafted, presented and accepted by SMT, and implementation of Phase 1 has now been completed. This reorganisation has created a revised management structure to support and facilitate the service in the future.

9 www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/multi-annual-national-control-plan 159 • Significant engagement in BREXIT related forums. This has enhanced the profile of SCPHA and encouraged Government Departments to use SCPHA as one of their key consultees.

• In conjunction with the FSA, development of a consignment notification system to be used should a BREXIT contingency scenario be declared.

• Continued work with the Food Standards Agency Food Fraud Team to assist with surveillance work on commodities that they have highlighted an interest in.

• Protection of public and animal health via our work with imports from West Africa. A number of prohibited products which posed a substantial risk were identified and these were removed from the food chain in a way which ensured the risk was contained and public and animal health protected.

• Worked in partnership with Suffolk County Council to deliver the statutory controls on feed and the routine monitoring and sampling of imported feed.

• Support to the FSA to provide:

• Expert port health staff resource at Birmingham International airport to facilitate a multi-agency investigatory work on air freight.

• Expert port health staff resource at Coventry Postal Hub to facilitate a multi-agency investigatory work on issues arising from the growth of online shopping.

• Expert port health staff resource to shape and develop the FSA imported food training manual. This work included drafting guidance, developing training materials and delivery of the training.

• Support to the MMO to develop and present an IUU training course at 5 locations around the UK.

• Support to the WHO in the form of a short term secondment by SCPHA officer specialising in Ship/Port Hygiene.

• Installation of the Chronologic workforce management system which brings together in an electronic solution a number of resource activities which are currently being managed by spreadsheets. The application is currently being customised to our requirements and tested by staff usage to ensure it is delivering the expected output before we fully move over to managing our resources through that as the sole system.

• A rebranding of SCPHA to coincide with the establishment of East Suffolk Council. Creating a new brand identity that compliments the East Suffolk identity.

• Hosted a number of visits by officials wishing to see our operations first hand:

160 • A delegation from the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India hosted by the Food Standards Agency have visited to look at our processes and procedure for undertaking checks • A delegation from the Netherlands NVWA visited to understand the Port environment from a post BREXIT perspective. A reciprocal visit was attended • Hosted the Director General DEFRA in the investigation of BREXIT impacts in a high volume container port environment and the use of IT systems • Hosted a visit from PD Ports as part of their investigation into facilities and systems required in a BIP/DPE • Hosted representatives from the Irish Government • Hosted representatives from the Australian High Commission • Hosted representatives from the US Embassy / USDA • We have assisted colleagues from Norfolk Trading Standards with information and practical activity to demonstrate how we undertake feed controls at Felixstowe • The number of visits by individual importers, agents and shipping lines who wish to forge a better working relationship with us has increased. We welcome such visits as it allows us to explain the nature of our checks in detail and point them to the areas of information available for them to use and it allows us to get a greater understanding of the difficulties involved for them. We have delivered a workshop for one customer, following their request for this. This allowed us to impart knowledge about our requirements to members of their team. This hopefully will provide benefits for both organisations.

20. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT – PORT HEALTH

Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority continues to be held in high regard nationally and internationally. We are the ‘go-to’ Port Health Authority due to our people, how we are organised and the breadth and depth of our technical knowledge However, we cannot be complacent and we recognise that there is always room for improvement and development but that such changes need to be balanced with the efficient delivery of the ‘day job’ so need to be incremental and measured. Areas we intend to work on in 2018/19 are:

• Examining the requirements for public and animal health control at the border in a post BREXIT UK. However in the absence of the UK’s exit agreement, which is not expected until later in 2019, a number of options have been considered. SCPHA is relatively well placed to accommodate change. However, it should be noted that some of the potential outcomes could present significant challenges to SCPHA in the short-medium term – but we await the details of the UK’s exit agreement and the UK’s policy position and will undertake preparation work to ensure we remain well placed to accommodate the changes.

• Continuing the work on implementing the recommendations from the external review of our service. This will ensure the service is ready for future opportunities and challenges and: • More effectively manage resources to match workload

• Ensure that we have the capacity and skills to support our people, deliver our organisational responsibilities and maintain our technical knowledge/capability 161

• Ensure that we are ready to take advantage of future opportunities

• Continue the implementation of internal ICT hardware and systems. Bringing online Focus and Sunrise systems (workforce management and helpdesk respectively). This will help with our organisational resourcing.

• Further ongoing improvements to PHILIS including the provisional work on Version 2. The maintenance of PHILIS Online as a contingency to enable electronic declaration of consignments post Brexit if access to TRACES is lost.

• The review and revision of organisational policies and processes to ensure alignment with East Suffolk, but fit for SCPHA.

162 Annex

GLOSSARY OF TERMS APHA - Association of Port Health Authorities APHA * - Animal and Plant Health Agency ABP - Associated British Ports ALVS - Automatic License Verification System BCP - Border Control Point BIS - Department for Business Innovation and Skills BSE - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSI - British Standard Institute BTP - British Transport Police CCDC - Consultant in Communicable Disease Control Campden BRI - Campden BRI is an independent membership-based organisation carrying out research and development for the food and drinks industry CEFAS - The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science CIEH - Chartered Institute of Environmental Health CED - Common Entry Document CHED - Common Harmonised Entry Document CHIEF Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight CMT - Corporate Management Team CORE - Consistently Optimised REsilient project CPS - Crown Prosecution Service CQC - Care Quality Commission CVED - Common Veterinary Entry Document DEFRA - Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs DExEU - Department for Exiting the European Union DTI - Department of Trade and Industry (now Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) E. coli O157 - Escherichia coli O157 EC - European Commission EDMS - Electronic document management system EETSA - East of England Trading Standards Association EHO - Environmental Health Officer ELO - Enforcement Liaison Officer of the Health and Safety Executive EMM - Enforcement Management Model EHORB/EHRB - Environmental Health Officers’ Registration Board/Environmental Health Registration Board EOEW Eat Out Eat Well EPLaN - Eastern Ports Liaison Network ERTS - Enhanced Remote Transit Sheds EU - European Union FERA - Food and Environment Research Agency FSA - Food Standards Agency FSA 1990 - Food Safety Act 1990 FTE - Full-time equivalent FPUA - Felixstowe Port Users Association FVO - Food and Veterinary Office (Audit Branch of the EU) GM - Genetically Modified 163 HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points HAP - Home Authority Principle HARC - Heathrow Animal Reception Centre HELA- Health and Safety Executive/Local Authorities Enforcement Liaison Committee HPA - Health Protection Agency HPU - Health Protection Unit HSE - Health and Safety Executive HMRC - Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs IMS - Information Management System IAA - Inter-Authority Audit ISO - International Organisation for Standardisation IUU - Illegal Unregulated and Unreported KPI - Key Performance Indicator LAEMS - Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring System LAC - Local Authority Circular LAU - Local Authority Unit LGA - Local Government Association LGR - Local Government Regulation LPG - Liquefied Petroleum Gas MSD - Musculoskeletal Disorders MCA - Maritime and Coastguard Agency MCP - Maritime Cargo Processing plc NAO - Non Animal Origin product FHRS - Food Hygiene Rating Scheme OFFC - Official Feed and Food Controls OPS&S - Office for Product Safety & Standards PASS - Public Analyst Scientific Services PDD - Plastic Declaration Document PHSO - Port Health Support Officer PHE - Public Health England PHILIS - Port Health Interactive Live Information System PHMT - Port Health Management Team POAO - Product of Animal Origin PT - Phage type RASFF - Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed RDNA - Regulators’ Development Needs Analysis REHIS - Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland RIDDOR - Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations SCPHA - Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority SFBB - Safer Food, Better Business SLIC - Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee SVS - State Veterinary Service TEU - Twenty-foot Equivalent Units TOEW Take Out Eat Well TRACES - Trade Control and Expert System TRACES NT Trade Control and Expert System New Technology UKAS - United Kingdom Accreditation Service UKFSS - United Kingdom Food Surveillance System

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Appendix 1 East Suffolk Management Structure

165

166

Appendix 2

Team structure - Food and Safety Team

Team structure - Port Health Team

167 Food and Safety Team Structure April 2019

Phil Gore Head of Environmental Christine Walker Services and Port Health Environmental Health Officer

Vacant 1.6 FTEs EHO/F&SO

Steve Rock Environmental Health Officer

Kerry Rayden Environmental Health Technical Support Officer

Sharon Murray Mark Sims V Johnston Food and Safety Officer Food & Safety Manager Senior Environmental Health Officer

Hannah King Aidan Falls Food and Safety Apprentice Student Environmental Health Officer

Sinead Hicks Mark Beglarian Environmental Health Officer Food and Safety Officer

Brenda Hammond Nikki Crisp Environmental Health Officer Environmental Health Technical (P/T) Support Officer (P/T)

Paul Goldsmith Food and Safety Officer

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169 MT Management Team

PH Manager Operations Business Compliance Head of Service Richard Jacobs Hannah Panting Bradley Borley Pete Coley Phil Gore

TE Technical Experts

TE : NAO / IUU TE: PoAO Brenda McRory Simon Rowell

TL Team Leaders

Operational Operational Operational Business support ICT Alex Catling Dan Longson Steven Dearsley Colin Wilson Paul Clack

TG Technical Groups

ICA OVS PHSO PHO ICT Natasha Plummer Pablo Bauluz Hannah Gilson Sally Garrett John Bax Clare Young Daniel Sima Tom Penso Kelly Cunningham James Ulph Lisa Jamieson Kevin Hardman Adam Hopkins Laurence Jarrold Shaun Andrews Pauline Parsons Aurora Alonso-Masferrer Georgia Woodley Tim Ashley Samuel Holmes Simon Little Frederick Ouko Mick Sears John Fawkes George Seward

Hannah Moore Jose Arruga Adam Flatman Martin Walker

Denise Potter Radoslav Stankov Chris Stockdale Andrew Watkinson

Laura Manning Abel Gomez Matthew Plumb Louise Hewitt

Carolyn Dale Lesley Friel Tom Green

Dawn La Mont Sally Clarke Kay Davidson

Josh Amass Paul Carver

Shirley Scott Adam Fairbrother

Kerry Saunders Chris Boyt

Julie Barker Laura Rowe

Lyndsey Stuttle Matt Werrett

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Appendix 3 Letter of Appointment

171

Appendix 4 Public Analysts

Kent Scientific Mr Jonathon David Griffin BSc (Hons) MChemA CChem Services MRSC DMS County Council Ms Carol Gibbons BSc (Hons) MSc MChemA FIFST MRSC CSci 8 Abbey Wood Road Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4YT

Hampshire Scientific Mr Shayne Gordon John Dyer MChemA CChem MRSC DMS Services Ms Jennifer Ann Darrington Green BSc (Hons) MSc MChemA County MRSC Council Ms Rachel Ann New BSc(Hons) MChemA CChem MRSC CSci Hyde Park Road Southsea Hampshire PO5 4LL

Ms Elizabeth Moran MSc MChemA MRSC Public Analyst Scientific Services Ltd Mr Kevin Wardle BSc CChem MChemA FRSC MIFST Woodthorne Mr Duncan Arthur MA MChemA CChem MRSC Wergs Road Mr Nigel Payne MSc, MChemA CChem MRSC Wolverhampton Ms Joanne Hubbard BSc MChemA CChem FRSC WV6 8TQ Emma Downie MChem MChemA Michelle Evans BSc MChemA County Mr Peter L. Mayes MChemA., MBA., CChem. FRSC Scientific Services Mrs Bharathi Reddy BSc (Hons), MChemA, CChem, MRSC Pedders Way Ashton-on-Ribble Preston Lancashire PR2 2TX

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Appendix 5 Food and Safety Customer Satisfaction Summary

Course Evaluation (34 responses) Good Average Poor ☺   How satisfied were you with 97% 3% 0% the course overall?

Business satisfaction (72 responses) Neither Strongly Disagree Agree agree/ Disagree agree strongly disagree I felt my business was fairly 75% 22% 0% 1% 1% treated. I felt the contact was helpful. 69% 26% 3% 1% 0% Communication was clear. 67% 26% 4% 4% 0%

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Appendix 6 Summary of Corporate Complaints

Complaints statistics 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 Total To be Justified Unjustified complaints determined Food and Safety 2 0 2 0 Suffolk Coastal Port 6 3 3 0 Health Authority Totals 8 3 5 0

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Agenda Item 14

ES/0152

COUNCIL

Wednesday, 25 September 2019

CABINET MEMBERS’ REPORT AND OUTSIDE BODIES REPRESENTATIVES’ REPORT TO COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

To receive the Cabinet Members’ Report and the Outside Bodies Representatives’ Report to Council, for information.

Is the report Open or Open Exempt?

Wards Affected: All Wards in the District

Cabinet Member: Councillor Steve Gallant Leader of the Council

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CABINET MEMBERS’ REPORTS TO COUNCIL

Cabinet Member: Councillor Steve Gallant, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Resources

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07860 478192

Status of the Audit

As reported at the Audit & Governance Committee meeting on 29 July 2019, the Chief Finance Officer advised that the audit of the predecessor Councils accounts would not be completed by 31 July 2019. It was noted that Ernst and Young's lack of resources and staff turnover was the cause of the delay and that it was in the process of training new staff. At that time Ernst and Young had intended to begin the audit at the start of September 2019, with its completion occurring in October. However, the audit has been delayed again by Ernst and Young for the same reasons, with an intended start date on site of 30 September and completion by the end of November. A special meeting of the Audit & Governance Committee has been set for early December 2019 in order to approve the audited accounts. In compliance with Accounts and Audit Regulations, a public notice (one for each predecessor Council) has been placed on the Council’s website, explaining why the Council is not yet able to publish its audited final statement of accounts for 2018/19.

Spending Review

On 4 September 2019 a letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was received providing a summary of the action Government is taking to support Local Authorities for the next year. The areas of funding affecting East Suffolk include further funding to combat rough sleeping and homelessness and an increase in Core Spending Power which includes the Revenue Support Grant currently received by the Council. Further Member updates will follow the technical consultation due to be issued shortly, which will set out further details for analyse and consideration for the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy. The provisional Local Government finance settlement is then received early December.

A delay to the longer-term reform of Local Government financing from 2020/21 until 2021/22, including business rates retention and fair funding was also referred to in the letter. This helps to provide some certainty in setting the budget for next year. Again, as further details are released Members will be updated.

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Cabinet Member: Councillor Mary Rudd, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07867 372976

Licensing

Licensing Services has had a busy summer. In addition to the routine work of licensing and regulating taxis, pubs and gambling establishments, in June the team organised training seminars for licencees at both Melton and Lowestoft on some hot topics in Licensing including conflict management, combatting drugs in pubs and County Lines, noise nuisance and business marketing. The seminars, which were supported by guest speakers from Environmental Services, Suffolk Police, Suffolk County Council and local businesses, were well received by attendees. As well as knowledge sharing, the seminars provided a useful forum for networking.

Licensing Services has again played an important role in licensing and regulating the many summer festivals in the district, the largest of which is of course Latitude. Members of Licensing Services were working at Latitude on every day of the festival in July to ensure the film tent, bars and taxis were operating in line with regulatory requirements to prevent crime and disorder and public nuisance and to promote public safety and the protection of children from harm.

County Lines

The Council continues to share intelligence about County Lines through multi agency ASB meetings in the south of the district and via the Waveney Action Group in Lowestoft.

Police have confirmed that 2 lines are operating in Lowestoft, one of which originates from London. There is no indication that young people are being exploited through the operation of these lines currently, but there have been two incidents identified where the homes of adults have been ‘cuckooed’ in the town. Activity is being monitored and disrupted for Felixstowe and potential links to Leiston/ Saxmundham are police priorities. Officers continue to link in with the County Lines and Gangs monthly meeting where the need arises.

A well attended County Lines event was held at in June 2019, delivered by national trainer Tony Saggers. Some 90 multi-agency partners attended to identify the signs of County Lines and how to report. Tony also provided a presentation to parents in the Saxmundham and Leiston area due to emerging concerns regarding gangs, exploitation and possible County Lines activity within the area. Another event is being delivered in October for Lowestoft.

AlterEgo theatre productions have been commissioned to deliver a performance in East Suffolk in November. An offer will be going out to schools at the start of the new school term.

Work on the East Suffolk County Lines Tactical Action Plan (TAP) continues, the document is regularly reviewed, with a number of projects already actioned.

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Summer Activities

The new Fit and Fed programme, which provides four hours of activity, four days a week for four weeks was held in various locations in East Suffolk this summer. The successful bid for funding via Suffolk County Council aimed to address the rising number of young people who do not have access to a nutritious meal during the school holidays. The fund is only for children eligible for Free School Meals, however there was an understanding that if young people in the two areas wanted to become involved and providers had capacity, that it would be preferable to have them engaged rather than potentially becoming involved in some of the crime and ASB activities currently posing an issue in the area.

In Leiston and Saxmundham, Access Community Trust, FootStars and Procorda (Leiston Abbey performing arts centre) provided a diverse range of activities. Each participant was provided with at least one meal a day that met school food standards, activities that include an element of nutritional education, including growing fruit and veg or getting them involved in food preparation, and physical activity that meets Physical Activity Guidelines.

All activities were well received and subscribed, however gathering data from schools before the term ended proved challenging. Data is still being collated regarding attendance which will feed into future funding applications to offer future activities during school holidays.

In Lowestoft activities were held on the beach, Britten Fields and at Normanston Park. 107 individuals attend Fit and Fed, with 269 total attendances over 16 days of planned activity. In total 315 individuals attended, with 704 total attendances over the 16 days of planned activity. Some of the quotes below illustrate how well the programme has been received:

“My boy has learning difficulties and this summer he had a great time. All the leaders and volunteers were brilliant in including him, managing activities and the differing levels of challenge. At the beach, it was excellently organised and implemented. Thank you.”

“Can’t fault anything. Lovely people and made friends with others I wouldn’t have know before.” “I think it's been fantastic for the children to have these activities they can go to. Especially helpful for working parents and those on low incomes. Staff were brilliant and very friendly and welcoming. My children had a brilliant time.”

“Well done to all who worked hard to make the sessions fun for the children.”

Crucial Crew Plus – Roll out to all East Suffolk High Schools

All schools will return in September to an information pack regarding the Crucial Crew Plus project, the offer of a meeting to discuss the logistics of the day and the information about how to sign up following the development of a timetable of available dates.

A number of providers are willing to participate in the delivery of the sessions but the roll out will also require the commitment of the police for delivery of some of the scenarios which we are confident will be provided. CSP funding through Suffolk Public Sector Leaders will enormously assist in the delivery of the project, enabling us to extend it across the District and offer all schools the opportunity to participate.

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Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs)

The Latitude PSPO relating to Psychoactive substances was agreed by Cabinet in July for a further three year period. We are awaiting the data on the number of incidents at the 2019 Festival. PSPO’s in former Suffolk Coastal area – the proposal is to discharge the 10 PSPO’s (depending on Cabinet agreement) following extensive engagement, including with Town and Parish Councils. The PSPO’s were due to run until October 2020 but if agreement is reached the signs can be removed and the PSPO’s discharged before that date.

Community Safety Partnership

It was agreed at the last meeting that the current CSP action plan is not fit for purpose and needs to be refreshed in the context of the new Council. A workshop has been arranged for the 9th December with partners to develop the new action plan. The strategic assessment should be ready by the end of November which will inform the Action Plan development by helping to determine the CSP priorities.

Cabinet Member: Councillor Letitia Smith, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Communities, Leisure and Tourism

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07824 865973

Youth Voice

From the Autumn 2019 term, the Youth Voice initiative will go live in schools and youth settings across the whole of East Suffolk. The initiative, which started in the former Suffolk Coastal area as a response to the geographical challenges of bringing young people together, involves placing Suggestion Boxes in schools and other settings where young people come together to gather the views of young people about a whole range of issues.

A report will be collated summarising the issues raised and opportunities identified, for each Community Partnership area, and these will be considered by the eight Communities Partnerships at their first meetings in 2020.

Exemplar Grants programme

2019/20 is the last year of the Exemplar Grants programme and there was an amazing response to the call for projects. More than £260,000 of applications were received against a funding pot of £160k. Representatives from the Community Partnerships Steering Group formed a Funding Panel which considered an appraisal of each project produced by the Funding Team. From the 32 applications submitted, a total of 17 projects were recommended for approval.

From 2020/21 onwards, funding will be available through the Community Partnership Budgets (£25,000 per area per year) and Strategic Budget (£300,000 per year).

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Community Right to Bid

The Council now has a total of 44 assets listed on its Register of Assets of Community Value including twenty public houses, four sports facilities, four community centres/village halls, four commons, three allotments, two hospitals and two garages.

If an asset is listed on the Register and its owner decides to sell, they are obliged to notify the Council. The group that nominated the land or building then has six weeks to indicate whether it wants to trigger the full six-month moratorium period. This allows them additional time to explore sources of funding for the purchase and develop a business plan. The owner can sell to whoever they choose at the end of the six-month period – it is not a ‘Right to Buy’, just a ‘Right to Bid’. We would always encourage a local community group to talk to the owner of an asset as early as possible once they have decided to sell.

Period Poverty

The Council’s Period Poverty initiative continues to go from strength to strength thanks to funding from a number of Councillors through their 2018/19 Enabling Communities Budgets. The website - www.eastsuffolkperiodpoverty.com – is now live and provides an easy search facility for girls and women to identify where their nearest supply of free sanitary products is. Host facilities display a window sticker to indicate the premises has a PP Box on site. Those in need of sanitary products can then access these products, free of charge and without question.

The Communities Team have produced a useful booklet, included in each of the boxes, which contains information about what period poverty is, FAQs, statistics and more information about various projects and initiatives in East Suffolk including some Top Tips from Felixstowe Academy.

Cabinet Member: Councillor James Mallinder, Cabinet Member with responsibility for The Environment

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07810 815879

I have been busy with the Environmental Portfolio and have been reaching out to stakeholders and concerned bodies.

I attended a Transitional Woodbridge Committee meeting to understand their concerns and projects and I have reached out to Town Councils, to offer assistance when they have declared a climate emergency.

I also attended meetings with the organisers of the Siren Festival to investigate possible support and rolling out to other locations in 2020 and I have had meetings with Suffolk County Council in looking at how we can establish County wide initiatives, especially when looking at small changes that make a big difference.

Further meetings have taken place with Suffolk Waste Partnership, especially with regard to improving communication and highlighting the reduction of food waste.

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I continue to be actively involved with the Green Print Forum, sitting on its Steering Group, with particular engagement with the Plastic Action Champions, Yellow Fish and Bin the Butt campaigns.

Cabinet Member: Councillor Richard Kerry, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07903 301075

Housing Strategy

The Homelessness Strategy is to be presented to Cabinet on 1 October followed by the Development Strategy and the Housing Asset Management Strategy in November. This will leave a corporate Enabling Strategy for early next year. Work to develop a policy and procedure for Temporary Accommodation is to start shortly.

Tenancy Services

This year we have implemented new Predictive Analytical software called RentSense and are continuing the contract for this for a further year to demonstrate its long-term ability to reduce our Officers case load and in turn arrears on accounts. Early indications are that arrears have plateaued and are starting to reduce.

We are introducing new digital channels for Tenants in early 2020 with a Tenants Portal and text messaging allowing customers to access their rent account balances and make payments 24/7. In 2020 we will be putting together a tenant engagement strategy to further strengthen our engagement with our tenants.

We will be continuing with successful projects such as 560 London Road South, Lowestoft. This is East Suffolk Council’s first House in Multiple Occupation and is in partnership with Solo Housing to provide good quality housing for single homeless people. This has been so successful that we are looking for other sites to refurbish in the same way, and other Local Authorities are also copying this model.

The purchase of another long-term empty property at 98 Park Road, Lowestoft, empty for 20 years, has enabled an exciting refurbishment project which should be completed by the end of the month.

Housing Maintenance – John Brown

East Suffolk continues to invest in its housing stock, maintaining and improving properties for our tenants. £6.8M is provided for investment this year (19-20) and will deliver programmes such as rewiring, new heating, replacement roofs, kitchens and bathrooms to name but a few.

Since the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 East Suffolk has scrutinised its only high-rise tower block St Peters Court, Lowestoft. A great deal of investment has been made to the building to ensure it remains as safe as possible for tenants. Works have been completed to install a full sprinkler system,

181 replace all flat entrance doors with new 1-hour fire protected door sets, replacement of all window reveals with fire protected boarding, and various other internal works.

Housing Development and Enabling

Lowestoft Post Office

It is hoped a full planning application will come to Planning Committee North in November and I would like to invite ward members for a tour and discussion beforehand.

Suffolk County Council (SCC)

Children and Young Persons Services and Mental Health and Learning Disability Commissioning Team /Adult & Community Services (ACS), are looking for new homes in Lowestoft and Felixstowe. East Suffolk Council do not have any stock the meets their needs. Homes for sale on the open market are now being looked at as potential options. One option would be for SCC to lease properties acquired by ESC.

Training Hubs for Trades and Apprentices

Discussions are taking with CITB, West Suffolk College and New Anglia LEP with a view to increasing training opportunities to help young people wishing to enter the building trade and to help meet the growing skills shortage,

Housing Development

Duncan’s Yard

Our award-winning development at Duncan’s Place was handed over in July 2019. All units are occupied and the residents are settling in.

Brampton

We have entered into contract with Orwell HA to develop our first shared ownership of 6x 2bed houses in Brampton. Wellington (the contractor) have recently started on site. These units will be ready for occupation in autumn 2020.

Community Housing Funds Schemes

School Lane, Bawdsey We have now signed and sealed a funding agreement with the Peninsula Villages Community Land Trust (PVCLT), a CLT comprising members from 6 parishes (Alderton, Bawdsey, Boyton, Hollesley, and Sutton) to fund their acquisition of 4 affordable houses at School Lane, Bawdsey from Crocus Homes (Development arm of Saffron Housing Trust). This is the first acquisition being funded through the Community Housing Fund which is aimed at tackling the lack of affordable housing in areas of high second home ownership. We are really pleased that we have got this project over the line.

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Southwold Hospital We are continuing to support SouthGen and Hastoe Housing Association to deliver a community-led scheme in Southwold for nine affordable units. At a recent National Housing Federation awards event this project was highly commended in its group. Congratulations to Southgen; it has been great to work with them. Commuted Sums Parham We have agreed in principle to fund Orwell Housing Association to convert two shared ownership houses into affordable rent houses on a rural exception site in Parham. This will be funded through our commuted sums fund and will provide more rented stock in the area meeting a local need.

Housing and Health

Private Sector Housing

The transition to East Suffolk Council has been seamless and the new PS Housing strategy is now fully operational across the District. Of particular note, is the high level of interest in the renovation grant, particularly in the Lowestoft area.

The team has been tackling some difficult issues, with colleagues in planning, around the letting of industrial premises, in two locations, for housing – contrary to housing and planning law.

The team have recently been filmed for the BBC programme Housing Enforcers and, assuming they make the cut, will be seen on television this autumn.

Focussing on specific areas:

Fuel Poverty – Warm Homes Healthy People The Stepping Home project which supports patients to solve housing issues that are preventing them from going home, continues to grow and in August we were approached by the West Suffolk CCG and asked to deliver the same project in the West of the County. The inaugural meeting for this project was held recently and the project will start in October ready for the winter pressures that hospitals experience. (East Suffolk Council are involved in a West Suffolk project because we are the lead authority for all the Suffolk Councils on fuel poverty, energy efficiency and Warm Homes issues). The project is fully funded by the CCG.

Warm Homes continues to work with the Rural Coffee Caravan to deliver energy advice in rural areas and we were awarded funding to provide information on SMART metering. The first events around this are targeting residential park homes and will link in with other energy advice for these communities.

We delivered the full initial allocation of ‘First Time Central Heating’ grant for gas homes by the end of July and have successfully bid for funding from National Grid Affordable Warmth Solutions to install over 200 more gas central heating systems across Suffolk over the next 2-3 years. The take up of oil systems under the same funding regime, has been slow and we are working with a range of partners to try and increase the awareness of the link between cold homes and ill health to try and

183 reach more vulnerable households who could benefit from this funding. We are also able to offer air source heat pumps for suitable properties.

Private Rented Sector Energy Efficiency Standards. It has been unlawful to rent out a property with an energy efficiency rating of F or G since 1 April 2018. In April 2020 this rule applies to existing tenancies. Landlords can register an exemption if any of the works required to improve the rating cost more than £3500 or there are other reasons, such as the Listed status of the building, that prevent them from improving matters for their tenants. There have been discounted and free insulation schemes around for many years and little excuse not to top up insulation. The team have beginning to contact landlords with these poor performing properties and will shortly be issuing penalty notices against those who cannot demonstrate good reasons for not addressing the situation.

Home Improvement Agency East Suffolk Council is part of the Suffolk wide Home Improvement Agency which provides a service to residents needing disabled adaptations. The contract ends in December 2021 and work has begun to review the service and define the nature of the future agency support. This piece of work is seen as particularly important against a backdrop of an ageing population and the pressures on the health and social care system.

Cabinet Member: Councillor David Ritchie, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning and Coastal Management

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07920 503527

From 2011 until 2019, I was the Cabinet Member for Planning and Coastal Management at Waveney District Council, a responsibility that I relished. I am now delighted to have the same role at East Suffolk Council. This is a much greater responsibility as I now have twice as much coast and three times as much planning! However, I have a strong team of councillors to support me. Debbie McCallum is Chairman of the Southern Planning Committee, and Paul Ashdown is Chairman of the Northern Planning Committee. Both chairmen, as well as chairing their committees, take a lead on other aspects of Development Management. Tony Cooper has recently been appointed as my Assistant Cabinet Member. He is taking a special interest in the Local Plan for the former Suffolk Coastal Area and in planning for Sizewell C. James Mallinder, as Cabinet Member for the Environment, has joined me on the Board of Coastal Partnership East, and on the board of the Lowestoft Flood Risk Management Scheme. James is taking a proactive interest in all aspects of coastal management. Councillor Melissa Allen has joined me on the Suffolk Coast Forum where we represent East Suffolk Council. Another East Suffolk Councillor with an increasing interest in the coast.

Under the, excellent and well established, leadership of Philip Ridley we have a strong team of planning officers, building control inspectors, and support staff.

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We also have a strong and growing team at Coastal Partnership East. Karen Thomas is the new leader of the partnership having replaced Bill Parker after his retirement. Bill was an inspirational leader who was instrumental in the creation of the partnership. A partnership between North Norfolk District Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, and East Suffolk Council. Karen was chosen from an extremely strong short list and has already shown that she is well able to fill Bill Parker’s rather large shoes!

Development Control and Planning Policy

Liz Beighton is the Development Control Manager, I was very pleased when she was chosen to replace Phillip Rowson when he left us for North Norfolk. I have worked closely with Desi Reed since I became a councillor in 2006, she is our excellent head of planning policy.

At the recent Strategic Planning Committee held on the 9th September I presented three reports relating to the work of: The Planning Policy and Delivery Team, Planning Application performance, and the outcome of Planning Appeals. These reports all related to work done since the start of the new council in April.

The Strategic Planning Committee, in noting the contents of the report, were reassured of the sound performance on the determination of planning applications in a timely manner and the high success rate at defending appeals. Additionally, they were also provided information relating to the recently published Housing Action Plan drafted as a result of a requirement of the government’s Housing Delivery Test. There was also an update our current Housing Land supply figures for the year. East Suffolk has a strong Housing Land supply position, so is able to support those planning applications proposing housing that are in accordance with our Local Plan policies and more importantly to refuse and defend those applications that are contrary to our policy. It was also interesting to note the Council had been successful on having costs awarded against two applicants who had withdrawn their appeals (proposing housing) where the main issue in both cases was the sites noncompliance with policy and the appellants argument on housing land supply matters. Members and the Council should be reassured on these matters for taking forward the important role planning has to play in shaping East Suffolk.

Members will also be aware that the East Suffolk (the former Suffolk Coastal area) Local Plan is currently being examined by an independent Inspector. I have attended a number of the sessions and am pleased with the work of the Planning Policy and Delivery team in supporting the Local Plan through these onerous sessions. We are working towards adoption of the Local Plan early next year so there is still much work to do but I am encouraged with the work to date.

Building Control

Mark Harvey is Head of Building Control for East Suffolk Council and Ipswich Borough. Another successful partnership with strong leadership. In recent months the Building Control team have continued to embrace numerous challenges.

The review of the Building Regulations continues post Grenfell with legislative changes to the Approved Documents, particularly those relating to Fire being launched early in October. Scrutiny on the Building Control profession to ensure consistent delivery and interpretation of the legislation via the Regulations continues to grow.

It has been made very clear Building Control Surveyors are to be trained and qualified to the most appropriate level, and in recent months two further Building Control surveyors in our team have

185 achieved full professional chartership. This demonstrates our commitment to achieving the highest standards. The East Suffolk Building Control team can now proudly claim to employ the highest percentage of fully qualified Building Control professionals at any point in recent Building Control history. The team can also demonstrate a structure which fully supports progression and career development with all posts occupied from trainees to management.

The Building Control partnership with Ipswich continues to grow, this collaboration has seen improved efficiencies and a marked improvement on market share which is now approaching 80%. Finally, some of our private sector competitors have failed/ceased to operate recently which brings a great opportunity to the Building Control team in terms of growing our client base even further, our next challenge will be to service this work and retain our highly sought after Surveyors.

Coastal Partnership East

Karen Thomas, Head of Coastal Management has been in post for three months following the retirement of Bill Parker and has made a great start in taking the team forward. Coastal Partnership East brings together the coastal management resources and expertise from East Suffolk Council, North Norfolk District Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council providing an innovative approach to managing the coast between Kelling in North Norfolk & Landguard Point in Felixstowe all 173km. I will be liaising with Karen to establish member briefing sessions to highlight the important work of this Partnership.

I am the chairman of The Suffolk Coast Forum, and for the past seven years the coast forum conference has been the highlight of my councillor year. The Suffolk Coast Forum Annual Conference ‘Collaboration in a changing climate. Working together achieving more’ is being held on 11 October 2019 at Wherstead Park Conference Centre Ipswich. Key note speakers include Lord Bassam of Brighton, Chair House of Lords Regenerating Seaside Towns and Communities Committee and Catherine Wright Head of Evidence, Environment Agency. To book a place please contact [email protected].

Cabinet Member: Councillor Stephen Burroughes, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Customer Services and Operational Partnerships

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07783 357940

PARTNERSHIP BOARD MEETINGS

I have chaired my first meetings of the Partnership Boards for our key contracts – Norse, Sentinel Leisure Trust and Places Leisure. These boards are the way in which we manage the performance of our key contracts, and look in detail at operational issues, financial performance, risks and opportunities, and to get an overview of any projects currently being undertaken. The board meetings were positive and constructive – and I will be working with officers to push all of our partnerships to deliver good value, innovation and strong customer service.

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BUNGAY POOL AND GYM REFURBISHMENT

The Bungay Pool and Gym closed on the 12th September for a major, ten month refurbishment. The council has committed £3.4 million to bring the facility up to date – including major improvements in the pool and changing rooms, the installation of a sauna and new flume, and the introduction of state of the art equipment in the gym. Car parking will be improved and extended, and electric vehicle points introduced for visitors. The complete refurbishment of this third leisure centre is a major project and represents a further commitment by the council to ensure that residents of East Suffolk benefit from the very best leisure facilities in the country.

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Emma Bloom the new Head of Customer Services, Communications and Marketing started with the Council on 2 September. Emma is settling in well, getting to know her team and colleagues and studying the various operations for which she is now responsible.

LOWESTOFT FULL FIBRE NETWORK

Contractual negotiations have still to be completely finalised and officers from ESC and SCC are liaising regularly to move things on. It is still planned that the installation of full fibre in Lowestoft will commence in October 2019 and will be completed by June 2022.

CIVIL PARKING ENFORCEMENT (CPE)

Planning continues on the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE). CPE will give East Suffolk the power to issue parking tickets to people who park illegally on roads (for example, on double yellow lines). Illegal parking is a significant resident concern and a public safety issue. Currently, the council can only issue tickets in car parks. Start dates are yet to be agreed by the County Council and the Department for Transport, but we would anticipate that this will go live in the first half of 2020.

Outside Bodies Representatives Reports

Suffolk Flood Risk Management Scrutiny Sub Committee (attended as a Substitute)

Representative: Councillor Judy Cloke

Contact Details: [email protected] Tel: 07810 815879

I volunteered to attend a meeting of the Suffolk Flood Risk Management Scrutiny Sub Committee on behalf of ES Council. The meeting took place at Endeavour House on 15 July. It is a small sub committee and deals with surface flood water issues.

We were given a presentation on the Surface water Management plans, how the plans are derived and how they are used to support the development control process in Suffolk. It became a bit technical at times and I’m not sure I understood it all, but it was my first meeting.

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There was a further presentation on the work of the SCC flood team and some of the lrger projects with which they are engaged currently, to reduce to reduce flood risk at locations across Suffolk; one of the big schemes on which they are working is a drainage channel alongside Bloodmoor Road in Lowestoft.

We also looked at the 2019 Suffolk Flood Risk Management Strategy, which highlights the fact much localised flooding is caused by poor maintenance. In the three years to March 2019, 4962 incidents of surface water flooding occurred in Suffolk, whereas in the preceding 3 years, there were 2169. I am unsure if the two are connected, or whether we are just getting heavier rain.

There is a scheme their officers are developing – in fact, it has been given to an Apprentice , who is making a success of it – to train groups of local people to observe potential flood risk sites and they can help by clearing gulleys, reporting damaged sluices, that sort of thing. It is proving successful where it has been rolled out so far and the Committee encouraged the officers to widen the scheme county wide.

RECOMMENDATION That the report be received.

APPENDICES – None

BACKGROUND PAPERS – None

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