HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Agenda Item No.
COUNTY COUNCIL TUESDAY 18 MAY 2010 AT 10.30 A.M. 14(a)
EXECUTIVE REPORTS TO COUNTY COUNCIL
EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY AND CULTURE
1. Fire and Rescue
1.1 The official opening of the new Watford Fire Station took place on Friday 14 May 2010 at 11am. Countess Verulam kindly agreed to attend the opening.
1.2 On 17 May 2010 Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service hosted a Regional Equalities and Diversity Conference at the Training and Development Centre in Stevenage, with delegates from all Fire and Rescue Services attending.
1.3 The launch of the ‘Fire Fit boot camp’ for youngsters in and around Garston Fire Station took place in April. This is a fitness and health programme aimed at youngsters in the local area to improve their general fitness and wellbeing. This is being used as an experiment to establish the resource implications and the sustainability of the programme before it is looked at for further programmes on other Fire Stations.
1.4 A service took place at Hatfield Fire Station on Thursday 15 April 2010 for the local Polish community to remember the people that died in the aircraft crash in Russia. The event was attended by more than 70 people from across the local community.
1.5 The Service has supported the Police in the successful prosecution of two young men who were found guilty of deliberately setting fire to a small business unit in Welwyn Garden City. This joint investigation was supported by the Fire Investigation Team including the ‘CC’, the Fire Investigation dog.
1.6 A new initiative known as ASDAN has been launched at St Albans which runs alongside the Princes Trust. The objective is to deliver fire and driver safety messages to youngsters, together with other educational messages by operational personnel, setting standards of respect and behaviour. Teachers are also involved in running the programme.
02c0a92b63124190c17a946d97cab746.doc 1 1.7 On Sunday 13 June 2010 Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service will be coordinating a live regional exercise to test the operational level multi-agency response to a CBRN incident. This forms part of the ongoing programme to achieve a coordinated multi-agency approach to the management of major incidents
The exercise will be held at Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Attending will be:
· Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service · Essex Fire and Rescue Service · Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service · Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service · Hertfordshire Constabulary MAIAT · Hertfordshire County Council · East of England Ambulance Service · East of England Ambulance Service HART team · British Red Cross · St. Johns Ambulance · Environment Agency · WRVS · Rothamsted Research
The following objectives will be tested during this exercise:-
To test the deployment of initial teams to an incident which then becomes a CBRN event To test the deployment and effectiveness of a regional multi-agency initial assessment team (MAIAT). To test the deployment of an Operational (Bronze) Response and the ability of a multi-agency team to work together to manage a CBRN incident. To initiate and assess Silver Control on site at the exercise. To test the command structure and develop working arrangements with regional fire authorities on CBRN incidents. To test the capabilities of the regional Fire and Rescue response teams and Ambulance Service to decontaminate large numbers of people including those suffering physical injuries. To test communication methods between all attending agencies. To identify future planning and training needs.
2. Resilience and Emergency Planning
2.1 Resilience
A 'Pandemic Flu' debrief session was held in mid April to capture learning from HCC’s experience over the last year. Key items raised included the difficulties in getting clear and consistent advice from health agencies locally and nationally in the early stages of the outbreak, the importance of communicating consistent messages to staff and the value of regular cross- 02c0a92b63124190c17a946d97cab746.doc 2 organisational meetings to consider the impact on services and to agree policies and approach.
It was noted that the vast majority of staff had responded to the incident in a measured way and continued to deliver their services without disruption. A full report is being written and recommendations will be incorporated into relevant plans.
3.0 Statutory Services
3.1 Coroner Service
The Coroner Service had its annual ISO 9001:2008 inspection on 9th March 2010. The service retained the accreditation for its commitment to quality and the inspector did not identify any non-compliances with the standard.
At the pre-inquest hearing on the 1 April 2010, HH Judge Michael Findlay Baker (Coroner to the Potters Bar Derailment Inquest) confirmed that the inquest will commence on the 1 June 2010 at the Spirella Building, Letchworth. The hearing is expected to last 3 months.
3.2 Registration Service
General Register Office (GRO) inspected Hertfordshire Registration Service focussing on a review of service provision for Death Registration as Hertfordshire performs extremely well with regards the National Indicator of registering deaths within 5 days. The purpose was to identify best practice to be shared with other authorities. The report states:
Hertfordshire delivers a professional, prompt, and flexible death registration service. There are a range of service points available across the county giving informants a good choice of locations within reasonable travelling distances. Practices are consistent across the county. Good working links with the coroner, hospitals, and local doctors’ surgeries facilitate speedy death registrations and result in an excellent standard of customer care. There is a multi-skilled workforce which exhibits a good team ethos, operating in a flexible way.
GRO have shared the report with the Eastern Region and will be distributing it nationally through the Local Registration Services Association (LRSA) and national Proper Officers' Groups.
4.0 Trading Standards
4.1 Mephedrone
The media interest in recent weeks over Mephedrone, has resulted in this substance being classified as a class B drug (and the enforcement responsibility of the Police) as of 16 April 2010.
02c0a92b63124190c17a946d97cab746.doc 3 This media interest involved the Home Secretary writing to all local authority Chief Executives asking that their Trading Standards (consider) take action over Mephedrone in the short time period during which the issues with the drug came to light, but the drug was not illegal.
Hertfordshire Trading Standards followed the LGA and LACORS (Local Authority Co-ordination on Regulatory Services) advice of liaising with local Police and local authority drug teams and focusing on informal means to prevent any potential supplies until the formal ban took effect.
Contact was made with Crime & Drugs Strategy and messages sent to Police in all 10 districts, the Herts Force Intelligence Bureaux, the Adolescent Drug & Alcohol Service, Hertfordshire Drug Education Forum and Hertfordshire Drug Intervention Programme with a view to identifying suppliers. A number of potential outlets were identified, but were found not to be supplying Mephedrone when visited by one of the partner agencies.
4.2 RIPA - Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office ( IOCCO) inspection
Trading Standards currently make all of the Council’s RIPA applications for communications data, with the Head of Trading Standards overseeing these as the ‘Designated Person’ who authorises (or otherwise) every application made. RIPA communications data applications are mainly telephone information requests such as details of who uses certain mobile phones, but also involves website URLs, owners of email addresses and postal address information.
HCC were inspected on the 16 March by the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office to check the Council’s compliance with the RIPA legislation in this area.
It was three years since the last inspection and the inspector checked 100% of applications since then. HCC emerged well from the inspection and the inspector concluded that the communications data HCC acquired was acquired lawfully and for a correct statutory purpose. The inspector further commented that our good level of compliance had been sustained.
In particular the inspector found that there was no evidence that the Council’s powers under Part I Chapter II of RIPA had been or would ever be used to investigate trivial offences, which some councils have been criticised by the media for doing.
4.3 Counterfeit goods
At the last County Council meeting a question was raised as to whether seizures made by Trading Standards could be ‘re-cycled’ and given to charities, who can then remove the logos from clothing (and similar items) 02c0a92b63124190c17a946d97cab746.doc 4 with agreement of the licence holder and given to the homeless etc. Following on from the response given at the time, further detail is provided as follows:
Trading Standards when investigating offences and putting matters before the Courts, regularly seize illegal items, such a counterfeit clothing and DVDs. In line with the Corporate Priority ‘A Clean, Green Place’ such seized items, wherever possible, are recycled or re-used.
In June 2008 fifty-two large bags of counterfeit printer cartridges were given to Epson for crushing and turning into pencils, which were subsequently distributed to local schools and businesses.
In July 2008 a number of unroadworthy vehicles were provided to Fire and Rescue for them to use in training purposes.
In March 2009 a van full of counterfeit CDs, DVDs and clothing was donated to His Church Charity, where the clothing was debranded and sent for distribution in Africa. The CDs and DVDs were sent for crushing / recycling.
In July 2009 sofas which we seized, in conjunction with the Police, were provided to Fire & Rescue for promotional and educational videos about door to door selling and safety.
In April 2010 two van loads of clothing were donated to the British Heart foundation.
5. Cultural Services
5.1 Libraries Open Over the Easter Weekend
All Hertfordshire libraries were open on the Saturday following Good Friday for the first time this year. The change in opening times was introduced in response to public demand and initial reports indicate that the level of business was consistent with the normally high levels of use of libraries experienced on Saturdays throughout the year.
5.2 Promoting Informal Adult Learning in Libraries.
As part of the ‘Learning Revolution’ initiative to promote and support informal adult learning, Hertfordshire Adult and Family Learning Service (HAFLS) has been working closely with the Library Service to hold events to engage with the surrounding communities.
One day events have been held in Borehamwood, South Oxhey and Stevenage Libraries. The events offered learning activities for adults and children including card making, cake decorating, talks by authors, story telling and IT Tasters. Further opportunities for learning were promoted through stalls hosted by colleges and other learning providers and the new “Learn in Herts “website.
02c0a92b63124190c17a946d97cab746.doc 5 The events have proved so popular that further events are being planned for Dacorum, North Herts and Welwyn Garden City
The Learn in Herts website can be accessed at www.webenrol.com/hertfordshire
6.0 Crime and Disorder Reduction
6.1 Integrated County Community Safety Unit – Head of Unit Appointed
Detective Superintendant Jon Chapman has been confirmed as the head of the integrated Hertfordshire Community Safety Unit. The new unit is being set up following a review of community safety functions within the county council and Hertfordshire Constabulary last spring.
The IDeA (Improvement and Development Agency) identified areas where HCC's Crime and Drug Strategy Unit (CDSU) and Constabulary staff were overlapping and HCC Chief Executive Caroline Tapster and Chief Constable Frank Whitely decided a single community safety unit should be created to deliver a more efficient, joined up service.
ACS staff in the Crime and Drugs Strategy Unit (CDSU) and Police staff affected by the review have been consulted on the integrated unit’s proposed structure with Unison and the Police Federation involved in discussions.
Appointments to the unit were confirmed at the end of April with the new structure due to ‘go live' on Monday 7 June.
Keith Emsall Executive Member for Community Safety & Culture May 2010
02c0a92b63124190c17a946d97cab746.doc 6