Agenda item

Ellie Greenwood,Senior Policy Adviser, introduced the report which covers the COVID-19 compliance and enforcement activity the team have been supporting since the previous Board meeting, and a presentation from Birmingham City Council’s Interim Assistant Director of Regulation and Enforcement, Paul Lankester.

Paul Lankester introduced his presentation on Enforcement of Coronavirus regulations, which focused on implementing enforcement measures to curb high levels of COVID-19 cases in Birmingham.

Paul highlighted the following key points:

·       Birmingham City Council (BCC) have used a mixture of education and enforcement; issuing warnings and fixed penalty notices. 

·       As part of the proportionality assessment, BCC defined its purpose;

o   To reduce the spread of Covid-19

o   To protect residents

o   To protect businesses from further lockdown

o   To reassure the public

·       The council received the highest grant from the government enforcement fund, although this presented challenges as the funding is expected  to be used within four months or returned. The council intends to spend the grant on the following:

o   Funding Covid Marshals

o   Supporting BIDs - to take on board Covid Marshal works.

o   Working with the city’s Universities – putting together a scheme to help reduce infection spread and ensure compliance among university students.

o   A campaign on behalf of and working with faith groups and funeral directors to get greater compliance in relation to funerals and reduce spread.

o   Substituting expenditure on linked issues, such as tackling graffiti denoting COVID-19 as ‘a government hoax’.

            Following the discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       Marshals in London would be helpful around ‘huddle points’ such as train and tube stations but recruitment, community tension and lack of tools is a major concern.

·       Avoiding confrontation is not doing the community any good as positive case numbers and deaths will increase. The Chair responded that within her own borough they have rolled out Community Champions to spread public health messages within their own communities.

·       Educating communities can only go so far when certain groups of people break the rules and enforcement is the only option to address the issues.

·       Smaller authorities do not have the staff or resources to roll out Marshals out of hours. Paul responded that other local authorities who have resources should share their experiences of best practice to smaller authorities which would help them tackle issues within their own authorities. 

The Chair thanked Paul for his detailed presentation.

Decision:

That members of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board note the update.