Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

            The purpose of this report is to outline for Members work that is currently being undertaken in relation to the Council’s Brexit Day 1 preparedness.

2.0       Recommendations

            Members are asked to note the update.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

            Members are reminded that that the Committee was updated in November 2018 on the work that officers have recently undertaken in relational to identifying potential Day 1 service implications in relation to Brexit.  An internal audit was undertaken and this identified that there are several key areas within Council where there may be a potential impact in the event of a no deal Brexit.  These areas included:

•           HR;

•           finance/funding;

•           procurement;

•           waste;

•           port health;

•           product safety;

•           communications; and

•           business continuity management.

            Further work is currently ongoing to define potential day 1 impacts, risks and possible mitigations and a business continuity approach is being taken to addressing potential Day 1 impacts. A cross departmental meeting was recently held with representatives from key services to identify key actions for moving forward.  Members are asked to note that following on from this meeting the following actions are being undertaken:

1)     That Council’s critical services are completing Brexit Resilience Measures template to identify the potential impact that Brexit may have on service delivery over the 8-week period from 19 March to 10 May and the necessary resilience measures that need to be taken before 29 March. 

2)     That the responsible officers review and update their Business Continuity Plan ensuring that it deals with service delivery post Brexit, and communicates it to staff before 29 March.

            Members should also note that from 19 March emergency planning staff will provide situational reporting and daily position statements to the Council’s senior management team on critical services.  Arrangements exist across Northern Ireland to respond to emergencies and ensure that the support provided to the public is co-ordinated.  In Belfast the agencies use the Belfast Emergency Preparedness Group to undertake planning to enable this response.

            Belfast Emergency Preparedness Group members will meet before and after EU Exit to ensure all agencies can raise concerns if these arise.  Normal emergency planning arrangements will be available to respond to emergencies if required.  This may be as a result of a civil contingencies issue such as severe weather or if there is an EU Exit related issue which could cause a threat to life situation to arise or significant cumulative impacts have occurred which necessitate a locally co-ordinated response.   The Emergency Co-ordination Centre in City Hall will be on standby to activate if required.  Refresher training for staff who may be asked to work in the centre has commenced.  The Council will establish an internal information hub from 19 March 2019 to maintain shared situational awareness across all departments/functions.  This will include any potential business continuity issues, concerns which need escalated to central government or rising tide issues which could lead to an emergency activation being required.

            Work has also been ongoing in several areas around preparations for Brexit including liaising with central government departments and working on civil contingency planning with other relevant partners. Central government departments are developing plans to prevent and mitigate any potential impacts of EU Exit.  The Executive Office is leading this work across the NI Civil Service and is establishing co-ordination arrangements to ensure that any potential issues can be identified and addressed as quickly as possible.  These arrangements will be established prior to EU Exit and continue until required but will be scaled up/down as needed.  Co-ordination arrangements will still be required if there is a deal but at a reduced scale.  Belfast City Council works with a wide range of departments to deliver normal services.  The Council will link with the central government co-ordination arrangements to discuss and escalate any issues which arise in relation to EU Exit.

            A further report updating Members on the preparations being made in relation to Day 1 preparedness will be brought to the Committee in March.

            Financial and Resource Implications

            There are no financial implications relating to this report but the work that is being undertaken to further define potential day 1 impacts, risks and mitigations may have financial and resource implications and these will be reported to Members as required.  It is likely that there will be direct costs associated with preparing for Brexit e.g. in relation to civil contingency planning, and where possible these will be claimed back from central government.

            Members should note that the Council has not included an increase in its recurrent budgets because of the uncertainty, however, if one-off costs are to be incurred these will be financed through Council’s general reserves

            Equality or Good Relations Implications/

            Rural Needs Assessment

            There are no implications relating to this report.”

            After discussion, during which a Member commended the report and the work that had been undertaken by the Belfast Emergency Preparedness Group, the Committee noted the contents of the report.