On 21 June 2023 the
Health and Wellbeing Board: noted the disbanding of the Surrey
Local Outbreak Engagement Board.
Established to provide political ownership,
public-facing engagement and communication for outbreak
response.
This is a sub-committee (not
constituted under the Local Government Act 1972) of the Health and
Wellbeing Board, which met for the first time informally on 18 June
to review its Terms of Reference and the draft Local Outbreak
Control Plan. The first public meeting took place on 16 July 2020,
it meets every other month.
The national Test and Trace Service, launched 28 May 2020, is
designed to control the rate of reproduction of Covid-19 by
reducing the spread of the infection.
This is a national programme and each Upper Tier local authority
was expected to develop Local Outbreak Control plans by the end of
June. Local Outbreak Control Plans are designed to clarify how
local government works with the national Test and Trace service, so
that the whole local system is geared up to contain the
virus.
As
part of their local plans councils are expected to have a member
led, typically by the Leader of the authority, Local Outbreak
Control Board, or use some existing forum such as the Health and
Wellbeing Board for this purpose. These arrangements will be
expected to provide political oversight of local delivery of the
Test and Trace Service, will lead the engagement with local
communities and be the public face of the local response in the
event of an outbreak.
Surrey
Local Outbreak Management Plan:
Surrey’s Local Outbreak Management Plan was first
published on 30 June 2020 and continues to be updated. The full
Plan and Summary Plan are available to view on the Council
website:
https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/people-and-community/emergency-planning-and-community-safety/coronavirus/local-outbreak-plan