Committee details

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