Decision details

Decision details

Authorisation of Environmental Health Officers to respond to local COVID-19 outbreaks on a County-wide basis.

Decision Maker: Chief Executive

Decision status: Recommendations approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Purpose:

To enable Environmental Health Officers to respond to local COVID-19 outbreaks on a County-wide basis.

Decision:

1.    To enter into a written agreement with the other Oxfordshire District Councils to allow the authorities to provide support and assistance to each other in responding to local COVID-19 outbreaks (“The Oxfordshire COVID-19 Local Outbreak Control Plan” (LOCP)).

2.    To authorise the Council’s Environmental Health Officers to operate across the other district authority areas within Oxfordshire in delivering the LOCP.

3.    To authorise Environmental Health Officers employed by the other Oxfordshire district councils to operate within the City on behalf of Oxford City Council in delivering the LOCP.

 

Under the LOCP, the local authorities in Oxfordshire have all agreed to establish a ‘pool’ of Environmental Health Officers who will work with partner organisations to provide the response to local COVID-19 outbreaks (the Authorised Officers). This includes an out of hours service to cover every weekend from 9am to 5pm from mid-September until 17th January 2021 when the regulations are due to expire. These Authorised Officers will be authorised to act as if they were an employee of each of the local authorities in order to exercise any enforcement powers that might be required to manage local outbreaks across Oxfordshire, irrespective of the officers’ employing council, including, but not limited to, attending sites at any location across Oxfordshire for the purpose of inspection, providing advice and assistance to any business owner/resident/landlord/other individual (as appropriate) and serving any enforcement, prohibition or other notice as required.

Alternative options considered:

To not enter into these arrangements would not support the Oxfordshire COVID-19 Local Outbreak Control Plan.

Signed off by senior officers:

Gordon Mitchell, Chief Executive

Decision taken in consultation with the Leader of the Council.

Publication date: 14/09/2020

Date of decision: 11/09/2020