Issue - decisions

Issue - decisions

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

18/09/2020 - Acceptance of delegated powers from Oxfordshire County Council relating to the control and prevention of coronavirus.

To accept the delegation of powers from Oxfordshire County Council (agreed at the County Cabinet meeting on 15 September 2020) and to enter into a section 101 agreement with Oxfordshire County Council relating to the control and prevention of coronavirus under The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restriction) (England) (No.3) Regulations 2020.


14/09/2020 - Authorisation of Environmental Health Officers to respond to local COVID-19 outbreaks on a County-wide basis.

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.