Agenda item

Director of Human Resources to be heard.

The Committee received a verbal Report of the Director of Human Resources concerning Covid-19.

The Director of Human Resources made the following points:

·         advice for officers and Members was being updated daily. Currently, sickness rates have not increased significantly, but, clearly, this was likely to change in the coming weeks.

·         stress testing would be taking place over the coming days, whereby large numbers of staff would be instructed to work from home to test the resilience of the Corporation’s IT infrastructure.  

·         As Members may have been aware, the decision was taken to close the Guildhall School for Music and Drama due to a member of staff being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The Director concluded by emphasising that all departments were taking up a joined up, consistent approach to overcoming the serious challenges that faced the City and was confident about how officers were managing this.

A Member reminded the Committee and officers that hand sanitiser was only effective at a minimum content of 60% ethanol. The Chair added that all operational buildings should be ensuring that the tap water in bathroom areas is hot as opposed to tepid. The Town Clerk would feed both points back to Gold Group.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the verbal report.