To approve draft Staff Deployment Guidance.  This is to ensure Herefordshire Council has the capacity to meet the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.  This is new guidance as we have previously relied on ‘good will’.

That:

the staff deployment guidance attached at appendix 1 is approved. 

1.         Not to have a Staff Deployment Guidance.  This is not recommended as it would leave the council (when an emergency incident occurs) at risk of not having the resilience or ability to staff the function(s)/service(s) required, therefore leading to non-compliance off the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA 2004).

2.         To deploy staff without offering monetary enhancement.  Not recommended as staff may need to be deployed into tasks above and beyond their contracted hours and duties. Without fair compensation, staff may refuse to be deployed.  An alternative would be to offer staff time off in lieu but it is understood that this would not be attractive enough to staff to ensure we can fulfil our Civil Contingencies responsibilities.