FOI request (FOIR-269382270)

COVID-19 secure marshals

Requested Fri 06 November 2020
Responded  Mon 16 November 2020

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information:

1. The number of COVID-19 secure marshals employed by the local authority (please use equivalent full time positions if possible. Alternatively, if no marshals are currently employed at the time of the request but will be shortly, how many you plan to employ?

2. The amount spent on COVID-19 secure marshals since March 2020.

3. The amount spent on COVID-19 secure marshals 22 September 2020 (this was date on which the government announced £30m funding to go to local authorities for enforcement. The government guidelines recommend that spending on COVID-19 secure marshals "under this grant is recorded under 'Other - lockdown compliance and reopening costs' in the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government's Local authority COVID-19 financial management information survey." Please provide this information where your own accounts are not available.

4. Whether any COVID-19 secure marshals are designated as a relevant person for the purposes of the Coronavirus regulations (i.e. are able to issue fixed penalty notices).

If it is not possible to answer all these points, please answer as many as possible.

If you have pooled resources or are coordinating the use of COVID-19 secure marshals with other authorities, please forward on this request to the relevant authority or body, and please state which authorities you are cooperating with.

Please send me the data requested in the form of an Excel spreadsheet or as a csv file, where appropriate.

Response

1. Hastings Borough Council will be employing approximately 4 full time equivalent COVID-19 compliance officers in next week or so.

2. Information not held, please see answer to Q1 above.

3. Information not held, please see answer to Q1 above.

4. Our COVID-19 compliance officers will not be so designated. Enforcement activities will be escalated to our existing Environmental Health Practitioner staff.