AGENDA ITEM 8

BOROUGH OF POOLE

EMERGENCY COMMITTEE

22nd JANUARY 2007

MASS FATALITY PLANNING - MORTUARY ISSUES

PART OF PUBLISHED FORWARD PLAN: No

1. PURPOSE AND POLICY CONTEXT

1.1.The purpose of this Report is to seek Member support and approval for work to address the issue of temporary mortuary provision for the Dorset area, including the conurbation.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1.Members are asked to give support to the proposed Dorset wide working group.

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION - TEMPORARY MORTUARY PROVISION

3.1.To date the need for a temporary mortuary facility for very serious incidents within Dorset (resulting in 100 + dead casualties) has been met by a pre-LGR Dorset County plan which depends on the use of facilities at the vehicle park and hanger at Bovington Armoured Corps camp.

3.2. Meeting the costs for the provision of a temporary mortuary will fall to the Local Authorities who support the coroner within his/her particular area.

3.3. Following a recent memorandum from the Cabinet Office, it is clear that the use of military sites for the provision of temporary mortuaries is no longer seen as the solution by Central Government. Therefore existing arrangements for the provision of a temporary mortuary facility for both Dorset coroner’s areas need to be reviewed.

4. THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY MORTUARY FACILITY

4.1. At the same time the government have put in place a NEMA (National Emergency Mortuary Arrangements) that can called upon for use within the South West. However it should be noted that the costs of deploying the NEMA are in the range of £3 - £5 million which will fall to local authorities and there is no assurance from the Home Office that these costs will be re-imbursed.

4.2.Currently there are outline plans for the NEMA to be sited at Stanley Barracks, Bovington if the facility is required. The draft plan for this

4.3.deployment is the South West Region Multi-Agency Framework Mass Fatalities Plan, which is a restricted document.

4.4.The Dorset Local Resilience Forum Planning Committee, chaired by Chief Superintendent Colin Matthews, held a review meeting on the 26October 2006 attended by Emergency Planning Officers from Dorset County Council, Bournemouth and Poole Borough Councils and the following was recommended:

  • That Chief Executives of Local Authorities be informed that the previous measures under the Dorset County Temporary Mortuary Plan have been superseded by the Cabinet Office direction contained in the memorandum.
  • That Chief Executives be aware that the requirement for a Regional Resilience Demountable Mass Fatality capability may amount to a charge of up to £5 million for a 3-month deployment in the advent of such a need, and that recovery of those costs can be protracted and cannot be guaranteed.
  • The existing morgue capacity within Dorset provides a total of 172 spaces (162 refrigerated and 10 freezer) at six sites between Christchurch and Bridport. As the normal occupancy level of these facilities is in the region of 60% there is clearly a lack of resilience within existing accommodation. The old Dorset County Temporary Mortuary Plan provided a contingency for 100+ whole bodies but the Regional Resilience model has now superseded this plan.

4.4. As a result, the Review Group recommended that:

  • The issue is fully discussed at the Dorset Local Resilience Forum meeting to be held on 24 November 2006 at Dorset Police HQ.
  • That consideration is given to directing the Planning Group to establish a Mass Fatalities Working Group.
  • That this Group reports progress at the following Policy Group Meeting (May 2007), with a view that an operationally effective outline plan be in place by 1September 2007 in time to be a contingency for the Labour Party Conference in September 2007.

4.5.It was agreed at the meeting of the 24th November that a working group should be formed under the chair of DCC (calling notice awaited).

4.6. It should also be noted that the Government Office of the South West (GOSW) submitted a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to South West Chief Executives which proposed that all South West councils jointly fund any deployment of the NEMA. This proposal has been rejected by the majority of Chief Executives and as a consequence there is to be a meeting with GOSW in the near future to address the funding issue. Any proposals that come out of this and any other (regional) meetings will be reported to the Committee in due course.

GRAHAM CHAPLIN

EMERGENCY PLANNING OFFICER

22 January 2007

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