Surrey County Conservatives

Conservative statement on Contingency Planning in Surrey 25th October

Conservatives at SCC are backing plans to replace a sudden loss of staff in Contingency Planning within the County.

The Conservative Group on Surrey County Council regret the loss of a number of our Contingency Planning Officers, but is confident that the situation will be recovered with as little disruption as possible.

In the short-term, the Council has already put in place a temporary recovery plan. The plan, under the direction of the Chief Executive, includes bringing in temporary secondments, accelerated staff training and the possible use of consultants to cover or undertake particular projects. Senior managers will, on a weekly rota basis, cover the 24-hour contingency planning duty manager role.

In addition to this, the Council are already advertising for new staff, utilising specialist trade publications.

The Council’s Executive Member for Safer and Stronger Communities, Christine Stevens, is fully aware on the situation, and will be ensuring that all Members of the Council are kept informed of progress as the Council recruits new staff and creates a new team of Contingency Planning Officers.

Commenting, Christine Stevens remarked;

“Whilst it is true that a number of staff are leaving our Emergency Planning Service, they have left the council's employ to further their careers and for their own personal reasons, and we, both as a Group and as an Executive, cannot, and will not, comment on these. We regret their loss to SCC, but we wish them all well.