Agenda item

To consider a report

7.1       ACO Evans submitted the 2017/18 year-end report on the Human Resources programme, projects to date and performance against Human Resources performance indicators and associated targets.

7.2       ACO Evans reported that, whilst the HR/Payroll System and Service Project was RAG rated as Amber, this was only due to cost overruns in Phase 1. The project had been very successful and the Service now had an integrated payroll and HR system that was fit for purpose. All synchronisations had now all been completed.

7.3       The Group’s attention was drawn to the year-end performance report. Strong performance had been achieved against EQ1a (percentage of new entrants to the retained duty system to be women) and EQ1b (percentage of new entrants to the whole time operational duty system to be women), with 4 female retained duty system fire fighters and 2 whole time female fire fighters starting with the Service during the year. Looking forward into the performance year 2018/19, 3 out of 9 potential candidates for recruitment to the retained duty system were female.

7.4       EQ2 (recruitment of black and minority ethnic staff across the whole organisation) had missed its target, with only 5 black and minority ethnic staff recruited out of a total 81 new staff. The Service continued to focus on improving performance in this area.

7.5       The Service had performed well against the indicators measuring parity in retention rates between both black and minority ethnic employees (EQ3) and men and women (operational staff) (EQ4).

7.6       It was noted that approximately 60% of staff took up the offer of an exit interview when leaving the employment of the Service. A number of RDS individuals had cited work-life balance as the primary reason for leaving. Individuals were offered the opportunity to have their exit interviews conducted by someone who was not their line manager. All concerns raised in exit interviews were fully investigated.

7.7       In Quarter 3, of 49 leavers, 26 accepted an exit interview.

7.8       In response to a question, SOC A Peckham confirmed that the Service used a variety of recruitment methods, including social media campaigns and targeted positive action events, to encourage applications from underrepresented groups. Different methods of engagement had been considered and the Service was working with its colleagues in the Police to learn from their recent successful recruitment campaigns.

7.9       ACO Evans referred to the coffee mornings, “have a go” days and the all female fire crew that were some of the methods used to encourage applications from women and individuals from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

7.10     Councillor T Khan volunteered to provide a list of organisations working with young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds so that these could be engaged with during positive action and recruitment campaigns. 

7.11     Ms D Clarke, the Head of Human Resources, advised that the Service was recruiting to a new post of Positive Action Officer, and that part of this role was to identify further groups to engage with in order to make recruitment more representative of the communities of Bedfordshire.

7.12     She also reported that the performance against HR1 (the percentage of working time lost to sickness) had achieved 3.73% against a target of 4.3%. This was an improvement upon the previous year’s performance.

7.13     HR2b (turnover excluding retirement or dismissals – retained only) had missed its target by 87%. It was noted that turnover was high amongst on-call firefighters as it was a significant commitment for individuals for whom the Service was not their primary employer. A number of leavers had indicated that on call duties had an adverse impact on their work-life balance, and work was ongoing to produce more flexible employment contracts to improve retention rates.

7.14     Positive performance against HR3 (the percentage of returned appraisal documents (all staff)) was highlighted. 92.8% of appraisal documents had been returned.

7.15     The Head of Human Resources reported that, following the agreement of Members at the Group’s last meeting, the Occupational Health indicators were not being reported on as new national guidance for fitness testing had been introduced in 2017, following which there had been a period of extensive consultation with the Fire Brigades Union. A new Policy had been introduced in 2018 and performance would be reported in the 2018/19 performance year.

7.16     SOC A Peckham reported on performance against the training indicators. These remained stretch targets. T5 (percentage of station based operational Emergency Care for Fire and Rescue trained personnel that have attended a requalification course within the last three years) had missed its target by 6%. This equated to only 3 Sections/Watches that were below target and an additional course had recently been run for nominees from 2 of those 3 Stations/Watches.

7.17     T6 (percentage of station based operational Working at Height Operators that have attended a Working at Height recertification assessment within the last three years) had only missed its target by 1%.

7.18     T8b (percentage of Retained Duty System personnel attainment in maintaining core, operational safety critical training modules within a rolling 12 month period) was only 2% under target but significant improvement had been demonstrated against the 5 year average. It was noted that around 30 tactical operational learning documents had been published during the year and that a full review of all learning materials was taking place.

7.19     In response to a question, the Group was advised that the Compartment Fire Behaviour course was run at London Luton Airport and allowed Service staff access to hot wear. This was primarily about fire cause, effect and behaviour, but may cover some elements of compartmentalisation of fires in high-rise properties.

7.20     ACO Evans commented that all the health and safety indicators were RAG rated green.