Agenda item

To consider a report

38.1     The Committee received the Statement of Assurance to the Committee for onward submission to the full Authority.

38.2     It was noted that a number of changes were required and the Committee went through the document page by page, suggesting the following changes:

·         Page 2- index- the section numbering in the document should reflect that as set out in the index and that page numbers should be checked to ensure that the appropriate page was being referenced.

·         Page 4 – links should be added to all documents that are publicly available on the Service website.

·         Page 8 - the criteria published by the Comptroller and Auditor General that was relevant was from November 2017, not 2016 as stated in the report. The phrase “more visibly effective” should be removed from the end of the first sentence of the second paragraph under section 3.4. A quote from the external auditor’s opinion on the Statement of Accounts should be included in the last paragraph of section 3.3.

·         Page 10 – the Chief Fire Officer’s appraisal and the objectives set should be included in the list of internal control measures.

·         Page 11- reference to the Statement of Assurance 2017/18 should be removed from the bullet points listed under the second paragraph of 4.1.

·         Page 12 – the decrease in incidents attended during 2017/18 should be caveated by including “this is in part due to the temporary cessation of co-responding” in 4.2.1. In the third sentence of 4.2.2 “are” should be replaced with “our”. The second sentence in 4.2.3 should be reworded so that it reads as: “BFRS continues to work with partner agencies in order to target advice and guidance on fire safety awareness in the home to those most at risk in the community”.

·         Page 13 – the text for 1.1.1 to be reworded to “the number of Road Traffic Incidents is increasing year on year”. In 1.1.4 an “s” needed to be added at the end of “Home Fire Safety Check” on line 7.

·         Page 14 -the word “apparent” should be removed from the sentence on the increase in accidental dwelling fires. In section 1.1.5 the “and” in the second line should be replaced with “a” and the second sentence should refer to an “intelligence” led approach.

·         Page 15 – the dates in the penultimate paragraph should be updated to 2018 and the CRMP period to 2019-2023 and it “is” currently still in draft. Reference to HFSCs in the section should be replaced with Safe and Well visits.

·         Page 16- the spelling of neighbouring needed to be amended. The last bullet point under section 4.5 should start with the word “facilitate”. “Aide” should be replaced in the first sentence of the third paragraph by “aid”.

·         Page 17 – in the fourth paragraph, the word “only” should be removed from the first sentence and “that has a” should be added after FRSs.

·         Page 18- reference to police co-locations should be replaced with “shared locations”. “Hotspot crime areas” to be replaced with “crime hotspot” areas.

·         Page 19- the last bullet point should refer to “electronic membership applications”, not “membership electronic applications”. In the second paragraph on the page “will” should be replaced with “could”.

·         Page 20 – the dates in the last paragraph needed to be updated. “Exploration of a shared Headquarters” should be included in the list of collaborative opportunities with Bedfordshire Police.

·         That the use of “BFRA” and “BFRS” were consistently applied throughout the document.

38.3     The Committee agreed all the changes and noted that the Statement would be submitted to a future meeting of the Fire and Rescue Authority.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the changes as discussed at the meeting being made, the Chair of the Committee be authorised to sign off the Statement of Assurance for reporting to the full Authority Meeting.