To receive any questions put to the Authority under the Public Participation Scheme
Minutes:
The Monitoring Officer read out five questions that had been submitted to the meeting in advance, as the individual putting the questions was unable to attend the meeting. The questions, and responses from the Chief Fire Officer, were as follows:
1. Brigade Managers are supposed to be strategic thinkers, their role is to set direction. Middle managers, and to a lesser extent, functional heads, are the ‘doers’ that implement change. This proposal would give Bedfordshire the highest ratio of Brigade Managers to employees of any of our family group and similar FRSs and twice the England average. It would also give us one Brigade Manager per 6.5 managers at Station Group or Area Manager level. The average for the rest of our family group and for England is 1 Brigade Manager per 15 Station Managers/Area Managers. Middle manager level is where our real capacity challenge lies. The proposal will reduce our ‘doer’ capacity by substituting 1 Area Manager for one ACFO at significant extra cost. Where will the work of that Area Manager go and how will this proposal increase our capacity to implement the changes necessary to address concerns raised by HMICFRS and our budget challenges?
The Chief Fire Officer responded: Operating within an increasingly complex and demanding environment, this Service faces unprecedentedworkloads driven byexternal mandates such as the HomeOffice reformprogramme, HMICFRS inspectionsand variouspublic inquirieson topof ourown internaltransformational efforts.
Despiteprudent financialmanagement, theService nowconfronts significantfinancial challenges, necessitating additional savings of £700k in2025/26 and £650k in 2026/27 on top of drawdowns fromthe Authority’sreserves ofcirca £1.8mand £1min eachof those yearsrespectively. Therecent HMICFRS inspectionidentified severalareas requiringimprovement, notablyin thecore functionsof prevention, protection and emergency response, highlighting the urgent need for transformative change and robust strategic leadership.
Put simply,a yearin, theService issimply notmaking theprogress needed,either interms ofscale or pace. If the Authority wishes to achieve its ambition of discharging all the identified areas for improvementbefore thenext inspectionanticipated inearly 2025then radicalchange isneeded.
Idisagree withthe viewthat thecapacity challengelies atmiddle managerlevel. Indeed,we have employed over 30 additional ‘doers’ since I joined the Service in 2018.
I believe that we simply do not have currently sufficient capacity, capability or experience of leadingtransformational changeat thestrategic level.In orderto engagestaff atall levels,you need talentand experienceat thestrategic levelto identify,co-ordinate andlead transformationalchange of the scale necessary to balance the budget in the medium term.
Inresponse, aproposal totemporarily amendthe principalofficer teamstructure toappoint an additionalAssistant ChiefFire Officer/Director(ACFO) isbeing presented.This initiativeaims to bolstercapacity, capability,and resiliencewithin thestrategic leadershipteam, crucialfor addressing transformational change and succession planning needs.
Acknowledging inherent risks and potential resistance from the workforce, the proposal underscores thenecessity oftemporary strategicgrowth tomeet evolvingchallenges. Theimperative ofdelivering timely and impactful change, coupled with succession planning imperatives, outweighs the
challengesposed bythe proposal.
Interms ofredistributing thework ofthe existingArea Managerrole, Ihave committedto engaging the leadershipteam indesigning thestructure underthe proposednew principalofficer teamand this is planned once the FRA have voted on my proposal.
2. BFRS faces a growing budget deficit. To close this gap will require difficult decisions and it is unrealistic to expect that this will not involve reductions in front line posts. To deliver savings and efficiencies the Service will need to fully engage and involve staff at all levels and seek their contribution to developing solutions. How does the FRA expect to gain any public or staff buy-in going forwards if its first step is to create what will be perceived as more ‘fat cat’ top salary positions which will have to be paid for by cutting front line services?
3. We do not believe this proposal, which has been developed in isolation and without proper engagement, will pass the ‘Daily Mail test’. How does the FRA intend to deal with the damaging publicity poor industrial relations and negative reaction of its workforce and HMICFRS that is likely to follow?
The Chief Fire Officer responded to questions 2 and 3 together. I fullyacknowledge thatit willbe ahard sellconvincing theworkforce thattemporary growthat the strategic level is necessary but this pales compared to the challenge of not delivering the scale and pace of change needed in the next 18-24 months and also the succession planning risks in the PO team that I have articulated previously. A full communications and engagement plan has been developed and will adopt a cascade approach initially with strategic and middle managers before extendingto thewider workforce.Proactive andreactive mediaand stakeholdercommunications are also planned. The additional funding required is being drawn from the Authority’s Transformation Investment fund not by cutting front line services.
4. We have been told by the Chief Fire Officer that he does not consider it possible to recruit suitable candidates for anticipated Area Commander vacancies. Curtailing opportunities for progression to Area Commander for three years is likely to result in our Group Commanders seeking opportunities in other FRS exacerbating succession planning challenges at a number of levels. There is a wide pool of internal and external staff that could apply for Area Commander vacancies. Our neighbouring FRS who experience similar turnover are not proposing taking such drastic actions. Why are we not taking more action to attract more Area Commander applications?
The Chief Fire Officer responded: To beclear, whatI havesaid isthat Ido nothave confidencethat wecan recruitsufficient numbers of suitable candidates for the anticipated Area Commander vacancies. The last 3 AM strategic promotion gateways, which were ran in quick succession and advertised nationally have only produced one eligible candidate who is currently temporary in role. We have invested heavily in attracting more area commander applications including employing a specialist recruitment
consultancyfor thelast processto assistin searchingout andengaging potentialcandidates. Like many public services, we have recruitment and retention challenges at all levels.
5. The proposal is for a substantive appointment of two ACFOs. The only way to reduce this head count would be by restricting future Principal Officer recruitment to internal candidates (contrary to our own policy and national framework). Vacancies at CFO or DCFO cannot be guaranteed (there is no statutory requirement to retire at a set age). There is no guarantee that those appointed to ACFO will be suitable to progress to DCFO or CFO. How can the appointment of an additional ACFO be guaranteed to be time limited?
The Chief Fire Officer responded: Itis truethat nothingcan beguaranteed. However,notwithstanding theextraordinary longtenure of my predecessor, CFO Paul Fuller, this Service has seen circa 5 substantive appointments at principal officerlevel inthe last5 years and3 temporaryappointments in thattime. Withthe rateof turnover inleadership roles acrossthe UKfire service,so Iam confidentwe willsee turnover atthe POlevel in the next 2 years, at which point the CFO is required to consult the Authority on the leadership team structure.
The Monitoring Officer advised that, as the questioner had not been able to attend the meeting, written responses should be provided.