Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

Members are requested to disclose the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interest and any other interests as required by the Fire Authority’s Code of Conduct (see note below)

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Chief Fire Officer referred to the publication of the HMICFRS Inspection Report. This would be discussed later in the meeting.

The Chief Fire Officer reported on the visit of the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire that had taken place the previous week. This had been very positive and the High Sheriff had been impressed with the range of activities undertaken by the Service.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2023

The Chair requested confirmation that meetings had taken place with Lead Members and relevant senior Officers following the formal appointment to all Lead Member roles at the last meeting of the Fire and Rescue Authority.

The Chief Fire Officer advised that all meetings had taken place, with the exception of a meeting between the Chair and Jason Tai regarding the Service’s fleet and equipment assets.

All Lead Members present confirmed that these meetings had taken place and that additional meetings had been diarised.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2023 be confirmed as a true record.

To receive any questions put to the Authority under the Public Participation Scheme

Members noted that no questions had been received in accordance with the public participation scheme approved at the meeting of the Fire and Rescue Authority held on 5 April 2000 (Minute 99/fa/94 refers).

To consider a report

The Chief Fire Officer gave a presentation on the outcome of the recent HMICFRS inspection. Of the eleven strands of inspection, the Service had been judged as good in two areas, adequate in four areas and requires improvement in five areas, with a ‘cause of concern’ identified, which had been discharged prior to the publication of the report. There was a recognition that the Service was prioritising resources to tackle the identified areas for improvement which when addressed should result in an improved grading for the five areas currently judged as requiring improvement.

In terms of the national context, this Service had been one of the first services to be inspected in Round 3 and HMICFRS had recently published another batch of inspection reports, a summary of which was presented to Members. There had been a number of other Services where the Inspectorate had identified a cause for concern. It was noted that there were two types of causes for concern: the type which had been identified for this Service and was included in the inspection report, and an accelerated cause for concern, whereby these were published prior to the release of the inspection report, as the Inspectorate believed that these could result in a public safety risk and were therefore much more serious.

Councillor Headley commented on the lack of a written report to accompany this item.

In response, the Chief Fire Officer advised a detailed report, building upon this briefing to Executive Committee members and including an action plan, was being prepared for submission to the meeting of the Fire and Rescue Authority on 3 October 2023.

The Principal Officers then gave an update on actions being taken to address the areas for improvement identified in the inspection report. These included:

• The development of a Prevention Plan, with a draft due in October 2023.
• More targeted prevention work, with an increase from 46% to 63% of work now targeted towards higher risk communities using new risk stratification tools.
• Improved quality assessment for Home Fire Safety Visits and protection visits.
• The continued development of the Fire Risk Data Warehouse.
• Further provision of education and engagement with the business community to reduce false alarms.
• Modifying equipment to improve response. An example of this was the introduction of a roaming pump in Luton.
• The re-introduction of a buddy system with Essex Fire and Rescue Service to improve Control business continuity arrangements.
• The continued investment in improving on-call availability.
• The implementation of National Operational Guidance.
• Additional resource being allocated to operational assurance.
• The introduction of a digital platform for fire solution guidance.
• Drafting the budget and underlying documents in such a way as to highlight to the Inspectorate the rationale for the allocation of resources for protection, prevention and response.
• The creation of a Productivity and Efficiency Board.
• Bi-monthly Workplace Planning Group meetings to discuss succession planning.
• The production of a talent management policy and the integration of a talent grid into the appraisal process.
• The revision of the grievance procedure and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23-24/EC/14

To consider a report

The Chief Fire Officer introduced Ms L Ehren, the Interim Head of Communications and Public Affairs, to provide an update on the Service’s Community Panel and options for ways forward.

Following a decision of the Fire and Rescue Authority to develop a Community Panel, a Panel had been constituted and had met earlier in the year. This had not achieved the aims for which it had been constituted, and Members were now being approached to reconsider how they wished to proceed.

The Head of Communications and Public Affairs highlighted the importance of meaningful engagement, especially as the Service was already a member of many other Panels at which partner organisations were represented.

Three options were presented for consideration: to collaborate with partners to sit on existing partner panels, forums and resident engagement opportunities; to try again to develop a dedicated Fire and Rescue Service Community Panel or commission the Community Voluntary Service Bedfordshire or Bedfordshire Local Resilience Forum to do this on behalf of the Authority; or to develop a virtual community panel.

The advantages and disadvantages of the options were discussed and Members expressed a preference for a hybrid of Option 1 and 3, noting that there should be a programme of engagement questions/issues to communicate with the Panel outside of the annual CRMP and budget consultations.

It was suggested that, as the Service would continue its representation on various partnership boards, the strategic direction agreed should be Option 3.

The Chair commented that, with the continued migration into the County from London, there would be greater numbers of younger residents who felt more comfortable interacting virtually via remote platforms and social media.

The Chair requested that an update be provided to the Fire and Rescue Authority at its next meeting along with a list of items that could be discussed with such a Panel once it is constituted.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be acknowledged, and that, recognising that Option 1 as presented in the report represents business as usual and will continue, Option 3, to develop a virtual community panel, be agreed.

A discussion

The Chief Fire Officer sought Members’ views on how best to communicate with the constituent authorities. This had previously been done by submitting the Minutes of the Authority meetings for the appointed Member to report to the relevant constituent authorities. This was not seen as a very effective way to communicate other topics of interest to the constituent authorities. In this respect, he had asked the Interim Head of Communications and Public Affairs to review, in consultation with Members, how best to achieve the requirement of reporting back to the constituent authorities.

Councillor Headley reported that, whilst this review was being undertaken, it was important that the Authority continued to fulfil its duty of reporting back to the constituent authorities.

The Chair added that the Members appointed to report back may be asked questions about the recent inspection and that no information had been provided to enable them to do so.

The Chief Fire Officer advised that a briefing note was being prepared for the appointed Members.

The Chair also requested that the Democratic Services teams at each constituent authority be contacted to explain the delay in receiving reports from the Authority. It was noted that reports from the Fire and Rescue Authority was a standing item on both the Bedford Borough Council and Luton Borough Council Full Council agendas.

Councillor Goodchild advised that he could not recall a meeting at Central Bedfordshire Council when a report of the Authority had been submitted.

To consider a report

Members received the updated work programme for 2023/24 and noted the cyclical items. 

The Chief Fire Officer advised that an HMICFRS Action Plan update would be submitted to the next meeting of the Executive.

The Chair requested that this be placed as a standing item on Executive and Authority meeting agendas.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Work Programme 2023/24 be received and the cyclical agenda items be noted.

2. That the HMICFRS Action Plan update be a standing agenda item for meetings of the Executive and the Fire and Rescue Authority.

Verbal update

23-24/EC/18 and 19 Local Government Act 1972, Paragraph 3 of part 1: Exclusion of the Public

RESOLVED:

That, pursuant to Sections 100A(2) and 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the discussion of the following items on the grounds that the matters to be discussed involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1-3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended):

Item:

23-24/EC/18    ACFO Recruitment

23-24/EC/19    Brigade Managers Local Pay Review (ToR)

The meeting ended at 12:15 pm

To consider a report