Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies.

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 declarations of interest.

Local Government Association Fire Conference

The Chair reported on the Local Government Association Fire Conference that she had attended earlier that week with the Vice-Chair and Chief Fire Officer. She commented particularly on the value of networking with other Fire and Rescue Authority Chairs and Chief Fire Officers and of the increasing number of female Chief Fire Officers in the sector, including two at neighbouring fire and rescue services.

Cllr S Hussain joined the meeting virtually at 10.02 am.

The conference sessions had covered a wide range of topics including finance, climate change, culture, risk management planning and the Government’s response to the White Paper on Fire Service Reform. All PowerPoint presentations given at the conference would be available on the Local Government Association’s website. The Chair requested that these be circulated to all Members of the Authority when available.

The Chief Fire Officer had raised concerns with the Home Office representative regarding the lack of both capital grant and transformation/innovation funding available to fire and rescue services and suggested that either a fund be introduced for the sector and individual fire and rescue services to apply for funding or that the Police Innovation fund be expanded to include the fire and rescue sector. 

It was noted that the Shadow Ministers for Fire were also present at the conference.

Correspondence from Fire Brigades Union

The Chief Fire Officer reported on a letter sent from the Fire Brigades Union to the Chair regarding minimum service levels (MSLs). Similar letters had been sent to Chairs across the country and the Chief Fire Officer advised that the Monitoring Officer would be available to assist in drafting a response.

The Chair advised that she and the Vice-Chair would be meeting with FBU representatives later in the month.

LGA Fire Leaderships Essentials Course

Councillor Goodchild reported on his attendance at the Fire Leaderships Essentials Course. This had covered a wide range of topics, and he recommended it to all Members who had not previously attended. He believed that the next course would be held in November 2024.

The Chair suggested that this be raised at the next meeting of the Authority. She would be recommending that weekend courses be provided to enable more Members, including those in full-time employment, to take part.

The Chief Fire Officer reminded Members that they could suggest items to be included in the Member Development Programme and that this topic would be discussed a future meeting of the Authority. He noted that a progress update against the action plan arising from the Local Government Association’s independent review of the Authority’s governance will also be prepared for Members at a future meeting so they had oversight of progress being made.

NJC Review

The Chief Fire Officer referred to meetings with Chairs and Chief Fire Officers and the NJC taking place imminently in relation to the Grey Book pay negotiations.

Launch of Virtual Reality (Road Safety) Van

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer invited Members to the launch of the virtual reality road  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23-24/EC/45

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2024

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the Executive Committee held on 22 January 2024 be confirmed as a true record, subject to the date in the sixth paragraph of the confidential minute relating to the date of the next inspection being amended to read early 2025 rather than 2024.

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).

Report to follow

The Chief Fire Officer presented Members with an update on the progress made against the Service’s HMICFRS Action Plan that addressed the areas for improvement identified by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in their 2023 service inspection report. Changes to the format of the action plan had been made following feedback received from Members. The new format was appreciated by Members, although the Chair suggested that some text be included to confirm which pillar of inspection the action related to. This would provide greater clarity for both Members and the HMICFRS.

Members received an updated pie chart which displayed how many actions were currently not on target (31%), on target for completion (52%) and completed (17%), as the figures had been transposed on the chart provided in the original report.

Members then received an update on the areas identified as not on target (either amber or red). The Chief Fire Officer explained that the whole area for improvement would be RAG rated amber or red if even one of the deliverables was not RAG rated green and that new deliverables may be added if additional areas of work were identified. This work was overseen by Thomas Warner as Service Liaison Lead.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer reported on the areas for improvement assigned to him as follows:

Area 4(a): Fire Risk Data Warehouse

Due to resourcing issues, the completion date for this action had been delayed to 30 June 2024. There had been issues with a software update whereby it had been overwriting data during testing. After further work, this issue had now been resolved and work was progressing.

Area 6(a) and Area 7(b): Revised Protection Process for Unwanted Fire Signals and Produce a Business Engagement Plan

These areas for improvement were interrelated. Due to slippage in the programme, additional resource had been allocated to this area of work and it was hoped that this would now be completed by the end of May 2024.

It was noted that in many cases, this was an education issue and that businesses would have to be aware of any consequences for repeated unwanted fire signals. Any reduction in attendance to unwanted fire signals could be identified as an efficiency as fire fighters would then be available for other areas of work. This should be acknowledged in the Service’s productivity and efficiency plan.

The view was expressed that in addition to being efficient, it was also important to be effective.

The Chair requested that the Business Engagement Plan be shared with all Members of the Authority before the next Authority meeting.

Area 9: Fire Control Arrangements

Staff levels in Fire Control were now over establishment with three trainees due to start imminently and one transferee joining from another fire and rescue service. The Service now held a waiting list for future vacancies in the control team. Fallback arrangements with other services, including Essex, were being explored and a Control Enhancement Team was being developed to provide further resilience.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23-24/EC/48

To consider a report

Members received an updated work programme for information, noting that it had been agreed that an additional meeting be arranged in April 2024.

The Chief Fire Officer reported that the work programme for 2024/25 would be populated with items following the Authority’s Annual General Meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme for 2024-25 and the ‘cyclical’ agenda items for each meeting in 2024-25 be noted.