AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY - BEST VALUE COMMITTEE held at Fire Brigade Headquarters, Eastleigh on 30 October, 2002
PRESENT:
Councillors: D.A. Kirk (Chairman); Mrs. E.S.M. Barron; M.F. Cartwright; K. Chapman; M. Gausden; P. Russell.
Also in attendance were Charlotte Smith and Chris Williams of the District Auditor's Office (Minute 23 refers).
21 APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor G. Semmens.
22 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 19 June, 2002 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
Arising thereon:
Standard Conditions of Contract (Minute 18)
The Chief Fire Officer reported that following a review of existing HFRS Standard Conditions of Contract there appeared to be some inconsistencies which would be attended to in consultation with the Clerk.
23 DISTRICT AUDITOR'S STATUTORY REPORT ON THE BEST VALUE AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT REVIEW
The District Auditor's Office gave a short presentation summarising their 2001/02 audit on the Authority's Best Value and Performance Management Review.
The Committee were pleased to learn of the positive steps taken by the Service since the previous review and that the Best Value Performance Plan had passed the required competence test. The only omission related to BVPI 157 and progress on e-government. It was noted that this omission applied to all brigades and was due to a delay in guidance from CACFOA in relation to completing their "Implementing Electronic Government Statements". As the necessary information was now available, it would enable the missing performance indicator to be included within the Corporate Plan.
Members noted that particular praise had been paid to the service in publishing its Corporate Plan, including the Best Value Performance Plan, on its own web-site thus enabling the document to be updated electronically throughout the year. Also, reference was made to the considerable progress made in improving and integrating performance management. This included introducing local performance indicators and functional "timelines" to ensure targets were challenging, realistic and relevant and that a business and management ethos was developing throughout the Service.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the Chief Fire Officer and staff be congratulated on the progress made on Best Value and Performance Management in the Service.
(ii) That the completed Auditor's 2001/02 report on the Authority's Best Value and Performance Management Review be reported to the next meeting of the Best Value Committee.
24 BEST VALUE REVIEWS - CATERING AND FIRE SAFETY
The Committee considered the report of the Chief Fire Officer (Item 3 in the Minute Book) setting out progress in relation to these two Best Value Reviews.
RESOLVED:
That approval be given to the actions taken to date in respect of the Best Value Reviews of Catering and Fire Safety.
25 BEST VALUE REVIEW - ACTIONS TO MEET RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN PREVIOUS BEST VALUE/SCOPING REVIEWS
The Committee considered the report of the Chief Fire Officer (Item 4 in the Minute Book) on actions taken to meet the recommendations made in previously conducted Best Value/Scoping reviews; namely Hydrant Testing and Maintenance; Driver Training; Mobilising Policy; Control and Communications; Procurement and Property Services.
In supporting the actions as set out in the report, Members felt it was now an appropriate time for the Authority to investigate funding for the planned Procurement Officer post to enable the relevant recommendations in this review to proceed.
Accordingly, it was
RESOLVED:
(i) That the actions taken by the Chief Fire Officer to date be approved and that the Scoping Reviews of Hydrant Testing and of the Mobilising Policy be closed.
(ii) That the actions taken towards meeting the recommendations listed in the reviews of Control and Communications, Procurement, Property Services and Driver Training be approved.
(iii) That the Finance and General Purposes Committee investigate at their next meeting the funding requirements for the new post of Procurement Officer.
26 VIDEO "YOUR PART IN THE BIG PLAN" - UPDATE ON PRODUCTION
Mr. P. Webb, Performance Review Manager reported that the video "Your Part in the Big Plan" would be available shortly and it was hoped that this could be shown to the Committee at its next meeting in December, 2002.
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