AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY PERFORMANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE held at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Eastleigh on Wednesday 7 September 2005.

PRESENT:

Councillors: D.A. Kirk (Chairman), Mrs E. Baker, I.F.E. Beagley, K.G. Chapman, David Simpson, R. Williams.

10. APOLOGIES

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors H. Jones and R.J. Baulk.

11. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matters to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the Fire Authority's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

There were no declarations on interest made by Members under this item.

12. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Matter Arising:

(a) Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) and Local Performance Indicators (LPI) (Minute 6)

Following discussions at the meeting in June regarding the LPI relating to Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSC) the Chairman informed the Committee that he had written to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister regarding the possibility of having a nationally co-ordinated method of recording data about the number of HFSCs completed. A reply had subsequently been received explaining that such an indicator had been considered during the recent review of national BVPIs, but as it was considered to be a measure of output rather than of outcomes it was decided that it should remain a LPI.

13. DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations received under this item.

14. PROGRESS REPORT ON THE ACTIONS TAKEN TO MEET THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN THE PREVIOUS BEST VALUE REVIEW OF PROCUREMENT

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) detailing progress on the actions taken to meet the recommendations made in the previously conducted Best Value Review of Procurement.

It was noted that good progress had been made towards meeting the recommendations of the Best Value Review following the appointment of Paul Drake, the new Procurement Manager, who attended the meeting to present the latest developments.

In considering the report it was noted that items 9.4.4, 9.6.1 and 9.7.1 as set out in the schedule had been achieved and would therefore be deleted from future reports. It was further noted that 9.9.5 was an ongoing action and would always be an outstanding issue due to its indefinite nature. It was agreed, therefore, in light of the significant progress made in this area, that this item would also be removed from future reports.

The Chairman offered his thanks to the Procurement Manager for the considerable progress and development which had been made since his appointment.

RESOLVED:

That the actions taken towards meeting the recommendations listed in the review of Procurement be approved.

15. PROGRESS REPORT ON THE BEST VALUE REVIEW OF VEHICLE WORKSHOPS

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) detailing the Action Plan progress update for the previously conducted Best Value Review of Vehicle Workshops.

In considering the report it was noted that, while some target dates had not been achieved, significant progress had been made in those areas and all processes were under review. The Committee was advised that such a comprehensive report would be extremely useful to the Vehicle Workshop staff in enabling them to identify areas for improvement and prepare for future scrutiny.

The Committee requested that more information be given at BVR reference 2.21 in the next progress report.

RESOLVED:

That the updated Action Plan progress update be approved and further progress reports be received.

16. BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (BVPI) AND LOCAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (LPI)

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) containing highlights of the Performance Indicator data for the first quarter of 2005/06 and focussing on those indicators considered to be more strategic.

Following a Member's question at the previous meeting, the Chief Officer drew the attention of the Committee to Appendix 2 of the report which set out how the figures were produced for BV2b (The duty to promote race equality).

The Chief Officer advised the Committee that, following the Service's recent experience with the Commission for Racial Equality, he was satisfied that genuine progress was being made to the BV2b target and that the Service was not being complacent in its approach to promoting race equality.

In considering BV12i (Working days/shifts lost to sickness absence - Wholetime Uniformed Staff) and BV12ii (Working days/shifts lost to sickness absence - All Staff) the Committee was advised that the increase in working days lost over the first quarter might not signify a reversal of the downward trend of previous years. The Service was continuing to employ various methods in attempt to reduce the risk of sickness absences of staff and had taken action to reinforce those methods following the results of the first quarter. The Committee and the Chief Officer felt that it would be important to wait for the next quarter's statistics to determine whether the trend had significantly changed.

RESOLVED:

That the performance of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, and the reduction in the number of performance indicators, be noted and the strategies to meet the targets set be endorsed.

17. RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTIONS ARISING FROM INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 8 in the Minute Book) detailing the Internal Audit Action report which showed no outstanding actions.

RESOLVED:

That the Internal Audit Action report be accepted and that the progress of ongoing and overdue actions be monitored.

18. BEST VALUE REVIEWS 2005/06

Nominations were sought for the appointment of two members to each of the steering groups for the two reviews to be undertaken. A Principal Officer and an officer from the Performance Review Team would also be appointed to each of the steering groups. The reviews would be carried out with the assistance of external consultants. Members were informed that proposals from four consultancy firms had been evaluated. The reviews were:

_ A Review of Partnership Arrangements with the purpose of examining the effectiveness of partnership arrangements and making recommendations on how these could be improved to help fulfill the Authority's corporate aims.

_ A Review of Service Level Agreements with Hampshire County Council with the purpose of examining the effectiveness and value for money of the Authority's contracts for services and service level agreements with Hampshire County Council and identifying how the arrangements to deliver these support services might be improved in the future. For this review it was suggested that at least one of the members was not a member of Hampshire County Council.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Clerk be authorised to approach Members who would be willing to serve on the Review of Partnership Arrangements, Councillors R.J. Baulk and David Simpson were suggested at the meeting.

(b) That the Clerk be authorised to approach Members who would be willing to serve on the Review of Service Level Agreements with Hampshire County Council, Councillors H. Jones and Mrs E. Baker were suggested at the meeting.