Present:

Mr J Bonney

-

HFRS (Chairman)

Mrs J McNeill

-

HFRS

Mr C Bacon

-

HFRS

Ms S Baker

-

RFU

Ms S Brumitt

-

Unison

Cllr M Cartwright

-

Chair - HFRA

Ms C Foster-Key

-

Unison

Mr N Haviland

-

GMB

Mr A Needham

-

RFU

Mr L Ramsey

-

B&EEM

Cllr G Semmens

-

Chair - HFRA Personnel Committee

T/DO C Stephens

-

HFRS

Mrs J Tatner

-

HFRS

Ms S-J Taylor

-

HFRS

Mr S Waas

-

HFRS

Mrs R Knight

-

Minute Secretary

Members of White Watch, A1 Basingstoke

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Cllr Barron and Messrs Bowers, Kettle and Ratcliffe.

2.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING - 18.04.02

These were accepted as a true and accurate record.

3.

MATTERS ARISING

3.1

Any Other Business - 3.1 of 18.04.02

Mr Waas has spoken to Mr Shah who would be willing to attend a meeting to give a presentation and this will be followed up.

ACTION: Mr Waas

3.2

Link 2 Learn Project - 3.2 of 18.04.02

Following a meeting with the Manager of the Link 2 Learn Project it has been agreed that this project will be extended and sessions are now up and running in Divisions.

ACTION: Mr Waas

3.3

Emergency Services Access Course - 3.3 of 18.04.02

Mr Waas explained what the Access Course was and stated that these courses would be continuing, with the next one starting in October. It has also been decided to offer more opportunity to people interested by starting an evening course. This course will be monitored. Unfortunately Highbury College had not taken up the approach by HFRS to run a course there but Portsmouth University has expressed an interest in taking on board a similar type of course to encourage its gradates. Mr Waas will report progress at the next meeting.

ACTION: Mr Waas

3.4

Progress Report re Wholetime Recruitment - 4 of 18.04.02

Mrs McNeill reported that the final interviews following this year's recruitment campaign would take place on 20 July. The allocation of applicants to the forthcoming courses due to commence September 2002 and January and May 2003 will commence shortly. This year's collaborative campaign appeared to have worked successfully again but any areas which could be improved will be discussed at the next collaborative meeting. Work is currently underway at a national level on developing national recruiting standards across the Fire Service as a whole.

3.5

The Banner Theatre - 7 of 18.04.02

The Garnet Theatre, which is similar to the Banner Theatre, had recently put on a production in Winchester for employers, organised by Ford's. This was very thought-provoking and focused on a range of issues including disability, race, sexuality, discrimination, harassment etc., Ford's hope to create a collaborative employers network to create something similar with a 'Hampshire' perspective. HFRS will consider the benefits to being involved in such an initiative. Dates of future productions will be circulated to F&D Advisors.

It is hoped that some employees from HFRS will have the opportunity to attend the Banner Theatre production in Bracknell in October. Mr Waas will circulate dates when known.

ACTION: Messrs Ramsey and Waas.

4.

NETWORKING WOMEN IN THE FIRE SERVICE (NWFS)

Mrs Tatner gave a presentation covering the background to the formation of NWFS and also the aims and objectives of the group. She stressed that this was no longer a group just for women but that any men who wished to join would be very welcome. She and Ms Baker then gave their perspective on the recent Annual Conference of NWFS, which had been held in Yorkshire and to which 5 HFRS representatives had gone. All those who had attended had found it stimulating, interesting and informative. Mr Bonney thanked Mrs Tatner and Ms Baker for their presentation and said that there may be benefit in watches having access to this information to raise their awareness and interest.

5.

DRAFT HARASSMENT PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES

A review of the current guidelines and procedures had been undertaken and some additions made. The format and content of the current fairness and dignity policy is also being revised. It is envisaged that this draft revised Service Order will go out for a period of consultation to all employees for their views and comments, in addition to the normal process of consultation with the representative bodies, by September.

Mr Waas reminded the group of the statutory duty, as laid out in the Race Relations Amendment Act 2002, of local authorities to promote racial equality and the need to demonstrate how this will be achieved. Mr Waas reported that further work is being carried out on the draft Race Equality Scheme which was put on the HFRS website in July.

6.

PROBLEMS/PROGRESS TO DATE WITH VOLUNTEER DIVERSITY TRAINERS

Ms Brumitt stated that the 17 diversity trainers have held meetings on 2/3 occasions, but because of operational commitments of some of the trainers it had not been possible so far to get the whole group together at one time. There is still a lot of work to be done on the training package and she felt it was imperative that some way was found of getting them all together. Mr Bonney said he was willing to endorse releasing these trainers for a day to enable this. It was mooted that some serious thought needed to be given to the title to be used by these trainers and this should be done when the trainers next get together as a group.

The next stage is an away day to put together a training programme which will be delivered across the Service. This will deal almost solely with issues surrounding bullying and harassment. Elected Members will also be included in this training. Approval was given in principal to commit resources to enable the package to be produced quickly; resource requirements to be identified and submitted.

ACTION: Mr Waas

7.

LONDON FIRE BRIGADE MARDI GRAS

Ms Brumitt reported that she & Mr Waas had attended a Pride Breakfast, an event hosted by the London Fire Authority at their Southwark Training Centre. It had been organised to coincide with the London Mardi Gras 2002, an annual parade & festival which brings to London lesbians, gay men, bisexuals & transgendered people (LGBT), their friends, family & any who support them. The Pride Breakfast was to celebrate a year of considerable achievement & progress by the Authority for lesbian, gay & bisexual equality. By supporting the event it provided Ms Brumitt & Mr Waas with the opportunity to network, exchange ideas & make contact with keynote speakers willing to come to Hampshire & give presentations to this committee on LGBT equality within the fire service.

8.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS (IABPFF) CONVENTION, 10-17 AUGUST 2002 IN NEW YORK

Mr Ramsey asked that consideration be given to HFRS sponsoring his attendance at this event. Mr Bonney said that the Service would look favourably at offering support but would be keen to know what support the FBU would be giving as Mr Ramsey is an Executive Member. Consideration to match funding would be a possibility. Mr Ramsey advised that he would establish what support would be forthcoming from the FBU and then discuss with Mr Bonney.

ACTION: Mr Ramsey/Mr Bonney

9.

FORMAT OF FAIRNESS AND DIGNITY MEETINGS

Mr Bonney had circulated a paper prior to the meeting which set out his recommendations on the current and future format of the Fairness and Dignity Meetings. These were accepted and the matter will be progressed for the next meeting.

ACTION: Mr Bonney/Mr Waas

13.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Several items were raised from the floor which were specific to the watch attending. The issues were discussed and the outcomes would be reported back to the watch.

Mr Bonney thanked all those present for their input and said he hoped that they had found it worthwhile attending.

14.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

1000 hrs on Thursday, 17 October 2002, at B17 Fareham.