Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY PERFORMANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE held at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Eastleigh on Monday 15 May 2006.

PRESENT:

Councillors: D.A. Kirk (Chairman); I.F.E. Beagley; K.G. Chapman; L.T. Dunsdon;

D. Simpson; and R. Williams.

Also present: Councillor Roger H. Price; Mr John Randall, external auditor.

35. APOLOGIES

    Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R.J. Baulk (on other business for Hampshire County Council) and Councillor H. Jones (on other business for Portsmouth City Council).

36. 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 of interest made by Members.

37. MINUTES

    The Minutes of the meeting held on 8 March 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

38. DEPUTATIONS

    There were no deputations received.

39. BEST VALUE REVIEW OF VEHICLE WORKSHOPS

    The Committee considered the report of the Best Value Review Working Group (Item 5 in the Minute Book) summarising the outcome of the Best Value Review of Vehicle Workshops which had been in progress since April 2004. The Chief Officer outlined the background of the review and highlighted the areas which had undergone improvements as a result of the action plan.

    Work undertaken to improve the service provided by the Vehicle Workshops had included streamlining servicing activity; standardising methods for carrying out specific jobs; rationalising methods of information management; and improving levels of communication between the workshops and customers. Comparisons had been made between methods employed by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) Vehicle Workshops and those at other Fire Authorities. Several new working methods had been adopted, some of which had resulted in financial savings.

    Comparisons had been made between the cost and quality of the work carried out by the Vehicle Workshops and work carried out by external providers. This had been done by sending some vehicles to be serviced externally and then evaluating the work completed. It would not be possible to obtain true costs of having vehicles serviced by external providers without first undertaking a comprehensive and expensive tendering exercise. It was felt that the exercise completed had provided a realistic enough estimate to be able to draw conclusions about the value for money of external and internal providers. The service quality on HFRS vehicles was required to be of the highest standard considering the nature of their use and the necessity of avoiding malfunction of equipment. It was noted that, while external providers were sometimes slightly cheaper, the quality of service in the example cases had been below the quality required by HFRS.

    Further comparisons had been made between the cost to HFRS of the Vehicle Workshops and the costs to another Fire Authority (Service X) which had outsourced its vehicle servicing work to external providers. This comparison showed a slightly higher cost of service per vehicle to HFRS than to Service X. However, in the light of the quality of service provided by external providers it was felt that this slightly higher cost was justified. It was noted that the cost per vehicle shown in paragraph 7.2 of the report was not a true reflection of the cost of servicing each vehicle as it did not take into account all other equipment servicing work carried out by the Vehicle Workshops. Members acknowledged that the total cost of the Vehicle Workshops in the calculation had included some administrative and support costs which would remain if servicing work was outsourced.

    It had been difficult to draw comparisons between the performance of the HFRS Vehicle Workshops and other similar services due to the differences in the performance indicators (PIs) used by each Fire Authority's workshops. In looking at potential PIs to be used the Best Value Review team had originally considered those PIs used by other authorities. However, it was felt that the PIs should reflect the requirements of HFRS and, therefore, new PIs had been established. This had facilitated monitoring of the continuing improvement of the Vehicle Workshops.

    Problems were highlighted with the computer system `TRACE' which had been purchased to deal with issues regarding the management of job and vehicle information. The system had made errors in calculations and was unable to provide financial information reports of the type required. Negotiations were ongoing with the software suppliers to resolve the problems. Further training or adaptation of the system could be required and Members gave their full support to Officers in pursuing a resolution to the problems with TRACE.

    Members were updated on the ongoing issues to improve the Vehicle Workshops, some of which were so classified due to their continuous nature. Several issues were due to be resolved in the near future and trials of some schemes were being undertaken. Some issues, such as alternative ways of using General Duties Assistants (GDAs) and apprentices, had been trialled and discontinued because the disadvantages were found to outweigh the advantages. However, the productive time of GDAs and apprentices was now being utilised more effectively. A general review of the level and mix of skills of workshop staff would be undertaken for the purposes of future planning.

    The Committee expressed its appreciation for the hard work done by Nicki Whitehouse, Deputy Performance Review Manager, in producing a thorough and well written report, and by John Randall, external auditor, in supporting and challenging the review.

    RESOLVED:

    That it be a RECOMMENDATION to the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority (HFRA):

    a) That the Vehicle Workshops remain in-house; continue to adopt the practices identified during the best value review process; and identify and implement areas for future improvement and efficiency.

    b) That the recommendations detailed in the `action plan' that had been recognised as `ongoing' and reported in Appendix B be implemented and progress be reported to the HFRA Performance Review Committee.

    c) That a performance summary for Vehicle Workshops, to include performance information in the form of indicators, be considered by the Performance Review Committee at the first meeting of each financial year.

    d) That a review of the changes to working practices that had already been implemented and a review of the current staffing levels and skills mix be undertaken by 31 March 2007.

    e) That the Performance Review Committee consider, in twelve months, a report from the Chief Officer regarding the cashable savings identified as a result of the improved efficiency of the Vehicle Workshops.

    f) That the Deputy Chief Officer urgently pursue with the software supplier the problems being experienced with the TRACE system, with a view to agreeing a date for the issues to be resolved to the satisfaction of the Fire Authority.

40. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

    RESOLVED

    That in relation to Minute 41 (Item 7 in the minute book) the public be excluded from the meeting as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and, further, that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for reasons set out in the appendix.

41. RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTIONS ARISING FROM INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

    The Committee considered and noted the exempt appendix relating to the Best Value Review of Vehicle Workshops (Item 7 in the minute book) comparing the costs of servicing and maintaining vehicles for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service with those costs of another Fire and Rescue Service.