Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY held at The Borough Council Offices, Eastleigh on 12 December, 2007.

PRESENT:

Councillors: M.F. Cartwright (Chairman); R. Baulk; I. Beagley; K. Chapman;

M.G. Cooper; L. Dunsdon; Mrs J. Frankum; E.F. Gale, MBE; D. Harrison; D. Horne; K. House; P.R.C. Hutcheson; R. Kimber; R. McIntosh; Sam Payne; R.H. Price; D. Simpson; R. Smith; R. Williams; M.J. Woodhall.

215 APOLOGIES

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P.A. Heath; L. Hunt; Sue Jackson; D.A. Kirk and D. Phillips.

216 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally, at the time of 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, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 12 of the Code.

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

217 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Authority held on 26 September, 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

218 DEPUTATIONS

Pursuant to Standing Order 17, the Authority received a deputation by Tony Bryant as the Fire Brigades Union Chair of Copnor Fire Station against the closure of Copnor Fire Station as proposed in the Draft Integrated Risk Management Plan 2008/11. A copy of the deputation information circulated at the meeting appears as Item 4 in the Minute Book.

219 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

There were no Members' questions.

220 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman reported with sadness upon the deaths of four Members of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service who had tragically lost their lives tackling a large warehouse fire in Atherstone on Stour at the beginning of December. Members and Officers stood for a minute's silence as a mark of respect.

On behalf of the Authority, the Chairman thanked all HFRS personnel who had supported Warwickshire fire crews at the incident. The Authority noted that a letter had also been sent in relation to this tragedy by the Chairman of Hampshire County Council, also thanking the HFRS personnel involved in the incident. Their expertise and professionalism had been evident at all times and they continued to show their support by undertaking a range of activities to raise funds for the Firefighters' Families Fund. It was reported that a Memorial Service was to be held at Coventry Cathedral on 25 January 2008 and that further details about this would be sent to Members in the near future.

The Chairman reported that Peter Robertson, would be retiring as Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council and as Clerk to the Fire Authority on 17 December 2007. He wished to place on record his personal thanks to Mr. Robertson for the support he had given to the Fire Authority over the past ten years. It was noted that Andrew Smith the County Council's former Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services would be taking over as the new Chief Executive and Clerk to the Fire Authority from 18 December 2007.

The Chairman congratulated the HFRS on being awarded the Investors in People (IiP) accreditation, the first Fire Service in the country to receive the award under the new IiP standard. The award was in recognition of the hard work and effort demonstrated by all staff across the Service. The assessors had been particularly impressed with the enthusiasm and professionalism of all of the staff they had met.

Members' attention was drawn to a recent letter issued by the Chief Officer enclosing the consultation document on the Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008-11. It was noted that some of the pages to the document had not been properly copied and as a result a new complete version was circulated to Members at the meeting.

Finally, the Chairman reported upon events and other meetings which he had recently attended including: the LGA Conference for Fire Authorities on 30 October 2007; a Prince of Wales Trust meeting on 21 November 2007; the Long Service Awards to staff on 22 November 2007 and a visit to Winchester Fire Station on 5 December 2007. He reminded Members that a briefing session had been arranged for them on 17 January 2008 to provide an update on the consultation exercise for the Authority's draft Integrated Risk Management Plan 2008/11.

221 ACTIVITY REPORT

The Authority received the report of the Chief Officer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) highlighting prevention, protection and response activities in each of the group areas.

222 PRESENTATIONS

(a) Out of Africa - Donation of Operational Equipment

Richard North gave a presentation to the Authority on progress concerning the Out of Africa Scheme in which HFRS assistance was being given to the development of fire and rescue services in third world countries. The presentation concentrated on Project Thika in Kenya and on the valuable work by volunteers to raise funds and provide development training to firefighter crews in this part of Africa. A copy of the presentation given at the meeting appears as Item 8(i) in the Minute Book.


(b) New Dimension Project

Pete Crook gave a presentation to the Authority on progress in relation to the New Dimension Project which had been established following the "9/11" tragedy in America. It was shown that the Service was now able to participate in civil resilience and other specialist response incidents. Members noted with interest the types of work which had been undertaken as part of this Project. A copy of the presentation given at the meeting appears as Item 8(ii) in the Minute Book.

223 DRAFT BUDGET 2008/09

The Authority considered the report of the Treasurer and Chief Officer (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the draft budget for 2008/09. Following the most recent Local Government Finance Settlement announcement, a further paper was tabled at that meeting updating the information in various paragraphs of the report. A copy of the tabled paper appears as Item 9(i) in the Minute Book.

In supporting the contents of the report and the tabled paper, Members wished to further expand the possible range of Council tax increases upon which it was proposed to consult within paragraph 8 of the report. Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED:

(a) That the base budget be approved.


(b) That arrangements be made for statutory consultations on proposals consistent with a full range of possible council tax increases of 2.8%, 3.9%, 4.2%, 4.4% and 4.7% .


(c) That the final budget and council tax be set by the Authority at its meeting on 13 February 2008.

224 SOUTH EAST FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES REGIONAL MANAGEMENT BOARD- UPDATE

The Authority received and noted the report of the Chief Officer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) outlining the key issues from the South East Fire and Rescue Services Regional Management Board meeting held on 10 October 2007.

225 DRAFT INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) - PROGRESS REPORT

The Authority considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 11 in the Minute Book) updating Members on the progress of consultation on the draft Integrated Risk Management Plan. It was noted that formal consultation was due to finish on 31 December 2007.

RESOLVED:

That Members note the extent of consultation that has taken place in developing proposals for the draft Integrated Risk Management Plan for 2008 - 2011.

226 NEW NATIONAL FRAMEWORK 2008/2011 - CONSULTATION EXERCISE

The Authority considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 12 in the Minute Book) on the Communities and Local Government's new draft National Framework for 2008/2011.

The Chief Officer invited Members to notify him of their comments both on the draft Framework document and on the report to this meeting so as to enable a response to be made by the closing date of 6 February 2008. It was also intended to ask Senior Managers, the Service Management Team and Corporate Management Team for their comments. The Chief Officer agreed to include an item at the next Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting so as to enable the proposed response to be shared with Members, prior to its submission.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Chief Officer prepare a report to the Finance and General Purposes Committee on 17 January 2008 detailing the HFRA's proposed response to the draft new National Framework for 2008/11.


(b) That a further report on the response made be included as an item to the Authority meeting on 13 February, 2008.

227 REVIEW OF EXISTING HFRA - MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES SCHEME

The Authority considered the report of the Clerk (Item 13 in the Minute Book) on a review of the existing HFRA Members' Allowances Scheme. It was noted that the Independent Remuneration Panel had met on 6 November 2007 to consider and make a recommendation to the Authority on this matter.

Members supported the conclusions and recommendation of the Panel.

RESOLVED:

That there be no change to the HFRA Members' Allowances Scheme for 2008/09 with the exception of a 2.475% inflationary increase across all allowances from 1 April 2008 to reflect the pay award approved for non-uniformed officers of fire and rescue authorities.

228 INDEPENDENT MEMBER AND FUTURE CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE HFRA STANDARDS COMMITTEE

The Authority considered the report of the Clerk (Item 14 in the Minute Book) on a proposal to appoint Mr. M. James to serve as the Chairman of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority's Standards Committee at such time in the future that the provision made in the Public Involvement in Health Act is implemented, making it a requirement of this Committee to be chaired by an independent member. In supporting Mr James as the Chairman, the Authority agreed that the appointment should commence forthwith, rather than waiting for the relevant legislation to be implemented. Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED:

That Mr. M. James be appointed as the Chairman of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority's Standards Committee with immediate effect.

229 MINUTES OF THE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE - 8 NOVEMBER 2007

The Authority received the Minutes of the Governance Committee meeting held on 8 November 2007 (Item 15 in the Minute Book).

230 MINUTES OF THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - 27 NOVEMBER 2007

The Authority received the Minutes of the Performance Review and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 27 November 2007 (Item 16 in the Minute Book).

231 MINUTES OF THE HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE - 30 NOVEMBER 2007

The Authority received the Minutes of the Human Resources Committee meeting held on 30 November 2007 (Items 17 in the Minute Book).

232 MINUTES OF FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE - 14 NOVEMBER 2007

The Authority received the Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 14 November 2007 subject to Councillor M.J. Woodhall's name being deleted from those shown as present at the meeting and adopted the recommendations to the Fire Authority on budget monitoring 2007/08 and on the vehicle replacement programme 2008/09 to 2010/11.

233 LGA ANNUAL FIRE CONFERENCE ON 11-12 MARCH 2008, COVENTRY

The Authority considered the appointment of Members to attend this Conference.

RESOLVED:

(a) That Councillors M.F. Cartwright and R.H. Price be appointed to attend the LGA Annual Fire Conference on 11-12 March 2008 in Coventry.


(b) That a further Conservative Member and either a further Liberal Democrat or Labour Member nomination to attend be notified to the Chief Officer in the near future.

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