Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item 13

13 February 2008

Error! Bookmark not defined.South East Fire and Rescue Services Regional Management Board - Update

Report by the Chief Officer

Contact: Chief Officer John Bonney - [email protected] (Tel: 02380 626830)

1

Summary

1.1

This report outlines the key issues arising from the South East Fire and Rescue Services' Regional Management Board (SERMB) meeting held on Wednesday 16 January 2008.

2

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2.1

That the report be noted.

3

Equality Peer Review

3.1

Doug Feery, Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) Equality Associate, gave a presentation relating to the assessment of the nine fire and rescue services in the South East region against the Equality Standard for Local Government. Seven assessments have been completed, out of which, three have been reported back to the individual fire and rescue services. The outstanding two assessments are to be finalised in January 2008. The assessments themselves are based upon; a desk top review, on site interviews and a detailed report. Two out of the nine Services (one of which is Hampshire) are considered to be on target to achieve Level 3 by December provided there is consolidation within a number of areas. The remaining cohort are progressing towards Level 2.

3.2

In summarising his findings, Doug Feery, reported that there remained insufficient understanding across the region of the equality and diversity agenda. He referred to the need for Officers to be able to identify where the positive duties in respect of equality appear in their business plans, and for Members to be adequately informed of the requirements to be able to be involved in the overview and scrutiny process.

3.3

It was resolved that Doug Feery's presentation and an accompanying report would be shared within the region's Equality and Diversity workstream. The group would be asked to reflect upon action planning within the region and determine whether the region's target of Level 3 was still achievable.

It was further agreed that a report would be presented to October's RMB meeting to enable the Board to continue to monitor progress throughout the region.

4

Progress Against the Plan

4.1

The Board considered a progress report for the period October-December 2007 against each of the workstreams in the Regional Business Plan. In general it was noted that good progress had been made across all workstreams and the following key points were highlighted;

· Community Safety - The Board noted government's amendment of Building Bulletin 100 (Design for Fire Safety in Schools), which includes a presumption that all new state funded schools will be fitted with sprinkler systems (appendix 1 refers).

· Human Resources - Equality and diversity continues to remain a key priority.

· Improvement - The Capacity Building Bid has been increased from £960k to £1.1m to take account of common key areas for development arising out of the equality and diversity reviews.

· Media and Communications - A draft Communications Strategy is being developed and will be presented to the SERMB meeting in April 2008.

· Resilience - The region are in the process of developing a common vision for resilience beyond purely New Dimension activities.

5

Comprehensive Area Assessments

5.1

Andrew Hughes from the Audit Commission gave a presentation on the move from Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) to Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAA) which will be introduced from 2009. In summarising, Mr Hughes referred to CAA as an assessment which looks at the performance of local services and collaborative work being undertaken as part of the Local Strategic Partnership. The scope of CAA focuses on outcomes delivered by the council working alone or in partnership and includes; community safety and cohesion, sustainable communities, health and well-being and children's services.

5.2

The Commission will be auditing performance against the new national indicator set, as well as monitoring prospects for an area and its quality of life. It was recognised that area based assessments would need to be adopted to account for the different demographics within each county. Fire and rescue authorities will continue to receive an annual Use of Resources judgement and Direction of Travel Assessment and there will be wider use of peer reviews.

5.3

Following the presentation, Members took the opportunity to express concern in relation to the Audit Commission's programme and scale of fees for 2008/9 and specifically, their proposal to increase fees by 41%. In responding, Mr Hughes recognised that the fee increase would fall heavily upon fire and rescue authorities but stated that the Commission were looking at ways in which they could mitigate costs as they currently stand. Members were advised that the fee increases were due to financial burdens in three specific areas; international financial reporting standards, use of resources and data quality. Mr Hughes was questioned in terms of support available from the Audit Commission in light of the difficult situation authorities faced as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review 07. In response to this he stated that there would be local negotiations on the audit fees and the levels quoted in the consultation were set at the maximum.

6

Procurement Wins

6.1

A report brought to Board outlined progress and achievement within the Procurement Workstream over the past 12 months. Notable procurement `wins' are identified below:

·

Royal Berkshire, Kent and Hampshire have all signed up to the Defence Fixed Telecoms Service, creating a combined saving of over £100k.

·

Government Procurement Cards - Hampshire have already adopted Procurement Cards and other authorities are at different stages of the process. Potential savings of £28 per transaction can be achieved.

·

Fuel Cards - Kent have consolidated several fuel cards resulting in reduced costs, administration and improved management information.

·

Travel Contracts - Hampshire have implemented a master vendor saving up to 20% off travel costs.

·

Temporary Agency Staff - Hampshire have made a saving of 7% by implementing Hampshire County Council's master vendor agreement for Temporary Agency Staff.

·

Regional collaboration has led to a Regional Fire Safety Contract being agreed. Estimated savings have been identified as £117k.

6.2

Members noted tangible progress within this workstream and recognised the benefits in terms of assisting authorities to meet local government savings targets as identified within the Comprehensive Spending Review.

7

Update on Regional Control Centre (RCC) and Firelink

7.1

CFO Martin Burrell (West Sussex FRS) provided an update on progress with the RCC and Firelink. He advised Members that version 1.1 of the Business Case for Regional Control Centres had been released but provided assurance that there was nothing of particular significance to bring to Members' attention. A further version will be produced in June and this will be brought to July's SERMB meeting so that Members may determine whether they wish to make a formal response to Communities and Local Government (CLG).

7.2

Transition planning continues to be developed. CFO Burrell highlighted that significant risks had been identified in relation to the migration of data to the new IT system and convergence.

7.3

Members were reminded that Matthew Goodwin, currently at Bournemouth and Christchurch Care Trust, had been appointed as the Regional Control Centre Director. It is expected that Mr Goodwin will take up his role in February 2008.

7.4

The SERMB was advised that CLG would be providing a further £7.5m of new burdens funding for authorities for the remainder of 2007-08, which is in addition to the £9.5m provided in August 2007. The funding that individual authorities will receive will be outlined in Fire and Rescue Service Circular 5/2008.

8

Regional Management Board Chairs National Event

8.1

Councillor Michael Cartwright (SERMB Chair) provided feedback following the RMB Chairs and Vice Chairs event which took place on 23 October. The three key themes centred upon integration and capacity between RMBs, the loss of competitiveness with Firebuy, and ensuring that IRMPs remained locally based.

9

A Regional Response to the National Framework for Fire and Rescue Authorities 2008-11 and the Equality and Diversity Strategy 2008-18

9.1

Members approved regional responses to the National Framework and Equality and Diversity consultation documents. Both responses focussed upon the issues relating directly to Regional Management Boards or consistent themes which fall to all nine authorities.

9.2

Two key areas were highlighted in the response to the National Framework document. The first sought clarification on the role of RMBs in promoting resilience within the region. Under the Civil Contingencies Act RMBs currently have no role to play and if government's expectation has changed, this needs to be clearly articulated. The second area relates to the role of RMBs in co-ordinating IRMPs. The SE region questions whether there is a role for RMBs and if so, how this would work in practice.

9.3

The response to the Equality and Diversity Strategy refers to the considerable emphasis upon targets for recruitment or employment levels. The regional response advocates the importance of embedding diversity within the organisation and ensuring it has a positive business benefit. The region also questions why the Equality Standard for Local Government has not being adopted rather than installing a new reporting system specially designed by CLG.

Background Information (Section 100D of Local Government Act 1972)

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report:

· Agenda, reports and draft minutes of the South East Fire and Rescue Services Regional Management Board meeting held 16 January 2008.