Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item

4 June 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 (Tel: 02380 626830) [email protected]

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 2 April 2008.

2

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2.1

That the report be noted.

3

Election of Officials

3.1

This being the Annual General Meeting, a new Chairman and Vice Chairman were elected, these were as follows:

Chairman - Councillor D Rowlands (Buckinghamshire)

Vice Chairman - Councillor B Cope (Kent)

As on previous occasions, the clerking role will be undertaken by the Authority taking the Chair, this will fall to Chief Fire Officer Damian Smith.

3.2

The previous Chair to the Board, Councillor Cartwright, thanked his colleagues and Officers for their support during 2007/08 and took the opportunity to highlight some of the successes over the past year. These included; work with the IDeA in relation to Member development, assessment as a region against the equality standard for local government and the success of the South East Fire Improvement Partnership (SEFIP).

4

Progress Against the Plan

4.1

The Board considered a progress report for the period January-March 2008 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

SEFIP have developed a tool for benchmarking home fire safety visits and road safety education across the region. Evaluation models have also been developed by Hampshire FRA and the Performance Improvement Network for community safety activity for the region. The SEFIP website contains a library of examples of innovative community safety activity occurring in the region and can be accessed via http://www.sefip.gov.uk/safety/innovations.shtml

·

Human Resources

Reviews of progress being made towards achieving Level 3 of the Equality Standard for Local Government have now been completed for all fire and rescue authorities. Each Authority will receive support to develop their actions plans and this will be funded through SEFIP at no cost to individual authorities.

The Board were advised of an operational diversity event on 7 May, organised by SEFIP. Several Members and Officers from the Service attended this one day event which provided a showcase for good practice within the region.

·

Improvement

The Board were advised that the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Strategy (RIES) had received approval from Communities and Local Government in relation to their bid of £26.6m over the CSR period 2008-11. SEFIP have also been successful in obtaining £980k for the same period.

·

As Members will be aware, the South East Fire Improvement Partnership has been in existence for the past 18 months. Notably the South West region has recently formed its own Fire Improvement Partnership and contact will be made with the Programme Manager to assess any opportunities for collaboration between the two regions.

·

Resilience

A South East Business Continuity Framework has been developed to provide a common approach to business continuity across the SE region.

4.2

Approval of the 2008/11 Business Plan was deferred until the July meeting to enable key outcomes from the Chiefs and Chairs Away Day in June to be incorporated.

4.3

Members were asked to note the regional response to the consultation on the Centre of Excellence for Fire and Rescue Services (attached as appendix A). This followed a request at the last Board meeting for a response to be submitted on behalf of the region.

5

PRESENTATION BY THE MINISTER FOR FIRE

5.1

The Board were delighted to welcome the Minister for Fire, Parmjit Dhanda, to the meeting. The Minister began by referring to the previous update and the issue of a Centre of Excellence. He agreed that further thought needed to be given to what the Centre should be expected to deliver and suggested areas such as operational doctrine, training and national co-ordination of the nine regional Fire Control Centres.

Subsequent to the meeting, we have recently received communication from CLG advising us that the consultation outcome was not conclusive with regards to fire and rescue authority commitment and support. Therefore CLG will not be taking action to establish a Centre of Excellence at the current time.

5.2

In referring to Regional Fire Control, the Minister felt that there was a greater awareness amongst fire authorities in terms of what they could expect to receive upon cut over into the new system. Assurance was provided that the next version of the full business case would be available in June 2008. Significantly, reference was made to the release of the national cost apportionment model which will seek to "apportion" more evenly across regions the cost of the nine controls. Inevitably this will be contentious because subsidy across the regions is highly likely.

5.3

In referring to the Firefighter Pension Scheme, the Minister stated that the government's aim was to reduce ill health pensions, ensuring that the scheme could remain sustainable. He did believe, however, that some review was necessary.

5.4

CFO Damian Smith asked the Minister whether CLG would be prepared to commit to a pilot project for various types of water suppression systems within domestic premises. The Minister confirmed that he supported a pilot and advised that he had asked for further research in terms of a cost benefit analysis. It was therefore agreed that the request from the SERMB would be formalised in a letter to the Minister.

5.5

The Minister urged Members to promote the Fire and Rescue Service's link with community wellbeing, highlighting the multi functional role of the Service.

5.6

In closing, the Minister thanked the South East Regional Management Board for the work being undertaken within the region and within their respective authorities.

6

Update on Regional Control Centre (RCC) and Firelink

6.1

CFO Martin Burrell (West Sussex FRS) provided an update on progress with the RCC and Firelink. He confirmed that the Director of the LACC, Matthew Goodwin, would be taking up his post on 1 May 2008. As part of his induction programme, Mr Goodwin will be attending a future Regional Management Board meeting and meeting separately with the Chief Fire Officers of the nine Services within the region. Outcomes from the recent LACC meeting are presented in a separate report to the Authority.

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 2 April 2008. The full papers can be viewed via: http://www.sefip.gov.uk/resources.shtml#20