Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item 8

16 September 2009

Error! Bookmark not defined.South East Fire and Rescue Services Regional Management Board: update following meeting held on 15 July 2009

Report by the Chief Officer

Contact: David Howells, Director of Corporate Services Tel: 02380 626833

1

Summary

1.1

The last meeting of the Board was held on 15 July 2009 and was attended by the Vice Chairman, Cllr Adrian Evans. He was accompanied by the Director of Corporate Services, David Howells. This report highlights some of the key issues discussed at the meeting.

2

RecommendationError! Bookmark not defined.

2.1

That the report be noted.

3

Progress against the Board's action plan

3.1

The significant points of note were:

_ The bid for support for the South East Fire Improvement Partnership (SEFIP) of £391,600 had been approved by the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership.

_ Membership of the SEFIP stakeholder group had been reviewed by the Chief Officers and now comprises: Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Kent.

_ The annual efficiency statement for the Regional Management Board which was approved.

3.2

The Board were given a short presentation on the initial results of a Regional Customer Insight Survey which showed very high overall satisfaction rates across the nine Fire and Rescue Authorities.

4

Regional Control Centre update

4.1

CFO Hood informed the Board that an announcement was expected regarding a further delay to the cutover of the Regional Control Centre (RCC) in the South East. [Members will now be aware that this was confirmed as a further delay of 10 months].

4.2

Roy Beavis (RCC Project Director) updated the Board on current issues, noting in particular that the Region remained well placed to transfer. Although the `FiReControl' project had technical, political and financial challenges, these could be considered as manageable risks. The staging of the Olympics in 2012 would have an impact. Although planning for events was well advanced, there were some identified gaps around secondary and contingency planning. Members expressed their concerns that any delay in cutover to 2012 could clash with the Olympics and prove risky. Shona Dunn (from the CLG) took the opportunity to reassure the Board that no region would be required to cutover unless they were satisfied that it was safe to do so.

4.3

Mr Beavis also talked about the effects of the continuing uncertainty on staff and stressed the need for better communications and engagement to ensure that they were kept well informed. Councillor Heathcoat asked whether consultation had taken place with the FBU about the South East Strategic Gap Strategy, and was informed that individual Fire and Rescue Authorities needed to consult with their staff.

4.4

A South East project plan, a comprehensive risk register and a detailed view of funding were all on track for presentation to the October 2009 RMB meeting on Wednesday 7 October 2009. It was originally planned that Members would be able to examine these areas in-depth at a Member Development event on Tuesday 6 October 2009. However, this has since been cancelled and to be rescheduled during 2010.

5

Presentation by Shona Dunn, Fire Resilience Director, CLG report

5.1

Ms Dunn spoke about the impact of cuts on public sector spending over the next 10 years and the challenges this would present, with smaller increases in the Formula Grant and a very good chance that these increases could disappear altogether. She stressed the importance of fire and rescue authorities getting involved in the review of the Formula Grant, and the CLG's role in ensuring they were not penalised for achieving efficiency.

5.2

Ms Dunn also spoke about authorities' successes in getting the support of the public, and in their partnership working and sharing of best practice. There had been a huge change in the Service over the last eight years with modernisation, devolvement of control and the national move towards IRMP. She said that most authorities were meeting the Audit Commission's expectations for improving efficiency and the challenge was to maintain this and close the gap between the `excellent' and `struggling' Authorities. She questioned whether authorities felt that CLG was supporting them appropriately, and delivering the right model.

5.3

The Fire Resilience Programme was at the top of the Secretary of State's agenda, who had an absolute commitment to delivering Fire Control and `FireLink'. Equality and Diversity also remained high on the agenda.

5.4

In response to a question about the future of the Fire Service College, Ms Dunn said she felt that the College was a fantastic institution, which she supported 100%. She suggested that the Service (as customers) must determine what it wanted from the College in the future.

5.5

On the RCC project, she was asked whether CLG would meet the costs of updating control room equipment where this was needed to sustain services until cutover. There had been an audit of the condition of control room equipment in each authority and Ms Dunn stated that, if this needed addressing, CLG would not abdicate its responsibility.

5.6

Finally, Councillor Evans asked Ms Dunn what was her vision for the future of the Fire and Rescue Service. She said that her personal view was that central government and the fire and rescue authorities needed to develop a more mature mutual understanding, with more responsibility being passed to the authorities. The Service had developed hugely in the last eight years and the future was about being able to have the strength to take mature, collective decisions.

6

`Setting the Pace - developing a framework for sector-led help'

6.1

CFO Hendry (Kent) updated the Board on a response to the consultation document `setting the pace: developing a framework for sector-led help' which was approved as urgent action by the Chairman due to the closing date of 1 July 2009.

6.2

In summary, the Improvement and Development Agency and the Local Government Association was consulting on a new framework for self-improvement for local authorities in England and it proposed a greater role for local authorities in owning and sharing amongst themselves the responsibility for their own improvement. This would mean a changed role for the regional and national improvement bodies and, therefore, for the South East Fire Improvement Partnership (SEFIP). In noting this, the Board approved a recommendation that SEFIP should be the first port of call for help by any fire and rescue authority experiencing performance difficulties.

7

Community safety update

7.1

The Board considered a report from CFO Pearson (Surrey) updating Members on community safety matters and, in particular, the two events that were held in April and May to promote the installation of sprinklers wherever they may save life or reduce risk to the community. It was noted that there was still a lot of work to do getting building regulations changed to include the installation of sprinklers and CFO Hendry explained that, while progress had been made over the last two to three years, national change would take a long time and it was essential to continue to concentrate on local successes from which others could learn.

8

Equality and Diversity

8.1

Members considered a report from CFO Hendry that summarised the actions taken to meet the Board's aspiration of all fire and rescue authorities across the region meeting Level 3 of the Equality Standard for Local Government by March 2011. Five of the nine fire and rescue authorities had now achieved Level 3 and the other four were making good progress supported by SEFIP. It was reported that, unfortunately, the South East Fire Improvement Partnership was not successful in its submission as part of the national fire and rescue equality & diversity awards

8.2

Members were reminded that the second SEFIP Operational Diversity event is planned for 23 September 2009 at the Milton Keynes Dons Stadium, Milton Keynes.

9

Hampshire to host the next meeting

9.1

It was confirmed that Hampshire would be hosting the next meeting of the Board on Wednesday 7 October 2009.

10

People impact assessment

10.1

There are no issues arising from this report; and it is considered compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000.

Background Information

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 of the South East Fire and Rescue Services Regional Management Board meeting held 15 July 2009

http://www.sefip.gov.uk/resources.shtml#9