Agenda and minutes

Councillor Chris Barnfather (substituted by Councillor Liz Yates)

None.

To confirm the minutes from the meeting on 3 February 2017.

The minutes of meeting held on 3 February 2017 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer at NFRS provided Members with an overview of the development for the Authority’s next integrated risk management plan (IRMP) to be known as the Corporate Plan.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser role (national role) has been discontinued; however, Peter Holland CBE has been retained by the Home Office to provide advice;

(b)  the IRMP will enable a re-evaluation of the consultation process to make sure it is as strong as it can be.  The problem in the past with consultations has been the low number of responses received back.

RESOLVED to receive a draft Corporate Plan from the Chief Fire Officer at a future meeting of the Policy and Strategy committee.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

The Chair thanked all Members that were present at the London Road Fire Station that analysed and considered the Thomas Review.

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer at NFRS then presented Members with a draft analysis of the work undertaken by the Thomas Review Task and Finish Group.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  approve a final version of the draft gap analysis attached at Appendix B of the report;

(2)  recommend to the Fire Authority adoption of the gap analysis with an expectation that the Chief Fire Officer will report on the work streams through the normal governance processes;

(3)  recommend to the Fire Authority that the gap analysis is submitted to the Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service, to support the work of Government in determining their response to the Review.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer at NFRS proposed a joint feasibility study of the estate, involving Nottinghamshire Police, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service to explore the potential for collaboration in the short, medium and longer term.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  in the future, there could be a drawdown of funding available to fire services.  £1million has been distributed to the Police to help with their Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) business cases;

(b)  the expectation is that the study will be completed by the end of the year to allow NFRS to budget plan.  There will be a cost of £10-20,000 to do the feasibility study;

(c)  whatever the strategy, the sovereign control of the estate will remain with the Fire Authority;

(d)  EMAS have been impressed on how professional NFRS have been with their contracts.

RESOLVED to endorse the commencement of a feasibility study, and agree to receive a future report on the outcome and any potential options.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Sue Maycock, Head of Finance at NFRS reported to Members on the activities of the Local Firefighter Pension Board up to 31 March 2017.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  it is a requirement of the law that members of the Board attend training.  Often this training is formal, but can also come in a report format;

(b)  although there is the potential for Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire Fire Authorities to have a joint Pension Board with the permission of the Secretary of State, the Boards are currently separate entities;

(c)  section 6 of the Constitution deals with the appointment of a Chair, and some Boards are chaired by senior officers.  This Board is an equal partnership between workforce and employer;

(d)  the Pension Board is advisory and makes sure processes are followed.  This is a formal link into the governance of the organisation;

(e)  the Chair of the national fire pension Scheme Advisory Board had commended Nottinghamshire and the other East Midlands Boards for meeting requirements expected of them.

RESOLVED to receive reports on an annual basis and note the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer at NFRS provided an update on the progress of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) programme.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  a grant of £791,000 has been received.  Another £100,000 is to be shared among the region for collaboration work.  NFRS will be the fund holder for this £100,000;

(b)  the ESN code of connection is an outstanding anomaly; there are still a lot of questions around what this new system will look like;

(c)  the Government are making it clear that it will be for individual organisations to decide whether they transfer to the new system or not.  There will be a parallel running between the old and the new system, in particular for NFRS, as they are an early adopter;

(d)  Craig Parkin from NFRS is the regional lead for ESN; in addition, Ian Taylor has been seconded onto the project nationally.  The Group Manager from Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has been seconded into a full time role on this, and has good links with NFRS.

RESOLVED to note the report and agree to receive further updates as the project develops.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer at NFRS gave a progress report to Members on the Tri-Service Control programme.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  there has been proactive work on the system to make sure it is as quick and stable as it can be.  Reliability issues are still there, and the tri-service control is not at the level needed yet;

(b)  the network has been reviewed independently, and is fit for purpose;

(c)  some savings have already been started; some teams have already been shrunk for example.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report and to welcome a report back in the September to December cycle of meetings.

The Chair thanked Sue Maycock for all of her hard work and wished her well.  He also wished all departing Members well.

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item(s) in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs in the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining items in accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To confirm the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2017.

The exempt minutes from the meeting held on 3 February were agreed and signed by the Chair.