Agenda and minutes

Councillor Jon Collins.

Councillor Tony Roberts.

None.

(1)  the Chair announced that in the interests of transparency the meeting would be video recorded to enable the deliberations to be shared with others who are unable to attend the meeting. This was permitted under the Authority’s constitution;

(2)  the Chair advised the meeting that Councillor Ian Campbell is no longer a member of the Fire Authority. The Chair will write to Councillor Campbell to thank him for his hard work during the 18 months he served on the Authority. Councillor Campbell is replaced by Councillor Sybil Fielding and the Chair welcomed Councillor Fielding back to the Authority;

(3)  the Chair and Chief Fire Officer, along with other Chairs and Chief Fire Officers, attended the annual memorial service held in London to commemorate fire-fighters who have died in service. The events included a wreath-laying ceremony outside St Paul’s Cathedral;

(4)  the Chair has attended the Local Government Association Fire Service Management Committee. Conditions of service review was discussed at the meeting and Policy and Strategy Committee would consider the matter in depth at its next meeting on 7 November.

To note the appointment of Councillor Sybil Fielding to the Fire Authority and to confirm her appointment to the Human Resources Committee and the Strategic Equalities Board.

RESOLVED to note the appointment of Councillor Sybil Fielding to the Fire Authority in place of Councillor Ian Campbell and to confirm her appointment to the Human Resources Committee and the Strategic Equalities Board.

Last meeting held on 27 June 2014 (for confirmation.)

The Authority confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2014 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire and Rescue Authority.

Peter Hurford, the Treasurer to the Fire and Rescue Authority, presented his report including the final accounts of the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority to the meeting for approval.

A revised balance sheet was tabled at the meeting.

Peter Hurford thanked Neil Timms, Strategic Director of Finance and Resources and the Finance Team for their hard work and diligence in preparing the final accounts.

The key messages for the Authority were;

·  the good news that the external auditors were able to offer a clean audit certificate;

·  the plan to use reserves to reduce revenue costs in future years;

·  the fact that Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (Trading) Limited had declared a profit.

Councillor Chris Barnfather thanked Ian Pritchard, Executive Director of the trading company for his efforts in increasing the customer base over the year which had allowed the trading company to make a profit and pay a dividend.

Councillor Wood echoed these remarks and paid tribute to Neil Timms and his team for the sound financial footing the service was on despite a long period of austerity.

RESOLVED

(1)  to approve the Statement of Accounts for 2013/14 set out in Appendix A to the report;

(2)  to note the financial results for the year for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (Trading) Limited as attached at Appendix B of the report.

Joint Report of the Chief Fire Officer and the Treasurer.

The Treasurer introduced the joint report of himself and the Chief Fire Officer presenting the External Auditors’ ISA 260 Report to Members and seeking Members’ approval of the management representation letter to the External Auditors.

The report was presented by Andy Cardoza of the External Auditors who advised the meeting that the Auditors expect to issue an unqualified audit opinion by the statutory deadline of 30 September 2014, and an unqualified value for money conclusion. The audit did not identify any material errors in the financial statements and other errors identified had been corrected.

Andy Cardoza thanked the Finance Team for their work on the accounts, including the provision of good, clear working papers and a good response by officers to any queries raised by the Auditors. This was echoed by Members.

The Chair thanked the external auditors for their positive comments and asked the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources to pass the thanks onto the Finance Team.

(1)  to note the contents of the External Auditors’ ISA 260 Report;

(2)  to approve the management representation letter to the External Auditors as set out in Appendix B of the ISA 260 report

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Peter Hurford, the Treasurer presented his report providing Members with an update on treasury management activity during the 2013/14 financial year.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

The Chair, on behalf of the Authority, received a number of petitions from Councillor Dave Smith the Chair of the Community Safety Committee.

A representative of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) asked the following questions of the Chair regarding this item;

Question 1

‘the Fire Brigades Union is appalled at the potential loss of further front line pumping appliances. Is this Authority completely certain that Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service has exhausted ALL other means of saving money other than removing fire engines and their crews from their communities? ‘

The Chair replied as follows;

‘Since 2010 the Authority has received a £5m cut in Central government funding resulting in a reduced budget from £48m to under £43m. The Authority has already made significant reductions in all areas of the service.

The Balancing the Budget report agreed by Members in February this year identified further reductions in government funding and proposed a number of areas where further savings of £2.4m could be made. The Authority agreed that the majority of savings, £1.4m, would come from areas away from fire engines, leaving approximately £1m to be found from operational fire stations to assist in meeting that overall deficit.

The Finance and Resources Committee under the chairmanship of Councillor Wood, has robustly scrutinised all areas of spend in detail, however, due to the fact that a significant amount of the budget is related to employee costs, some 78%, it is inevitable that staff cost need to be reduced in order to meet the financial challenges. Hence reduction in both the operational fleet in tandem with other savings including none station staff costs, collaboration and partnership working are all now being considered.’

Question 2

‘the Authority has a duty to scrutinise the recommendations of service management. Therefore, is the Authority satisfied that by removing front line fire engines, that they are not making decisions that will compromise fire-fighter safety, or indeed reduce our capability to safely  and effectively perform rescues at life threatening fire incidents involving 3 engines, during peak times, at any location within the county?’

The Chair replied as follows;

‘the independently validated Fire Cover Review 2010 produced by professional officers provides robust risk analysis and information regarding the decisions being considered. The fundamental factors leading to the recommendations in the report recognises the infrequency of incidents and the close proximity of other resources when required to respond to emergencies.

Attendance standards and operational procedures for dealing with life risk incidents remain unchanged. The Chief Fire Officer, as the professional advisor to the Fire Authority, is confident that removing the number of appliances required to make the savings will not significantly affect overall operational effectiveness, or compromise fire-fighter safety.

Question 3

‘as the Fire Brigades Union in Nottinghamshire represents 97% of your fire-fighters, we are astounded and disappointed that our officials have not been consulted directly by members of this Authority, or indeed senior management with regard to these proposals.

In order to address this obvious lack of engagement, and to provide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

John Buckley, the Chief Fire Officer, introduced his report recommending the deletion of three substantive posts from the support establishment as agreed by the Human Resources Committee.

RESOLVED that the vacant posts set out in the report are deleted from the establishment.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

The Chief Fire Officer presented his report presenting the Annual Statement of Assurance 2013-14 for approval.

RESOLVED to approve the Annual Statement of Assurance 2013-14

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

The Chief Fire Officer presented his report seeking the agreement of members to a Statement of Pay Policy 2014/15 in line with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 which places a requirement on ‘relevant authorities’ to prepare pay statements for each financial year.

RESOLVED to agree the Statement of Pay Policy 2014/15

The Chairs of the following committees, produced reports which included the minutes of those meetings:

(a)  Finance and Resources Committee  11 July 2014;

(b)  Community Safety Committee 4 July 2014;

(c)  Human Resources Committee 11 July  2014;

(d)  Policy and Strategy 18 July 2014.

RESOLVED to note the reports and the business undertaken by the Committees.

Report of the Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee

Report of the Chair of the Community Safety Committee

Report of the Chair of the Human Resources Committee

Report of the Chair of the Policy and Strategy Committee

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 THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN DISCLOSING THE INFORMATION

The Committee decided to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining agenda 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 outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

Last meeting held on 27 June 2014 (for confirmation)

The Authority confirmed the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2014 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

John Buckley, the Chief Fire Officer presented his report updating the Authority on the arrangements and plans in place for dealing with the on-going industrial dispute between the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the Government.

RESOLVED

(1)  to note the latest update from the Chief Fire Officer and continue to support the activities in place to maintain operational cover;

(2)  to accept further update reports to either the full Fire Authority or Policy and Strategy Committee, as appropriate.