Agenda and minutes

None

None

Last meeting held on11 July 2014 (for confirmation).

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2014 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officer’s report on the financial performance of the Service in the year 2014/15 to the end of August 2014, analysing the significant variances against the original programme. The key points drawn to the Committees attention were;

·  the total revenue budget for 2014/15 is £42.892 million and the forecast outturn variance at this stage is an under spend of £621,000, which represents an overall variance of 1 %. However, there are still seven months of the year to go, during which time many factors could influence the final outturn;

·  the capital programme for 2014/15 of £4.364 million was approved by members at the full Fire Authority meeting and to this has been added a budget of £1.091 million for the remaining expenditure expected on the Tri-Service Control and Mobilising system for which a capital grant was received in 2012/13. In addition slippage from 2013/2014 has added a further £5.542m to create an overall programme of £10.997m

RESOLVED to note the report;

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Peter Hurford, Treasurer to the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority, presented his report informing the Committee of performance to 31 August 2014 relating to the prudential indicators for capital accounting and treasury management.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officer’s report bringing to the attention of members the annual report prepared by the Authority’s Internal Auditors. Neil Timms introduced Kate Buckland of Internal Audit, Nottinghamshire County Council, who commented on three areas;

• Fixed asset data migration – the auditors were able to provide a substantial level of assurance as to the accuracy of data transferred and made one recommendation about the recording of old asset numbers in the new system to enable the audit trail between the old asset registers and the new system to be strengthened. This has been done;

• ICT Strategy – the auditors were generally complimentary about the strategy and arrangements but had made a series of medium risk recommendations and these are being addressed;

• Business Risk Management follow up – this confirms that all previous recommendations have been implemented and a reasonable level of assurance is provided by the Auditors.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officer’s report bringing to the attention of Members three reports prepared by the Authority’s Internal Auditors. Neil Timms introduced Kate Buckland of Internal Audit, Nottinghamshire County Council, who commented on the three areas;

·  fixed asset data migration – the Auditors have been able to provide a substantial level of assurance as to the accuracy of the data transferred and have made one recommendation about the recording of old asset numbers in the new system to enable the audit trail between the old asset registers and the new system to be strengthened. This has been done;

·  ICT Strategy – the auditors are generally complimentary about the strategy and arrangements but have made a series of medium risk recommendations and these are being addressed;

·  Business Risk Management follow up – this confirms that all previous recommendations have been implemented and a reasonable level of assurance is provided by the Auditors.

The Chair thanked Kate Buckley for her attendance.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officer’s report following up on the report which had been brought to this Committee on 11 July 2014 looking at the work being undertaken to manage the risk to the Authority posed by at-work driving activity. Members had requested a report on the Authority’s motor insurance accident history including a comparison of the Authority’s approach to driver training with that of other Fire and Rescue Authorities.

The key statistics revealed by the statistical analysis of motor accident data are;

• there has been a decrease in the total number of accidents over the last seven years of 20%, primarily due to a decrease in blue-light accidents of 40%. However, there has been an increase in accidents under normal road conditions of 35% over the period;

• between 2007-2014, In relation to blue-light driving, 90% accidents were the drivers own fault whereas in normal road conditions, 79% of accidents were the drivers own fault;

• the most frequently occurring accidents both under blue-light and normal driving conditions involve manoeuvring, whether negotiating tight gaps or undertaking vehicle movements in or around the station;

• where large scale losses have occurred, the principal causative factor has been inappropriate us of speed;

• the Area Manager, Service Delivery and the Business Risk Manager are currently investigating how driver training can be used to facilitate improvement;

In the discussion which followed, Members were in agreement that action needed to be taken to reduce the number of accidents and requested that the Road Risk Group be tasked with formulating an action plan and bringing it back to this Committee at its next meeting on 16 January 2015.

RESOLVED

(1)  to note the measures being taken to reduce the Authority’s exposure to the risks associated with at-work driving;

(2)  that the Road Risk Group b asked to bring an action plan back to this Committee at its meeting on 16 January 2015.

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officer’s report following up on the report which had been brought to this Committee on 11 July 2014 looking at the work being undertaken to manage the risk to the Authority posed by at-work driving activity. Members requested a report on the Service’s motor insurance accident history including a comparison of the Service’s approach to driver training with that of other Fire and Rescue services. The publication of the report has attracted a lot of local media interest.

The key statistics revealed by the statistical analysis of motor accident data are;

·  there has been a decrease in the total number of accidents over the last seven years of 20%, primarily due to a decrease in blue-light accidents of 40%. However, there has been an increase in accidents under normal road conditions of 35% over the same period;

·  between 2007-2014, in relation to blue-light driving, 90% accidents were the driver’s own fault whereas in normal road conditions, 79% of accidents were the driver’s own fault;

·  the most frequently occurring accidents, both under blue-light and normal driving conditions, involve manoeuvring, whether negotiating tight gaps or undertaking vehicle movements in or around the station;

·  where large scale losses have occurred, the principal causative factor has been the inappropriate use of speed;

·  the Area Manager, Service Delivery, and the Business Risk Manager are currently investigating how driver training can be used to facilitate improvement with a view to reducing the number of accidents and driving down insurance premiums and repair costs;

In the discussion which followed, Members were in agreement that action needs to be taken to reduce the number of accidents and requested that the Road Risk Group be tasked with formulating an action plan setting out proposals and bringing it back to this Committee at its next meeting on 16 January 2015.

RESOLVED

(3)  to note the measures being taken to reduce the Authority’s exposure to the risks associated with at-work driving;

(4)  that the Road Risk Group bring an action plan back to this Committee at its meeting on 16 January 2015.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Timms, the Strategic Director of Finance and Resources, presented the Chief Fire Officer’s report presenting the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service Property Strategy for approval. Once adopted, the Property Strategy will replace the current Sustainable Capital Plans 2008.

Ian Pritchard, Head of Procurement and Estates explained to Members that the Strategy is aimed at providing a flexible framework in which the NFRS Estate will be developed into the future. It is intended to provide the agility to accept the constantly changing environment and to be able to adapt to both internal and external influences. The planning process will include consideration of any existing or future potential for estate rationalisation and for maximising the use of any existing building stock before building any new facilities. This will include considering dual use of buildings or part of buildings to ensure the effective use of assets e.g. meeting rooms for training and community use.

RESOLVED to accept the Property Strategy set out at Appendix A of the report.