Agenda and minutes

Councillor Michael Quigley MBE

None.

Minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2019, for confirmation

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2019 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance, presented the report of the Chief Fire Officer which informs Members of performance for the three month period to 28 February 2019 relating to the prudential indicators for capital and treasury management.

It was noted that there was additional temporary borrowing in January 2019 of £2million to take advantage of low rates. This bought the total borrowing at the end of February  to £23.642million which is well within the operational boundary. Further borrowing has also taken place and this will be reported to the next meeting of this committee.

RESOLVED to note the report

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance, presented the report of the Chief Fire Officer which informs members of the financial performance of the Service in the year 2018/19 to the end of January 2019. She highlighted the following information:

(a)  Figures are mainly in line with those reported in January, however overall underspend has fallen to £67,000 from £84,000;

(b)  There has been a slightly lower than expected use of reserves over 2018-19. In order to rationalise the number of Earmarked Reserves, a  review will be undertaken going forward;

Following questions from Members the following further information was highlighted

(c)  The Car tax liabilities relate to the lease car arrangements previously reported to this committee and have been included in the forecast outturn figures;

(d)  An element of the unplanned overtime relates to support given to Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Services. These costs have been recovered;

(e)  The retained pay underspend is attributed to some stations not yet fully achieving the 3hrs of drills per week, built into the budget;

(f)  There are a number of options being considered for the site of the old Newark Fire Station, these will be bought to this committee in the new financial year.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Note the contents of the report; and

(2)  Approve the proposed changes to earmarked reserves which are set out in Paragraph 2.22 and Appendix C of the published report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance, presented the report drawing members attention to the outcome of reports commissioned by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, prepared by the Authority’s Internal Auditors.

In line with recommendations by this committee in June 2018 this report brings forward audit reports on a rolling basis. A reasonable level of assurance was given on all reports.

RESOLVED to note the content of the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Neil Harris, Ernest & Young LLP, presented the report of the external auditors detailing the audit plan for work which they intend to carry out on the Authority’s 2018/19 financial statements and value for money arrangements.

He outlined the indicative audit plan and detailed the areas of focus as set out in the report. He emphasised that financial resilience would be a focus, as would value for money, although on review of previous audit reports this was not as a result of any concerns.

RESOLVED to note the contents of this report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Chief Fire Officer John Buckley introduced the report intended to provide an overview of the corporate risk management process and the current version of the Corporate Risk Register. 

The only addition of note to the register is to capture the risk associated with the Joint Fire Control projects with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service and the control measures which are being implemented to mitigate this risk.

RESOLVED to note the content of the report.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Chief Fire Officer John Buckley, presented the report to members giving an overview of the activities associated with the management of occupational road risk. He highlighted the following points:

(a)  The insurance premium has increased again, this is not attributable to accidents, but is as a result in changes to the fleet;

(b)  The number of accidents reported has been steadied, however there is still a high number of minor accidents, predominantly slow speed manoeuvring;

(c)  The Service is working with Nottingham Trent University on eLearning which supplements existing driver training around hazard perception, this is being rolled out across the Service;

RESOLVED to note the actions being taken by the Service to reduce the risk associated with Occupations Road Risk

Thanks were offered to both Councillor Malcolm Wood and Councillor Brian Grocock for their many years’ service to the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority as this was their last meeting.

Both Councillor Wood and Councillor Grocock thanked the Committee members and the Officers for their support and hard work for the Authority