Agenda for Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority - Policy and Strategy on Friday, 3rd February, 2017, 10.00 am

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Fire and Rescue Services HQ, Bestwood Lodge, Arnold Nottingham NG5 8PD

Contact: James Welbourn  Email: james.welbourn@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

19.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

None.

20.

DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

None.

21.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 209 KB

Of the meeting held on 11 November 2016.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2016 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

22.

REVISED CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK pdf icon PDF 467 KB

Report of the Chief Fire Officer.

Minutes:

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer presented Members with details of the new CIPFA/Solace framework for delivering good governance in Local Government.

 

It was proposed to accept this revised code as it is rather than amending the existing one.

 

RESOLVED to approve the adoption of the revised Local Code of Corporate Governance.

23.

INFORMATION GOVERNANCE UPDATE pdf icon PDF 143 KB

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Minutes:

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer provided an update to Members on the information governance arrangements at NFRS.

 

The following points were highlighted:

 

(a)  Craig Parkin, Assistant Chief Fire Officer at NFRS has been nominated as the senior officer responsible for information governance;

 

(b)  Freedom of Information (FOI) requests can be costly and very time consuming.  NFRS have tried to publish as much information as possible on their website to try and mitigate the number of FOIs.

 

There can be some vexatious FOI requests, but there have been very few to date.

 

RESOLVED that the Chief Fire Officer provides an information governance report annually to the September meeting of the full Fire Authority, to include freedom of information requests, data protection areas of interest, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) activity and an overview of environmental information requests. 

24.

COLLABORATION UPDATE pdf icon PDF 271 KB

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Minutes:

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer provided an overview on current and prospective collaborative activities by NFRS.

 

To add to this, the Chair had received a letter from Brandon Lewis MP, Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Services regarding the Police and Crime Bill.  The Bill is due to come into force on 3 April.  The Chair intends to meet with Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to discuss issues over the proposed new legislation.

 

There has been no formal request from the PCC to become a Member of the Fire Authority.  However, if the PCC were to sit on the Fire Authority, there will be some work to do on political balance as the PCC would be a 19th Member.  Information will be circulated to Members as soon as it is available.

 

Following this, further information was given on collaboration:

 

(a)  NFRS have taken part in co-location since the 1960s. A recent example of co-location would be the floor sharing with Nottingham City Council at the new London Road Fire Station.  NFRS also co-locate with the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS);

 

(b)  joint working occurs at an operational level, as well as high level intelligence.  This feeds into day to day operations issues, as well as leading to high level joint training, and initial response training. 

 

Medical co-responding has taken place for 15 years – NFRS were one of the authorities that were involved in initial testing for this;

 

(c)  NFRS have been a successful delivery partner for the Prince’s Trust;

 

(d)  NFRS have an ability to respond back to Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Services’ Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) consultation.  It is also an opportunity to see what other areas of work Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire can collaborate on;

 

(e)  engagement with the workforce is key when moving forward with collaboration.  The Chief has engaged an organisational development programme, as well as having regular conversations with trade unions.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

(1)  endorse the collaboration work undertaken by the Service;

 

(2)  ask the Chief to respond to the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service IRMP consultation to explore opportunities to enter into a formal collaboration arrangement;

 

(3)  receive a future report from the Chief Fire Officer on the implications arising from the Policing and Crime Bill when it receives Royal assent.

25.

EMERGENCY SERVICE NETWORK (ESN) UPDATE pdf icon PDF 166 KB

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Minutes:

Craig Parkin, Assistant Chief Fire Officer provided an update on the progress of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) programme.

 

The following information was provided:

 

(a)  concerns have been raised about the deliverability of the ESN project following public accounts committee hearings.  If there is a delay leading to slippage, this could be costly;

 

(b)  Government are still expecting to transition to the new system in December 2019;

 

(c)  NFRS are quite fortunate that their transition can happen quite early on compared to other Fire and Rescue services.  Airwave services will be running in parallel with the new system, and NFRS can revert back to this if needed;

 

(d)  services across the East Midlands have been focusing on how ESN can be delivered together.  There is a workshop in March for blue light services being facilitated by NFRS.

 

RESOLVED to note the report.

26.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

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

Minutes:

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, as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

27.

LEASE FOR HUCKNALL FIRE STATION

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Minutes:

Ian Pritchard, Head of Procurement and Resources introduced the item on the lease for Hucknall Fire Station.

 

RESOLVED to accept the recommendations contained within the report.

28.

CLAIM FOR AN EX-GRATIA PAYMENT

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Minutes:

John Buckley, Chief Fire Officer reported to Members a claim for an ex-gratia payment.

 

RESOLVED to accept the recommendations as detailed in the exempt minute.