Agenda and minutes

Malcolm Townroe, Clerk and Monitoring Officer to the Authority, requested nominations for Chair.

 

Resolved for Councillor Michael Payne to be appointed Chair of the Authority for the municipal year 2022-23.

 

Resolved for Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora to be appointed Vice-Chair of the Authority for the 2022/23 municipal year, and for it to be noted that she is the first female and ethnic minority Vice-Chair.

 

None.

None.

Of the meeting held on 25 February 2022 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2022 were confirmed true record and signed by the Chair.

 

Councillor Michael Payne welcomed new and returning members and thanked those members who had previously served but not returned for their work with the Authority.

 

It was with sadness that the Chair informed the Authority that Rob Disney, Head Internal Auditor for Nottinghamshire County Council and for the Authority, had recently passed away following a short illness. He had worked with the Service for many years, and was well liked and respected. The Authority’s thoughts are with his friends and family.

 

On 18 May 2022, the Home Office published the White Paper entitled ‘Reforming Our Fire and Rescue Service – building professionalism, boosting performance and strengthening governance’, which outlines proposals to reform the Fire and Rescue Service.

 

The paper focuses on the three main areas of

i.  people – having well trained and supported staff;

ii.  professionalism – ensuring high levels within services; and

iii.  governance – having strong and effective controls in place.

 

Members of the Authority will be provided with a briefing and the Service has until 26 July 2022 to respond to the consultation and formally feedback its views on the proposal.

 

Congratulations are extended to Firefighter Uroosa Arshid who is based at West Bridgford Fire Station, as she has won the ‘Young Person Role Model Award’ in the ‘Women in the Fire Service Awards 2022’ for her work as an excellent role model, engaged in inspiring conversations, actions and outcomes around equality, diversity issues and actively embodying the motto ‘if you can see it, you can be it’.

 

Uroosa is unable to attend the awards event on 10 June 2022 so Assistant Chief Fire Officer Candida Brudenell will receive the award on her behalf.

 

HMICFRS have launched a consultation on their proposed third round inspection programme for Fire and Rescue Services during 2023/24. Initially it was believed that further inspections would be shorter but more in-depth, but this is not the case and all areas of the Service will be inspected in-depth.

 

The consultation asks nine questions about how HMICFRS should inspect Services and which areas should be focused on. The consultation is open until 6 June 2022 and NFRS Corporate Support Team are co-ordinating the Service response.

Report of the Clerk and Monitoring Officer

Malcolm Townroe, Clerk and Monitoring Officer to the Authority, presented the report which identifies members appointed from the City and County Local Authorities, proposes the dates of future meetings and requests the appointments are made to each committee with consideration to political balance:

 

Resolved

 

1)  to note the following appointments

 

a)  from the City Council;

 

Councillor Steve Battlemuch (Labour)

Councillor Nicola Heaton (Labour)

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora (Labour)

Councillor Gul Nawaz Khan (Labour)

Councillor Nick Raine (Labour)

Councillor Dave Trimble (Labour);

 

b)  from the County Council:

 

Councillor Callum Bailey (Conservative)

Councillor John Clarke (Labour)

Councillor Robert Corden (Conservative)

Councillor Eddie Cubley (Conservative)

Councillor Sybil Fielding (Labour)

Councillor Tom Hollis (Independent Alliance)

Councillor Johno Lee (Conservative)

Councillor Michael Payne (Labour)

Councillor Mike Quigley MBE (Conservative)

Councillor Roger Upton (Conservative)

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler (Conservative)

Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Independent Alliance)

 

2)  to approve the Committee structure;

 

3)  to approve the following appointments to committees, including Chairs, and the proposed dates of those committees:

 

a)  Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority

22 July 2022

16 September 2022

16 December 2022

24 February 2023

26 May 2023 (AGM)

 

b)  Policy and Strategy Committee

 

i.  Membership

Councillor Michael Payne (Chair as Chair of the Authority)

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora

Councillor Sybil Fielding

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler

Councillor Mike Quigley MBE

Councillor Jason Zadrozny

 

ii.  Dates of meetings:

24 June 2022

11 November 2022

27 January 2023

28 April 2023

 

c)  Human Resources Committee

 

i.   Membership

Councillor David Trimble (Chair)

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora

Councillor Gul Khan

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler

Councillor Robert Cordon

Councillor Tom Hollis

 

ii.  Dates of meetings

1 July 2022

4 November 2022

13 January 2023

21 April 2023

 

d)  Community Safety Committee (10.00 am)

 

i.  Membership

Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Chair)

Councillor Nicola Heaton

Councillor Nick Raine

Councillor Dave Trimble

Councillor Robert Cordon

Councillor Roger Upton

 

ii.  Dates of meetings

7 June 2022

7 October 2022

6 January 2023

24 March 2023

 

e)  Finance and Resources Committee (10.00 am)

 

i.  Membership

Councillor John Clark (Chair)

Councillor Steve Battlemuch

Councillor Nicola Heaton

Councillor Sybil Fielding

Councillor Callum Bailey

Councillor Mike Quigley MBE

Councillor Eddie Cubley

 

ii.  Dates of meetings

24 June 2022

14 October 2022

20 January 2023

31 March 2023

 

f)  Personnel Committee

 

i.  Membership

Councillor Dave Trimble

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora

Councillor John Clark

Councillor Nick Raine

Councillor Eddie Cubley

Councillor Roger Upton

Councillor Johno Lee

 

ii.  Personnel Committee will meet as required and the Chair will be appointed at each meeting.

 

g)  Appointments Committee

 

i.  Membership

Councillor Michael Payne (Chair as Chair of the Authority)

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora

Councillor Sybil Fielding

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler

Councillor Robert Cordon

Councillor Tom Hollis

 

ii.  The Appointments Committee will meet as required

 

h)  Strategic Inclusion Board

 

i.  Membership

Councillor Michael Payne

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora

Councillor Nicola Heaton

Councillor Jonathan Wheeler

Councillor Johno Lee

Councillor Jason Zadrozny

 

ii.  The Strategic Inclusion Board will meet at the rising of each full Fire Authority meeting excluding the AGM.

 

i)  Pensions Board

 

i.  membership

Councillor Sybil  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Joint Report of the Chief Fire Officer and the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance and Treasurer to the Authority, introduced the report which presents the External Auditor’s draft ISA 260 report to members and seeks the approval of the management representation letter to the External Auditors.

 

Neil Harris, External Auditor of Ernst and Young LLP, joined the meeting via zoom.

 

The following points were highlighted:

 

a)  the audit, and so report, have been delayed due to national issues which have been previously reported to members;

 

b)  the Service’s Finance Team are thanked for their co-operation and assistance in preparing the audit in challenging circumstances;

 

c)  since an update was last provided substantial progress has been made on the key areas of the accounts and financial statements, including risk and higher risk;

 

d)  there are no material adjustments that have arisen from the Audit, only matters of disclosure which do not affect the overall figures;

 

e)  areas of procedures are being examined  but to date an unqualified opinion is predicted;

 

f)  value for money is also examined and areas of risk due to weakness sought, but none have been found;

 

g)  the audit report is not in a position to be issued and work continues regarding matters referred to in appendix B to the report. It is anticipated work will be completed and the audit ready to be signed off at the Authority’s meeting on 22 July 2022.

 

Authority members’ questions were responded to as follows:

 

h)  with regard to the uncorrected disclosure misstatements referred to within the audit differences section, this is a turnaround error required to be reported but was a projected difference that was adjusted for that year, which moves into the 2020/21 audit and is below audit materiality;

 

i)  the Audit Team found a small error of 2% on a sample which then was expanded to 2% across the whole expenditure, which totalled £1 million. £1 million was not the value of the actual error;

 

j)  55% of organisations have had their accounts completed, whilst 45% are yet to be signed off. This is a similar picture across all audit providers and the sustainability of public sector audit has been the subject of much review, including the incremental shift and the growing requirements of auditors to apply an increasing number of professional regulatory standards;

 

k)  Ernst and Young would never charge additional fees as a result of delays if the fault sits with the company. Auditors have highlighted for the past few years that the scale of fees across the board are not appropriate for the level of audit required to meet quality and professional standards. This is an issue which Central Government needs to resolve.

 

Members’ comments included:

 

l)  mounting financial pressures, including inflation, are impacting on everyone, including the people we employ so we need to keep lobbying with regard to pay;

 

m)  whilst the annual audit fee was initially set at £23,000, it has now reached £45,000. Resilience needs to be built into a contract so that such additional charges do not evolve.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority

Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance and Treasurer to the Authority, introduced the report which presents the 2020/21 Audited Statement of Accounts to the Authority.

 

The draft statement of accounts was presented to the Authority in July 2021. This document is very similar with just the amendments made which were discussed in the previous Audit Report item around disclosures and differing categories but the sum being the same.

 

Once the Audit is completed, unless any changes of a material nature are identified, the Authority is asked to delegate the approval of the final accounts to Becky Smeathers as Treasurer to the Authority. However if any material changes of a significant nature are required to the draft accounts which will be submitted to the Authority for approval.

 

Resolved

 

1)  to note the draft audited Statement of Accounts for 2020/21 attached at Appendix A to the report;

 

2)  to delegate to the Treasurer, in consultation with the Chair of Fire Authority, to approve the final audited accounts subject to their being no further changes of a material nature. Any such changes would require approval by Fire Authority at its meeting on 22 July 2022.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Craig Parkin, Chief Fire Officer, presented the report which has been submitted to and supported by the Human Resources Committee.

 

In response to members’ questions, the Chief Fire Office explained that following a change in legislation around fire hydrant inspections and risk elements, 2 people are now required to undertake this work to ensure compliance to the maintenance schedule.

 

Resolved to approve the following changes to the permanent establishment;

 

i.  the creation of a new role of Fire Investigation Dog Handler;

ii.  the creation of two Equipment and Fire Hydrant Technician roles;

iii.  the creation of a Rostering Manager role;

iv.  the creation of a Pensions Officer role;

v.  the dis-establishment of a HR Business Partner role and creation of an HR Officer as a career-graded post.