Agenda item

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Prior to consideration of this item, representatives of the Fire Brigades Union asked the following 2 questions:

 

Question 1

 

In September’s Fire Authority meeting, we asked ‘Will the Authority agree to postpone all recommendations currently proposed until after the financial budgets have been officially announced by the government’. This request was denied. Firefighters, and members of the public have been put into a position that has caused an enormous amount of stress and anxiety, a situation which was completely avoidable.

The proposals contained within Futures 2025 paper were based on estimates and assumptions and not fact. There was another way, a way that has now been proven to be correct.

We thank the members of this Authority that stood with the FBU to campaign and lobby for funding and an increase the Council Tax precept. The FBU will continue to lobby.

This should be a lesson to all that giving up and accepting what seems inevitable is never the right approach. We deserve more and so do the public that we strive to protect.

The increase in the allowable precept rise buys us time, time to consider future options and continue to work together to secure the funding we require for the future.

We commend the Fire Authority for accepting the recommendations of a precept rise to the £5 limit. We ask that this Fire Authority commit to working together in the future to secure funding to protect our Service and give assurances that before announcing proposals with such wide reaching implications in the future, that real consideration will be given to the impact on firefighters and the public.

 

The Chair responded:

 

The last year has been a challenge for all involved. The Chair is very much aware of and also the stress and anxiety caused, and has strived for an outcome which prevented the need to make Service cuts. This position is a reflection of the last decade, not one that anybody wished to experience, however, the futures 2025 strategy and pre-planning approach has ensured that the Fire Authority has been able to balance its budget, as is legally required, and have a plan as to how it can operate in a sustainable way. On behalf of the Fire Authority, I would thank all stakeholders, including the Fire Brigades Union, for the unified lobbying that you undertook and pressure that has been applied both locally and nationally to highlight the issues facing Nottinghamshire, particularly the joint lobbying of Parliament and campaigning reasonably and in good faith.

I said at the time that we would wait until the outcome of the consultation before making a decision and listen to what is said. It would have been remiss of me as Chair to delay the consultations until this meeting. At that point, despite of consistent personal and joint lobbying, there was no additional flexibility on Council Tax. If that hadn’t been provided, this budget would have been close to providing a deficit in excess of £2.3 million. The ability to provide a balanced budget has only very recently become evident with the additional Council Tax flexibility and the unexpected additional income from Business Rates, along with a small uplift in the settlement.

The public consultation, although stressful and causing anxiety, did draw attention to the difficulties of the Fire Service, both here in Nottinghamshire, and nationally and resulted in influencing the Central Government position. It would have been wrong to wait until today to see if what we hoped would come to fruition. We spent the time between the last meeting and now jointly lobbying which has provided the outcome before us today.  The FBU should be proud of the role it has played and the contribution to the joint lobbying. 

 

Question 2

 

The FBU is disappointed with the recommendation to allow Ashfield Fire Station to remain on a Day-Shift Crewing Model.

The FBU has expressed its concerns on multiple occasions surrounding this crewing model on any station, especially one with such a diverse geographical area and level of risk. This Authority should be striving to reduce attendance times and improve the level of cover we provide to our communities across the whole of Nottinghamshire.

Will this Fire Authority make a commitment to explore all available options in order to revert Ashfield back to a 24hour whole-time station, without any further cuts or detrimental proposals to other station areas?

 

The Chair responded:

 

As the report details, the CFO has already committed to explore viable options to resource to risk, but the extent of this approach will clearly only be achievable within the available financial envelope. The Authority continues to face a budget deficit regardless of the ability to raise Council Tax by £5 and we look forward to the advice of the CFO on potential options.

The independent assessment report clearly identified gaps in the resourcing to risk  to the community with current provision at Ashfield and this will not be ignored but the CFO can only work within the current financial envelope. Further information will be provided in the report.

 

 

Craig Parkin, Chief Fire Officer, presented the report which provides the outcome of the public consultation on the Futures 2025 Efficiency Strategy proposals.

 

The following points were highlighted and members’ questions responded to:

 

a)  The anxiety caused to staff, citizens and elected members by the Futures 2025 proposals is recognised, but the proposals reflected the situation at the time with the Service facing a £2.2 million deficit, rising to £3.3 million  (revised in the summer). It would not have been appropriate to wait for the settlement announcement, the current position may not have been achieved if consultation had been delayed until today, which was requested;

 

b)  Thanks are extended to everyone involved in lobbying the Central Government, Thanks are also noted to the Senior Leadership Group, Becky Smeathers and the Finance Team, all of whom have provided phenomenal support and worked hard on a very difficult report;

 

c)  There were nine recommendations within the Futures 2025 Efficiency Strategy, many reaching more broadly than the main issue focused on so far today;

 

d)  The first two recommendations have already been identified with £0.25 million savings in the past 12 months by reducing the number of non-operational staff;

 

e)  Consideration of revising future demand and response resources will be considered  on an ongoing basis’;

 

f)  Reviewing response times has started and the review of the Community Risk  Management Plan with regard to commitments to communities is ongoing;

 

g)  Limited use of reserves has been agreed, and investigating sustainable longer term strategic options for funding the Service is ongoing;

 

h)  There is still further work to be done with regard to longer term strategic collaboration;

 

i)  The outcome of the public consultation was as predicted at the September meeting of the Authority,  although response numbers were low at just over 1,800, this is not unusual for public sector consultation but further consideration will be given as to how to improve future response rates;

 

j)  Although now not required to be considered within the recommendation, a lot of work went into assessing realistic assumptions around the potential variance of the national pay offer, council tax precepts, and the final settlement sum to ensure the budget could be balanced;

 

k)  The majority of current vacancies will be kept open for the moment, to help support the deficit with £440,000 of savings;

 

l)  It should be noted that since 2016, the Service experienced disparity with an 11% reduction in firefighter posts, against the national average of just 3%;

 

m)  As quoted in paragraph 2.5 of the report, Central Government have informed Chairs of Fire Authorities that if the £5 Council Tax levy is applied, there is an expectation that budgets are re-prioritised, and efficiencies sought to maximise productivity, and the evidence of this is provided;

 

n)  The Service is broader than just its emergency response and aims to be outstanding in all areas, including protection, prevention and building inspection;

 

o)  The Scheme of delegation, which provides the Chief Fire Officer with the authority to manage staffing, has been beneficial and assisted in balancing budgets;

 

p)  Even following the consultation and its outcome, the Fire Cover Review is ongoing as referred to in report, and is likely to present further areas for discussion;

 

q)  The low response in consultation has been disappointing. Further consideration will be given to future consultation, including clarification of what the Fire Rescue Service does beyond firefighting;

 

r)  Consultation, including focus groups were in favour of £5 Council Tax increase and also required evidence of value for money, providing assurance that those involved were well informed;

 

s)  £5 Council Tax increase is beneficial to the Service, but the broad issues are not resolved and ongoing consideration of resources is required, alongside ongoing examination of value for money, which will be scrutinised by the Finance Resources Committee;

 

t)  The Community Safety Committee has been considering reducing attendance to unwanted five signals. Additional work will be done to assure members that operationally this is a sound approach, but management of public expectation will also need to be considered and appropriately managed;

 

u)  Phase 2 of Futures 2025 will now continue, not just regarding the efficiency of finance, but also process and increased productivity, with a dedicated Area Manager leading on this work and information being fed to the HMICFR Inspectors;

 

v)  Balancing a budget with balancing resources to operational and non-operational requirements is necessary, including statutory functions in prevention work and building inspections;

 

w)  Maintaining good, long-term strategic partnerships is important. Even with the potential for national industrial action by the Fire Brigades Union, the Service has maintained a good working relationship with representatives and hopes that this will continue;

 

x)  Recognising changing risks between departments was evidence when the potential for strike action was identified and planning for such an event required significant departmental additional effort and resource planning;

 

y)  It is not recommended that cuts to the Service are made at this time, but it should be noted that they remain a potential option to achieve the necessary savings required going forward;

 

z)  The CFO has drafted a letter to MPs, which will be shared with the Chair, highlighting where the Service is currently and raising concerns going forward. Pro-active challenge has proven valuable and successfully provided results, so must be continued.

 

The Chair thanked the Chief Fire Officer and Senior Leadership Team for working very hard on a difficult report but stated that whilst the Service has won a temporary reprieve, further Service efficiency improvements are required, otherwise further examination of service cuts will be necessary as future flexibility around council tax will not be enough to prevent future cuts to the service. In addition, the national disparity between Fire and Rescue Services needs to be addressed by Central Government.

 

The Chair proposed an additional two recommendations to those listed in the report, which were agreed and welcomed by Authority members.

 

Members commented as follows:

 

aa)  The Additional recommendation requiring action to address the evidenced based resourcing-to-risk gap at Ashfield Fire Station is welcomed by members, particularly residents and firefighters. Implementation of solutions as swiftly as possible is essential;

 

bb)  It is very disappointing that not all Nottinghamshire County Members of Parliament openly supported the Service in its consultation, but Authority members are grateful to those who did;

 

cc)  The way in which the Ashfield Independent members have engaged in and supported the multi-party lobbying approach is welcomed, as is that of the Fire Brigades Union representatives;

 

dd)  Whilst setting a urgency timescale within which the Chief Fire Officer is to address the resourcing-to-risk gap issues at Ashfield, would understandably be welcomed by some members, an arbitrary time line to implement changes at Ashfield Fire Station is not necessary as the Chief Fire Officer is very much aware of the need to act as swiftly as possible;

 

ee)  The Authority has consulted citizens and listened to what they have to say. Councillors local to potentially affected fire stations were lobbied by residents and firefighters, and welcome the additional recommendations removing the current potential of reducing capacity at those stations. However, the Service remains in a precarious state with possible cuts required next year, so a longer term solution is required;

 

ff)  Changes at Ashfield Fire Station need to be applied  within the existing financial envelope.  The results will be reported to either the Fire Authority or one of its committees to ensure that citizens can clearly see that the Authority has responded to public consultation;

 

gg)  For several years the Fire Authority has been requesting a longer term notice of the settlement funding, beyond the current annual notification. Ongoing lobbying of Central Government for this, alongside an increased settlement figure, is clearly required;

 

hh)  This is a brief reprieve, but the Chair and Chief Fire Officer have already stated that the Service will be in the same position next year unless funding arrangements and amounts change. Members of the Authority need to encourage long term lobbying of Central Government and elected members at all levels and from all directions, including Local Authorities and citizens, to achieve a better settlement with a longer term financial settlement;

 

ii)  There needs to be some sort of information circulated at the time of Council Tax increase to ensure citizens are clear on what the Service is providing for the additional money;

 

jj)  People who work for the Service are among the best to advocate for the Service and highlight where the issues are and support campaigning to save Services and get a better settlement;

 

kk)  Devolution may provide further changes going forward, but disappointingly the Fire Authority was not included in the initial devolution discussions. It’s highly unlikely that the Fire and Police Services will be rolled into the Mayoralty within its first term, but that may change in the second or later. Devolution could have a massive impact and place a lot of responsibility, pressure and power on an individual, rather than the shared responsibility, engagement and debated opinion, such as with the Fire Authority. Where services are co-terminus, it would be easier to incorporate them into a mayoral model, but this is not currently the case for either the Police and Fire Services of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire;

 

ll)  Citizens of the Ashfield community will welcome the assurance that they are valued and respected, the same as all other communities, and receive the same level of service.

 

Resolved unanimously to:

 

1)  note the outcomes of Phase 1 of the Workforce Review including the associated exempt report relating to discretionary compensation payments to affected individuals;

 

2)  receive further reports from the Chief Fire Officer;

 

3)  agree not to remove the second appliance from London Road and Stockhill Fire Stations, and agree not to convert West Bridgford Fire Station from one whole-time appliance to one dayshift crewing appliance;

 

4)  task the Chief Fire Officer to swiftly work up and implement proposals at Ashfield Fire Station to address the identified gap in resourcing to risk faced by the community.