Agenda item

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Leila Henry, Risk, Resilience and Assurance Manager, presented the Annual Statement of Assurance for 2022/23, which sets out how the Service had performed against the six strategic goals of the Community Risk Management Plan, while also providing assurance on financial, governance and operational management.

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

a)  The statement in its entirety is attached to the report and designed to provide citizens with assurance that the Service is functioning as proposed;

b)  Key highlights from the past 12 months are outlined in report and include:

i.  Positive external assurance reports, from both OFSTED for the fire fighter apprenticeship, and His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), both rating the Service as ‘good’;

ii.  The ongoing inclusion journey, supporting Pride and ensuring the deaf community has access to 999 calling;

iii.  Ongoing support and investment in staff and the Service, with the new Incident Command Training Facility, and the new fire station at Worksop;

c)  The report includes information which members may find useful in passing to citizens in the constituencies regarding the activities and achievements of the Fire Service, particularly during a challenging period;

d)  OFSTED inspected the Service for the first time following its registration as an employer provider. External scrutiny took place, the same as any other training provider. It is anticipated that the next Ofsted inspection will be more than two year’s away;

e)  Additional functions system have been provided to the community to improve access, all of which have been tested to ensure they are embedded and ready for use;

f)  Under representation is an continuing focus to be addressed by the Service with ongoing recruitment action, specifically targeting underrepresented groups;

g)  Smoke hoods, although not new, when not generally in use until following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, have been used to support the evacuation of multiple persons. Initially additional funding was made available by Central Government to assist with this purchase;

h)  With regard to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), the Service does have an integrated action plan which is currently under review. It’s acknowledged that the culture of the Service as a whole does have a long way to go with regard to representation, attitude and behaviour. The complete buy-in to the equalities agenda needs to be adopted by everyone, including elected members and all staff, including the challenging of inappropriate behaviour. There are mechanisms in place, including the Strategic Inclusion Board which members are welcome to attend and have the opportunity to directly engage with the EDI networks. There is also an inclusion Performance Group within the organisation. Any information can be shared with members on request.

Members of the Authority congratulated the Service for:

i.  the Worksop Fire Station which has excellent facilities;

ii.  the Service’s attendance over a long period at the Ranskill incident, for which a great deal of respect was expressed from the local community;

iii.  on achieving a good rating from the Ofsted inspection of the firefighter apprenticeship scheme;

iv.  the impressive achievement of the Service responding to a 12% increase in incidents,  particularly as the workforce has reduced by up to 40 persons.

Resolved to approve the Annual Statement of Assurance 2022-23 for publication.