Agenda item

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Leila Henry, Head of Risk Assurance and Operational Training, presented the report which provides an update on the progression to phase 2 of the Service’s efficiency and improvement programme, Futures25.

The following points were highlighted:

a)  Phase 1 focused on efficiency, but due to changes in budget deficit, thankfully not all proposals were required to be implemented;

b)  The programme is also a vehicle for delivering service improvement and redesign,  for which there is a specific budget allocation;

c)  The operating context of the Fire Service nationally is changing very quickly, so this needs to be taken into consideration, including the necessity to quickly and dynamically respond to new and emerging risks. In addition there is an increasing expectation for the sector to improve EDI values, culture and leadership within the Service, and so these National priorities need to be included within the program to ensure appropriate resourcing and speedy responses;

d)  National expectations from the Inspectorate and Home Office have included the requirement to provide efficiency and productivity plans, which include detailed financial and quality information on progress. The LGA have proposed that 2% of non-pay efficiencies, and 3% of productivity increases can be achieved within the futures 25 proposed implementation schedule into 2024/25;

e)  The report sets out the strategic aims and objectives for phase 2 of Futures 25, including four key work streams;

i.  Governance Review;

ii.  Revenue Budget Management;

iii.  Service Redesign;

iv.  Culture, EDI and Leadership.

f)  The governance review will consider the governance and meeting structures of the Service to ensure there is an appropriate amount of control and risk mitigation around decisions ensuring that risks are assured at the highest level and the responsibilities dissolved to the most appropriate level in the organisation. This will enable a rapid and dynamic response to national demands and ensure that community outcomes are as good as they can be;

g)  Revenue budget management includes the requirement to achieve 2% non-pay efficiencies, but to date, the Service has already identified £1.1 million worth of savings, which is in excess of the 2% required efficiency, although some savings can only be considered temporary to vacancies. Non-cashable savings will be monitored closely. Assurance is provided that to address the predicted budget deficit of the next financial year, every effort will be made to achieve non-pay efficiencies prior to consideration of any pay budget alterations;

h)  Service redesign is the most significant area of improvement work. It will identify where there are interfaces which can be streamlined to improve efficiency, including potential investment in IT systems;

i)  The workforce has been consulted throughout and it’s reassuring that areas identified for improvement by the workforce have also been identified through the program team. Several areas of improvement will start this year as part of the Annual Delivery Plan, potentially with Futures 25 enabling additional funding to be accessed to implement the changes;

j)  Any redesign activities taking place will be done in conjunction with the workforce to generate a ground-up approach for improvement. The people who hold the answer to the Service improving are the people who are doing the job every day. This will be supported by an internally appointed organisation development professional to support workforce engagement;

k)  Culture, EDI and Leadership has been added as the fourth element as people are key to the successful implementation of change, whilst also ensuring that the necessary resourcing is available and ensure that work will progress with the expected speed;

l)  The responsibility of the Service is to respond in a balanced manner to different risks, including emergency response. There has been a significant reduction in number of support staff over recent years, resulting in very few people working very hard to deliver services to communities. However, if the Service doesn’t continue to evolve and progress ways of working, there will be a degradation of services;

m)  Workforce engagement is key to the success of the program, ensuring that station based staff can share and identify areas which will make their time more efficient in supporting communities, including risk mitigation beyond that of the frontline. The amount and variety of tasks expected from the frontline workforce has expanded in recent years, but to the benefit of communities, both in identifying emerging risks and working to address or respond to them.

Comments included:

n)  The need to make efficiencies is understood, £900k cost of implementation futures 25, makes members uneasy when asked to make £600k cuts on frontline services;

o)  Members welcome the approach and consideration of efficient investment and suggested that consideration should also be given to withdrawing elements of work, which may not be wholly necessary, particularly as many staff feel that the authority is asking too much of staff;

p)  Central government is directing the tasks for which of firefighters need to be responsible, and yet is not providing additional funds in response to the additional responsibilities;

q)  The lack of funding and investment from Central Government is having a huge impact on the Service. It would be a struggle to determine which areas of work the Service should retreat from as is believed that the Service is currently working as leanly as possible to meet the requirements of the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) commitments;

r)  The CRPM sets out what citizens can expect from the service and the commitment from the authority. There is an opportunity to look again at the CRMP in advance of the new plan to be introduced in April 2025, within the available budget;

s)  There still needs to be ambition for the Service which is currently achieving very well in difficult circumstances;

t)   Efficiency must continue to be examined and work prioritised;

u)  Officers of the Futues25 Programme Team were thanked for their work;

v)  It is acknowledged that without support staff, the Service could not operate, and so adequate investment is required.

Resolved

1)  to note the content of the report;

2)  to agree to receive future updates on the Futures 25 Programme.