DRAFT

MINUTES LONDON FIRE & EMERGENCY PLANNING AUTHORITY

DATE Thursday 26 January 2017 TIME 2.00 pm VENUE City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2ALL

Minutes of the proceedings of the meeting of London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority held in City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2ALL, on Thursday 26 January 2017

Present:

Dr Fiona Twycross AM (Chair) Councillor Leonie Cooper AM Councillor Oonagh Moulton Councillor JP, AM Councillor Emma Dent Coad Councillor Martin Whelton AM Councillor (Vice-Chair) Councillor Fiona Colley AM AM

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from AM, Councillor , Councillor Sarah Hayward, Councillor Jack Hopkins, Councillor Mehboob Khan, AM and Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs.

2. Minutes

The motion was made by the Chair – that the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 24 November 2016 be signed as a correct record.

The motion was seconded by the Vice Chair, put and agreed.

Resolved – accordingly.

The minutes were thereupon signed by the Chair.

3. Special Announcements by the Chair and reports by the Chair or the Clerk to the Authority of any Communications

The Chair announced that on 2 December 2016 at the Excellence in Fire Service Awards, AC Peter Cowup was awarded the International Fire Professional of the year for being the Project Sponsor for Exercise Unified Response. Innovation of the Year went to the Brigade’s Information Management Department for the Electronic Premises Information Plates, and Project of the Year went to the London Fire Brigade, also for Exercise Unified Response.

The Chair announced that on Christmas Day the Brigade joined forces with local Co-op food stores and the Healthy London Partnership to cook a Christmas dinner for the most vulnerable members of their community and their carers. This was part of the festive celebrations at the five fire stations which took part, with the oldest guest at Dagenham being 99 years old.

The Chair reported that the 24 hour period over New Years Eve was particularly busy for the Brigade, with Brigade Control taking 640 calls and crews attending 365, which included two six pump fires, one eight pump fire and two ten pump fires. One of these ten pump fires in Acton involved the road outside being completely blocked by 348 people that had been evacuated. Upon arrival crews witnessed people climbing out of a first floor window onto a flat roof. A ladder was pitched and eight people were assisted away from the scene. In total 10 appliances attended this incident.

The Chair reported that on 23 January 2017, the Brigade attended a fire in a block of industrial units in Wembley. On arrival, crews gained access by forcing open a roller shutter door which revealed heavy smoke logging and once a sufficient water supply was established the initial fire in the original ground floor unit was extinguished. However the fire had also spread to the roof void and crews experienced difficult conditions as the fire established itself. Nevertheless, crews were ultimately successful in extinguishing the fire by using jets, ground monitors and aerial appliances. In total 20 pumping appliances, 4 aerials and 2 hose layers attended the incident. The Chair added that she visited the fire ground the following day, and saw first-hand the truly impressive work from the Brigade’s firefighters on what was a busy night.

The Chair was pleased to announce that Peter Clarke and Simon Jakeman had been recognised in the New Year Honours list by being awarded the British Empire Medal. Peter’s award recognises his work creating “Crossfire”, a multi-agency community engagement project designed to reduce hoax calling, deliberate fires and anti-social behaviour. Simon’s award recognises his work on sustainability and energy-saving as the Brigade’s ‘Super Green’ champion over the past year. Simon has been encouraging all staff to embrace environmentally friendly policies in the workplace.

The Chair congratulated Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs, on the birth of her son, Felix, who was born on 7 December 2016.

4. Disclosures of Interests and Dispensations

Resolved – That the details of membership of the GLA, other functional bodies and London Boroughs, as attached as an appendix to the agenda, be noted. No further disclosures were made.

5. Budget Update - FEP 2685

Report by Director of Finance and Contractual Services.

The Director of Finance and Contractual Services introduced the report.

Gareth Beeton (London Regional Chair, FBU) addressed the meeting and made reference to flooding requirements set out in paragraphs 32 – 36 of the report. He sought the Authority’s support in lobbying the Government for flood response to be made a statutory duty for all Fire and Rescue services in the country with sufficient and appropriate additional funding. The Chair thanked him for his contribution.

Gareth Bacon AM referred to the question he had asked under item 9 on the agenda (FEP 2697) and asked related questions arising from paragraph 72 of the report concerning the implementation cost of the Ultra Low Emission Zone. In doing so, he clarified that the Vehicle Replacement report (FEP 2687) referred to in paragraph 72 had been submitted to the Resources Committee on 13 June and was not before the Authority.

After discussion, the Chair moved the motion – That the Authority:

(a) Notes the report,

(b) Approves additional funding of £1.2m for the Community Safety Investment Fund in 2016/17, to be funded from the forecast underspend; and

(c) Noting the likely level of savings over the alternative option, approves opting in to the Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd arrangement for appointing the Authority’s auditor from 2018/19.

The motion was seconded by the Vice Chair, put and agreed.

Resolved – accordingly.

6. Thomas Review - Update of Actions on Findings - FEP 2694

Report by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner introduced the report.

The Chair moved the motion – That the Authority:

Notes the actions set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

The motion was seconded by the Vice Chair, put and agreed.

Resolved – accordingly.

7. Anthony Mayer Review of Resourcing of the London Fire Brigade and Lord Harris Review of London's Preparedness to Respond to a Major Terrorist Incident - Action Plan - FEP 2695

Report by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner introduced the report.

The Chair moved the motion – That the Authority:

Agrees the Action Plan at Appendix C to the report.

The motion was seconded by the Vice Chair, put and agreed.

Resolved – accordingly.

8. Authority - Summary List of Actions Arising - FEP 2696

Report by the Clerk to the Authority.

The Chair moved that the report be noted.

The motion was seconded by the Vice Chair, put and agreed.

Resolved – accordingly.

9. Questions from Members (in accordance with Standing Order 20) – 26 January 2017 – FEP 2697

Questions from Members for the meeting on 26 January 2017, published in the order received in accordance with Standing Order 20, are set out below with supplementary questions and the Chair and Commissioner’s replies:

Questions received:

Question 471 From Councillor Emma Dent Coed Vacant posts Given the underspend on salaries, and cost of overtime paid to staff who are covering vacant posts, what are the Authority's short and long-term plans to fill vacancies? Commissioner’s written response Establishment shortfalls on the FRS side are met using agency and fixed-term contract staff.

The operational establishment shortfall at the end of December was 86 (1.8% of the establishment). In the short-term this is being covered using pre-arranged overtime on a trial basis to the end of March 2017, as agreed with the FBU. In addition we are currently recruiting Crew Managers, having recently undertaken a Watch Manager recruitment round, and this will fill gaps at officer level. We are also in advanced discussions with the FBU regarding new standby arrangements and watch-based structures, both of which will mitigate the effects of establishment shortfalls through more efficient deployment of staff.

In the medium to longer-term, Resources Committee on 13 January 2017 (FEP 2686) agreed new approaches to firefighter recruitment both to address establishment shortfalls, and to improve the quality and diversity of firefighter trainee recruits. We intend to commence advertising for firefighter trainees by the end of January 2017, and as part of the new approach agreed, we will be keeping recruitment open until we have sufficient recruits in the pipeline to meet our establishment needs. Councillor Emma Dent Coad: This is very helpful and I’ve read the report which went to Resources Committee in great depth and I understand the process. It is more the pro-active approach because what came up was that recruitment most often came through people accessing the London Fire Brigade website; these are people who already know they want to be part of the Fire Brigade so I’m very interested to know what plan is to be brought forward to attract people who don’t know anything about it or have never even thought about it so I look forward to the plans for a kind of pro-active approach for people of all kinds with good upper body strength for operational staff, and back room staff as well. Do we have a programme for this we can look out for? Commissioner: We have recently undertaken and review of our recruitment process and as part of that review we recruited an external body to come and have a look, especially in relation to attracting women into the role and they undertook a piece of research for us; went out to market, talking to people about why they would consider the role, why they never would consider it and what their reservations were. A very interesting piece of work and we have asked the people to come back and they have some video footage of research groups actually talking about the issues to give us a more in depth look at the work. Unfortunately, it will not be in time for this next round of recruitment that we need to undertake but we have a whole programme of events. So, we are reintroducing our outreach team – a team of operational uniform staff who will go into various aspects of the community, we are going to reintroduce the open days for women where we actually encourage women, going to places where we know we are more likely to attract women, like sporting events, women’s rugby events, that kind of thing. We are also having conversations with the armed services, people who leave the armed services at the moment are not routinely encouraged to join the Fire Brigade, they have a lot of resettlement programmes, obviously there are a lot of women that are potentially suitable candidates, a lot of BME people who might be interested. We have got a whole range of actions we are going to undertake and then we are going to take forward the research we have done looking at the barriers to women joining and hopefully one of the main things at the moment is that my face pops up everywhere when I’m talking about women undertaking the job of a fire fighter and the opportunities for that. We intend to do a lot more social media opportunities. I did Facebook live yesterday where we just want to get the message out, the role modelling, ensuring all the advertising media we use has the right image in it. So, we have a programme of plans and events but there will be a far more structured programme for our next recruitment campaign looking at specifically targeting those areas where we think we are missing out. Chair: If you have not seen the research that was undertaken we can make sure it is sent to you. Councillor Emma Dent Coad: Thank you, that would be good.

Question 472 From Andrew Dismore AM Fleet replacement programme At originally anticipated prices and current exchange rates, what is the best estimate of the additional cost to the fleet replacement programme, as a result of the drop in the value of Stirling against the Euro consequent on the Brexit referendum? Commissioner’s written response At this point it is not possible for officers to advise accurately on any potential additional costs due to the ongoing volatility of the currency markets. Members should note the pumping appliance Invitation to Tender (ITT) was for 127 vehicles and at this time no formal communication has been received from Babcock Critical Services requesting a price change for the second batch of 74 appliances.

Supplementary Information Sterling has fallen by approx. 11% against the Euro since the EU referendum. As approximately 50% of component parts and materials come from within the Eurozone, so as a rough calculation it would be reasonable to assume a potential increased cost for replacement vehicles of around 5%, should suppliers choose to pass on any increases. A nominal 5% price increase for each pumping appliance would result in an increase of £12k on the original vehicle price to £247k each, giving a potential total increase of £876k for the second batch of vehicles.

In terms of the effect on our total planned capital spend of the next 4 years, this is potentially £2,625k: • 17/18 £25,800k x 5% £1,290k • 18/19 £15,790k x 5% £790k • 19/20 £8,600k x 5% £430k • 20/21 £2,300k x 5% £115k

The figures do not include any inflationary pressures.

Question 473 From Councillor Martin Whelton Staffing How many of our a) operational and b) FRS staff are non UK EU nationals? Commissioner’s written response When appointing staff we review, and retain a copy of, personal documentation to establish whether those appointed are EU (including UK) nationals in which case they have the right to work in the UK (noting that special arrangements apply to Croatian nationals). Where appointees are not EU nationals we check that they have indefinite leave to remain. If they do not we check that their visa allows them to work in the UK and note any limitations that may have been imposed. Where the period of employment is restricted we ensure that this is complied with. This approach satisfies our legal obligations and is in accordance with best practice.

At present however our staff data sets do not record nationality or allow us to distinguish between UK, EU (excluding UK), and other nationals. We could only do this by checking individual staff files.

We will review this when legislative changes are proposed or the Government issues guidance. Councillor Martin Whelton: Given the implications of Brexit on non UK EU nationals would the provision of this information be helpful in terms of identifying any issues which may emerge in terms of the future recruitment of staff and also any issues that may emerge on the future immigration status of non UK EU nationals who are employed by the Fire Service? Commissioner: We have looked at the issues surrounding this and we are doing some further detailed work on that to ensure that we do not have any adverse impact and to make sure we are addressing any areas we have in going forward. Head of Legal and Democratic Services: We need to keep our arrangements under review as the situation develops. It is very unclear what the new arrangements will be and from when they will be effective. We may need to adjust our HR systems as we become wiser.

Question 474 From Gareth Bacon AM Fire vehicles What are your plans to deal with the 52 fire vehicles that will not be compliant if the ULEZ start date is brought forward to 2019? Commissioner’s written response Any vehicles not able to be replaced before the ULEZ start date will be rendered compliant by the installation of a Selective Catalytic Reduction exhaust system procured via a TfL framework agreement at a cost of £17.2k per vehicle, with an ongoing revenue cost of £1.6k per vehicle.

Supplementary Information The number of 52 vehicles referred to by Assembly Member Bacon is drawn from the LFB response to the Mayor’s ULEZ consultation in October 2016 and only relates to pumping appliances. This number could vary between 52 and 62 pumping appliances in reality. In addition there are 38 specialist vehicles identified for modification as these are not scheduled for replacement until after 2020.

The total capital cost for the maximum number of vehicles identified as potentially requiring conversion for a 2019 ULEZ implementation is £1,720k with a total annual revenue cost of £160k. Gareth Bacon AM: If an exemption is not granted by the Mayor are we confident that all 100 of those vehicles would be converted in time for any new ULEZ that will become operational in 2019 so we would not be paying the £12.50 charge daily on any of those vehicles? Commissioner: We are confident of that. We are doing the planning now to ensure that can take place in the event that the date was brought forward. Gareth Bacon AM: That is fine, thank you.

10. Urgent Business

There was no urgent business.

The meeting ended at 2.27 pm.

Signed By: Chair

Peter Goss, Ground Floor, 169 Union Street, London, SE1 OLL; telephone: 020 8555 1200 ext 30084; e-mail: [email protected] Clerk to LONDON FIRE & EMERGENCY PLANNING AUTHORITY