Subject: Q&A Session with the Fire Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience

Report to: Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee

Report of: Executive Director of Secretariat Date: 16 December 2020

This report will be considered in public

1. Summary

1.1 This report provides background information to the Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee for its meeting with the London Fire Commissioner (LFC) and Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience (DMFR).

2. Recommendations

2.1 That the Committee notes the report as background to the discussion with invited guests and notes the subsequent discussion.

2.2 That the Committee delegates authority to the Chair, in consultation with party Group Lead Members, to agree any output from the meeting.

3. Background

3.1 The scope for this meeting was approved by the Chair under delegated authority. Officers confirm that the report and its recommendations fall within these terms of reference.

3.2 The fire broke out on 14 June 2017 at the 25-storey block of social housing flats in North . The then Prime Minister, The Rt Hon MP, announced on 15 June 2017 a public Inquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is examining the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire. The Rt Hon Sir Martin Moore-Bick was appointed as the Chairman of the Inquiry on 28 June 2017 and the Inquiry was formally set up on 15 August 2017. The Terms of Reference were set by the then Prime Minister following a public consultation led by the Chairman. The Inquiry has published a list of issues on which the inquiry’s investigations will focus.1

1 Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Updated list of issues, September 2019 City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA Enquiries: 020 7983 4100 minicom: 020 7983 4458 www.london.gov.uk

3.3 The list of issues that the Inquiry is investigating has been separated into two phases. Phase 1 focuses on the factual narrative of the events on the night of 14 June 2017. Hearings for Phase 1 began on 21 May 2018 and concluded on 12 December 2018. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report was published on 30 October 2019.2 Phase 2 of the Inquiry is focusing on the remainder of the list of issues, following which the final report will be written and subsequently published.3 The Phase 1 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry raised some serious issues for the London Fire Brigade (LFB). The LFB accepted all of the recommendations and has made changes to the way the Brigade operates and is led.

3.4 In December 2019, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published an ‘effectiveness, efficiency and people’ review for the LFB for 2018/19. The review highlighted a number of areas where the LFB needs to improve, especially around training, which mirrored the Grenfell Tower Inquiry findings.4

3.5 In February 2020, the Brigade published a new Transformation Delivery Plan.5 This addresses many of the issues and recommendations raised by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report and the HMICFRS Inspection. The LFB has also said the Transformation Delivery Plan will feed into the next London Safety Plan (LSP).

3.6 The LSP is the Integrated Risk Management Plan for the LFB, as required by the National Framework. The existing LSP 2017 – 2021, was due to expire at the end of March 2021. On the 17 July 2020, the LFC wrote to the Chair of the FREP Committee to propose a one year extension to the LSP. The DMFR had previously written to the Chair of the FREP Committee to inform it of the proposed LSP extension.

4. Issues for Consideration

4.1 This meeting will be used to consider the impact of COVID-19 on the LFB’s staffing, resources and finance, and wider resilience and recovery; delivery of the LFB’s transformation plan; implementation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report and HMICFRS recommendations; and progress of the new London Safety Plan.

4.2 Invited guests include:  Dr Fiona Twycross, Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience;  Andy Roe, London Fire Commissioner;  Sue Budden, Director of Corporate Services, London Fire Brigade  Fiona Dolman, Director of Transformation, London Fire Brigade; and  Richard Mills, Deputy Commissioner – Safety and Assurance, London Fire Brigade.

2 The Rt Hon Sir Martin Moore-Bick, Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 1 Report, 30 October 2019 3 Grenfell Tower Inquiry - About 4 HMICFRS, Fire and Rescue Service: Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2018/19, December 2019 5 LFB, Beginning our transformation: Delivery Plan

5. Legal Implications

5.1 The Committee has the power to do what is recommended in this report.

6. Financial Implications

6.1 There are no financial implications to the Greater London Authority arising from this report.

List of appendices to this report: None

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers: None

Contact Officer: Janette Roker, Senior Policy Adviser Telephone: 020 7983 6562 E-mail: [email protected]