Item 14

Cabinet

12 September 2013

Future Partnership Working with and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service

Recommendations

1) That Cabinet note the re-starting of the project with Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

2) That officers report back on progress in due course.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 In May 2013, the Department for Communities & Local Government (CLG) published the findings of the Review into Efficiencies and Operations of Fire and Rescue Authorities in England, by Sir Ken Knight CBE, QFSM, FIFireE, the recently retired Government Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser for England. This review was commissioned by the Fire Minister, Brandon Lewis MP, to review the ways in which fire and rescue authorities may deliver further efficiencies and operational improvements without reducing the quality of front-line services to the public.

1.2 Full copies of the Knight Review have been provided in the Group Rooms. In summary, the Review considered five broad areas, namely:

• What is efficiency and how efficient is the delivery of fire and rescue services in England?

• Deploying resources.

• Collaborating for efficiency.

• Driving efficiency.

• What is the future for fire and rescue?

1.3 It is the first national fire and rescue service (FRS) related review for some years that specifically assesses the size and structure of fire and rescue services, rather than other recent reports that have, for example, considered other issues such as the role of services in the community or in regard to specific operational risks and developments. The Review highlights the significant improvements in key national performance trends, such as the very

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large decrease in fire deaths and injuries and the reductions in many types of fires due to proactive efforts by all FRS’s over the last decade.

1.4 In respect of Council (WCC), as the statutory Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) constituted under the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004, the Review raises some pertinent issues. On the one hand, the Review highlights how a FRS has some of the best elected member scrutiny arrangements and, from a value for money perspective, with its absorbed corporate and political governance costs a county council FRS is arguably more efficient that a stand-alone combined or metropolitan fire authority. On the other, the Review stresses in very direct terms that the current English model of separate county based FRSs is unsustainable in the future and highlights various issues surrounding this. To date just one combination of two previously separate FRSs ( and ) has been achieved in England which took place in 2007.

2.0 Warwickshire Implications

2.1 The publication of the Knight Review is extremely timely for Warwickshire, coming soon after the appointment of an interim Chief Fire Officer (CFO) whilst the longer term future of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS) is considered.

2.2 As Cabinet will recall, in recent years Warwickshire has considered in detail whether the existing size, structure and resources of WFRS has long-term viability, or whether future fire service provision for Warwickshire should be provided on the basis of either a formalised strategic alliance with a neighbouring FRS or potentially via a full amalgamation.

2.3 Between Autumn 2007 and Spring 2009, Cabinet considered a series of papers and issues on a joint service review with Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS), and convened a joint member and officer review group in October 2007 following an independent review of the medium to long-term plans of WFRS undertaken by an external consultant in Summer 2007. The consultant himself was a former Chief Fire Officer and Her Majesty’s Inspector of Fire Services. The focus of this work was, with Cabinet approval, that members and officers explore positively the prospect of a combination between HWFRS and WFRS. This was deemed desirable for a number of strategic reasons:

i. WFRS and HWFRS had a good history of collaborative working including sharing of risk information, equipment research and development, and joint delivery of some elements of training and development.

ii. The common geographic boundary together with similar operational and population risk profiles.

iii. Similar sized services and consistent proportions of whole-time and retained duty system operational staff.

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iv. Both services recognised the potential in combining as a means to secure long term viability and to boost internal capacity to respond to modern day FRS issues, whilst maintaining an effective front-line public service.

2.4 Throughout 2008, a considerable amount of work was done by officers across both services, although a decision was taken by Cabinet in February 2009 to put the process on hold for the time being, and the position be kept under periodic review to identify opportunities to finalise the review in the future. This conclusion was reached for two principal reasons:

i. A key consideration of the project was the potential for both authorities to achieve financial efficiency savings. A great deal of work was undertaken to assess the costs and benefits of the various options surrounding a joint service review, including consideration of the impacts on the level of Council Tax and the overall resulting budgetary position. At the time of the decision in February 2009, the financial implications were inconclusive.

ii. Shortly after Cabinet had endorsed the commencement of the review in September 2007, WFRS experienced the tragic fire at Atherstone-on- Stour on 2 November 2007 where four members of the Service lost their lives. Cabinet recognised that the Atherstone-on-Stour fire had huge implications on WFRS throughout the joint service review and into the future, and there remained at that time continuing uncertainty around the possible consequences arising from the fire investigation and its implications.

2.5 For these reasons, it was recognised that there was no wisdom in seeking a definitive view at that time on combination or similar proposals.

2.6 The judgment set out in point 2.4.ii. above proved to be extremely appropriate, given that subsequently the Atherstone-on-Stour fire led to two separate high profile legal processes, namely the prosecution of WCC on health and safety related charges, and the unsuccessful prosecution attempt by the Police, HSE and CPS of three WFRS officers for manslaughter by gross negligence. As the Council is well aware, this latter prosecution failed; however, the enormity of the organisational and resource implications in handling this case by a relatively small fire and rescue service cannot be underestimated and it remains a live issue to this day. It is now easier to regard, however, the Service as having moved beyond the most significant organisational implications of the fire and its aftermath.

2.7 More recently, WFRS, with Council approval, commenced detailed work with Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) to consider the potential for a strategic alliance between both services. This concept developed well during 2012 to the point that Council originally proposed that upon the retirement of Warwickshire’s CFO in early 2013, a joint CFO between both services would be appointed. In subsequent months, however, it was

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apparent that agreement between the two Authorities on this proposal could not be reached and Council subsequently resolved on 19 February 2013 to withdraw the proposal to move to a joint CFO appointment.

3.0 Current Position

3.1 As a result of the above events, WCC chose to appoint an interim CFO who took up post in May 2013 and in his first weeks in post, considered a range of material relating to both previous projects in NFRS and HWFRS and held discussions with the respective CFO’s in neighbouring . The current circumstances that neighbouring FRS’s find themselves in, together with the publication of the Knight Review, means that interest in securing efficiencies and better viability through alliances or combinations continues to be just as relevant today as when Warwickshire FRS and its neighbours agreed to explore these possibilities in the past.

3.2 Whilst all of the FRS’s that border Warwickshire have features and advantages that mean they could all be individually quite credible alliance partners, the greatest advantage would be in respect of HWFRS as the Council had previously concluded in 2007. Not only do the strategic issues set out in paragraph 2.3 above still apply but of interest also is the fact that Warwickshire Police now has a well-developed alliance in place with West Mercia. Whilst the police and the fire service have a number of inevitable differences in their organisational and operational methods of working, there are naturally numerous similarities in the provision of a 24 hour emergency response organisation and associated support requirements. Whilst the long- term future of the Warwickshire and West Mercia Police operating model remains to be seen, their ongoing and ever closer working only serves to revitalise interest in the prospect of a similar joint operating model for the fire service.

3.3 In recent weeks both the WCC Leader and the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety have met and held informal discussions with their political counterparts in Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority. These early discussions have been very positive and there is clear political interest in both Authorities in restarting the project that was placed on hold in February 2009. The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority had similarly resolved that the project was not terminated, but that its potential would be reviewed in the future.

3.4 It is therefore concluded that it is now timely to apply the previous resolution of Cabinet on 26 February 2009, that the potential future of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue and Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Authorities be reviewed at some point in the future.

4.0 Proposed Next Steps

4.1 Officers in both Warwickshire and Hereford and Worcester are now re-visiting the material available to both services from the previous work and considering

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how to suitably resource the project. A bid for project funding from the CLG transformation fund has also been submitted and a response is currently awaited.

4.2 A wide range of issues will need consideration and political agreement before any merger could proceed, particularly around issues such as political governance and budget. Cabinet will be kept fully informed of progress.

Supporting Papers

1. Facing the Future: Findings from the Review of Efficiencies and Operations in Fire and Rescue Authorities in England. Sir Ken Knight CBE, QFSM, FIFireE. Department for Communities & Local Government May 2013.

Name Contact Information Report Author CFO Andy Hickmott [email protected] Tel: 01926 412267 Portfolio Holder Cllr Les Caborn [email protected]

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