FIRE AUTHORITY
Date:Thursday,, 15 JuneJu 2017
14:00hr
Fire and Rescuee ServiceSer Headquarters Hinchingbrookee Cottage,Cott Brampton Road, HUNTIUNTINGDON, PE29 2NA
AGENDA
Open to Public and Press
1. Election of Chairman/wman/woman
2. Appointment of Vice-Chairman/woman
3. Apologies for Absencesence
4. Minutes of the Firere AuthorityAut meeting held 9th February 2017 5 - 12
5. Chairman's announcemuncements
6. Declarations of Interesterest
Guidance for Councillorsillors on declaring interests is available at:
Page 1 of 94 http://tinyurl.com/ccc-conduct-code
DECISIONS
7. Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017 to 2020 13 - 50
8. Negotiations to Increase Daytime Fire Cover - report to follow
9. Sharing of Brigade Managers in times of operational resilience 51 - 76
10. Member Allowances Scheme 2017-18 77 - 90
11. Appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies 91 - 92
ITEMS FOR INFORMATION
12. Update on development of the Police and Crime Commissioner's 93 - 94 local business case for Fire and Rescue Service governance
The Fire Authority comprises the following members:
Councillor Andrew Bond Councillor Mohammed Jamil Councillor David Over and Councillor John Peach Councillor Donald Adey Councillor Simon Bywater Councillor Ian Gardener Councillor Derek Giles Councillor John Gowing Councillor Sebastian Kindersley Councillor Mac McGuire Councillor Lucy Nethsingha Councillor Paul Raynes Councillor Kevin Reynolds Councillor Terence Rogers Councillor Jocelynne Scutt and Councillor Mandy Smith
For more information about this meeting, including access arrangements and facilities for people with disabilities, please contact
Clerk Name: Dawn Cave
Clerk Telephone: 01223 699178
Page 2 of 94 Clerk Email: [email protected]
The Fire Authority is committed to open government and the public are welcome to attend from 10.00am
It supports the principle of transparency and encourages filming, recording and taking photographs at meetings that are open to the public. It also welcomes the use of social networking andmicro- blogging websites (such as Twitter and Facebook) to communicate with people about what is happening, as it happens. These arrangements operate in accordance with a protocol which can be accessed via the following link below or made available on request.
Public speaking on the agenda items above is encouraged. Speakers must register their intention to speak by contacting the Democratic Services Officer at least three working days before the meeting.
Full details of the public speaking scheme for the Fire Authority is available at
http://www.cambsfire.gov.uk/fireauthority/fa_meetings.php
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Page 4 of 94 Agenda Item no. 4
CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH FIRE AUTHORITY: MINUTES
Date: Thursday 9 February 2017
Time: 2:00pm - 3:20pm
Present: Cambridgeshire County Council:
Councillors Sir P Brown (Chairman), B Ashwood, R Butcher, S Bywater, D Divine, D Giles, R Henson, M Loynes, L Nethsingha, P Sales and M Shellens
Peterborough City Council:
Councillors J Peach (Vice Chairman), M Jamil and D Over
Officers Present: C Strickland, M Warren, S Ismail, R Hylton, D Cave
203. APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Lillis, M McGuire and J Schumann.
204. MINUTES OF THE MEETING ON 8 DECEMBER 2016
The minutes of the meeting on 8 December 2016 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman.
205. CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Chairman advised that the Chief Officers were wearing colourful ties in honour of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) history month, which the Fire Authority had supported over the years. He highlighted that the Fire Service had a good record in supporting LGBT staff and promoting a cohesive culture.
Members were reminded that the LGA Fire Conference would be taking place from 7th to 8th March in Gateshead. The Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Cllr Jamil and Chief Officers would be attending. Any Members interested in attending were asked to contact Deb Thompson.
The Awards night at the Marriott Hotel had been a great success, and was a good reflection on the excellent work being done across the Fire Service. The Chairman paid tribute to all the award winners, commenting that there were exceptionally high standards this year. He paid particular thanks to JJ Penney and the communications team for the excellent organisation of the event.
The Police and Crime Commissioner legislation had recently been enactedand matters had progressed since then. Chief Officers and the Chairman had met last week with three organisations, and were moving forward with PA Consulting, who would be drafting the Business Case. All three had indicated that the timescales given were very tight, but a first draft copy of the Business Case would be available in about three 1 Page 5 of 94 Agenda Item no. 4
weeks. It was noted that decisions would probably need to be made at a Fire Authority meeting following the elections in May, as there could potentially be many new Fire Authority Members with whom this decision making would rest.
206. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest.
207. FIRE AUTHORITY BUDGET 2017/18
The Fire Authority considered a report on its budget requirement and precept for 2017/18 council tax. The Deputy Chief Executive advised that consultation results showed that 73% of the respondents supported the Council Tax increase for the Fire Service. It was noted that many respondents had referred to issues not related to the Fire Service, e.g. many responses referred to issues that were within the remit of local authorities.
Since the agenda had been published, the final Business Rate estimates had been received, and the forecast collection rate was £200,000 less than originally anticipated. Whilst this did not impact on the Council Tax figures, the way in which the Capital Programme was financed would need to be changed slightly, using some reserves. A paper setting out these estimates, and revised recommendations, was tabled. It was stressed that the new Business Rate figures were estimates, and the amount collected may exceed those predictions.
The final figures for Revenue Support Grant were not expected until the end of February, but no major changes were anticipated.
Members asked the following questions in relation to the budget:
a Member observed that there were different perspectives on future interest rates, and asked how these might impact on the Fire Service. The Deputy Chief Executive responded that the key factor would be pay inflation. The material impact of the Government’s current 1% estimate would be quite small, but if inflation started to increase, it could be problematic. He confirmed that reserves were healthy;
a Member observed that the Fire Service was having fewer call outs, due in part to more modern homes, fire alarms, etc. With this in mind, he queried whether it would be appropriate to extend the life of the fleet, and perhaps negate the need for the 1.9% Council Tax increase. The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that fleet life was regularly reviewed. However, savings that could be realised from adding a year or two to the life of fire appliances were minimal, because although purchase costs were high, the cost of an appliance was written down over the life of the vehicle;
a Member queried why 37 service vehicle would be replaced in 2017/18, but only 14 in 2018/19. Officers explained that this was the legacy of when the lease scheme finished, and whilst the replacement programme was smoothed out where possible, this did result in some inconsistencies in the numbers of vehicles to be replaced.
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On behalf of Members, the Chairman thanked the Deputy Chief Executive for his excellent work in bringing the budget together.
It was resolved, by a majority:
1. that approval be given to a Fire Authority budget requirement of £27,987,000.
2. that approval be given to a recommended Fire Authority precept for Authority Tax from District Authorities and Peterborough City Authority of £18,375,558.
3. that approval be given to an Authority Tax for each band of property, based on the number of band D equivalent properties notified to the Fire Authority by the District Authorities and Peterborough City Authority (275,166):
Band Authority Band Authority Tax Tax A £44.52 E £81.62 B £51.94 F £96.46 C £59.36 G £111.30 D £66.78 H £133.56
4. that approval be given to the Prudential and Treasury Indicators as set out on page 9 of the Budget Book 2017/18.
5. that approval be given to the Treasury Management Strategy Statement on pages 8 to 13 of the Budget Book 2017/18.
6. that approval be given to the Capital Programme detailed at page 6 of the Budget Book 2017/18.
7. that approval be given to the MRP Policy Statement detailed at page 14 of the Budget Book 2017/18.
208. DRAFT PAY POLICY STATEMENT 2017/18
The Fire Authority considered the draft Pay Policy Statement for 2017/18, in line with the duty under the Localism Act 2011 for Fire Authorities to produce Pay Policy Statements. The Deputy Chief Executive explained that the Pay Policy continued to be reviewed and strengthened in line with recommendations made following the Member- Led Review of Pay Policy in 2014. Members’ attention was drawn to the following key changes in the Pay Policy:
that any gender pay gap would be reported annually, as required by the Equality Act 2010; the ratio of the pay of the organisation’s top earner to that of its lowest earner was included in the policy: the ratio was currently 1:8.4, which reflected the reduction in the Chief Fire Officer salary; in addition, a policy had been established whereby the salaries of Principal Officer roles below Chief Fire Officer (Deputy Chief Executive and Assistant Chief Fire Officer) were published.
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It was resolved unanimously to approve the Pay Policy attached at Appendix 1 to the report.
209. PUBLIC SECTOR AUDITOR APPOINTMENTS
Members considered a report which sought Fire Authority approval to allow Public Service Auditor Appointments (PSAA) to act on the Authority’s behalf in selecting and appointing its external auditor.
Members were reminded that the Audit Commission had been abolished by government in 2015. Previously, the Audit Commission had appointed the Fire Service’s external auditors. The government had since set up PSAA as part of the transitional arrangements, including appointment of external auditors. It was sensible for this process to be handled centrally, as PSAA have the resources and expertise to run it.
A Member commented that there appeared little choice in this matter, and asked if the Fire Authority had any influence in this process, specifically the desirability of allocating an auditor who was the same as the auditor for peer fire services or local authorities in the region. Officers confirmed that this was the case.
It was unanimously resolved to approve that the PSAA would conduct a procurement process and appoint an external auditor.
210. EQUALITY AND INCLUSION COMPLIANCE REPORT 2015-16
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented a report highlighting equality progress in the year 2015-16, and identifying areas for attention in future years. Members were reminded that it was a legal requirement under the Equality Act 2010 that this information be published. The report was broken down into two sections, one section examining the community make-up and risk, and the second profiling staffing composition and any issues. At the request of the Policy and Resources Committee, an executive summary had been added to the Report, and some clarification on age break downs. Workforce diversity remained an area of focus, but good progress had been made recently - 29% of new whole-time recruits were women, and 11% of On-call. More work was required on increasing the number of ethnic minority recruits.
Arising from the report:
a Member commented that it was clear from a recent Cadet passing-out ceremony at Stanground that females and black and minority ethnic communities were very well represented;
a number of Members praised the work of Alison Scott in bringing this excellent report together, given her heavy workload and involvement in other initiatives, such as Dementia Friends;
a Member queried the work taking place with schools, not just about fire safety, but encouraging young people to consider a career in the fire service. Officers
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confirmed that work was undertaken with schools, including the Fire Break programme, career fayres, and joint initiatives with other emergency services;
Members noted how the Service set out to attract female recruits, and how more work was required to rebrand firefighting jobs, ridding the service of stereotypes;
Members discussed what best practice could be learned from other authorities, noting that specific cultural issues could vary significantly;
Members discussed how religious and cultural sensitivities were taken into account when dealing with different communities. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the Service was always seeking to learn more and become more culturally aware, but in emergency situations, the priority was always on saving lives;
noted the demographic issues, specifically that a significant number of firefighters were approaching retirement.
It was resolved unanimously to approve the Equality and Inclusion Compliance Report 2015-16.
211. INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN 2017 TO 2020
The Fire Authority received a report on a proposed amendment to the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 2017-2020. The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England required fire authorities to produce a local IRMP. The Plan focused on identifying risks and how they could be mitigated, enabling the Service to achieve its Vision. The Report included performance data for the last five years, specifically on Community Risk, with the primary aim of reducing risk across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, in line with a managed budget.
The report demonstrated that the number of calls were reducing, whilst the population was increasing. It also illustrated the correlation between elderly residents, particularly those know to Adult Social Care, and increased risk. The retirement profile provided the Service with an opportunity to diversify workforce. Members’ attention was drawn to the areas of work which were the focus for minimising the risks presented, and maximising opportunities.
A Member observed the increase to Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs), and asked what work was being done with Road Safety Partnerships. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that RTCs were a major challenge, particularly in rural areas, and a partnership approach encompassing education, enforcement and road design was best placed to tackle this issue. The Service also worked with colleagues in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire on these issues. The A14 Improvements should reduce the number of RTCs in the county. One of the difficulties was that many road users in Cambridgeshire were not from the county e.g. commuters, and that presented a challenge.
Members noted that there had been two accidental fire deaths since the report had been written.
It was resolved unanimously to:
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1. note the planning framework, as appended to the report;
2. approve the draft Integrated Risk Management Plan, as appended to the report.
212. STATEMENT OF DELEGATED RESPONSIBILITIES 2017 – AMENDED
The Fire Authority considered a report on an amended Statement of Delegated Responsibilities for approval. This had been updated to reflect the significant changes that had taken place at Principal Officer level, and changes to individual responsibilities resulting from that. Annex H, setting out the financial limits of delegated powers, was tabled.
It was resolved unanimously to approve the Statement of Delegated Responsibilities, as appended to the report.
213. UPDATE ON STRATEGIC WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Members considered a report updating them on the Service’s strategic workforce development activity. The report sought approval of the proposed draft strategic workforce development objectives 2017/18. Progress in this area was considered against the context of the recently published Adrian Thomas independent review of conditions of service for fire and rescue staff in England. The report included an update of progress made, and a gap analysis, identifying areas which needed to be picked up.
Members noted the recommendation for the Authority to review its membership profile. It was noted that some Fire Authorities had reduced the number of elected Members significantly, and this may be something for the Authority to consider. Speaking as Chairwoman of Policy and Resources Committee, Councillor Nethsingha advised that that Committee had requested the Deputy Chief Executive to prepare proposals which could be taken forward relatively quickly by the new Fire Authority members after May, if that was seen as desirable in the light of unfolding events. It was also noted that since the Fire Authority had been established in 1998, there had been no evaluation or review of the membership profile.
It was resolved unanimously to:
(i) note the information given as an update; (ii) approve for Officers to proceed with converting the identified opportunities from the Adrian Thomas Review into a prioritised action plan to be brought back for comment and approval; (iii) approve the draft strategic workforce development objectives for 2017/18 and the proposed approach to review of progress.
214. REVIEW OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE DISCIPLINARY APPEALS PROCESS
The Committee considered the findings and recommendations of an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Review Group into the appeals process. Introducing the report, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Butcher, thanked Councillor Jamil and Deb Thompson for their hard work in the review. He drew
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Members’ attention to the description of a disciplinary procedure, as defined by ACAS: “…the means by which rules are observed and standards are maintained. Any such procedure should be used primarily to help and encourage employees to improve, where possible, rather than a mechanism by which to punish. It should provide a method of dealing with any apparent shortcomings in conduct or performance and help an employee to retain the standards of behaviour expected by an organisation”.
One of the key issues arising from the review was the agreement that Member involvement was vital in the disciplinary process.
One Member commented that some sections of the report were unduly complex and jargonistic. Moreover, he opposed the involvement of the Chief Fire Officer as an advisor in disciplinary cases involving senior officers, given the close relationship between staff at senior level. It was clarified that this reference did not relate to any disciplinary procedures at Principal Officer level: if technical advice was required in those cases, external advice e.g. from a senior officer at a peer authority, would be sought. Members agreed that this element of the report should be reworded to cliary this point and Member comments. Action required: Monitoring Officer.
It was noted that a wide variety of approaches were taken by different Fire Authorities, and some Fire Authorities did not involve elected Members at all in their disciplinary procedures, and there were merits and disadvantages in both approaches.
It was resolved unanimously to:
(i) consider the findings and recommendations of the review group; (ii) accept the general principles as set out in the report, and delegate to the Monitoring Officer the redrafting of the required clarification and Member comments.
215. NEGOTIATIONS TO INCREASE DAYTIME FIRE COVER
The Committee considered a report on the latest position with regard to negotiations with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to increase the number of fire engines available across the county during the daytime by two.
Permission to commence these discussions had been given in October, and a lot of work had taken place since then, in both formal and informal discussions. Some of these discussions had been understandably challenging but Officers and the FBU were working together to improve the service and arrangements from staff. A number of proposals had been put forward and the detail and implications of these proposals were being explored. Any formal proposals to change crewing arrangements would need to be approved by full Fire Authority.
The Monitoring Officer advised that the FBU had asked her to send an update they had had prepared for the JCC members. It was agreed that it would be useful to email this to all Fire Authority Members, so that they were aware of the issues. Action required: Monitoring Officer. It was noted that there were two further JCC (Joint Consultative Committee) meetings scheduled before the next full Fire Authority meeting in June.
It was resolved unanimously to:
(i) note the contents of the report. 7 Page 11 of 94 Agenda Item no. 4
216. POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE – MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS HELD 22nd SEPTEMBER AND 8TH DECEMBER 2016
The Fire Authority noted the minutes of the Policy and Resources Committee meetings held on 22nd September and 8th December 2016.
217. MINUTES OF THE OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTED HELD 11TH AUGUST AND 19TH OCTOBER 2016
The Fire Authority noted the minutes of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 19th October 2016 and 5th January 2017.
As this was the last Fire Authority meeting before the County Council elections, the Chairman thanked Members past and present for their time, effort and expertise over the last four years, in tackling a challenging agenda and working well together to serve Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. He also paid tribute to the back office staff at both the Fire Authority and at Shire Hall for supporting Members, all the teams at fire station for their excellent work, and Officers, especially the Chief Officers, who had met challenges and upheld morale in a time of much change, leaving the Authority fit to meet future challenges.
On behalf of Members, Councillor Nethsingha thanked Sir Peter Brown for his excellent chairmanship of the Fire Authority over the last four years.
CHAIRMAN
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TO: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
FROM: Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Rick Hylton
PRESENTING OFFICER(S): ACFO Rick Hylton
Telephone 01480 444500 [email protected]
DATE: 15 June 2017
INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN 2017 TO 2020
1. Purpose
1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide the Fire Authority with the refreshed Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) following public and staff consultation.
2. Recommendation
2.1 The Authority is asked to note the responses to the IRMP; and approve the suggested amendments as a result are detailed in Appendix 1.
3. Risk Assessment
3.1 Political - the IRMP process outlined in the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England requires the Authority to look for opportunities to drive down risk by utilising resources in the most efficient and effective way. The IRMP has legal force and it is therefore incumbent on the Authority to demonstrate that its IRMP principles are applied within the organisation.
3.2 Economic – the management of risk through a proactive preventable agenda serves to not only reduce costs associated with reactive response services but also aids in the promotion of prosperous communities.
3.3 Legal – the Authority has a legal responsibility to act as the enforcement agency for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. As a result, ensuring both compliance with and support for businesses to achieve are core aspects of the fire and rescue service function to local communities.
4. Equality Impact Assessment
4.1 Due to the discriminative nature of fire those with certain protected characteristics are more likely to suffer the effects. Prevention strategies aim to minimise the disadvantage suffered by people due to their protected characteristic, specifically age and disability.
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5. Background
5.1 The IRMP is a public facing document covering a minimum of a three year period and represents the output of the IRMP process for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (Appendix 2). The integrated risk management process is supported by the use of risk modelling. This is a process by which performance data over the last five years in key areas of prevention, protection and response is used to assess the likelihood of fires and other related emergencies from occurring, we term this ‘community risk’. This, together with data from other sources such as the national risk register and our business delivery risks, is then used to identify the activities required to mitigate risks and maximise opportunities, with measures then set to monitor and improve our performance.
5.2 The IRMP document reviews the Service’s progress to date and highlights initiatives that will be explored to further improve the quality of service delivery and importantly to further reduce the level of risk in the community within a balanced budget. The document represents the central improvement plan for the Service and as such sets our strategic direction and the performance measures that we will utilise to manage the implementation of this plan. Once approved, an action plan is developed that defines the specific objectives that will be undertaken.
5.3 Performance against our IRMP is regularly reviewed through both our management reviews and our overall performance held to account through the Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
5.4 The context to which the plan responds include;
fire calls continue to fall despite an increase in population, difficulties in the retention of On-call firefighters have resulted in fire cover not matching demand during the day time. During the day is the busiest time for fire calls and when On-call availability is at its worst. an ageing demography presents challenges for the Authority in continuing to drive down fire related deaths and injuries, the retirement profile provides opportunity for the Authority to actively drive workforce reform, further opportunity for the Authority to continue to build upon successful collaborations for efficiency, improved resilience and delivery.
5.5 As a result of the points in paragraph 5.4, the Service was proposing the following areas of work to mitigate these risks or maximise the opportunities;
diversification of the role of the fire service to provide greater value to the public by increasing our work with health and social care, together
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Page 14 of 94 with assisting police colleagues to provide a more coherent response to certain types of incidents, working with representative bodies and staff to better align resources to demand and in addition considering a range of alternative ways to support the retention of On-call staff, further extend our safe and well visits to reach more of the vulnerable in our communities, review our recruitment and promotion processes to ensure we remove any barriers that might affect us recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, through the Blue Light Interoperability Board, explore the opportunities for shared estate and shared resources where there is a clear case to do so.
6.0 Public and Staff Consultation
6.1 In line with our duty to consult on such plans, a public and staff consultation commenced on 1 March and ran until 1 June 2017. The consultation consisted of publication on our website with an associated questionnaire. Historically responses to IRMP consultations have been low. We therefore took the decision to utilise the assistance of an independent organisation to hold a series of public focus groups in order to allow us to better engage the views of the public in relation to the IRMP in general but specifically the transparency of our response standards and the diversification of fire towards other emergencies such as co responding. In addition a series of staff workshops were held across the Service to enable staff to have their say on our plans.
6.2 A report on the responses together with the proposed changes suggested from the consultation is attached at Appendix 1, with the full draft report attached at Appendix 2.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Source Documents Location Contact Officers
IRMP Preparation Jon Anderson Document (October [email protected] SHQ 2016) Hinchingbrooke Cottage Tamsin Mirfin Brampton Road IRMP Planning [email protected] Huntingdon Framework
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INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN - CONSULTATION SUMMARY
1. Background
1.1. On 20 March 2017, the Service began a 12 week consultation about its integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP).
1.2. The consultation action plan included: Publishing the draft document on the Service website; A Survey Monkey questionnaire; A news release with link to survey; Email to partner organisations (including chief officers and key Local Resilience Forum members) with link to survey; Email to contacts in a variety of community groups with link to survey; Facebook and Twitter posts linking to webpage (and survey); Email to all staff with link to document and survey; Face to face briefings with staff; Discussions internally at manager seminars; Qualitative focus group research focusing on three areas of the IRMP – this comprised six 90 minute focus groups (one in each district of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough) managed and facilitated by an external agency. There were 10-12 members of the public recruited for each session. The three main themes discussed during the sessions were: Fire service staff doing tasks traditionally carried out by other agencies; co responding was used as an example. Does Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service offer value for money? What does the public understand by the proposed new performance measure: “We will respond to the most serious incidents in our authority area within an average of 10 minutes for the first fire engine in attendance and within 15 minutes for the second pumping appliance on 80 per cent of occasions”.
1.3. The consultation closed on Friday 2 June 2017.
2. RESULTS
2.1. Manager Seminars
2.1.1. Managers understood the IRMP and the risk management process and agreed with the Service’s priorities for the next three years.
2.1.2. There was a lot of discussion around the proposal for the response time performance measure. A number of staff felt that setting an average countywide performance measure would have a negative impact on staff and communities living in rural areas where 10 minutes is not realistic, even though this was an average.
2.1.3. There were also a couple of comments made about the equality related performance measure, suggesting that the wording should be stronger to
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show a greater determination to increase the numbers of personnel from under-represented groups across the Service.
2.2. Online Survey
2.2.1. The online survey was kept simple and focused on seeking feedback about: The layout and ease of reading of the document; Whether people agreed the Service was concentrating on the right priority areas over the next three years; Whether there was anything else the Service should be including.
2.2.2. Twenty-six responses were received to the survey (although low, this was anticipated from experience of similar consultations and was why more in- depth focus group consultation was also commissioned for this IRMP): 76% of respondents thought the document was well-presented; 65% felt the document was easy to understand; 81% said they had a better understanding of what the fire service perceives as its main risks; 73% said they now understand what the Service is aiming to improve over the next three years.
2.2.3. When asked if the improvements the Service had identified within the IRMP were the right areas to concentrate on: 61% agreed; 17% felt they could not comment as they did not have enough knowledge; 22% felt there were other areas the Service should be focusing on.
2.2.4. Comments could be left to suggest other areas that the Service should be prioritising: One related to wording in the equality performance measure suggesting that other under-represented groups such as the LGBT community should be included; One suggested continuously improving the culture of the Service internally should be included; Five were comments about the On-call system which is already a priority listed in the IRMP; One respondent felt higher priority needed to be given to supporting adults with learning disabilities; One comment was about staffing levels; One comment was about firefighter pay.
2.3. Focus Groups
2.3.1. The focus groups provided a great insight into people’s perceptions of public services generally and more specifically, the fire service.
2.3.2. A full written summary document of the findings from the focus groups is currently being finalised however the main findings to influence any amendments needed to the draft IRMP document are detailed below.
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2.4. Extra Services
2.4.1. Most people were accepting of the fire service carrying out other roles if they had the capacity and the right skills and knowledge to do it.
2.4.2. One group however strongly believed that firefighters should stick to fire service calls to ensure they are available to carry out the role that only they can do (fight fires and rescue people).
2.4.3. If Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service are going to carry out tasks more traditionally associated with a different agency or emergency service, the Service needs to ensure the initial contact with the person needing help is to reassure them that they are trained and able to help. The groups largely said they would feel confused and concerned if, for example, they rang for an ambulance and a fire engine turned up. Promoting the new services publicly is important to raise awareness of any new role.
2.5. Value for Money
2.5.1. ‘Value for money’ to members of the public had a different meaning to how the Authority and Service view value for money. For the public, it was all about the service they receive compared to how much they pay.
2.5.2. Some associated the term ‘value for money’ with making cuts.
2.5.3. Approximately 60 per cent of participants found it difficult to offer an opinion on whether the fire service offered good value for money as they felt they didn’t know enough about the Service. Where they did feel able to rank it, it was placed high in terms of good value for money.
2.5.4. When participants were shown how much of their council tax was spent on the fire service, this prompted a more positive sense that Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service provided good value for money.
2.6. Response Targets
2.6.1. Participants were first asked what their individual expectations would be for a variety of incidents they were given in both rural and urban areas. Overall expectations were 5-10 minutes in an urban area and 10-15 minutes in a rural area.
2.6.2. When given the proposed response performance target from the IRMP, initially participants were reassured but it was clear that from the statement, most people would expect a fire engine within 10 minutes.
2.6.3. When asked about the statement in more detail, the following areas were frequently highlighted: Average of 10 minutes – what does ‘average’ mean? What does on 80 per cent of occasions mean? What about the other 20 per cent?
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Timing of the second fire engine – does it arrive five minutes after the first or 15 minutes after the first has arrived? Wording – is pumping appliance different to fire engine as both terms are used? What does ‘most serious incidents’ mean?
3. OUTCOMES
3.1. From all the feedback received, the following changes are proposed to the IRMP:
3.1.1. Page 20 – Workforce diversity Change: Carry out further work to ensure there are no barriers to improving the diversity of our workforce, including reviewing access and opportunities for disabled colleagues, more work to support greater gender diversity in different areas of the workforce and working to build long-term engagement with black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. To: Carry out further work to ensure there are no barriers to improving the diversity of our workforce, for example, reviewing access and opportunities for disabled colleagues, more work to support greater gender diversity in different areas of the workforce and working to build long-term engagement with black and minority ethnic (BME) communities.
3.1.2. Page 21 – Performance measures Change: ‘We will respond to the most serious incidents in our authority area within an average of 10 minutes for the first fire engine in attendance and within 15 minutes for the second pumping appliance on 80 per cent of occasions To: We will respond to the most serious incidents within an average of 9 minutes in urban areas and 12 minutes in rural areas for the first fire engine in attendance. We will respond to all incidents in our authority area within 18 minutes for the first fire engine in attendance, 95 per cent of the time. Most serious incidents are defined as fires and rescues from water and road traffic collisions.
Change: We will continue to recruit a workforce that is more representative of our communities, specifically with regards to BME members of staff, female operational staff and female operational managers. To: We will continue to work towards our aim of having a workforce that is properly representative of our communities. We will focus on increasing the proportion of currently under-represented groups in all areas and at all levels of our workforce, ensuring always that individuals have the right skills for the role.
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3.1.3. Page 23 (change made as since the draft was published, the efficiency plan has been approved).
3.1.4. Value for Money It is a statutory requirement, under Section 33 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for the Fire Authority to produce a balanced budget. The comprehensive spending reviews and annual budget reductions have made this difficult, but by working with staff and making savings early, we created an efficiency plan that was approved by the Home Office, which has provided us with some greater financial certainty until 2020. The Authority recognises that ensuring value for money is a major and continuing priority.
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Page 20 of 94
The Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 2017 - 2020
Page 21 of 94 Contents
The Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 3 Risks and opportunities 16 How we identify risk 4 Local Resilience Forum 4 Action plan 18 Community safety excellence 18 Context 5 Operational excellence 19 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 5 Value for money 19 Our partnerships 5 People 20 Comprehensive spending review 6 Fire trends across the county 6 Our future performance measures 21 Special services and road traic collisions 7 Consultation 22 Our targets and performance 8 Attendance times 8 Appendices 23 Fire prevention 11 Appendix A – Glossary 23 Automatic ire alarms 13 Appendix B – Resilience 24 Appendix C – Knowing our community 26 Our vision 15 Strategic aims 15 Excellence statements 15
Page 22 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 2 The Integrated Risk Management Plan
Central Government has placed a legal requirement on each Fire Authority to produce a Integrated Risk Management Plan publicly available Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) covering at least a three-year time span. The plan must: Show how the Fire Authority will balance prevention, protection and response activities to Vision reduce the impact of risk on communities in a cost-efective way Show how the Fire Authority will meet the needs of the community through working with partners Take account of the risk analysis completed by local and regional resilience forums and Excellence Community statements risks our own internal risk analysis Show that the Fire Authority has a management strategy and a risk-based inspection Local programme to enforce Fire Safety Legislation. resillience risks This document is written within the context of continued reductions in public sector Risks and Monitor opportunities funding and blue light collaboration. This means we need to ind ways to ensure we are Strategic delivery using our resources in the best possible way, to maintain the quality of service we provide risks and and opportunities and further reduce the level of risk in the community in a collaborative way, working with review partner organisations. Mitigation risk actions and/or National In 2016/17 we changed our approach to corporate planning to make it simpler and more realisation risks plans responsive to the changing needs of the community. Our IRMP covers all of the activity we are engaged in to exploit opportunities and reduce the risk associated with providing a service to the community. Action We are now focused on ensuring that we explore every opportunity to work more plan collaboratively with partners. Since the last IRMP we are working for more closely with other emergency services and agencies that enable us to better protect the public we serve, particularly the most vulnerable in our communities. Delivery plans under: Business • Value for money There are many interdependencies in the planning process and for this reason, we intend Development • Operational excellence to monitor progress and review the measures set out in this document to ensure the IRMP Programme • Community safety excellence • People process is fully integrated into the corporate planning process. Figure 1 A glossary is provided in Appendix A at the back of this document explaining some of the terms used.
Contents page Page 23 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 3 How we identify risk Local Resilience Forum In 2016 we completed a review of risk within Cambridgeshire which now forms the basis of In addition to our own detailed analysis of the risks facing our communities, the our IRMP and associated work, projects and activity for the next three years. Integrated Risk Management Plan has paid due regard to the risk analysis completed During the review process we looked at everything that had changed in Cambridgeshire through the national risk register and local resilience forums to ensure that civil and from the population to the county’s infrastructure, to our own services. Over the last terrorist contingencies are captured. decade we have seen a national reduction in ires resulting in our operational crews Our chief ire oicer is chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Resilience attending fewer calls. Our latest statistics show a 24 per cent decrease in the number of Forum (CPLRF) and senior managers are actively engaged in the forum. The Service ires attended from 2011/12 to 2015/16. has supported the development of an agreed risk proile for the local area through Using a combination of data analysis, computer modelling, professional judgement and the community risk register, in partnership with police and ambulance services, local engagement with our staf, the risk review has resulted in a set of proposals designed to authorities, primary care trusts, health protection agency, environment agency and the realign our resources to risk. military. Our integrated risk management analysis and planning process is shown in Figure 1 (P3). You can view the CPLRF Community Risk Register on our website. This risk review has enabled the Service to assess those foreseeable risks that could hinder our progress towards our vision, whilst also allowing us to recognise opportunities that will assist us in achieving our vision. This document sets out the high level areas of work. Larger pieces of work will be taken forward through programme management with progress monitored and managed through our Business Development Programme Board. Others work will be delivered through the responsible group and monitored at the relevant strategic delivery group, where performance will be reported quarterly to the chief oicers advisory board. The Service compiles an Annual Report and Statement of Assurance that provides a review of the Service’s delivery against the Integrated Risk Management Plan and our performance measures. This can be found on our website under About Us/Documents.
Contents page Page 24 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 4 Context
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Our Partnerships Cambridgeshire has a two-tiered local authority system, consisting of Cambridgeshire To enable a new way of working for public sector agencies in Cambridgeshire and County Council and ive district councils; Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire, East Peterborough, we work closely, on a daily basis, with our blue light colleagues in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Fenland. Peterborough City Council is a unitary Cambridgeshire Constabulary and East of England Ambulance Service, as well as our authority located in the north of Cambridgeshire. colleagues in both Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council. The stated vision of both Cambridgeshire and Peterborough councils is to create an Cambridgeshire Constabulary oicers now share a number of our community ire stations environment that enables the communities they serve to achieve social, economic, and and within Peterborough City Council, police, ire and council staf work side by side environmental wellbeing. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are identiied as areas through the Safer Peterborough Partnership. for sustained residential and commercial development which, in addition to providing East of England Ambulance Service also shares our facilities and in some areas our opportunities for economic growth, have the potential to impact on public service frontline ireighters respond to medical emergencies. resources. Figure 2 shows the correlation between population growth and our incident rates. It is noticeable that despite a steady increase in population, our incident rates have This and future collaborations are facilitated by the Blue Light Interoperability Board continued to fall. chaired jointly between the deputy chief constable and assistant chief ire oicer. We also work in partnership with other ire and rescue services and have achieved shared Number of Incidents Versus Population Growth functions that include ICT, our Combined Fire Control and shared senior operational command. These arrangements have not only improved services but allowed the 14000 860,000 authority to make eiciency savings. 840,000 12000 In response to the county demographics and an increasingly ageing population we have 820,000 importantly developed a new way of working with local authorities to deliver targeted 10000 Safe and Well visits to the most vulnerable people within our communities. These are an 800,000 enhanced home ire safety visit where we conduct winter warmth checks, fall prevention 8000 support, alcohol support and crime prevention, as well as ire safety. Further opportunity 780,000 exists as a result of the devolution deal for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, to
6000 Population accelerate the integration of community safety. 760,000 Number of Incidents 4000 740,000
2000 720,000
0 700,000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Year
Population Incidents
Contents page Page 25 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 5 Comprehensive spending review Number of Fires per 10,000 Population by Call Year
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service can demonstrate a very efective record for 20 dealing with Government cuts in an eicient and innovative manner. Since 2010, the 18 Service has made in excess of £4 million in budget reductions by reshaping its Service. 16 The Service is currently in the irst year of the second Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). The 2016-2020 CSR will decrease the Service budget by 13.5 per cent. As with the 14 previous CSR, we have been proactive in identifying plans and changes to ensure the 12 continuity of a professional service to the public whilst making the required eiciencies. 10 Our ability to mitigate our risks and realise opportunities is directly impacted by our 8 resourcing and budgetary make-up. Our current budgetary plans and assumptions 6 determine the speed at which we will deliver our action plans. 4
population per 10,000 Number of ires 2 Fire trends across the county 0 Over the last ive years we have seen a decline in the number of primary ires and chimney 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 ires that we attend. Call Year Primary Fires Secondary Fires Chimney Fires Primary ires are deined as all ires in buildings, vehicles and outdoor structures or any ire involving casualties, rescues or ires attended by ive or more appliances. We deine chimney ires as any ire in a building where the lame was contained within the chimney structure. Over the same period we have also seen a signiicant drop in the number of secondary ires. Secondary ires are those that do not afect property, do not involve casualties and are attended by less than four appliances. Examples include refuse ires.
Contents page Page 26 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 6 Special services and road traffic collisions RTCs And Special Services As well as attending ires we also attend road traic collisions and provide a number of 750 other services which we deine as special services. These special services are non-ire incidents that require an appliance or an oicer to attend and include: 700 • Local emergencies such as rescuing people, making something safe etc 650 • Major disasters 600 • Domestic incidents such as water leaks, people locked in or out etc Special service 550 • Prior arrangements to attend incidents, which may include some provision of advice RTCs
and inspection. Number of incidents 500 The attendance at special services has seen a consistently steady decline over the last ive years, with attendance down by 10 per cent. For RTCs, although there is a notable and 450 welcomed downward trend, last year the number of RTCs we were called to rose slightly. 400 The ire service attends more road traic collisions than any other type of special service. 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 The other special services are broken down in to 21 categories and our attendance at Call Year these over the last ive years is depicted below. Breakdown of Special Service Incidents by Call Year w w 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 600 500 400 300 200 100 Number of incidents 0 Stand by Flooding Lift release Lift release Advice only Water provision Water Suicide/attempts Efecting entry/exit Efecting entry/exit Evacuation (no ire) Assist other agencies Making safe (not RTC) Other transport incident Spills and leaks (not RTC) No action alarm) (not false Animal assistance incidents Hazardous materials incident materials Hazardous Removal of objects from peopleRemoval of objects from objectsRemoval of people from Other rescue/release of persons Other rescue/release Medical incident - co-responder Rescue or evacuation from water or evacuationRescue from Medical incident - irst responder
Contents page Page 27 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 7 Our Targets and Performance
As part of our review process we look at the performance information from the last Average Attendance Times - First Appliance - Urban three years. This section looks at some of our current targets from our previous IRMP and our performance against these. 10.05
08.38 9.00 08.41 08.44 Attendance times 08.20 08.21 07.12 Target 05.46 We will respond to the most serious incidents in our urban areas within an average of nine minutes for the irst pumping appliance in attendance, and within 13 minutes for the 04.19 second pumping appliance. 02.53
How have we done? Time (mm.ss) Attendance Average 01.26
The average attendance time for the irst appliance in urban areas has consistently been 00.00 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 April 1st IRMP Target within our target attendance times. However, although within target, we are seeing 2016 to 30th November a steady rise in the average attendance time across this area. This is largely due to the Call Year 2016 declining availability of some of our on-call appliances. We are seeing that our average attendance times for a second appliance in urban areas is well within target attendance times. Average Attendance Times - Second Appliance - Urban
13.49
13.32
13.15 13.25 13.00 12.58
12.40
12.23
12.08 11.48 11.43 11.31 11.38 11.14 Average Attendance Time (mm.ss) Attendance Average 10.57
10.39 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 April 1st IRMP Target 2016 to 30th November Call Year 2016
Contents page Page 28 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 8 Target Average Attendance Times - First Appliance - Rural
We will respond to the most serious incidents in our rural areas within an average of 13 14.24 minutes for the irst pumping appliance, and within 17 minutes for the second pumping 12.58 13.00 appliance. 11.31 12.14 12.16 11.28 10.05 How have we done? 10.46 08.38
This target has been consistently achieved for the previous three years across both irst 07.12 and second appliances. Similar to the urban area times, although within target, we are 05.46 seeing a steady rise in the average attendance time across this area. This is largely due to 04.19 the declining availability of some of our on-call appliances. 02.53 Average Attendance Time (mm.ss) Attendance Average 01.26
00.00 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 April 1st IRMP Target 2016 to 30th November Call Year 2016
Average Attendance Times - Second Appliance - Rural
17.17
17.00 17.00 16.42
16.25
16.08
15.50
15.33 15.38 15.16 15.28 15.18 15.16 14.59 Average Attendance Time (mm.ss) Attendance Average 14.41
14.24 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 April 1st IRMP Target 2016 to 30th November Call Year 2016
Contents page Page 29 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 9 Target Percentage First Appliance Attendance Within 18 Minutes
We will respond to the most serious incidents within 18 minutes for the irst pumping 100% appliance in attendance and within 25 minutes for the second pumping appliance in attendance on at least 95 per cent of occasions. 98%
96% How have we done? 96.3% 95.7% 95.3% 95.0% First attendances within 18 minutes are currently at 92.9 per cent - this is 2.1 per cent 94% 93.8% outside of the target and with the trend outlined above is likely to continue to do so. This 93.6% is believed to be linked to availability issues. Second attendances within 25 minutes are 92% 92.9% currently exceeding the target at 97.1 per cent which is 2.1 percent above the target. % Attendance within 18 minutes % Attendance 90%
88% 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 April 1st IRMP Target 2016 to 30th November Call Year 2016
Percentage Second Appliance Attendance Within 25 Minutes
100%
98% 98.7%
97.5% 97.2% 97.0% 97.1% 96% 96.5%
95.0% 94%
92% % Attendance within 25% Attendance minutes
90% 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 April 1st IRMP Target 2016 to 30th November Call Year 2016
Contents page Page 30 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 10 Fire prevention Accidental Dwelling Fire Rate Target 7
To continue the trend to reduce the number of accidental dwelling ires. 6 How have we done? 5 There has been a 16 per cent increase in the year to date (April to November) compared to same period in 2015 with 181 compared to 156. Although this is the highest eight month 4 total since 2010, it is still well below the IRMP target set for this period (265). There have been no accidental dwelling ire deaths in the year to date. 3
The number of dwellings in Cambridgeshire has risen by 41,000 over the past seven years. dwellings per 10,000 2 Although we might have expected there to be an increase in accidental dwelling ires as a result, the actual rate of accidental dwelling ires had been decreasing up until 2013 Number of accidental dwelling ires 1 and since then has luctuated between 4.5 and 5.1 accidental dwelling ires per 10,000 0 dwellings. 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Analysis of the root causes for this increase has identiied a well-known theme of April to November in each year small ires within kitchens which are relatively minor in nature. Predominantly these incidents are as a result of cooking and involve both people living alone and couples with dependent children who become distracted.
Contents page Page 31 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 11 Target Primary Fire Related Fatal and Non-Fatal Casualties (including precautionary checks) By Call Year To continue the trend to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries in ires.
140 How have we done? 120 118 There has been a 22 per cent reduction in ire related casualties in the year to date 100 compared to the same period in 2015, with 38 compared to 49. There has only been one 80 ire fatality in this year (not as a result of an accidental ire). 69 72 62 64 60 56
Number of people 54 When we review our data we can see that accidental dwelling ire deaths have increased 28 year on year since 2013-14 peaking at six deaths in 2015-16. However, we have not had any 40 so far this year (year 2016/17 as of 31/12/16). 20 Looking at the data, 66 per cent of accidental dwelling ire deaths occurred during the 0 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 IRMP Target spring and summer season (1 March to 31 August). Apr to Nov The main cause of incidents which resulted in ire deaths was combustible articles too Call Year close to heat source (or ire). We have completed further analysis of this area using Mosaic data, which is a socio- demographic data set that uses over eight million pieces of data to create proiles of individuals based on things like credit scores, Census information, health data and shopping habits. A Mosaic proile is applied to each household. From our ire data we are able to identify those Mosaic groups which have had a higher incidence of accidental dwelling ire and of becoming a ire casualty. Based on ive years of data, Mosaic group M households (elderly people reliant on state beneit) are at a higher risk of having a ire compared to all other Mosaic groups.
Contents page Page 32 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 12 Target Accidental Fires In Non-Domestic Premesis
Reducing the likelihood of ires and unwanted ire signals occurring in non-domestic 250 premises through business engagement and compliance with ire legislation 200 How have we done? 198 150 Between April and November of the last three call years (2014, 2015 and 2016) we can see 149 139 that accidental ires in non-domestic premises have steadily reduced. 126 122 123 100 110 Number of ires A review of the incidents in non-domestic premises that were caused accidentally has shown a small rise in Peterborough and Cambridge which are spread across a range of 50 69 occupancy types. However a reduction in accidental ires can be seen in Huntingdon, 0 Fenland and South Cambridgeshire districts. 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 IRMP Target Apr to Nov Call Year Automatic ire alarms Looking at the irst eight months of the last three call years (April to November 2014, 2015 Number of False Alarms Caused By Automatic Fire Detection and 2016) we can see that Automatic Fire Alarms (AFAs) in non-domestic premises have per 1,000 Non-Domestic Properties been increasing steadily; increase of 47 between 2014 (985) and 2016 (1032). 100
The reason for the increase is suspected to be caused by growth in the commercial 95 80 85 community. Building consultations for new developments continue to rise and 80 commercial dataset from Experian shows the number of companies residing in our county 60 as more than 46,000. 58 58 61 58
40 45
20 Number of incidents per 1,000
0 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 IRMP Target Apr to Nov Call Year
Contents page Page 33 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 13 Target Deliberate Fires By Call Year To reduce the number of deliberate ires. 1000 900 935 How have we done? 800 812 700 We have seen a 14 per cent increase in the year to date compared to the same period in 600 618 640 2015, with 552 compared to 483. 500 586 552 529 536 400 Number of ires Deliberate primary ires have consistently been higher nearly every month in the year to 300 date compared to the previous year. The increase can be related to the rise in deliberate 200 prison ires being reported and a rise in deliberate road vehicle ires. 100 0 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 IRMP Target Deliberate small ires accounted for 58 per cent of total deliberate ires in the year to date Apr to Nov compared to 66 per cent in the same period last year. Call Year
Contents page Page 34 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 14 Our Vision
Our vision is for safe communities where there are no preventable deaths or injuries from Operational Excellence ire or other emergencies. Working with our managers and staf Put simply, this means we want to reduce risk and save lives. to ensure the highest standards of operational response we: To achieve this, we need to achieve operational and community safety excellence in the most cost efective way (value for money), putting people at the centre of everything we • Have competent, conident and do – both people in the community in terms of their safety and diverse needs and our skilled staf own staf in terms of training, development and health and safety. • Have the right skills, equipment and resources in the right places These are therefore our strategic aims and drive everything we do. • Have a learning culture looking to What do our Strategic Aims mean? continually improve the way we deliver our services. For each of our strategic aims we have a number of statements that describe what excellence in that area looks like to us so we all understand what we are striving for. Value for Money
Community Safety Excellence Working with our managers and staf to ensure we deliver high quality, value for money services, including: Working in partnership with agencies such as local authorities, district councils, police and • Actively seek collaborations health authorities, we: • Having efective and eicient working practices • Understand the risk in our communities • Continuously monitoring how we are performing, sharing what we do with others and • Are inclusive in our approach and tailor our services to meet the needs of our diverse taking best practice from others. communities • Work with partner agencies in a targeted, proactive and efective manner and are People perceived as a key contributor to community safety Working with our managers and staf to ensure our people are safe and the Service is • Have a high level of customer satisfaction in our activities. accessible to everyone, meeting their needs and expectations, we: • Continually strive to improve the service we deliver
• Listen and engage with staf, communities and our partners to improve what we do • Develop our staf and encourage them to reach their potential.
Contents page Page 35 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 15 Risks and opportunities
Our review of risks and opportunities has highlighted a number of core areas for our focus Count Of Incidents Against Average On-Call Appliance Available, and attention. By Time Of Day For Financial Year 2015/16 600 26 Ageing population 550 Our changing county demographics and an increasingly ageing population is leading to 24 an increase in vulnerable and isolated older people within our communities. This is not 500 having a direct impact upon our number of incidents, however, our historic data shows 22 that the older population is more at risk of ire related deaths. This, coupled with the 450
of appliances Number 20 pressures on social care services, identiies this demography change as a key strategic risk to continuing to reduce ire related deaths. 400 18
Reliance on the on-call service 350 Number of incidents 16 We have four 24/7 stations, three day-crewed and 21 on-call stations. We are reliant on 300 the on-call stations to provide a large proportion of our service. Through a combination 14 250 of declining calls and changes in lifestyles, the recruitment and retention of on-call staf is a challenge. 200 12
The graph opposite highlights our speciic availability issues. Currently we have the 150 10 highest appliance availability in the evenings, when we have the greatest number of 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 on-call appliances available. However our demand peaks between 8am and 10pm and Incidents On-call appliances fully available Average appliances available our appliance availability is at its lowest between 6am and 6pm. This disparity between availability and demand is linked to the achievement or lack of achievement of the target Number of incidents by time of day against appliance availability attendance times.
Workforce reform Employee survey The retirement proile of the Service shows a high number of staf will likely retire in We recently conducted a comprehensive employee survey, which delivered a range of the next ive years. This proile presents a risk to the Service in terms of loss of skills and feedback. This has presented us with a number of opportunities for improvements in experience and therefore robust succession planning will be paramount. However, it staf engagement, which, as a result, will improve retention rates and ensure the Service also presents an opportunity to further our work to reform our working practices and becomes an employer of choice for a more diverse range of our communities, enabling us employment conditions to ensure that the Service can attract and retain a more diverse to have a workforce that is relective of the communities we serve. workforce equipped with the skills to deliver a modern ire and rescue service to the communities we serve.
Contents page Page 36 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 16 Collaboration We have already demonstrated a strong desire to collaborate with the introduction of the ICT Shared Service with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Combined Fire Control with Sufolk Fire and Rescue Service. There are further opportunities to collaborate to drive eiciencies and to also improve outcomes for the public through close working with other blue light services. The core opportunities that have been identiied relate to property sharing with the police to look at sites where there would be beneit to sharing facilities and also look to building new joint facilities if appropriate. There is also the opportunity to look at methods to increase closer working to deliver eiciencies across the police, ambulance and ire.
Contents page Page 37 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 17 Action Plan
Our review of risks and opportunities has identiied a number of key areas for Community Safety Excellence consideration that would impact upon our ability to achieve, or assist us to achieve, our Our delivery of community safety excellence will be through a ‘central focus, local vision and strategic aims. delivery’ model. Through this we are able to ensure our resources are coordinated from a This work has resulted in the culmination of an action plan for the next three years. The central perspective through two functional groups each overseen by a group commander action plan is split under our four strategic aims - Operational Excellence, Community and then delivered through local delivery teams. Safety Excellence, Value for Money and People - and will be managed by these strategic Through the review of risk and opportunity we have identiied the following areas to delivery groups. further improve our community safety delivery: • Further collaboration with health and social care to develop Safe and Well visits, reaching more vulnerable members of our communities in response to the changing
demography
• Expanding the co-responding programme to other ire stations • Delivery of Firebreak – a new programme to support the safety and health of young people
• Work with partners and local authorities to support better regulation and ultimately safer places of work • Continue to lobby and work with developers and local authorities to increase domestic safety through the itting of sprinklers
• Forge closer and efective collaborations with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough road safety partnerships, supporting delivery of targeted initiatives to reduce the number of road traic collisions • Build upon the successful integration of community safety teams in Peterborough, by considering the opportunity to further integrate the delivery of community safety with partners in Cambridgeshire.
Contents page Page 38 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 18 Operational Excellence Value for money Operational excellence will be delivered through a conident, skilled workforce, equipped It is a statutory requirement, under Section 33 of the Local Government Finance Act to deliver the best possible service to the community. Given when emergency calls occur, 1992, for the Fire Authority to produce a balanced budget. The comprehensive spending the organisation of those resources needs to be lexible to meet the changing demands. reviews and annual budget reductions have made this diicult, but by working with staf Our operational staf and vehicles are managed by two group commanders, one for our and making savings early, we have submitted an eiciency plan to the Home Oice for wholetime ireighters and the other for our on-call stations. approval, which, if agreed, will provide us with some greater inancial certainty until 2020. The Authority recognises that ensuring value for money is a major and continuing priority. Through the review of risk and opportunities we have identiied the following areas to further improve our operational response: Through the review of risk and opportunity we have identiied the following areas to further improve our value for money: • Align our operational resources to our demand throughout the day and night • Enhance our ability to respond to complex rescue situations through the upskilling of • Property consolidation and collaboration with other blue light services, including a our staf and the procurement of additional equipment rationalisation of estates in Huntingdon in partnership with the police and ambulance services • Deliver alternative on-call provision that enables us to improve service delivery and staf retention • Exploring further opportunities for the sharing of support services with the police and local authorities • Introduce national operational guidance to improve ireighter safety and enhance interoperability between ire services • Supporting national, sector wide spend analysis and in turn support the development of future procurement strategies • Provide a cost efective and lexible approach to meeting our aerial capability requirement • Potentially sharing oicer cover more widely across the region to deliver cost savings as well as increased resilience and sharing areas of specialism • Introduce the replacement national emergency service communication system • Explore, through an established blue light strategic interoperability board, • Undertake assurance across opportunities to work together in the use of property, staf, training and equipment all operational areas, ensuring to improve the service provided to communities we are delivering the highest standards incorporating risk • Deliver eiciencies, through the Service Transformation and Eiciency Programme information and health and (STEP), by the automation and improvement of business processes, reducing manual safety intervention and freeing up resources from administrative tasks to focus on value adding activities • Implement functional itness tests in accordance with the • Support the existing ICT shared service while exploring additional opportunities to work of the FireFit national collaborate with partners on ICT projects. This helps in maintaining secure technical project. platforms and reduces the risks from cyber-attacks.
Contents page Page 39 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 19 People Through the review of risk and opportunity we have identiied the following areas to further improve in this area: People are at the heart of everything we do, both our staf and those in our communities who we seek to protect and assist. Our commitment to people in our communities is • Refresh our development activities to better prepare staf for future management and strategically addressed in the community safety excellence section (see page 20). leadership positions, including collaborative development programmes with other ire services and partner organisations Our success as an organisation depends on having appropriately skilled and motivated staf who feel valued as individuals, making them more likely to deliver an excellent service. • Creating and implementing an action plan in response to the results of our employee Our Workforce Development Board is led by the assistant chief ire oicer and considers engagement survey both internal and external drivers in order to set the strategic direction for our workforce • Continuous improvement of relationships and working practices with our representative development activities. bodies • Strategic consideration of resourcing and strengthening our succession planning
• Reviewing our recruitment and promotion processes to ensure we are focused on assessing the skills needed for the future • Carry out further work to ensure there are no barriers to improving the diversity of our workforce, including reviewing access and opportunities for disabled colleagues, more work to support greater gender diversity in diferent areas of the workforce and working to build long-term engagement with black and minority ethnic (BME) communities • Introducing apprenticeship schemes into the Service to provide alternative career paths
• Conducting an equal pay audit • Considering further opportunities for workforce reform as recommended in the recently published Thomas Review into terms and conditions of employment for operational staf in the ire and rescue service.
Contents page Page 40 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 20 Our Future Performance And Measures
We acknowledge that our previous performance standards are confusing with variation between urban and rural response targets so we want to simplify this. Replacing our current six response targets we will put in place one service wide performance standard: We will respond to the most serious incidents in our authority area within an average of 10 minutes for the first fire engine in attendance, and within 15 minutes for the second pumping appliance on 80 per cent of occasions. We have outlined a number of areas that we are going to focus on through the delivery of our action plan. To help us ensure that we are delivering against these we will be monitoring the following performance measures: • We will continue to reduce the number of primary and secondary ires and associated deaths and injuries within our communities using ‘per head of population’ as the comparable igure • We will continue to work with our partners to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads • We will continue to diversify our community response by increasing the number of co-responding stations and associated calls for help • We will continue to recruit a workforce that is more representative of our communities, speciically with regards to BME members of staf, female operational staf and female operational managers • We will continue to ensure we provide value for money by improving our Service year on year whilst remaining in the lowest quartile cost per head of population compared to other ire and rescue services.
Contents page Page 41 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 21 Consultation
The purpose of consultation is to understand the efects of a proposal on diferent Previous consultations have included: stakeholder groups. • Change in wholetime operational shift arrangements There may be a number of reasons to consult: to gather views and preferences, to • Review of rescue vehicle crewing arrangements at Huntingdon understand possible unintended consequences or to get views on implementation. • Review of support services We seek to engage in real discussion with afected parties and experts to help make • Merger of Swaham Bulbeck and Burwell ire stations. informed decisions, therefore how we consult on proposals will vary depending on the nature of the proposal. We accept that the traditional method of written consultation is not always the best way of getting those who are afected by a particular issue to engage in useful dialogue. The choice and form of consultation will depend on the issues under consideration, who needs to be consulted, and the available time and resources. In order to achieve this, we adopt the following principles: • We will undertake an impact assessment when considering an initiative and identify those groups afected • We will design a consultation plan speciically for the proposal, which is proportionate and targeted • We will make clear the nature of the consultation • The time frame for consultation will depend on the nature and impact of the proposal, and will enable meaningful engagement (where a shorter timeframe is appropriate we will provide a clear rationale).
Contents page Page 42 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 22 Appendices
Appendix A - Glossary Pumping appliance A ire appliance with the capacity to pump water for ireighting. Appliances The general term used to describe all ireighting vehicles, including the standard ire On-call duty system engine or pumping appliance (see pumping appliances). Fireighters with other full-time occupations are recruited to be available on-call close to their local ire station for a certain minimum number of hours per week, plus regular Automatic fire alarm (AFA) training. They are paid a retainer plus a call-out fee for incidents attended. The on-call An emergency call generated by remote monitoring equipment in non-domestic service is more widely used in rural areas. premises.
Community fire safety (CFS) Secondary fire The range of ire prevention activities undertaken by the ire service, often in conjunction The majority of outdoor ires, including grassland and refuse ires, unless they involve with partner agencies. casualties or rescues, property loss or ive or more appliances attend. Fire safety order (FSO) Similar services The ire safety legislation which the Authority has a duty to enforce. A group of 11 ire and rescue services, similar in size and make up; Bedfordshire and Luton, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Durham, East Sussex, Norfolk, Safe and Well Visits Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Sufolk and West Sussex. A new initiative working with partners to help keep the most vulnerable people in communities safe in their home. They are visits by ireighters or other trained ire service Wholetime staf, to provide information on ire safety in the home, falls prevention, alcohol use, Full-time ireighters. staying warm and well, and crime reduction. Visits are free. Find out more by visiting our website www.cambsire.gov.uk. Primary fire Fires in buildings, vehicles and outdoor structures, or any ire involving casualties, rescues, or ires attended by ive or more appliances.
Contents page Page 43 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 23 Appendix B - Resilience National Resilience Local Resilience Forums The National Resilience programme was introduced in 2003 to strengthen the country’s The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) requires all category one responders to undertake ability to handle emergencies and crises. The National Resilience assets are owned by the joint planning, training and exercising to ensure their emergency plans are current, ire and rescue services which host them. Servicing of the vehicles and procurement of comprehensive and that they will work when an emergency occurs. The Act also requires equipment for them is managed centrally. consultation between category one and category two responders. The National Resilience programme enhances the capability and capacity of the ire and The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Local Resilience Forum (CPLRF) has been rescue service to respond to a range of incidents as well as a national established ensuring the duties under the Act are fulilled. The Service is represented on co-ordination facility. the CPLRF at all levels, and chaired by the chief ire oicer, ensuring not only that all duties are met but also the CPLRF continues to develop and improve. The programme delivers a number of distinct capabilities, these are: • Mass decontamination The CPLRF has developed a Community Risk Register. Those risks identiied as relevant to us and have the highest risk ratings are: severe weather events, looding (coastal, tidal or • Urban search and rescue luvial), inluenza pandemics and loss of telecommunications. • High volume pumping capacity We have developed contingency plans to deal with all these situations along with the • Operational logistics and support larger risks covered by the Control of Major Hazard (COMAH) regulations, undertaking regular exercises and assessments in preparation for emergencies. • Long term capability management. We will continue to take a lead role and support the CPLRF in order to provide the public with the best capability in dealing with an emergency requiring a multi-agency response. The CPLRF is a valuable link in ensuring any learning points arising from incidents or exercises are satisfactorily covered in future planning.
Contents page Page 44 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 24 We operate one specialist vehicle available to the National Resilience programme and for use within the county: A High Volume Pump The High Volume Pump (HVP) is crewed by on-call ireighters and is used to pump large quantities of water to an incident, or to move large quantities of water away from an area such as in lood situations. The pump is capable of pumping 7,000 litres of water per minute and comes with three kilometres of high capacity hose which is laid using a specially designed hose-laying unit. We also jointly manage a second vehicle, which is the Eastern region’s Detection, Identiication and Monitoring (DIM) vehicle. The DIM vehicle will provide a 24/7 response capability for deployment in the early stages of a major incident, involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) materials either within or outside the region. This vehicle is operated by Essex Fire and Rescue Service, but the specialist oicers who run the equipment come from both Cambridgeshire and Essex ire services. Other specialist units provided under the National Resilience programme are available to us through the national co-ordination centre.
Contents page Page 45 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 25 Appendix C - Knowing our Communities Disability and Ill-Health People with a long-term health problem or disability make up 15 per cent of the Only by knowing the people that live and work in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will population in Cambridgeshire and 17 per cent in Peterborough - slightly lower than the we be able to provide an appropriate and good quality service that meets the needs of UK as a whole. However, the disability proile varies widely with age and older people are the county’s diferent communities. A number of complex characteristics contribute to more likely to sufer from dementia as well as other progressive conditions. Mental ill- the risk of being afected by ire or other emergency or to being able to access services. health can lead to increased risk of ire in the home and the risk of being injured or dying We have focused on those characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010 and outlined in a ire, particularly for people living in isolation with limited access to care and support or below are areas where there are known inequalities in health, safety and wellbeing with speciic disorders like hoarding behaviours. outcomes. This risk is set to increase in the future given the nature of our ageing population. Our Age work with partners like Adult Social Care, Age UK and Alzheimer’s Society helps identify Emergency incident data shows that those most at risk of being injured or dying as a those in most need of intervention and we ofer services like Safe and Well visits and free result of ire are older people – particularly those with an additional vulnerability such smoke alarm itting. The national Dementia Friends programme which we began to roll as disability, mental ill-health or isolation. This is an increasing risk as the population of out in 2014 is helping to improve awareness of dementia among our staf. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is ageing. Census 2011 data shows the number of people aged 65 and over make up 15 per cent of the population, two per cent being 85 and over. The population aged 65 and over in Cambridgeshire is expected to increase by 64.4 per cent between 2012 and 2031, an additional 67,400 people. Our tactical prevention plans already include a focus on this most vulnerable group. Children and young people are another group potentially at risk from the consequences of accidental ires (through lack of knowledge, maturity or judgement); and deliberate ire-setting (risk taking behaviours or anti-social behaviour). Initiatives to engage and educate them about the danger of ire-setting behaviours through partnership work are already key areas of our prevention work. Inexperienced and younger drivers are also more at risk of being involved in road traic collisions and again education programmes to address this are in place. Peterborough has a younger population than the national or regional average and the migrant populations and Asian populations in particular have a younger proile than white British communities.
Contents page Page 46 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 26 Ethnic Origins and Nationality Peterborough has a higher proportion of population from the Eastern European accession countries than the national or regional average with 7.7 per cent of the population born in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough both have a rich heritage of ethnic and cultural countries joining the European Union between 2001 –11. diversity. Understanding new communities as well as building and sustaining relationships with long standing communities is important in providing an efective prevention Table 1 (below) gives an overview of the ethnic diversity in each district or unitary and response service. The greatest nationality and ethnic diversity is within the cities authority including a breakdown of those who identify as “White” (2011 census). Table 2 of Cambridge and Peterborough although rural areas have also seen an increase in gives a further break down of Black and minority ethnic populations. Eastern European migrants as additional countries have joined the European Union.
Table 1 Ethnic Diversity District Cambridge East Cambs Fenland Huntingdonshire South Cambs Peterborough (population) (123,867) (83,818) (95,262) (69,508) (148,755) (183,631) % White British 66% 89.7% 90.4% 89.5% 87.3% 70.9% % Irish 1.4% 0.6% 0.4% 0.7% 0.7% 0.7% % White other 15.1% 5.9% 6.4% 4.6% 5.3% 10.9% % Black & minority ethnic 17.6% 3.6% 2.9% 5.3% 6.8% 17.6%
Table 2 Breakdown of BME Communities District Cambridge East Cambs Fenland Huntingdonshire South Cambs Peterborough Mixed/multiple ethnicity 3.2% 1.4% 1.0 1.5 1.8 2.8% Asian/Asian British 11.1% 1.3% 0.8 2.5 3.7 11.7% Black/Black british 1.7% 0.5% 0.5 1.0 0.8 2.3% Other ethnic ethnicity 1.6% 0.3% 0.2% 0.3 0.2 0.6%
Communication diiculties can act as a barrier in providing safety information to those and Travellers are estimated to make up one per cent of the population with 58 per cent whose irst language is other than English. In 2014 we examined how operational crews of these living in caravans and 42 per cent in settled housing.1 However there is variation overcome such barriers and will continue to improve support to them in this area. across the districts and Fenland has one of the largest Gypsy Traveller populations in the Inadequate accommodation - often in houses of multiple occupation – adds to the country. Gypsy, Traveller and Roma children remain highly disadvantaged in terms of vulnerability of some of this group and a speciic tactical community ire safety plan has educational achievement and there is experience that this community lacks conidence been developed to tackle overcrowded properties. and knowledge about how to access services such as health, social care and other public services. We will continue to raise awareness of the needs of this group with our staf and Gypsies and Travellers remain a signiicant (although undisclosed) ethnic minority group partners. across the Authority area and within the Eastern region. Across Cambridgeshire, Gypsies
Contents page Page 47 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 27 Gender Religion and Belief The gender ratio across the county has become more even (49.5 male: 50.5 female). Data In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Christianity is the most prevalent religious belief from 2004/05 to 2011/12 indicated that men were more likely to be casualties or victims of (58 per cent) which is consistent with the national picture (59 per cent). Muslims form a ire fatality than women in general. nine per cent of Peterborough’s population – signiicantly higher than the national average (4.8 per cent) and that in Cambridge City (four per cent). Nationally the Muslim 2 More recent data for domestic ires (2011 – 2014) shows little diference in outcomes population is considerably younger than the population in general. National research4 between the genders. However this varies with age group and circumstances, with a shows that Muslims are the most likely of all faith groups to live in deprived localities (46 higher proportion of women over pensionable age living alone (64 per cent) being per cent of Muslim population residing on the 10 per cent most deprived areas). injured in domestic ires, but a higher proportion of men living alone under pensionable age (66 per cent) being injured. Men are still more likely to be injured or killed in road The faith of our communities is relevant to us where we provide services in people’s traic collisions. We will continue to monitor the circumstances and characteristics of homes and also in relation to understanding behaviours and observance of faith based those injured in ires and other emergencies to identify and respond to altering trends. traditions. Our role and responsibilities in planning for large scale emergencies also provides an opportunity to engage and foster good relations with faith leaders who may Transgender be in a position to support and reassure their faith communities in national or large scale emergencies. The term ‘transgender’ is an umbrella term for the wide range of people whose gender identity and/or gender expression difers from their birth sex. People who intend to transition, are doing so or have already done so, have the gender reassignment Sexual Orientation characteristic and protection from discrimination under the Equality Act (2010). Cambridgeshire has a number of support networks for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities and we have partnered with Encompass – an umbrella 3 Research from the Home Oice indicates about one per cent of the population may network - to raise awareness of the needs of these communities. A needs assessment for describe themselves as transgender. In recent years there has been an increase in the South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City (2014)5 has provided the most recent research numbers seeking treatment, thought to be because of greater protection for this group about this community. The research points to a high incidence of mental ill-health; high in law. A recent assessment of needs was carried out by Encompass Network for South incidence of homophobic experiences, particularly in rural areas; perceptions of bi- and Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City District Councils (see sexual orientation opposite). homophobia acting as a barrier to accessing services for older people and the need for gender identity training for all public facing staf in public services.
1 Cambridgeshire CC - Travellers Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2010 2 Prevention Tactical Forum Commentary: August 2014 – Performance Team. 3 Gender Variance in the UK: Prevalence, Incidence, Growth (2014 update) – report by Gender Identity Research & Education Society 4 A Demographic, Socio-economic, and Health Profile of Muslims in Britain drawing on the 2011 Census. 5 Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire LGBTQ Needs Assessment April 2014
Contents page Page 48 of 94 THE INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (IRMP) 2017 - 2020 28
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Fire HQ, Hinchingbrooke Cottage, Brampton Road, Huntingdon PE29 2NA
www.cambsire.gov.uk
Page 49 of 94
Page 50 of 94
Agenda Item no. 8
TO: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
FROM: Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Rick Hylton
PRESENTING OFFICER(S): ACFO Rick Hylton
Telephone 01480 444500 [email protected]
DATE: 15 June 2017
NEGOTIATIONS TO INCREASE DAYTIME FIRE COVER
1. Purpose
1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide the Fire Authority with the latest position with regard to negotiations with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to increase the number of fire appliances available across the county during the daytime by two.
2. Recommendation
2.1 The Authority is asked to acknowledge the contents of this report and approve the establishment of a new duty system for Cambridgeshire (details contained in Appendix 1) aligned to our Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), creating two additional wholetime day time fire appliances, seven days a week.
3. Risk Assessment
3.1 Political – the principles of integrated risk management govern that Fire Authorities should ensure that resources are distributed in a cost effective and risk based manner. This change in duty system enables the Service to increase the number of wholetime day crewed appliances by two, seven days a week aligned to our IRMP.
3.2 Economic – in a climate of financial constraint, it is essential that frontline resources are deployed in the most cost effective manner that safeguards the safety of the public and our staff.
3.3 Legal – in order to establish a new shift system outside national terms and conditions requires negotiations to achieve a collective agreement between the FBU and the Service. This duty system has been achieved through this mechanism and agreement reached between both parties; the duty system can therefore be implemented as a result.
4. Background
4.1 A review of risk within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough identifies that call rates are highest during daytime hours, predominately between 8am
and 8pm. This is also the time, due to previously documented reasons, when the Service has difficulties crewing On-Call appliances. The net result is a reduction of frontline fire appliances available at a time when call rates are at their peak.
4.2 The Service has aimed to mitigate this effect by the creation of the Tactical Delivery Group (TDG) and the payment of existing staff to stand by at key stations to increase availability. Whilst this has provided certain mitigation to the issue, the model is reactive and heavily reliant on the good will of staff and comes at a financial cost.
4.3 Members will be aware that due to the Authority's decision some time ago to improve the rescue capability of our frontline fire appliances, the usage of the rescue vehicles at Cambridge and Dogsthorpe has significantly reduced. These vehicles are currently primary crewed by 20 posts operating on the five watch shift system at a cost of circa £800,000 per annum. In 2015 the Overview and Scrutiny Committee received a report from the Chief Fire Officer, showing the reduction in demand of these vehicles and agreed to Officers exploring ways in which these staff could be utilised to improve the service to the public.
4.4 Officers felt that if agreement could be reached with the FBU to allow for the redeployment of these posts it would enable an improvement in day time fire appliance availability without significantly increasing the cost of doing so. In October 2016, Members agreed to Officers commencing these negotiations.
5. Negotiations
5.1 Terms of reference for the negotiations were agreed by both parties in October 2016. These terms of reference set out the scope of the negotiations and the objectives that the Service was aiming to achieve. For the negotiations to be successful any outcome needed to meet the three pillars namely, to improve service to the public, to provide appropriate working conditions for staff and to be such that the organisation could administer it effectively.
5.2 Learning the lessons from previous negotiations, the Service negotiation teams have adopted a stance of being outcome focused. In other words, the objective of increasing the number of available fire appliances during the day by two for seven days a week if possible is the primary outcome, supported by ensuring that in doing so service delivery is not worsened in other areas. In determining how this is achieved, the Service teams have remained open to considering options.
5.3 In order to engender trust between both parties the principle of ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’ was adopted. This enabled both parties to offer up ideas and solutions within the negotiations without fear of these being shared wider than the two negotiation teams. This has enabled both parties to consider more openly the art of what may be possible.
5.4 It is testament to both parties’ involved in the negotiations that a viable option has emerged that meets the three pillars of this negotiation and is compliant with the working time directive. This is an innovative system that is not in use to our knowledge in any other fire and rescue service, yet provides our Service with two additional wholetime fire appliances seven days a week aligned to our IRMP, whilst minimising the impact on staff.
5.5 As a result of this, the FBU has presented the draft collective agreement to its membership with a vote to accept or reject the deal. It is acknowledged and should be recognised by the Authority, that despite only moving to a new shift system in 2012 and notwithstanding the impact that this move to a new system will have on both domestic and in some cases financial aspects of their lives, in the interest of providing a better service to the public our frontline station based staff have chosen to accept this deal.
5.6 In order to further minimise the impact on the Service and those affected staff, it is important that we now begin the work to ensure a smooth transition to the new working arrangements for January 2018.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Source Documents Location Contact Officer
On-Call Feasibility Report February 2016 ACFO Rick Hylton SHQ
Hinchingbrooke Rescue Vehicle Demand 01480 444500 Cottage Analysis [email protected]. Brampton Road uk Huntingdon Review of the Day Crewing Agreement
APPENDIX 1
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service
24 Hour Shift and Roaming Appliances Duty System
A collective agreement between Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority and the Fire Brigades Union for the operation of the Wholetime 24 Hour Shift System in Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Signatures
We agree that this document is a Formal Collective agreement between the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority and the Fire Brigades Union covering the rostering for duty of Wholetime 24Hr shift firefighters.
Date of agreement:
Signed on behalf of the:
Authority Fire Brigades Union
Position…………………… Position……………………
Signature…………………. Signature…………………
Date………………………… Date………………………..
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Index
1. Introduction
2. Rates of Pay
3. Performance Criteria
4. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Rider Establishment
5. Changes in Role due to move from the Five Watch System
6. Basic 24 hour and roaming appliance shift system and its application in Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service
7. Annual Leave (including Public Holidays)
8. Other Leave
9. Training
10. Allocating Roaming Appliance Duties
11. Strategic Reserve
12. Duty Swaps
13. Sickness Absence
14. Flexible Working
15. Acting Up/ Promotions
16. Temporary/ Substantive Transfers
Appendix A – Example of Individual Rota Pattern
DEFINITIONS
CFRS – Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service FBU – Fire Brigades Union Wholetime – Any fire station or employee working on a 24 hour or day crewed duty system On-Call – Any fire station or employee working on an On-Call duty system
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RAN – Roaming Appliance North RAS – Roaming Appliance South NJC - National Joint Council Scheme of Conditions of Service Sixth Edition 2004 (Updated 2009) IRMP – Integrated Risk Management Plan RMU – Resource Management Unit RMUB – Resource Management Unit Board TOIL- Time Off in Lieu
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1. Introduction
1.1. This collective agreement relates to the way that the Wholetime 24hr shift operational personnel are rostered for duty. All consequential issues arising as a result of this agreement will be dealt with through meaningful and constructive consultation and negotiation between CFRS and the FBU.
1.2. This agreement affects all uniformed employees that are subject to the National Joint Council Scheme of Conditions of Service for Local Authority Fire & Rescue Services (Grey Book) and such other NJC agreements reached from time to time. The agreement applies to all those personnel who are posted, either substantively or temporarily, to operational Wholetime 24hr shift fire stations.
1.3. Certain elements of this agreement may impact on other Wholetime staff, For example where they are required to provide operational cover at any Wholetime station in the event of appliance crewing issues. Please refer to Out Duty Policy for more detail.
1.4. This agreement is effective from 1 January 2018.
1.5. The agreement is in accordance with the National Joint Council Scheme of Conditions of Service Sixth Edition 2004 (Updated 2009) (hereafter known as NJC) and in particular complies with Section 4, Part A, Paragraph 3, which states that:
“Duty systems will need to meet the requirements of the Fire and Rescue Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Plan. Any proposed system should be discussed with the recognised trade unions and be based on the following principles.
Basic working hours should average forty-two per week (inclusive of three hour meal breaks in every twenty four hours) for full time employees. There should be at least two periods of twenty-four hours free from duty each week. It should comply with the relevant United Kingdom and European law, including the Working Time Regulations 1998, and Health, Safety and Welfare at Work legislation. It should have regard to the special circumstances of individual employees and be family friendly.”
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1.6. Either party may seek to alter the provisions within this collective agreement through meaningful consultation and negotiation and with the mutual agreement of the other party.
2. Rates of Pay
2.1. Rates of pay for employees are in accordance with National Joint Council circulars.
2.2. Overtime will be paid in accordance with the NJC Section 4, Part B, Paragraphs 23-30.
3. Performance Criteria
3.1. The Fire Authority/CFRS has set performance standards for its operational emergency response as identified within its Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP). The changes associated with this agreement are designed to maintain or improve this service level.
3.2. CFRS will continue to send a minimum of two fire appliances to dwelling fires and other incidents where life is at risk. The availability of appliances should be aligned to deliver the IRMP.
3.3. The Fire Authority/ CFRS aim to achieve minimum attendance times for the first and second appliances to emergency incidents as identified in the IRMP.
3.4. The Fire Authority/CFRS aim to achieve preferred Wholetime crewing levels1 at incident for 85% of the time. To achieve this CFRS will aim to crew all Wholetime first away appliances with 5 personnel, second away appliances with 4. The 2 additional roaming appliances available between 08:00 to 18:00 will be treated as first away. Where global crewing permits, the second away appliance at Cambridge will be prioritised to receive an additional crew member to take them up to 5 personnel, after annual leave, training or development detachments have been granted. In order to ensure the availability of special appliances these will be jump crewed in line with the Jump Crewing Policy.
1 Preferred crewing levels refer to the percentage of time that an initially attending appliance is crewed by 5 riders and subsequent appliances are crewed with at least 4 riders.
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3.5. The ongoing performance of this duty system will be reviewed quarterly at a meeting between CFRS and the FBU. Any proposals to revise this duty system will be subject to meaningful consultation and negotiation (paragraph 1.6 applies).
4. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Rider Establishment
4.1. In determining establishment levels, account has been taken of historical records of average firefighter absences. CFRS will continue to monitor and review absence to ensure preferred levels are assured and operational delivery is maintained where possible (see paragraph 3.4).
4.2. CFRS through the RMUB will monitor establishment levels detailed in Table 1 below. This is to ensure CFRS maintains establishment levels at 156 where practicably possible.
4.3. Personnel will work the majority of duties on the same watch and at their home station, except when allocated to ride the roaming appliances. However, consistent with existing contractual arrangements and in accordance with the NJC, Section 4, Part A, paragraph 1, personnel may also be required to undertake Out Duties at any other Wholetime station within CFRS (Out Duties will be administered in line with the Out Duty Policy and reimbursement in line with NJC, Section 4, Part E – Allowances and Reimbursements, paragraph 1). This will enable CFRS to ensure that, where possible, all Wholetime appliances are crewed at preferred levels and all personnel work an equal proportion of their contracted hours. Permanent and temporary workplace transfers shall continue to operate in accordance with CFRS Transfer Policy.
4.4. The following table identifies the agreed Wholetime establishment for 24 hour stations (incorporating roaming appliances).
Table 1: Establishment Levels WCB CC FF Total Cambridge 4 12 48 64 Dogsthorpe 4 4 24 32 Stanground 4 4 24 32 Huntingdon 4 4 20 28 156
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5. Changes in Role due to the move to New Shift System
5.1. Under the terms of this agreement, existing Watch and Crew Commanders will retain their substantive role and may be relocated on a Service need as positions arise (refer to CFRS Transfer Policy).
6. The Shift System and its application
6.1. The revised shift system will be effective from 1 January 2018.
6.2. The rota pattern is based on a four watch system of which staff normally working a pattern of two day shifts (08:00 to 18:00) followed by two night shifts (18:00 to 08:00) then four rota days. All staff working this shift will be rostered to crew the two roaming appliances on day shifts (08:00 to 18:00) throughout the year on an equitable rotational basis. These duties will be programmed in place of their normally rostered day/night shift.
6.3. Staff will be informed on what dates/duties they are required to crew the roaming appliances and which appliance, by the 1st of December the previous year.
6.4. Rescue vehicle and aerial appliance provision will be based at Cambridge and Peterborough.
6.5. The two roaming appliances will be stationed in the North and South of the county as detailed within the Roaming Pump Policy. The allocation of these duties will be as follows:
Personnel from A14 and A16 will normally be rostered to the Roaming Appliance North (RAN); Personnel from B01 will normally be rostered to the Roaming Appliance South (RAS); Personnel from A27 will be rostered to either the northern or southern roaming appliances, depending upon crewing requirements.
6.6. An example of both a station and an individual’s rota pattern are provided at Appendix A. The RMU will devise a rota pattern and this will be available for all to view on the staff intranet as soon as practicable following 1st December the year prior.
6.7. Annual Leave will be programmed prior to the commencement of each year. Watch Commanders must ensure that Gartan has been populated and annual leave forms have been submitted to the RMU by 31 October each year (refer to Annual Leave Policy).
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6.8. Up to 4 training days will be allocated by Training Centre to individuals by 1st October. Individuals will have the opportunity to make changes to accommodate leave; these changes must be submitted to Training Centre by 31st October (for these and other training courses refer to the Training Policy).
6.9. After all leave and training has been programmed watch rota patterns will be available from 1st December. The duty system is designed to ensure that, in accordance with the preferred levels outlined in Paragraph 4, the correct number of personnel are rostered for duty to crew all appliances, with the required skills as outlined in the Skills Matrix (see Crewing Policy).
6.10. Watch rota patterns will collectively ensure that staff shortages can be minimised. The rota will create an over establishment of personnel on all shifts.
6.11. If there are more than 5 riders available to crew all Wholetime appliances at start of shift staff may apply for annual leave/TOIL. If not taken staff may be required to be detached from the watch to carry out any other duties commensurate with their role.
7. Annual Leave (including Public Holidays)
7.1. Will be accrued in line with NJC, Section 4, Part C, paragraph 2.
7.2. Public Holidays will be granted in line with the NJC, Section 4, Part C, 12- 24.
7.3. Refer to the collectively agreed Annual Leave Policy.
8. Other Leave
8.1. Other leave will be granted in line with NJC, Section 4, Part C, paragraphs 26-30 and Part D, paragraphs 13-16, 27-32, 36-54 and 56-59.
8.2. Any other statutory leave provided within legislation in addition to the provisions within the NJC will also be provided for (refer to Other Leave Policy).
8.3. TOIL will only be granted after all other leave, absences, including out duties have been taken into consideration. Appliances can only be reduced to minimum crewing with TOIL for up to 50% of that entire shift.
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8.4. Compassionate leave will be granted, irrespective of ridership levels, under the terms of the Compassionate Leave Policy. Line Managers will be supported in the decision to grant Compassionate Leave. CFRS will endeavour to cover Compassionate Leave through other available resources.
9. Training
9.1. Training days should be programmed by 31st October of the previous year.
9.2. Each individual should expect to undertake up to and including 4 days of pre-programmed training each year on their rota days.
9.3. Initially individuals will be allocated specific training days. Individuals will then be granted the autonomy to reprogram the training days within the range of available options prior to the booking of their annual leave.
9.4. Where possible it is recommended that watch members aim to book similar training days to maximise team working ethos and deliver consistency to safety critical training.
9.5. Any additional safety critical training over and above 4 days can either be completed on normal duty shifts or taken as overtime, which will be paid in accordance with the NJC, Section 4, Part B, Paragraph 23 (refer to Overtime Policy for further details). Such additional safety critical training must be agreed by Head of the RMU or Group Commander Wholetime.
9.6. Any non-critical/developmental training can either be completed on shift or paid at flat rate and must be agreed by Head of the RMU or Group Commander Wholetime.
9.7. A joint review of training will be undertaken immediately following agreement of this policy to assess current provision and future requirement. Pre-programmed training on rota days will not exceed 4. Management, Fire Brigades Union, staff members and Training Centre instructors will all be involved within this review.
10. Allocating Roaming Appliance Duties
10.1. To facilitate the crewing of the two additional roaming appliances north and south, personnel will be allocated a number of duties throughout the year in which they will be required to switch their two night shifts (18:00 to 08:00) to two day shifts (08:00 to 18:00) commencing on the same calendar days.
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For staff based at Cambridge this will be no more than 27 per year. For staff based at Dogsthorpe and Stanground this will be no more than 27 per year. For staff based at Huntingdon this will be no more than 12 per year.
10.2. Roaming appliance duties will be equitably spaced across the year, equating to roughly one switch of two night shifts to two day shifts, approximately every seven weeks (dependant upon where leave and training is booked etc.).
10.3. Taking into consideration the additional members of staff, crewing of both roaming appliances can be readjusted by the relevant Watch/Crew Commander of the on duty watch to ensure the necessary skills are provided for all appliances. Also consideration of crewing may be given to any requests for part day TOIL.
10.4. Crewing of the roaming appliances should be undertaken on a fair and equitable rotational basis from members of the on duty watch, but does not necessarily have to include all or any those who are undertaking switched shifts (refer to Roaming Pump Policy).
10.5. To facilitate and support the roaming appliances and crews, 3 support vehicles will be permanently assigned to the duty shift system. These vehicles will be allocated at Cambridge, Huntingdon and Stanground Fire Stations. Their primary use will be to logistically support the roaming appliances.
11. Volunteer / Strategic Reserve
11.1. Refer to Strategic Reserve Policy.
12. Duty Swaps
12.1 Staff will be permitted to undertake duty swaps of normal duty shifts with other staff members by agreement of both parties, as long as skill requirements are maintained and no staff member works consecutive shifts.
12.2 Staff will be permitted to undertake duty swaps of switch shifts with other staff members by agreement of both parties, as long as skill requirements are maintained and no staff member works consecutive shifts. 13. Sickness Absence
13.1. Refer to Sickness Absence Policy.
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14. Applications for Flexible Working
14.1. Refer to Flexible Working Policy.
15. Acting Up/ Promotions
15.1. Refer to Promotions Policy.
16. Temporary/ Substantive Transfers
16.1. Refer to Transfer Policy.
15 APPENDIX A – EXAMPLE OF INDIVIDUAL ROTA PATTERN
Cambridge/Peterborough Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Jan 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st A A A D D N N D D N N D D N N Feb 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th D D N N A A A A D D N N DCS DCS DCS DCS Mar 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D D N N D D N N A A A A D D N Apr 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th N D D N N D D N N D D N N A May 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st A A A DCS DCS DCS DCS D D DCS DCS D D N N Jun 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30TH D D N N A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A D D N N Jul 1ST 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st DCS DCS DCS DCS D D N N D D N N D D N N Aug 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D D N N D D N N DCS DCS DCS DCS A A A A Sep 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th D D N N D D N N D D N N D D Oct 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st N N A A A A D D N N D D N N D Nov 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th D N N DCS DCS DCS DCS A A A A D D N N Dec 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D D N N D D N N D D N N DCS DCS DCS DCS
Huntingdon Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Jan 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st A A A A D D N N D D N N Feb 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th D D N N D D N N A A A A D D N N Mar 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D D N N D D N N D D N N A A A Apr 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th A D D N N DCS DCS DCN DCN D D N N D May 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D N N A A A A D D N N D D N N Jun 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30TH D D N N D D N N D D N N A A A A A A Jul 1ST 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st A A A A A A A A A A D D N N D D N N DCS DCS DCN DCN Aug 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D D N N D D N N D D N N D D N N Sep 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th A A A A D D N N D D N N D D Oct 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st N N D D N N A A A A D D N N D Nov 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th D N N DCS DCS DCN DCN D D N N A A A A Dec 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st D D N N D D N N D D N N D D N N Agenda Item no. 9
TO: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
FROM: Assistant Chief Fire Officer - Rick Hylton
PRESENTING OFFICER(S): Assistant Chief Fire Officer - Rick Hylton Telephone: 01480 444500 [email protected]
DATE: 15 June 2017
SHARING OF BRIGADE MANAGERS IN TIMES OF OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE
1. Purpose
1.1 To seek approval from the Fire Authority to agree the Memorandum of Understanding with Bedfordshire Fire Authority (being presented to them on 19 July 2017) and update the Statement of Delegated Responsibilities to enable this.
2. Recommendation
2.1 The Authority is asked to approve, conditional to Bedfordshire Fire Authority agreement on 19 July 2017, the Memorandum of Understanding attached at Appendix 1 and enable wording to be added to the Statement of Delegated Responsibilities (Appendix 2, Paragraph 1.5 highlighted in yellow).
3. Risk Assessment
3.1 Political – the current arrangements have been suitable and sufficient to this point. However, it is possible that one of the two operational Brigade Managers could be unduly delayed (out of the country on holiday) or incapacitated due to illness and/or injury. This may place the Authority at risk of not fulfilling moral and legal obligations.
3.2 Social –in the event of a major and/or significant incident the public perception and confidence of the Authority is high. If it is unable to meet or sustain that, there is a risk to the Authority that its reputation is severely or irreparably damaged.
3.3 Legal –the Fire and Rescue Services Act (2004) and Civil Contingencies Act (2004) require the Authority to plan for all reasonably foreseeable events and emergencies. There is a risk this requirement may not be met.
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4. Equality Impact Assessment
4.1 An equality impact assessment has not yet been completed.
5. Background
5.1 Brigade Managers are required to command a large and significant operational incident or attend a strategic coordinating group (SCG) to represent the Authority in the resolution and recovery of a large and/or significant multi-agency incident. Incidents requiring this level of command are by very definition significant and/or major and complex, presenting high levels of demand and risk upon the Authority. These types of incidents are likely to run for days and/or weeks in duration and may require a continuous (24/7) presence from a Brigade Manager.
5.2 In 2016, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service reduced the number of operational Brigade Managers from three to two; Chief Fire Officer and Assistant Chief Fire Officer. This was not only for operational reasons but also to make provision for officers, under delegated schemes of authority, to make decisions on behalf of the Authority to resolve emergency incidents and aid recovery. When considering this reduction, a number of safe guards were reviewed and put in place to ensure there was always an operational Brigade Manager available.
5.3 The two operational Brigade Managers are now contractually required to be available on recall to duty 24/7 (even when on annual leave). This means that any incident, community need or Authority business can be immediately met and subsequently sustained by utilising both Brigade Managers to allow rotation, rest and recuperation during long and complicated incidents.
5.4 To date, these arrangements have been suitable and sufficient to meet all requirements however there are a number of foreseeable circumstances where the resilience within this system may not meet the legislative requirements placed upon the Authority. For example, one Brigade Manager could be incapacitated due to illness and/or injury. Another example could see the second Brigade Manager abroad on holiday and whilst they would make immediate plans to return, this would result in a significant delay in their involvement with an organisational incident. Both examples would leave only one operational Brigade Manager (with delegated authority) to deal with a long, complex and protracted incident, which is unstainable. Whilst the likelihood of these scenarios occurring is low, the risk it presents the Authority is very high.
5.5 Bedfordshire Fire Authority faces the same issue and risks.
6.0 Memorandum of Understanding
6.1 In consultation with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, there is a clear opportunity to remove the risks from both authorities by signing a
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6.2 It is not intended to replace the normal working arrangements of each fire and rescue service. It is intended to add resilience in rare cases, such as those covered in Paragraph 5.4 above.
6.3 To fulfil the strategic function of a Brigade Manager at either the incident or an SCG the individual will need to be empowered under the host authority Statement of Delegated Responsibilities.
6.4 Legal advice has been sought; the current Statement of Delegated Responsibilities for both Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire would not be sufficient to allow this or protect either Authority from challenge. This can be negated by amending the respective documents to include an additional paragraph (Appendix 2, Paragraph 1.5 highlighted in yellow).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Source Documents Location Contact Officer
Callum Faint Fire and Rescue Services Hinchingbrooke Cottage Brampton Road 07780 663764 Act (2004) Huntingdon [email protected] Callum Faint Civil Contingencies Act Hinchingbrooke Cottage Brampton Road 07780 663764 (2004) Huntingdon [email protected]
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Appendix 1
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
Between Bedfordshire Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority regarding Sharing Brigade Managers in times of Operational Resilience
(INSERT DATE)
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CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Legislation and National Guidance
3. Schemes of Delegation and Authority
4. Activation of Operational Resilience Arrangement
5. Special Arrangements
6. Financial Charging
7. Procedural Review
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) defines the respective responsibilities of each party named and is not a legally binding document.
1.2 Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) are both required, under legislation and Operational guidance, to make appropriate provisions for a fire service and recognised level of appropriately trained commanders. This is not only for operational reasons but also to make provision for officers, under delegated schemes of authority, to make decisions on behalf of the relevant Authority to resolve emergency incidents and aid recovery.
1.3 Each Fire Authority fulfils this function through brigade managers (or Principal Officers). Both BFRS and CFRS have two operational brigade managers:
BFRS: Chief Fire Officer and Deputy Chief Fire Officer CFRS: Chief Fire Officer and Assistant Chief Fire Officer
1.4 Brigade managers will be required to command a large and significant operational incident or attend a Strategic Coordinating Group to represent the Fire Authority in resolution and recovery of a large and/or significant multi-agency incident. Incidents requiring this level of command are by very definition significant and/or major and complex, presenting high levels of demand and risk upon the incumbent Authority. These types of incidents are likely to run for days and/or weeks in duration and may require a continuous (24/7) presence from a brigade Manager. Examples of these types of incidents include:-
Shoreham Air crash 7/7 London bombings Hatfield rail crash Buncefield fire Kings Cross fire
1.5 To meet this requirement both services have a brigade manager (with delegated Authority) available 24/7. With the second brigade manager being contractually required to be available 24/7 to sustain the running of a significant incident, this includes periods when the second brigade Manager is on leave and maybe out of the country and delayed in returning. However it is foreseeable that the second brigade manager could be incapacitated due to sickness or injury. In these circumstances the current arrangements present an element of risk to the Authorities as it is not sustainable for one brigade manager to meet
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the physically and mentally demanding challenges of a major incident on an ongoing basis.
1.6 Under all normal circumstances (and to date) these arrangements have proved suitable and sufficient to meet all requirements. However the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires Fire Authorities to make provision for all circumstances, foreseen and unforeseen.
1.7 The purpose of this MOU is to provide a mechanism to both fire authorities to call upon brigade managers in the commanding of major incidents, in such circumstances detailed above, or in other unforeseen circumstances. It is not intended to replace existing arrangements for provision of brigade managers within a service.
2. LEGISLATION AND NATIONAL GUIDANCE
Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004 Civil Contingencies Act 2004 Emergency Response and Recovery (Non-statutory guidance accompanying the Civil Contingencies Act 2004) Police and Crime Act 2017 National Operational Guidance Programme – Incident Command National Operational Guidance Programme – Foundation of Incident Command BFRS Scheme of delegation CFRS Scheme of delegation
3. SCHEMES OF DELEGTAION AND AUTHORITY
3.1 Both FRS’s have aligned their individual schemes of delegation to include the statement below:
Bedfordshire Fire Authority:- “In the event of significant operational demand requiring the sustained deployment of brigade managers, resilience can be provided from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service by activation of “Sharing brigade managers in times of Operational resilience - Memorandum of Understanding”.
Upon activation the Chief Fire Officer is authorised to delegate all or any of his/her delegated functions to the Chief Fire Officer or Assistant Chief Fire Officer of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Activation can be triggered by the following roles within Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service:-
Chief Fire Officer
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Deputy Chief Fire Officer Assistant Chief Officer
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority:- “In the event of significant operational demand requiring the sustained deployment of brigade managers, resilience can be provided from Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service by activation of “Sharing brigade managers in times of Operational resilience - Memorandum of Understanding”.
Upon activation the Chief Fire Officer is authorised to delegate all or any of his/her delegated functions to the Chief Fire Officer or Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Activation can be triggered by the following roles within Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service:-
Chief Fire Officer Assistant Chief Fire Officer Deputy Chief Executive
3.2 This enables the incumbent service, upon activation, to receive support of a brigade manager with the delegated Authority to make operational, managerial and financial decisions relevant to resolving the specific incident at hand.
4. ACTIVATION OF OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE ARRNAGEMENT
4.1 It is expected that in most circumstances both BFRS and CFRS’s individual arrangements would meet the requirements of a major incident. However in extreme circumstances and/or if the second brigade manager is significantly delayed in returning, this MOU can be activated.
4.2 It is always envisaged that the home Service would deploy their duty brigade manager in the first instance. This meets the initial demands of the incident and minimises the risk to the Authority.
4.3 Once the brigade manager assesses the incident and the likely requirements needed to resolve the situation, they will also determine the need for continued brigade manager Level command. If this assessment determines a continued need for an extended duration they may:-
Make arrangements for the second brigade manager to be recalled to duty and provide relief arrangements for the initial brigade manager, establishing their location and estimated time to return to the required location. 8
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If this time is excessive, for example, returning from out of the country and needing to obtain a flight, or is not available through injury or illness, the following officers can authorise activation for sharing brigade commanders:-
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service Service Chief Fire Officer Chief Fire Officer Deputy Chief Fire Officer Assistant Chief Fire Officer Assistant Chief Officer Deputy Chief Executive
Contact can either be made with the relevant Control rooms or direct between the two brigade managers, requesting support and their attendance, providing all the relevant details. The resilience brigade manager will make their way to the required location to relieve the “home” officer. Once a briefing/hand over has been completed the resilience brigade manager will formally take charge and assume the delegated Authority of the “home” service. Upon leaving command, being relieved, replaced or resolution of the incident all activated powers of delegated Authority will be immediately revoked.
5. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS
5.1 The supporting brigade manager would only be authorised under the home Service’s scheme of delegation whilst directly fulfilling duties associated with the major incident and if correctly activated as above. 5.2 Under this agreement the “home” Service brigade managers will retain the ability to re-assume command at their discretion or if applicable, on return of the second brigade manager.
5.3 In the event of simultaneous or significant operational pressures this arrangement may be suspended.
5.4 In exceptional circumstances the respective officers (as detailed in section 4) may agree to amend this arrangement.
6. FINANCIAL CHARGING
6.1 No financial charge would be raised for this provision.
7. PROCEDURAL REVIEW
7.1 All interested parties will review this document on a yearly basis to ensure it maintains a suitable response and working arrangement.
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Signed …………………………….. Signed …………………………….. Chair of Cambridgeshire and Cllr Colleen Atkins MBE, Chair of Peterborough Fire Authority Bedfordshire Fire Authority.
Dated…………………………… Dated……………………………
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Appendix 2
STATEMENT OF DELEGATED RESPONSIBILITIES
This document details the policy of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority (the Authority) as implemented by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (the Service/CFRS). It replaces all previous policy documents, Service Management and Administration Orders and forms relating to this subject and its content is based on legislation, nationally agreed terms and conditions and good practice.
If you have any queries about the Authority’s policy, please contact the Finance Manager. Questions of procedure should be addressed to your line manager.
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CONTENTS
1. General Arrangements 2
Annex A – Delegation of Authority to the Chief Fire Officer 4
Annex B – Delegation of Authority to the Deputy Chief 7 Executive Officer
Annex C – Delegation of Authority to the Assistant Chief Fire 10 Officer
Annex D – Delegation of Authority to Budget Holders of the 11 Fire Authority
Annex E – Role of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority 12
Annex F – Role of the Monitoring Officer to the Fire Authority 13
Annex G – Role of the Fire Authority’s Internal Auditor 15
Annex H – Financial Limits of Delegation Powers 16
1. General Arrangements 1.1. The Chief Fire Officer and other named Officers are authorised to discharge the functions of the Fire Authority in relation to the services and activities for which they are responsible, subject to the following requirements: 1.1.1. any decision or action shall comply with: legal requirements; the Fire Authority’s Financial Regulations; the Fire Authority’s Standing Orders; all relevant resolutions, orders and directions of the Fire Authority and of any operational committee. 1.1.2. The Chief Fire Officer and other named Officers shall not discharge any function, the exercise of which is by law expressly vested in the Fire Authority or a committee. 1.1.3. The Chief Fire Officer and other named Officers shall consult another named Officer before discharging any function which affects the services or activities for which the latter is responsible. 1.2. Without derogating from the discharge of functions under these arrangements: 1.2.1. The Chief Fire Officer and other named Officers shall maintain close liaison with Members representing the Political Groups in relation to any matter, which in their opinion may be regarded as sensitive or contentious by any such group.
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1.2.2. Where a Member has made known to the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer their legitimate interest, the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer shall keep the Member informed of significant developments relating to the matter. 1.3. The existence of a delegation to the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer shall not require them to take a decision on that issue and they may refer the matter for guidance or decision by Members if they consider it is appropriate to do so. In so doing the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer shall advise the Member(s) concerned of the extent of their delegated powers relating to the matter.
1.4. The Authority conferred upon the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer may be exercised in their absence or at other times by an Officer authorised by the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer in accordance with any directions of the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer.
1.5 In the event of significant operational demand requiring the sustained deployment of Brigade Managers, resilience can be provided from Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service by activation of “Sharing Brigade Managers in times of Operational resilience - Memorandum of Understanding”.
Upon activation the Chief Fire Officer is authorised to delegate all or any of his/her delegated functions to the Chief Fire Officer or Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Activation can be triggered by the following roles within Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service:-
Chief Fire Officer
Assistant Chief Fire Officer
Deputy Chief Executive
This enables the incumbent service, upon activation, to receive support of a Brigade Manager with the delegated authority to make operational, managerial and financial decisions relevant to resolving the specific incident at hand.
1.6 The Chief Fire Officer in consultation with the Chairman of the Fire Authority shall determine any case in which there is uncertainty whether a named Officer is authorised to act under these arrangements.
1.7 Reference in these arrangements to the discharge of functions of the Fire Authority include references to the doing of anything which is calculated to facilitate or is conducive or incidental to the 13
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discharge of any of those functions and the Chief Fire Officer or other named Officer is authorised to act accordingly.
1.8 The schedules of delegations for each of the Authority's named Officers are set out in Annex A - H.
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ANNEX A
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO THE CHIEF FIRE OFFICER (HEAD OF PAID SERVICE)
Date: August 2016
1. To follow the appropriate procedures for the invitation and acceptance of tenders/quotations as set out in Standing Orders as to Contracts. 2. To dispense with or approve requests to dispense with any provision of Standing Orders relating to Contracts in consultation with (a) the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Fire Authority in relation to contracts up to a fixed sum (A7 in Annex H), or (b) the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and the Fire Authority Chairman in relation to higher value contracts (A8 in Annex H). 3. To be responsible for the control of personnel and the security, custody and control of all other resources including plant, buildings, materials, cash and stores appertaining to the Service. 4. To declare land surplus to requirements provided that the capital value or the annual rental does not exceed a fixed sum (A5 and A6 in Annex H). 5. To authorise and approve, in conjunction with the appropriate Officers, the acquisition of land and the taking or variation in taking, of leases, licences, applications and easement of or over any land, (including buildings), where either the capital payment or the annual rental do not exceed a fixed sum (A5 and A6 in Annex H). 6. To dispose of land, (and the granting of leases, licences, applications and easements in relation to the same), irrespective of its value provided that the land has been declared surplus to requirements by the Fire Authority. 7. To make all personnel appointments below the level of Principal Officer and to determine the remuneration and conditions of service of each post. 8. To exercise corresponding powers and duties delegated to Officers of the Fire Authority where these or similar powers and duties are included in revised Acts, Orders or Regulations. 9. The Chief Fire Officer is head of the Fire Authority’s paid service and has authority over all other Officers so far as this is necessary for the efficient management and execution of the Fire Authority’s functions. The Chief Fire Officer’s duties include: - advising the Fire Authority on matters of general policy; being responsible for the efficient and effective implementation of the Fire Authority’s programmes and policies;
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reviewing the organisation and administration of the Service; the development and implementation of effective and equitable staffing practices and an equal opportunities policy; the maintenance of good internal and external relations; being responsible for the efficient and effective implementation of health and safety legislation. 10. To act as controller in war and be empowered to exercise all the powers of the Fire Authority in the event of circumstances arising in which the Fire Authority is unable to act. 11. To determine any case where there is uncertainty as to which Officer is authorised to act under the Fire Authority’s general Scheme of Delegation to Officers. 12. To exercise the functions of the Head of Paid Service under the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. 13. To determine, in consultation with the relevant Members, the Fire Authority’s response to any future industrial action affecting the Fire Authority’s services. 14. To appoint architects and other consultants for Fire Authority projects and to inform the appropriate Members of all appointments and review performance. 15. Authority to discipline, (including termination of employment) all uniformed and local government employees and to determine appeals against any decision in which they did not participate in accordance with the relevant Disciplinary Procedures where applicable and otherwise in accordance with the Fire Authority’s disciplinary scheme. 16. Authority to agree on behalf of the Fire Authority local conditions of service to supplement the National Joint Council for Local Authorities’ Fire Brigades Scheme of Conditions of Service, (the ‘Grey Book’), and the National Joint Council for Local Government Services, National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service, (the ‘Green’ book). 17. Authority to exercise on behalf of the Fire Authority any discretion afforded to the employer (but not exercised by the Fire Authority) by the Grey Book, Green Book and Gold Book. 18. Authority to make any decision (other than a request for reconsideration) required to be made by the Fire Authority under the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme Order 1992 and 1996 and amendments, and the Local Government Pension Scheme. 19. Authority to consider and authorise an extension to full sick pay in exceptional circumstances subject to the merits of each individual case. 20. To direct effective public relations and media services to promote the Fire Authority within the community.
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ANNEX B
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO THE DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE FIRE AUTHORITY
Date: August 2016
1. The Deputy Chief Executive Officer is responsible for: - Positively promoting a culture of probity and sound financial discipline and control as requirements of the organisation. Budget preparation and its management to the specified timetable, including identification and costing of budget options. The preparation of timely budgetary control reports. Establishing an effective monitoring and reporting framework to ensure a proper awareness of significant issues. Providing financial advice and support to the Chief Fire Officer and budget holders in line with the financial framework of the Fire Authority. Managing the procurement and monitoring of bought-in financial services. Understanding the nature of the reporting needed for the Fire Service under Sections 112 and 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and obtaining the necessary information to enable a report to be made. Initiating exception and routine reports on Section 112 and 114 issues, as necessary. Ensuring all applicable personnel have seen and understand the need to comply with standing orders, financial regulations and central standards and other financial standards, rules and protocols. 2. To be responsible for ensuring proper standards of financial management within the Service. 3. To be responsible for budgetary control and the monitoring of expenditure and income. 4. To make arrangements and be responsible for the payment of salaries and wages to all employees and pensioners including: making deductions of trade unions subscriptions from pay on behalf of recognised trade unions on request, implementing schemes which permit voluntary deductions from pay for charities and other benevolent organisations where practicable and determining, in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer, future applications for the early payment of deferred pension rights and implementing national salary and wage awards to employees.
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5. To sanction virements between main revenue budget heads subject to certain financial limits, (A1 in Annex H), and other conditions as set out in Financial Regulations. 6. To sanction capital virements between capital programme heads subject to certain financial limits, (A2 in Annex H), and other conditions set out in Financial Regulations. 7. To implement the insurance and risk management policies and report annually to the Fire Authority on the arrangements that are in place. 8. To write off certain bad or irrecoverable debts or deficiencies relating to stores or property up to certain financial limits, (A3 in Annex H), or in certain defined circumstances. 9. To be authorised to visit all establishments of the Fire Authority, to have access to all Fire Authority and Service documents, other records, computers systems and property and to require relevant information or explanation from any Officer. 10. To make loans in furtherance of Service objectives to employees and associated organisations up to a maximum amount, (A4 in Annex A), and subject to certain provisos. 11. To amend any guidance on the application of Standing Orders relating to Contracts and to dispense with any individual requirement in special circumstances as agreed by the Chief Fire Officer or the Fire Authority as appropriate. 12. To commence supply of goods and services in advance of an executed contract in exceptional circumstances. 13. To compile lists of potential contractors and criteria for short- listing. 14. To conduct pre and post tender negotiations with tenderers after the receipt of tenders in accordance with the requirement of Standing Orders relating to Contracts. 15. To select and manage schemes for internal and external insurance risks. 16. To fix, waive or vary charges in appropriate circumstance where no statutory fee is prescribed, in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer. 17. To be responsible for the effective delivery of support services to the Fire Authority (legal, numerical services, insurance claims, management, payroll, pensions, audit, etc.). 18. To ensure that any issue of concern in the financial management of the Fire Authority is drawn to the attention of the Chief Fire Officer. 19. To co-ordinate, in consultation with the appropriate Members and trade unions, the Fire Authority’s response to retention/recruitment problems within the agreed financial and policy framework.
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20. To maintain the list of politically restricted posts under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. 21. To update the Scheme of Delegation to reflect revised Acts, Orders and regulations and new or revised constitutional documents approved by the Fire Authority. 22. To be responsible for the efficient and effective training of all Service personnel in accordance with relevant legislative requirements and Home Office recommended standards. 23. To be responsible for the strategic planning of the Fire Authority and to make applications for planning permission under the appropriate Town and Country Planning Regulations. 24. To direct the operational support functions of the Service in respect of water supplies, fire ground intelligence, operational equipment and other associated responsibilities.
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ANNEX C
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO THE ASSISTANT CHIEF FIRE OFFICER OF THE FIRE AUTHORITY
Date: August 2016
1. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer is responsible for: - Positively promoting a culture of probity and sound financial discipline and control as requirements of the organisation. Understanding the nature of the reporting needed for their services under Sections 112 and 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. Establishing an effective monitoring and reporting framework to ensure a proper awareness of significant issues. Obtaining the necessary information about their services to enable them to report (including receiving reports from the appropriate Accountants). Initiating exception and routine reports, as necessary, to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. 2. To exercise the functions of the Fire Authority in relation to the means of escape in case of fire, fire precautions in any premises, licensed premises, factories, offices, shops and railway premises. 3. To undertake the powers and functions relating to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and associated regulations. 4. To exercise control over the operational delivery and performance of the Service. 5. To deliver the operational aspects of the Service within recommended Home Office guidelines. 6. To direct a performance monitoring system to ensure the Service is performing to the expectations of the community and to the requirements of the Home Office and other national organisations. 7. To be responsible for the effective implementation of all human resources policies of the Fire Authority. 8. To provide an effective recruitment and retention system relating to operational firefighter posts. 9. To be responsible for the effective implementation of all legislative requirements relating to equal opportunities and fairness in employment policies. 10. To direct the provision of an efficient communications and mobilising system to ensure that the Service meets its statutory functions.
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ANNEX D
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO BUDGET HOLDERS OF THE FIRE AUTHORITY
Date: August 2016
1. Budget holders are responsible for: - Positively promoting a culture of probity and sound financial discipline and control as requirements of the organisation. Understanding and ensuring compliance with internal control and the requirements of standing orders, financial regulations and control standards and other corporate financial standards, rules and protocols. Complying with approved schemes of delegation. Timely implementation of agreed audit recommendations. The introduction and maintenance of adequate and cost effective systems of internal control within their area of responsibility. Initiating exception reports where necessary to Directors. Reporting any potential overspending to their line manager in a timely manner to allow for corrective action to be taken where required.
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ANNEX E ROLE OF THE TREASURER TO THE FIRE AUTHORITY
Date: August 2016
1. The Treasurer to the Fire Authority shall discharge the responsibilities identified in Financial Regulation 1.2 under Section 112 and 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988: - Proper administration of the Fire Authority’s financial affairs Identification of potential unlawful, unbudgeted expenditure. 2. The Treasurer may and in consultation with the Fire Authority, discharge some of these duties through other appropriate Officers. However ultimate responsibility will be retained for: - Reporting as appropriate to the Chief Fire Officer and/or the Fire Authority. Raising significant issues of under-performance with the Chief Fire Officer. Establishing a robust monitoring and reporting framework to ensure the proper discharge of Section 112 and 114 functions. Ensuring the maintenance of an adequate and effective internal audit service. Receiving reports from the Chief Fire Officer and any other Officer delegated to produce such reports. Positively promoting a culture of probity and sound financial discipline and control as requirements of the organisation. 3. The Treasurer will also discharge the following responsibilities: - Strategic financial advice to the Fire Authority, including the establishment of budget strategy/guidelines relating expenditure to likely resources and the charges to the constituent financing authorities. Setting the financial framework including adequate standards, protocols and procedures for budgeting, accounting, systems and reporting and for establishing a framework of monitoring to ensure these requirements are met. Maintaining the Fire Authority’s accounts. Preparing reports and accounts, together with their submission, to the Fire Authority. Review and approval of all financial information formally provided to the Fire Authority and its Members (including budgetary control reports). The review and approval of schemes of financial delegation.
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Advising the Chief Fire Officer and other Officers as appropriate on the issues and circumstances in which Section 112 and 114 reporting is needed. Accepting routine and exception Section 112 and 114 reports from the Chief Fire Officer, Directors, budget holders and the Fire Authority’s Internal Auditor.
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ANNEX F
ROLE OF THE MONITORING OFFICER TO THE FIRE AUTHORITY
Date: August 2016
1. To operate as the Fire Authority’s Monitoring Officer under the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. 2. To act as Proper Officer for the Local Government, (committees and Political Groups), Regulations 1990 and to be authorised to give effect to the wishes of Political Groups in relation to their membership of the Fire Authority and its committees. 3. To affix the common seal to all documents necessary to bring into effect decisions of the Fire Authority or any of its committees, sub committees or Officers acting in pursuance of powers delegated. 4. To serve statutory notices to ascertain the legal interest of any person in the land. 5. To authorise the institution or defence of legal proceedings at common law or under any enactment, statutory instrument, order or bye-law conferring functions on the Fire Authority or in respect of functions undertaken by the Fire Authority. 6. To authorise Officers for the purposes of Sections 44, 45 and 46 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 to exercise the powers contained therein and to appoint Officers as inspectors under Part 3, Article 26, of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, to exercise the powers of inspection under Article 27 contained in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and regulations made there under and to exercise the powers contained in the Licensing Act 2003. 7. To decide upon a Members “need to know” and decline inspection of any document which is privileged due to legal proceedings. The Member may appeal against this decision to the Fire Authority.
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ANNEX G ROLE OF THE FIRE AUTHORITY’S INTERNAL AUDITOR
Date: August 2016
1. The Fire Authority’s Internal Auditor is responsible for: - The independent audit of control systems within the Authority to assess their adequacy to ensure: Reliable financial and other management information and reporting. Compliance with laws, regulations, policies, rules, etc. Properly safeguarded assets and interests. Efficient and effective operations. 2. Recommending and gaining acceptance of improvements to systems of internal control identified as necessary during the course of audits. Reporting to: Chief Fire Officer Treasurer The Fire Authority on main control issues, improvements agreed and improvements made. 3. Initiating on an exception basis such reports that are necessary for the Treasurer and /or Chief Fire Officer. 4. Positively promoting a culture of probity and sound financial discipline and control as requirements of the organisation. 5. Providing advice on the nature of internal control, the potential consequences of poor control and the control options available to reduce or limit risk. 6. Assist as required in the investigation of potential fraud and corruption within the Service.
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ANNEX H FINANCIAL LIMITS OF DELEGATED POWERS
Date: August 2016
A1 Approval by Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Treasurer £250,000 to the Fire Authority of revenue virement.
A2 Approval of Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Treasurer £250,000 of the Fire Authority of capital virement.
A3 Approval of Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Treasurer Up to £10,000 of the Fire Authority of debt write-off in consultation with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee.
A4 Approval of Deputy Chief Executive Officer to make Up to £10,000 loans to employees and associated organisations.
Land transactions:
A5 Capital Sum £250,000
A6 Annual Rental £100,000
Contract value:
A7 Chief Fire Officer in consultation with Deputy Chief Up to £50,000 Executive Officer/Treasurer to the Fire Authority.
A8 Chief Fire Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer/ from £50,000 to Treasurer to the Fire Authority in consultation with the the EC Threshold Chairman of the Fire Authority.
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Page 76 of 94 Agenda Item no. 10
TO: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
FROM: Monitoring Officer - Shahin Ismail
PRESENTING OFFICER(S): Shahin Ismail
Telephone 01480 444556 [email protected]
DATE: 15 June 2017
MEMBERS’ ALLOWANCES SCHEME 2017/18
1. Purpose
1.1 To seek approval from the Fire Authority of the proposed changes to the Members’ Allowances Scheme (Appendix 1).
2. Recommendations
2.1 It is recommended that:
the current allowance rates be retained for the next 12 months, Cambridgeshire County Council is asked to consider the Authority’s requirements in its review of member allowances (due to commence late 2017), the amendment to the scheme, namely the suspension of allowances, is implemented with immediate effect.
3. Risk Assessment
3.1 Political – membership of the Authority Committees has to comply with the requirements of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and reflect the overall political proportionality of the Authority except for those Committees where the requirement has been waived by unanimous vote of the Authority. This also ensures that no individual or political party will benefit disproportionately from the Scheme.
3.2 Economic – the Authority not only has a duty to ensure it complies with applicable statutory instruments but that any such scheme is managed efficiently, effectively and cognisant of any National Joint Council pay awards.
3.3 Legal – the Authority are required under the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 to put in place a compliant scheme for the payment of allowances to its Members. Failure to do so would place the Authority in breach of its legal duty.
0 Page 77 of 94 4. Review Methodology
4.1 The current Members’ Allowances Scheme was last updated in June 2014 with automatic uplifts each year for inflation in line with the National Joint Council increase applied to staff salaries.
4.2 In keeping with historic arrangements, the most cost effective method of reviewing Member allowances is to ask Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) to consider Authority requirements as part of its own review; CCC is commencing a review late 2017 for implementation in March 2018. Given the changes to fire governance, it may be prudent to simply extend the current scheme for the next 12 months and to then adopt the recommendations from the CCC review which utilises a panel of three independent Members.
5. Key Change Proposed to Existing Scheme – Suspension of Allowances for Non Attendance
5.1 At present, the Scheme allows for Members to be paid their allowance regardless of attendance. A slight change is proposed, to link the allowance to actual attendance. Authority meetings are important, formal events with a clear purpose – to make decisions. The schedule of meetings for two calendar years is agreed in advance and in the absence of apologies for other appointments, Members are expected to attend at all meetings.
5.2 It is proposed that where a Member fails to attend two consecutive meetings, for whatever reason, the Monitoring Officer will discuss the matter with the Member concerned and if appropriate, the political group leader to consider whether the circumstances warrant a suspension of allowances payable for the period in question. The outcome of any such discussions will be communicated, in writing, to the Member concerned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Source Documents Location Contact Officer
Members’ Allowances Hinchingbrooke Cottage Monitoring Officer Scheme Brampton Road 01480 444556 Huntingdon The Local Authorities Pe29 2NA (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003
The National Association of Local Councils – The Good Councillor’s Guide
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MEMBERS’ ALLOWANCES SCHEME
2017/18
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CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH FIRE AUTHORITY SCHEME OF MEMBER ALLOWANCES
Approved by the Fire Authority on 15 June 2017
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This scheme has been adopted by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority (the Authority), as its local scheme in accordance with the provisions of the Local Authorities (Member Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The scheme comes into effect from 1 April 2017.
1.2 In this scheme the following definitions apply:
“Member” means any councillor appointed by a constituent authority to serve on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority;
“Independent Member” means a person who is not appointed by a constituent authority but by the Fire Authority itself to serve on any of its committees/subcommittees or panels.
1.3 Unless amended in the intervening period, this scheme covers the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.
2. SCHEME OF ALLOWANCES
2.1 Members of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority are entitled to claim the following allowances, as specified in this Scheme:
Basic Allowance Special Responsibility Allowance Travel and Subsistence Allowance
2.2 In preparing this scheme of allowances, due consideration had been given to the report made by the Independent Remuneration Panel set up by Peterborough City Council.
2.3 Any Member who wishes to forego entitlement to all or part of their allowances should notify the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in writing.
2.4 The Authority is obliged to make public all payments made to Members under this scheme of allowances (see paragraph 10).
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3. BASIC ALLOWANCE
3.1 The Authority shall pay to each Member an annual basic allowance, as set out in Schedule 1.
3.2 The Basic Allowance is intended to contribute to expenses incurred as a result of carrying out Authority business and other semi-official activities carried out by Members – such as the use of the home and telephone. The allowance is not intended to recompense Members for all the time they devote to Authority business, as it is assumed that some elements of the work of Members are undertaken on a voluntary basis.
3.3 This allowance will be paid automatically in equal monthly instalments, one month in arrears. It may be subject to tax and national insurance deductions (see paragraph 8). The payment will be made one month in arrears direct to the nominated bank or building society account, normally on the last working day of each month.
3.4 If a Member is replaced on the Authority by another Member, then the basic allowance will be adjusted in accordance with the number of days to which they are entitled. If a Member is suspended or partially suspended in accordance with Part III of the Local Government Act 2000 or regulations made there under, then the allowance payable for that period shall be withheld.
4. SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY ALLOWANCE
4.1 In addition to the Basic Allowance a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) will be paid to Members who have special or additional responsibilities and/or hold particular posts. The categories of SRA’s are set out in Schedule 1.
4.2 Subject to paragraph 4.4 below, Members will be restricted to being in receipt of one SRA at any one time.
4.3 An ad-hoc SRA may be payable to a Member designated by the Policy and Resources Committees for undertaking significant additional responsibilities and workload in relation to a particular ad-hoc project as determined by the Committee. The allowance shall be payable for the period that the Member concerned is actively involved in the project or as determined by the Committee. The SRA will be payable only where authorised in advance by the Policy and Resources Committee. Only one such allowance will be payable at any one time.
4.4 To reflect the amount of work involved on the part of the individuals concerned, an SRA of £1,010 shall be paid to Members sitting on Type 3 Project Boards; Members will be able to receive this SRA in addition to any other SRA that they receive under this Scheme.
4.5 This allowance will be paid automatically in equal monthly instalments, one month in arrears. It may be subject to tax and national insurance deductions (see paragraph 8). The payment will be made one month in arrears direct to
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the nominated bank or building society account, normally on the last working day of each month.
4.6 Where a Member takes up or relinquishes a post that carries a SRA during the course of a financial year, the allowance will be adjusted in accordance with the number of days to which they are entitled.
4.7 If a Member is suspended or partially suspended in accordance with Part III of the Local Government Act 2000 or regulations made there under, then the allowance payable for that period shall be withheld.
5. DEPENDENT CARERS’ ALLOWANCE
5.1 Under the legislation, the Authority is not entitled to pay any dependent carers’ allowances.
6. PENSION
6.1 Under the legislation, the Authority is not entitled to decide that any of its allowances be pensionable.
7. TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES
7.1 Travel and subsistence allowances are payable in respect of attendance at events regarded as approved duties. These relate to:
Attendance at designated meetings as part of the internal political management process. Attendance at events as the formally designated representative of the Authority. Attendance by invitation at designated events as part of the advisory process. Attendance at designated external conferences and courses.
7.2 The full range of approved duties for which travel and subsistence allowances apply is set out in Schedule 2. The level of travel and subsistence allowances payable shall be set having regard to the rates set by the National Joint Council.
7.3 Travelling and subsistence allowances are not payable for journeys undertaken outside the geographical County of Cambridgeshire other than for authorised attendance on behalf of the Authority at those meetings under Schedule 2 that are held outside the County. International travel and attendance at regional meetings held outside the region shall require approval in advance by Group Leaders.
7.4 Travel and subsistence allowances are not payable in relation to:
A social function of any nature other than civic, ceremonial or courtesy visits by the Chairman in relation to his/her area of responsibility or by any other
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Member on behalf of the Chairman of the Authority.
Attending parish council meetings, Members’ surgeries or consultation (other than as the Authority’s formally designated representative) or unofficial visits to local fire service establishments.
Voluntary attendance at any meeting of the Authority’s committee meetings, an outside body or other organisation.
Visits by Members to Authority offices to undertake research or for individual discussions with officers on issues of general interest only and not related to a local constituency issue.
Attendance at any party political or union meeting.
7.5 Where Members are unsure as to whether a particular event is eligible for the payment of travel and subsistence allowances, they should consult the Deputy Chief Executive Officer who shall be authorised to determine whether these allowances should apply.
8. TAX AND NATIONAL INSURANCE (NI) ARRANGEMENTS
8.1 This section is intended to provide a brief summary, for information purposes, of the tax implications associated with the allowances set out in this scheme. The Authority does not guarantee that the information is necessarily accurate or appropriate for individual Members. It is for each Member to satisfy themselves personally that their tax and insurance arrangements are in order.
8.2 Basic and SRAs are all subject to income tax and NI as they are payments made in respect of duties of an office. Travel and subsistence may be the subject of income tax and Members are asked to keep appropriate records to satisfy any enquiries the Tax Office may make.
8.3 Tax will be deducted at the basic rate unless the Authority is notified to the contrary by the Inland Revenue and Customs.
8.4 NI contributions on allowances will be in accordance with the prevailing HMRC guidance and the Authority is not responsible for checking aggregated figures for individual Members sources of income.
8.5 Members who are self-employed or have elected to pay reduced rate NI contributions will need to discuss this with HMRC.
8.6 The receipt of allowances from the Authority may affect Members who are receiving Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Benefits. All allowances should be declared to the DWP who will advise Members of any impact on their benefits. Members should note that failure to disclose any allowance to the DWP may result in prosecution.
9. INDEXING OF ALLOWANCES
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9.1 The basic allowance and SRAs will be automatically updated each year for inflation in line with the National Joint Council increase applied to staff salaries. This arrangement will apply for a maximum of 4 years, before the scheme has to be reviewed.
10. PUBLIC INSPECTION
10.1 In accordance with the legislation, the Authority is obliged to publish details of the total sum paid during the financial year to each recipient. Records of payments must be made available for inspection to the public on request.
11. SUSPENSION OF ALLOWANCES
11.1 Authority meetings are important, formal events with a clear purpose – to make decisions. Each Member of the Authority has a responsibility to attend meetings when summoned to do so; the notice to attend an Authority meeting is, in law, a summons. This encompasses attendance at full Authority meetings and any committees/subcommittees or panels to which a Member is assigned.
11.2 Attendance sheets are maintained for each meeting and are also a mechanism for recording apologies. Where a Member fails to attend two consecutive meetings, for whatever reason, the Monitoring Officer will initiate discussions with the Member concerned and if appropriate, their political group leader to consider the suspension of allowances payable for the period in question. The outcome of any such discussions will be communicated, in writing, to the Member concerned.
12. OFFICER CONTACTS
12.1 If Members require any assistance with particular aspects of the scheme, please contact the relevant Officer as indicated below:
Monitoring Officer 01480 444556 Payroll Officer 01480 444543
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SCHEDULE 1
DETAILS OF ALLOWANCE 2016/17 2017/18 COMMENTS
All Fire Authority Members £2434.08 £2458.42
Chairman of the Fire Authority £12170.42 £12292.12 Vice-Chairman of the Fire Authority £9127.81 £9219.09 75% of Chairman Fire Authority Liberal Democrat Group Leader £4147.72 £4892.24 £2000 plus 1/17th of Chairman per Member in Group Fire Authority Labour Group Leader £3431.81 £3446.12 £2000 plus 1/17th of Chairman per Member in Group Fire Authority UKIP Group Leader £3431.81 NA Fire Authority Independent Group Leader £3431.81 NA Chairman, Policy and Resources Committee £4868.17 £4916.85 40% of Chairman Chairman, Overview and Scrutiny Committee £4868.17 £4916.85 40% of Chairman For ad-hoc additional responsibilities as defined by the £50.50 per month £51.00 per month Maximum of one ad-hoc SRA Policy and Resources Committee payable at any one time Members sitting on Type 3 Project Boards £1010 £1020.10
MILEAGE RATES FOR USING PRIVATE MOTOR VEHICLES
451-999 cc 1000-1199 cc Over 1200 cc Rates from 6 April 2011 Payment per mile will be the maximum mileage rate on which there is no taxable benefit Per mile up to 8500 as advised by the Inland Revenue (currently 45 p per mile)
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SCHEDULE 2 – TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES
Travel Allowances
1. Reimbursement of expenditure on travel by public transport shall not exceed the amount of the ordinary fare or any available cheap fare. In exceptional circumstances and to facilitate the conduct of the Authority’s business, reimbursement of the first class fare will be payable.
2. The rate for travel by a Members own solo motor cycle shall be as follows:
a) not exceeding 150 cc: 8.5 pence per mile b) exceeding 150 cc but not exceeding 500 cc: 12.3 pence per mile c) exceeding 500 cc: 16.5 pence per mile
3. The rate for travel by a Members own private motor vehicle shall be as per the HMRC Maximum Mileage rate (see Schedule 1).
4. The mileage rates payable will be increased in respect of the carriage of passengers based on the rate advised by HMRC, currently 5p per passenger per business mile carried.
5. Expenditure incurred on tolls, ferries or parking fees, including overnight garaging will be reimbursed on production of evidence of the expenditure having been incurred, except in circumstances where no receipts are issued where this requirement will be waived.
6. The rate of travel by taxi-cab or cab shall be:
a) in cases of urgency or where no public transport is reasonably available, the amount of the actual fare and any reasonable gratuity paid as indicated on a receipt, and
b) in any other case the amount of the fare for travel by appropriate public transport.
7. The rate of travel by a hired motor vehicle, other than a taxi-cab, shall not exceed the rate which would have been applicable had the vehicle belonged to the Member who hired it, except where authorised in advance by the Authority, where the rate may be increased to an amount not exceeding the actual cost of hiring.
8. The cost of travel by air will be reimbursed where authorised in advance by the Authority where:
a) this is less than the rate applicable to travel by appropriate alternative means of transport together with an allowance equivalent to the amount of any saving in attendance allowance or
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financial loss allowance and subsistence allowance consequent on travel by air, or
b) the saving in time is so substantial as to justify payment of the fare for travel by air, provided that the amount shall not exceed: i. the ordinary fare or any available cheap fare for travel by regular air service; or ii. where no such service is available or in case of urgency, the fare actually paid by the Member.
Subsistence allowances
1. The Authority will reimburse the cost of meals taken by Members in connection with approved duties on production of receipts up to the following maximum amounts: a) in the case of an absence not involving an absence overnight from the usual place of residence:
i. of more than 4 hours before 11 am [breakfast allowance]. ii. of more than 4 hours including the period between 12 noon and 2 pm [lunch allowance]. iii. of more than 4 hours including the period 3 pm to 6 pm [tea allowance]. iv. of more than 4 hours ending after 7 pm [evening meal allowance].
National Joint Council rates will apply (see Schedule 1).
Provided that the Member is otherwise entitled to claim subsistence allowances, Members may make claims without the production of a receipt in the following circumstances:
i. where a Member incurs expenditure on food and drink over the lunchtime period but does not obtain a receipt for that expenditure, a Member may claim a “sandwich allowance” equivalent to the tea allowance referred to above.
ii. where a meal has not been provided as part of the conference / accommodation package at conference, a Member may claim up to the maximum permitted lunch or evening meal allowance, provided that a letter is submitted in support of the claim explaining the circumstances.
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b) in the case of an absence overnight from the usual place of residence -£80, and for such an absence overnight in London or for the purposes of attendance at an annual conference (including or not including an annual meeting) of the Local Government Association or such other association of bodies as the Secretaries of State may for the time being approve for the purpose, a sum to be agreed by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Hotel accommodation in connection with the conference attendance is normally booked and paid for directly by the Authority. Payment of this allowance is therefore not normally made.
2. Subsistence allowances are not payable at meetings where a meal is provided by the Authority, whether or not the Member takes advantage of this facility, unless the Member gives at least 48 hours written notice to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer that he/she will be making their own meal arrangements on that day.
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APPROVED DUTIES
The Authority specifies the following as approved duties for the purpose of the payment of travelling and subsistence allowances:
1. Attendance at any meetings of the Authority, its committees / sub committees, panels and working groups, of which the claimant is a Member or has a right to attend under the Authority’s standing orders.
2. Attendance at meetings of outside bodies to which the Authority makes appointments or nominations, including any committee or sub- committee of such a body.
3. Attendance at conferences, seminars and training events as agreed by the Authority in its calendar of meetings, or subsequently by the Chairman or the Vice Chairman.
4. Attendance at briefing meetings, consultation sessions and other events for Members convened by the Chief Fire Officer including bi- monthly updates between the Chief Fire Officer and Chairman.
5. Exhibitions, official openings and visits to premises or similar events (including induction visits) to which Members have been invited by the Chief Fire Officer.
6. Attendance by Fire Authority appointed Members or their appointed substitutes, at any meetings of any association of authorities of which the Fire Authority is a member, or bodies to which these associations also make appointments.
7. Any other duty or class of duty approved by the Authority for the purpose of or in connection with the discharge of the functions of the Authority, or its committees, sub-committees or panels. In this instance approval would be required from the Chairman or Vice Chairman.
8. Travelling allowances cannot be claimed for political group meetings, or for meetings to which only one political group has been invited (except update meetings between the Chief Fire Officer and Chairman).
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Page 90 of 94 Agenda Item no. 11
TO: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
FROM: Democratic Services Officer
PRESENTING OFFICER(S): Dawn Cave
Telephone 01223 699178 [email protected]
DATE: 15 June 2017
APPOINTMENTS TO COMMITTEES, OUTSIDE ORGANISATIONS AND OTHER BODIES
1. PURPOSE
1.1 To make appointments to Committees, outside organisations and other bodies.
2. REASONS FOR UPDATING THE SCHEDULE
2.1 Following the County Council elections in May, the County Council’s full Council meeting n 23rd May appointed nine new representatives to the Fire Authority: Councillors Adey, Gardener, Gowing, Kindersley, Raynes, Reynolds, Rogers, Scutt and Smith. Four of the County Council’s appointees remain the same – Councillors Bywater, Giles, McGuire and Nethsingha.
2.2 In addition, Peterborough City Council at its full Council meeting in May appointed Councillor Bond as a new representative to the Fire Authority. The other three City Council representatives remain the same – Councillors Jamil, Over and Peach.
2.3 Fire Authority Group Leaders have been asked to review the current appointments, fill vacancies and make any other changes, as appropriate. An updated schedule will be tabled at the meeting on 15th June.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 The Authority is asked to agree the updated schedule appointments, as tabled at the meeting.
4. RISK ASSESSMENT
5.1 Political – It is important, where possible, to fill vacancies to ensure the effective operation of the Fire Authority’s democratic process.
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Source Documents Location Contact
Schedule of appointments to To be tabled. Dawn Cave be approved at the Fire 01223 699178 Authority meeting. [email protected]
1 Page 92 of 94 Agenda Item no. 12
TO: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
FROM: Deputy Chief Executive – Matthew Warren
PRESENTING OFFICER(S): Deputy Chief Executive - Matthew Warren
Telephone 01480 444619 [email protected]
DATE: 15 June 2017
UPDATE ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONERS LOCAL BUSINESS CASE FOR FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE GOVERNANCE
1. Purpose
1.1 To report on the current status of the draft local business case (LBC) on options available for the governance of the fire and rescue service(s) as afforded by the Policing and Crime Act 2017.
2. Recommendation
2.1 The Fire Authority is asked to note this report and to consider how they wish to engage with the consultation process the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner is undertaking.
3. Risk Assessment
3.1 Legal - the Policing and Crime Act 2017 places a requirement on emergency services to consider greater collaboration. In addition, the Act allows for Police and Crime Commissioners to prepare an LBC, assessing the options for future governance. A Fire Authority is required by the legislation to contribute information to aid the preparation of the business case.
4. Background
4.1 At its meeting of 8 December 2016 the Authority received an update report on police and fire collaboration.
4.2 Since this update a joint steering group, the Police and Fire Business Case Strategic Governance Group, has appointed a consultant (PA Consulting) to develop an LBC to explore the options for the future governance of the fire and rescue service and has overseen the development of the business case.
4.3 The draft LBC explores three options (Representation Model, Governance Model and Single Employer model) as well as maintaining the status quo. The Police and Crime Commissioner has already signalled that he is looking to introduce the governance model.
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Page 93 of 94 4.4 The headline timetable for the LBC is as follows;
formal consultation - eight weeks, anticipated to commence in early July to late August 2017,
full LBC submission to the Home Office for consideration and approval in Autumn 2017,
if approved by the Home Office, Police and Crime Commissioner Fire Authority will be effective from 1 April 2018.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Source Document Location Contact Officer
Policing and Crime Act Fire Service Headquarters Matthew Warren 2017 Hinchingbrooke Cottage 01480 444619 Brampton Road [email protected] Huntingdon
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Page 94 of 94