Appendix 1

London Fire Brigade Headquarters 169 Union Street SE1 0LL T 020 8555 1200 F 020 7960 3602 Textphone 020 7960 3629 london-fire.gov.uk

Andy Roe The London Fire Commissioner is the London Fire Commissioner fire and rescue authority for London 169 Union Street London SE1 0LL 30/11/2020

To Andrew Dismore AM Chair of the ’s Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee

Dear Chair,

Request for Information from the Meeting of the Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee.

I write in response to your requests for information on 01 September 2020. The detailed responses are set out below.

From the Committee’s meeting on 01 September 2020

1. LFC to share letter sent to all reminding them of their obligations to liaise with fire brigades about proposals for street closures under the Safer Streets initiative.

Please find attached.

2. LFC to share response to FOI on Safer Streets closures.

To support this request, we should make you aware that London Fire Brigade (LFB) works with (TfL) and local authorities to support the ’s Streetspace Programme, as part of our commitment to help secure sustainability goals and to help people travel safely in light of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has presented for our city. LFB is keen to ensure any proposed changes do not impact on our ability to meet our commitments to attendance response times.

LFB has been in contact with TfL and local authorities to emphasise the importance of the proposals being discussed with LFB during the planning stages.

It should be noted, at this point in time, there is no data or evidence either way to suggest individual proposals have an impact on the LFB's ability to meet our response times and keep the communities we serve safe.

3. LFC to notify FREPC of any LFB objections made to Safer Streets schemes.

Where LFB is consulted on schemes, and we identify potential issues that may impact on our operations, we seek to work constructively with local authorities to establish a workable solution. Occasionally issues are identified with new schemes once they have been introduced, particularly given the speed at which many of these new changes have come forward. We remain in close communication with local authority highways teams across London to ensure we can identify any concerns and will continue to do so moving forward.

This ongoing communication between local authorities, TfL and emergency services has resulted in changes to schemes after they have been implemented including increased use of camera enforced closures (which permit emergency service access) rather than physical closures. On ‘pop up cycle lanes’ the space between cycle ‘wands’ in some areas has also been increased where necessary to allow better access for emergency services and other vehicles.

4. LFC to check with local brigade re closures in Tooting (AM had received video footage) impacting on A214 with reported blocking of fire engines (though they should know about street closures and have alternative route planned as part of consultation process).

The Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes in Wandsworth have now been abandoned. LFB will no longer be required to respond to this request.

5. Budget – LFC to provide detail on latest in-year adjustments.

The in-year funding reductions for 2020/21 were set out in the Mayor’s Budget Guidance at up to £10m for the LFC.

The GLA has now confirmed that £5m of the in-year adjustment will be funded from GLA reserves, with the LFC also then required to address £5m.

The Q1 financial position report reflected the £10m in year funding reduction, and a further update on this will be provided in the Q2 financial position report to be published later this month.

6. LFC to notify FREPC when dates for HMICFRS inspections (3 due: LFB response to CV- 19, Causes of concern report follow-up, Grenfell follow-up) are known.

• COVID -19 inspection, complete, debrief with Commissioner held on 2 October, letter will be published in January 2021

• Grenfell and Cause for Concern Inspections, these inspections will be run in parallel due to the cross over between the HMI and GTI action plans, these inspections will commence week beginning 12 October, inspection activity will be completed by mid-December.

7. LFC to invite FREPC when large scale exercise undertaken for new policy on dealing with high-rise building fires – (Home Sec and Matt Wrack FBU to also be invited).

LFB have agreed to extend an invitation to FREPC and FBU representatives, at the appropriate time.

8. LFC to send new PN633 and policy to FREPC when completed.

The referenced policies have been provided to the FREPC chair.

9. LFC to update FREPC when Home Office gets back to him on Huawei and ESN implications.

Please note a response letter was sent to the FREPC in response to this action, dated 1 October 2020, where the following was stated:

The Home Office are confident that the Huawei ban will not compromise the building of ESN. ESN will be delivered initially on EE’s commercial 4G network and the government requirement here is that all Huawei equipment is removed by 2027. This is being actioned by EE, and we are monitoring that closely from the ESN programme. Changes in equipment in the EE commercial RAN may affect the detailed schedule for the final stages of testing of ESN, but with proper planning should not cause any delays or other impacts.

In addition, there is some Huawei equipment in the EE part of the Emergency Service Network (ESN) dedicated core network, but EE are already working to remove this by 2023, well in advance of the 2027 deadline.

The security impact has also been assessed as very low. All ESN traffic is already encrypted across the mobile network, therefore the security risk during the transition period is minimal. We therefore anticipate that the recent announcements concerning Huawei will have a low impact on ESN and we do not anticipate any impact on programme schedules.

ESN is delivered initially over the EE 4G radio network infrastructure, this will gradually be replaced with 4G/5G base stations as Huawei kit is replaced.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Andy Roe London Fire Commissioner

C.C. Janette Roker and Philippa Goffe, Senior Policy Advisers London Fire Brigade Headquarters 169 Union Street London SE1 0LL T 020 8555 1200 F 020 7960 3602 Textphone 020 7960 3629 london-fire.gov.uk

Chief Executives The London Fire Commissioner is the fire and rescue authority for London London Local Authorities Date XX June 2020

OFFICIAL

Dear XXXX

Traffic Management Act 2004: network management in response to COVID-19 statutory guidance

On 23 May the Government updated the guidance for network management in response to COVID-19, with the Secretary of State for Transport setting out the expectation for ‘local authorities to make significant changes to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians’. 1

London Fire Brigade (LFB) supports these proposals in order to assist the recovering from COVID-19 and to promote active travel, while helping to achieve the aim of providing a lasting legacy of greener, safer transport.

LFB is keen to work with local authorities to support any proposed changes and, as required by the statutory guidance, local authorities will need to seek input from stakeholders during the design phase. The guidance specifies that local authorities should ‘consult with the local chiefs of police and emergency services to ensure access is maintained where needed’.

Our attendance targets are to get the first fire engine to an incident within a London wide average of 6 minutes and a second fire engine within a London wide average of 8 minutes. We are concerned that some changes to road layouts may impede our operational response and request that you consult LFB and work with our Borough Commanders at local level to ensure that proposals, or any temporary measures while works are ongoing, do not affect our ability to attend incidents.

We would be grateful if notifications of any proposals to introduce new measures could be sent to [email protected] - and through your local fire service links.

1 Department for Transport Statutory guidance :Traffic Management Act 2004: network management in response to COVID-19 Updated 23 May 2020 OFFICIAL

To discuss these issues further, please contact the local Borough Commander at (insert name of borough)@london-fire.gov.uk or via the area support teams 0208 555 1200 ext XXXX. I have also attached a fire safety guidance note offering advice on providing access for fire appliances to support your teams in preparing their traffic management orders.

Yours sincerely

TBC