Public Document Pack NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AND CITY OF NOTTINGHAM FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY - MEETING OF THE AUTHORITY Date: Friday, 20 December 2019 Time: 10.30 am Venue: Fire and Rescue Services HQ, Bestwood Lodge, Arnold Nottingham NG5 8PD Members are requested to attend the above meeting to be held at the time, place and date mentioned to transact the following business Clerk to the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority AGENDA Pages 1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 2 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS 3 MINUTES 3 - 10 Of the meeting held on 27 September 2019 (for confirmation) 4 CHAIRS' ANNOUNCEMENTS 5 FINAL ACCOUNTS 2018/19 11 - 138 Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority 6 EXTERNAL AUDITORS' REPORT TO THOSE CHARGED WITH 139 - 198 GOVERNANCE 2018/19 Joint Report of the Chief Fire Officer and the Treasurer to the Fire Authority 7 TREASURY MANAGEMENT MID-YEAR REVIEW 2019/20 199 - 214 Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority 8 MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL STRATEGY 2020/21 TO 2023/24 AND 215 - 258 BUDGET GUIDELINES 2020/21 Joint Report of the Chief Fire Officer and the Treasurer to the Fire Authority 9 RESERVES STRATEGY 2020/21 TO 2023/24 259 - 286 Joint Report of the Treasurer to the Fire Authority and Chief Fire Officer 10 LOCAL FIREFIGHTER PENSION SCHEME ADMINISTRATION 287 - 290 Report of the Chief Fire Officer 11 PRINCIPAL OFFICER PAY REVIEW 291 - 298 Joint Report of the Clerk and Treasurer to the Fire Authority 12 GRENFELL INQUIRY - PHASE ONE REPORT 299 - 306 Report of the Chief Fire Officer 13 COMMITTEE OUTCOMES 307 - 326 Report of the Chief Fire Officer 14 EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining items in accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, under Schedule 12A, Part 1, Paragraph 3, on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining an exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 15 EXEMPT MINUTES 327 - 330 Of the meeting held on 27 September 2019 (for confirmation) ANY COUNCILLOR WHO IS UNABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING AND WISHES TO SUBMIT APOLOGIES SHOULD DO SO VIA THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF FIRE OFFICER AT FIRE SERVICES HEADQUARTERS ON 0115 8388900 IF YOU NEED ANY ADVICE ON DECLARING AN INTEREST IN ANY ITEM ABOVE, PLEASE CONTACT THE CONSTITUTIONAL SERVICES OFFICER SHOWN ON THIS AGENDA, IF POSSIBLE BEFORE THE DAY OF THE MEETING. Constitutional Services Officer: Catherine Ziane-Pryor 0115 8764298 [email protected] Agenda, reports and minutes for all public meetings can be viewed online at:- https://committee.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=224&Year=0 If you would like British Sign Language interpretation at the meeting, please contact the Service at least 2 weeks in advance to book this, either by emailing enquiries@notts- fire.gov.uk or by text on SMS: 0115 824 0400 Agenda Item 3 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AND CITY OF NOTTINGHAM FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY MINUTES of the meeting held at Fire and Rescue Services HQ, Bestwood Lodge, Arnold Nottingham NG5 8PD on 27 September 2019 from 10:32am to 11:50am Membership Present Absent Councillor Michael Payne (Chair) Councillor Vaughan Hopewell Councillor Toby Neal (Vice Chair) Councillor Andrew Brown Councillor John Clarke Councillor Sybil Fielding Councillor Jawaid Khalil Councillor Gul Nawaz Khan Councillor John Longdon Councillor Salma Mumtaz (items 21-30, 33-37) Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos Councillor Mike Quigley MBE Councillor Nick Raine Councillor Sue Saddington Councillor Parry Tsimbiridis Councillor Stuart Wallace Councillor Jonathan Wheeler Councillor Jason Zadrozny Also in attendance Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Colleagues, partners and others in attendance: John Buckley - Chief Fire Officer Neil Harris - External Auditor, Ernst & Young Aileen Macpherson - Human Resources Adrian Mann - Governance Officer Craig Parkin - Deputy Chief Fire Officer Charlotte Radford - Treasurer Becky Smeathers - Head of Finance Malcolm Townroe - Clerk and Monitoring Officer 1 Page 3 Nottinghamshire & City of Nottingham Fire & Rescue Authority - 27.09.19 21 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Councillor Vaughan Hopewell - unwell 22 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS In relation to item 37, in the interests of transparency, Councillor Andrew Brown, Councillor Toby Neal, Councillor Michael Payne, Councillor Mike Quigley MBE and Councillor Jonathan Wheeler stated that they are the directors of Nottinghamshire Fire Safety Limited. 23 MINUTES The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 26 July 2019 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair. 24 CHAIR'S ANNOUNCEMENTS The Chair made the following announcements: (a) the discussion seminar on 4 September was very productive and the attendance of Authority members was welcomed. Following on, the Chair wrote to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the issues of Fire Protection, and to encourage the Government to reference the sector more explicitly in its policies (fire and rescue was not mentioned specifically in the most recent Budget). A recent meeting for Chief Fire Officers and Authority Chairs was held in London and suggestions were made that, as part of future inspections of the sector, the inspectors should also talk to the elected members of the individual fire authorities; (b) although the standard of this year’s external audit itself was very good, the final report is still not ready for sign-off by the Authority. The Chair has written to the Local Government Association (LGA) to raise concerns about the process through which Ernst & Young (EY) was appointed, and the LGA will report back on the actions that it will take. The experience has been very disappointing and has damaged the reputation of both the Authority and EY, as its external auditor. Clearly, steps should be taken to ensure that a situation like this does not occur again, in the future; (c) collaboration is progressing well with the Police and other emergency services, with projects such as the Joint Control Centre in Derbyshire and the development of new operational equipment, including drones; (d) unfortunately, the Authority’s current pensions administrator has decided to not renew its contract, so this issue will be addressed at the next meeting of the Authority; (e) 14 members of Service staff will be running the Robin Hood Half Marathon on 29 September and any support from members will be very welcome. 25 TREASURY MANAGEMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19 Becky Smeathers, Head of Finance, presented a report on treasury management activity during the 2018/19 financial year. The following points were discussed: Page 4 2 Nottinghamshire & City of Nottingham Fire & Rescue Authority - 27.09.19 (a) the Authority aims to limit its investments with any single counter-party to £2million. However, this limit was exceeded during 2018/19 when a £2.3million pension grant came in earlier than expected. As such, a total of £3.5million was invested with Barclays during April and May 2018, due to a lack of suitable counter-parties. The limit was increased to £4million in the 2019/20 Treasury Management Strategy while an alternative investment location is agreed; (b) compliance has been achieved with all treasury and prudential indicators and limits. Due to advantageous interest rates, there was a borrowing total of £29million on 31 March 2019, to help to manage cash flow across year-end. RESOLVED to note the report. 26 UPDATE REPORT ON AUDIT OF FINAL ACCOUNTS 2018/19 Neil Harris, Associate Partner of Ernst & Young (EY) as the External Auditor, presented a report on the progress of the audit of the Fire Authority’s 2018/19 final accounts. The following points were discussed: (a) EY acknowledges the concerns raised by the Authority in relation to the audit process and apologises that it was not possible to complete the audit by 31 July. Unfortunately, EY did not have enough staff resources to deliver a thorough audit on time, so its completion was delayed, to ensure that it was of high quality and accuracy. EY is now taking steps to recruit to a sufficient capacity and is now in a much stronger position. Of over 200 public organisations whose external audits were not completed by 31 July, EY was the external auditor for 95. The Authority’s concerns relating to the audit will be raised in the wider context of the Sir Tony Redmond’s independent review of local authority financial reporting and external audit, and the National Audit Office’s second-stage consultation on the best practice for external audits; (b) the audit is now nearly complete. Work is being concluded on the value of assets, following a sampling of assets and assumptions. Some differences were found on the fixed assets note when compared against the fixed assets register, as not everything in the accounts was found to be in operational use. This issue has now been largely resolved; (c) actuarial work is underway as a consequence of the McCloud judgement on age discrimination relating to the pensions of fire-fighters. This is likely to have a significant impact on Service pensions and has changed current assumptions, with £24.4million now included in the overall pension liability. The pension membership profile is being reviewed as part of forming a final position but, although the judgement has established that there will be some form of obligation as a consequence, it is not yet clear what this will be. Currently, the situation represents an accounting issue, until the Government confirms the actual cash implications. Although any new shortfall in the pension scheme will be met by a national grant, there could be an increase in future employer contributions to the scheme; (d) due to a strong mid-term financial plan and savings policy, along with good joint and collaborative decision-making and working with other emergency services, there are no concerns relating to value for money, which is very positive for the Authority.