Lancashire Combined Fire Authority

Meeting to be held on 28 April 2025

Urgent Decision Arrangements at Election Time

Contact for further information:

Mark Nolan – Clerk and Monitoring Officer -Tel No 01772 866720 

Executive Summary

The Authority needs to ensure there are adequate arrangements to enable any urgent decisions to be taken in the event of the Chair and the Vice-Chair retiring from office as Lancashire County Councillors, in line with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1972 and the date of the Combined Fire Authority’s Annual Meeting scheduled for 23 June 2025.

Recommendations

Contingency planning is vital to the resilience of the Service and in respect of the overarching governance obligations of the Authority. The Authority is asked to Authorise the Chief Fire Officer and the Clerk to the Authority to take any urgent decisions upon any matters arising, for this short period. The relevant period will run from the fourth day after the ordinary day of the Lancashire County Council elections and the Lancashire County Council Annual Meeting, in the event of the Chair and Vice-Chair not being re-elected.

Information

As set out in the Executive Summary.

Business Risk

The Authority needs to make arrangements for the delegation of urgent decisions for business continuity purposes and to ensure resilience in decision making within the Service in the event there is no Chair and/or Vice-Chair holding office.

Environmental Impact

None

Equality and Diversity Implications

None

HR Implications

None

Financial Implications

As determined by the Members’ Allowance Scheme.

Legal Implications

In the event of the absence of a Chair and/or Vice Chair to the Authority, this could impact adversely upon the constitutional resilience of the Authority to transact urgent business and therefore to enable the Service to make important changes to its operations. Contingency planning is therefore necessary to ensure consistent leadership, on the understanding that this temporary measure will cease on the appointment of a new Chair and Vice Chair.

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985

List of background papers

Paper:

Date:

Contact:

Reason for inclusion in Part 2 if appropriate:  N/A