Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor T Martin.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None received.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the last meeting held on the 19 March 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

AM Norman presented the report.  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) aimed to prevent fires and other emergencies such as road traffic collisions, flooding, wildfire and search and rescue activities from happening in the first place to make Lancashire safer.  LFRS focussed efforts on helping people start safe, live safe, age safe and use our roads safely; targeting our resources at those most vulnerable.

LFRS recognised their contribution to the wider community safety agenda and further work towards Making Lancashire Safer through engagement with local communities and partner organisations to raise awareness about fire risk.

The Prevention Strategy, as now considered by Members captured the prevention offer under the four themes of start safe, live safe, age safe and road safety. The Prevention Strategy supported the Integrated Risk Management Plan and demonstrated our commitment to community safety.  It set out how goals would be achieved, how prevention activities would be structured including safe and well visits and it detailed how success would be measured.

CC D O’Toole commented that the main aim was to prevent fire and although over the years there had been drastic reductions in fire deaths and greater awareness of fire safety he remained concerned that the change from the general provision of free smoke alarms to the more targeted approach now taken was a retrograde step.  In addition, he was concerned that people could have difficulty with replacement alarms if they proved faulty as the process now was to directly phone the supplier who would send a replacement through the post.  CC Shedwick commented that the battery life on some of the fire alarms was an ongoing concern.  The Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that there was a period where the alarms installed were fitted with defective batteries and this was an issue not just specific to Lancashire.  He did think however, that given time this issue would be resolved.

CC Hennessy queried whether LFRS was able to respond to Lancashire County Council consultations regarding road conditions and the building of housing estates.  AM Norman confirmed that LFRS was consulted and did respond to those that were relevant including: setting out standards required to enable space and turning circles for fire appliances and commenting on housing developments to reinforce our road safety messages.  He confirmed that the LFRS advised putting sprinklers in all properties and ensured housing developers took responsibility for the provision of water (cost and maintenance of hydrants).

In relation to how goals would be achieved through the use of intelligence, CC Hennessy asked for clarification on what processes were involved and how the data was shared.  AM Norman advised that information was received from a number of other organisations; the most significant recently was a springboard data return which provided information for adult social care which included data on whether there was a care plan in place, medical issues identified etc.  It was noted that the Assistant Chief Fire Officer attended Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board and internal analysis identified  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4/18

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented the report.  During spring 2018, three Fire and Rescue Services were chosen by the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) as Pilot Fire Services to help shape the new Fire Service inspection programme (West Yorkshire, Suffolk and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service).

The lead HMICFRS Inspector for the Northern Region, Her Majesty’s Inspector Matt Parr, had a vast experience in inspecting Police Forces and the Royal Navy. The HMICFRS Service Liaison Lead (SLL) was appointed to lead the inspection team in Lancashire was David Dryburgh, an experienced Fire Officer from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. His inspection team was made up of between ten and twelve inspectors who had a range of skills and expertise from across the Fire, Police and Civil Service sector.

The inspection programme would span approximately a two year period and be phased into three tranches. Each tranche of inspections would contain 15 Fire and Rescue Services. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service were placed in the first tranche and were consequently inspected in July 2018.

In order for the HMICFRS to fully understand LFRS, our planning strategy and our journey to get here, the inspection consisted of a number pre-inspection visit’s by our SLL. He visited a number of stations and key strategic meetings to help gain an insight and understanding into our planning, performance and delivery of our Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP). 

We were also required to undertake a self-assessment and provide a number of data set returns based on questions around efficiency, effectiveness and people. The pre-inspection work was designed to identify key lines of enquiry that the HMICFRS would investigate further during our inspection week.

The Executive Board led by our Chief Fire Officer and accompanied by the Combined Fire Authority (CFA) Chair were required to present a strategic briefing to HMI Matt Parr and his Inspection team two weeks prior to the inspection week to outline our strategic vision and future planning. This provided the HMICFRS with an opportunity to question the Executive Board on our self-assessment submission and identify further key lines of enquiry to be investigated during our inspection week.

The first tranche of inspections had now been completed and the Fire and Rescue Services involved had received their initial preliminary reports. We had reviewed our report for accuracy and any observations identified had been fed back to the HMICFRS inspection team. The final reports were due to be published publicly in early December 2018.  It was noted that the publication initially expected on 6 December 2018 had now been delayed to the following week given the publication of the draft government financial settlement was scheduled for 5 December 2018.

The second tranche of inspections would commence in November 2018 and continue into early New Year where they would then be moderated and their results published prior to tranche three inspections commencing in the spring of 2019.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/18

AM Norman presented the report.  Following the introduction of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) and Lancashire Constabulary had formalised the ongoing Blue Light Collaboration work in order to deliver the most effective and efficient services.

The report detailed the work delivered to build upon the initial work which focussed upon the drafting of an operational statement of intent and initial blueprint documents. There were 4 projects that had concluded, delivering benefits with minimal resources allocated. Further projects remained ongoing at an informal level whereby resources and timescales were low impact.

To ensure that the strategic intent was fully understood and supported DCFO Johnston visited the Lancashire Constabulary control centre at Hutton to witness the scale and scope of their demand management processes first hand.  This also provided an opportunity to witness the work of the duty Force Incident Manager.  To understand the impact of the demand, the experiential visit was then extended to Preston Operating Centre whereby the DCFO joined response officers in their duties witnessing a Friday evening and night-time economy shift.

It was noted that there were a small number of significant projects being developed in readiness for scoping reports to be presented to the Collaboration Executive Board early in 2019. Those projects had leads appointed at Head of Department level and this work was being supported by the recent appointment of a shared resource in the format of a Programme Administrator. Significant projects would be reported to the Authority for decision via this committee.  

In response to Members concerns that the costs of the joint work were equally shared, AM Norman confirmed that cost savings analyses were undertaken as part of the process and shared funding was one of the key tasks for the new Programme Administrator.

Councillor Blackburn advised that the Lancashire Leaders Group had looked at demand management given the worry that collaboration could enable the inappropriate takeover of another partner’s responsibilities.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that time had been spent analysing demand including visits to other blue light services to pull intelligence together.

RESOLVED: - That the report be noted and endorsed.

The Authority had a consultation strategy which provided a framework through which it could seek public opinion on major change issues.

Each year the Planning Committee reviewed the strategy as now considered by Members to assure continued compliance with guidance or legislation and to incorporate learning from any public consultation exercises undertaken.

The review concluded that the strategy continued to be legally compliant and in line with good practice. 

RESOLVED: - That the Committee noted and endorsed the consultation strategy.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) was required to have effective business continuity arrangements in place in order to comply with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and National Framework.

In June-August 2018 LFRS attended a wildfire on Winter Hill that led to the activation of the LFRS Business Continuity Plan (BCP). The scale and severity of operational activity during this period delivered a far more thorough test of business continuity plans than could be simulated through exercise.

Group Manager Tim Murrell advised Members that the business continuity management system consisted of policy and strategic, tactical and operational plans which were reviewed and tested every year and audited every 2 years.

The Winter Hill major incident had provided the greatest test to business continuity in the past 30 years.  The learning had been extensive and a separate BCP debrief had been held.  Findings from the debrief included: that our current BCP triggers did not take full account of exceptional activity levels; the BCP concentrated on ‘loss’ rather than ‘use’; earlier activation of the BCP was required in the future and once activated, support departments could use their resources to improve operations.  A new plan had therefore been created to provide greater monitoring of business continuity; new triggers would activate a Critical Incident Team who would automatically consider the need for a full activation of the BCP and other relevant plans.  Critical incident triggers included: spate conditions/severe weather, pump availability, major incident declarations, serious injuries to staff and any other event deemed necessary to protect business continuity.

In response to a question raised by CC O’Toole regarding the response to unexpected incidents such as the Manchester Arena bombing, GM Murrell advised that LFRS was part of the Lancashire Resilience Forum who were a group of organisations that worked together to prepare and share resilience plans to respond to emergencies in Lancashire.  In addition the Assistant Chief Fire Officer reassured Members that at a strategic level, Lancashire was in a strong position to enable timely conversations should such a major incident occur.  He confirmed that periodic informal discussions were held with the Police at a senior officer level in order to make the right decisions to affect the best possible outcome for the people of Lancashire.

In response to a question raised by CC N Hennessy the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the Service had well-established and well?embedded operational assurance with an Operational Assurance Group that continually reviewed learning from incidents.  He advised that the full debrief report from Winter Hill would be considered by the Senior Management Team at their next meeting and that there were approximately 50 actions under the 3 headings of: Business Continuity, Operational Pre-Planning and Operational Response.  Members requested that this be a topic at a future Strategy Group meeting.

RESOLVED: - The Planning Committee endorsed the use of the Winter Hill operational incident as the annual business continuity test.

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 18 March 2019 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:           scheduled for 15 July 2019

                                                proposed for 25 November 2019

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Monday, 18 March 2019 at 1000 hours in the main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 15 July 2019 and agreed for 25 November 2019.