Agenda and draft minutes

There were apologies from the following:

County Councillor Usman Arif had been delayed.

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.

The Monitoring Officer (MO) introduced the item.

It was noted that a separate working group had been set up to revise and update the constitution for Lancashire Combined Fire Authority; the group had met several times to work up the draft document which was also externally assured by an experienced monitoring officer. The MO indicated that the draft constitution was in alignment with best practice from other authorities and existing legislation.

The final draft comprised of three main sections: a scheme of delegation; terms of reference for the various committees and standing orders which set out the technical details about how matters would be dealt with. There were also several other miscellaneous documents which completed the picture.

It was noted that further changes might be required in due course following the constitution’s implementation. The document would be reviewed regularly, at least on an annual basis. Local government reorganisation would also mean that certain sections would need to be re-visited once the new unitary authorities were in place.

The following sections of the constitution were particularly significant or had undergone major revision. The Chair indicated that the best course of action in the meeting was to discuss the main changes. The purpose of this extraordinary Audit Committee was to review the current draft document prior to its submission at the September 2026 full CFA meeting for approval.

Scheme of delegation

National guidance on a fire authority’s scheme of delegation and legislation about operational independence of Chief Fire Officers was known to be in development. However, this was not currently available and there was no clarity as to when it would be finalised. The new scheme of delegation had been drafted so far as possible to take into account anticipated requirements of any such guidance, and schemes of delegation from a number of other authorities had been reviewed in order to distil best practice.

Paragraph 6 (page 5 of the constitution) set out the matters that were reserved to the full authority These were the high level, strategic matters such as budget setting and overall direction of the fire service.

Other matters were delegated to one of the three statutory officers (Chief Fire Officer; Treasurer and Monitoring Officer). Once the authority set the strategic direction, the discharge of these duties at an operational level would then be delegated to the Chief Fire Officer.

It was not intended that this revised scheme of delegation would make any significant change to the current split of decision-making abilities between the authority and the service, but rather it simplified and clarified what was previously a lengthy and technical document. Of note, paragraphs 8 to 12 set out general principles of delegation which should ensure that no issue which should be considered by the Authority would be able to by-pass that crucial oversight and governance.

It was noted that any major changes to the constitution (for example to the terms of reference) would need to be submitted to the full Authority for approval, but minor, grammatical, non-substantive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16-26/27

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on Thursday 1 October 2026 in the Main Conference Room, Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:          scheduled for 15 December 2026

                                                proposed for 25 March 2027

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Thursday 1 October 2026 at 10:00 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 15 December 2026 and agreed for 25 March 2027.