Agenda and minutes

Standing item.

Apologies were received from: County Councillors, M Green, M Perks and J Shedwick and from Councillor Z Khan.

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.

The Vice-Chairman, County Councillor Parkinson declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to the Local Government Pension Scheme as he was Deputy Chairman of the Lancashire County Council Pension Fund Committee which had responsibility for the administration of the Lancashire Pension Fund.

In response to a question by County Councillor O’Toole regarding the Authority’s application for four year funding, the Director of Corporate Services confirmed that the Minister had confirmed the 4 year funding settlement for all single-purpose fire authorities that had bid for this and that the Local Government Finance Settlement had been announcement the previous week.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the CFA held on 19 September 2016 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Performance Committee held on 15 September 2016 be noted.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Strategy Group held on 19 September 2016 be noted.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Resources Committee held on 28 September 2016 be noted.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding future internal audit fees the Director of Corporate Services confirmed that Lancashire County Council was appointed 3 years ago on the basis of cost and quality.  He confirmed that he had been back to Lancashire County Council to challenge the proposed fees and was awaiting a response prior to discussing with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Audit Committee.  This would be reported to the next Audit Committee in January 2017.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Audit Committee held on 29 September 2016 be noted.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the North West Fire & Rescue Forum held on 19 October 2016 be noted.

The Chairman of the Member Training & Development Working Group, Councillor D Smith highlighted to Members that there was a move to increase the use of technology to support access to Authority and Committee agenda packs and enable efficiencies.  Members would be kept informed of progress and developments.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Member Training and Development Working Group held on 9 November 2016 be noted.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Planning Committee held on 21 November 2016 be noted.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Resources Committee held on 30 November 2016 be noted.

In relation to the ‘Critical Special Service Response – Call Handling’ target, the Chairman of the Committee, County Councillor S Holgate highlighted to Members that North West Fire Control would be invited to attend the next meeting to explain why the performance against the call handling targets had not been met for some time and to discuss what was being done to rectify this.  The issue had been raised in December with North West Fire Control by both the Authority’s Chairman, County Councillor De Molfetta at a Director’s meeting and by the Chief Fire Officer at a Lead Principal Officers meeting.  An offer had been tabled to hold the next Performance Committee meeting at North West Fire Control, so that this issue could be fully considered and explanations provided.

In relation to the underperformance of the ‘Fire Engine Availability - Retained Duty System’ (RDS) target County Councillor O’Toole queried whether the number of RDS personnel who had been successful in obtaining wholetime positions had had a negative impact given the difficulties filling RDS vacancies.  In response, the Authority Chairman, County Councillor De Molfetta did not believe the appointment of RDS staff into wholetime positions was the cause of the target currently not being met.  He understood that a large majority of those appointed had volunteered to undertake a dual role.  County Councillor Parkinson stated that the appointment of RDS staff into wholetime vacancies was a tool to reinvigorate the Service and retain skills.  He felt that it sent out a strong message to rural areas that if you chose a RDS role to support the community and you worked hard that there was a career pathway.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Performance Committee held on 1 December 2016 be noted.

The Authority nominated the Chairman and Vice-Chairman on an annual basis after the Annual meeting each year to be its representatives on the Local Government Association (LGA) Fire Commission.

The Fire Commission provided a forum to discuss matters of common interest and concern to fire authorities. 

All fire authorities in full or corporate membership of the Local Government Association (LGA) had the right to representation and voting on this Commission in accordance with the LGA Constitution, Standing Orders and Political Conventions.

The Fire Commission had a management committee which acted on behalf of the Commission.  Its role was to represent as an LGA body the views and concerns of the fire community ensuring that local circumstances had a voice in the national context. It led on behalf of the LGA: on the future direction of the fire and rescue service; improvement within the sector; and on all other day-to-day issues (e.g. technical or operational matters) affecting fire authorities.

County Councillor O’Toole had been approached by the LGA Conservative Group to sit on the Fire Commission. Should Members approve this appointment, future Authority approval to appoint additional members to the LGA Fire Commission or Fire Services Management Committee would be presented to the Annual Meeting each year.

RESOLVED: - That the Fire Authority approved the appointment of County Councillor D O’Toole’s appointment to the Fire Commission for 2016/17. 

The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England (2012) provided overall strategic direction to English Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRA).  It set out the Government’s priorities and objectives and placed a requirement on all FRA’s to provide assurance to their communities and to Government on financial, governance and operational matters. 

The Statement of Assurance was considered by Members.  It aimed to provide the necessary accountability and transparency to the people of Lancashire and evidenced that their Fire and Rescue Service continued to deliver the expectations detailed within both the National Framework and the Service's own Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP).

This statement sat alongside the IRMP, Statement of Accounts, Annual Governance Statement and recently redesigned Annual Service Plan and Annual Progress Report.  It detailed what measures were in place to assure that the Combined Fire Authority’s performance was efficient, economic and effective.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority approved the Annual Statement of Assurance 2015?16 as presented and approved the signing of this by the Chairman of the Authority and the Chief Fire Officer.

The Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer presented the draft capital programme 2017/18 – 2021/22. 

Capital Budget Strategy

The Authority’s capital strategy was designed to ensure that the Authority’s capital investment:-

·        Assisted in delivering the corporate objectives;

·        Supported priorities identified in asset management plans;

·        Ensured statutory requirements were met, i.e. Health and Safety issues;

·        Supported the Medium Term Financial Strategy by ensuring all capital investment decisions considered the future impact on revenue budgets;

·        Represented value for money.

Capital Requirements

Capital expenditure was expenditure on major assets such as new buildings, significant building modifications and major pieces of equipment/vehicles.

The Service had developed asset management plans which assisted in identifying the long-term capital requirements. These plans, together with the operational equipment register had been used to assist in identifying total requirements and the relevant priorities.  The report set out the detailed capital programme as summarised in the table below: -

Vehicles

The Fleet Asset Management plan had been used as a basis to identify a vehicle replacement programme which had been adjusted to remove peaks in the number of vehicle replacements in any one year for a number of years now.  This had inevitably resulted in some vehicles being replaced marginally ahead of or behind schedule in the past, but provided a better basis for longer term replacement strategies.  As a result of this only one support vehicle due for replacement in the period of the programme would be delayed by one year. 

The mobile fire station replacements related to two vehicles at the end of their current asset lives, however a review of requirements for these appliances was planned to commence shortly in order to determine a final design and hence costing estimate for approval.

Several vehicles provided and maintained by CLG under New Dimensions (6 Prime Movers and 1 Incident Response Unit), which would be due for replacement during the period of the programme had not been included in the replacement plan as it was understood that CLG would issue replacement vehicles if they were beyond economic repair, or if the national provision requirement changed.  Should there be a requirement to purchase replacement vehicles, a grant from CLG might be available to fund them.

Operational Equipment

The budget plan allowed for the replacement of items at the end of their current asset lives, based on current replacement cost.  In addition a further ongoing provision of £1m allowed for innovations in future firefighting equipment after the £1m budget allocated in 2016/17 had been fully utilised by the end of 2017/18.

Buildings

The current level of backlog maintenance had reduced significantly, reflecting the investments the Authority had made in its building stock.  Following completion of works budgeted during 2016/17, the Authority would only have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51/16

The Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer presented the draft revenue budget for 2017/18 -2021/22 and the resultant council tax implications. 

In line with the Authority’s objective to deliver affordable, value for money services the Authority’s Budget Strategy remained one of:-

·        Maintaining future council tax increases at reasonable levels, reducing if possible;

·        Continuing to deliver efficiencies in line with targets;

·        Continuing to invest in improvements in service delivery;

·        Continuing to invest in improving facilities;

·        Setting a robust budget;

·        Maintaining an adequate level of reserves.

Draft Budget

In order to determine the future budget requirement, the Authority had used the approved 2016/17 budget as a starting point, and had uplifted this for inflation and other known changes and pressures, to arrive at a draft budgetary requirement, prior to utilising any reserves, as set out below:-

Further details were provided in the report, the most significant of which were:-

Inflation

·        A 1% allowance had been built in for all pay-awards for the next 3 years, based on government proposals with 3.8% for 2020/21 and 2021/22;

·        Non-pay inflation average of 2.5% per annum.

Other Pay Pressures

·        Future Service contributions in respect of the Local Government Pension Scheme had increased by 1.9%;

·        The discount rate used in unfunded public sector pension schemes would change and this added a further £2b of costs to the schemes, as a whole.  This would be reflected in the next tri-annual evaluation that set the contribution rate payable from 1 April 2019.  No details of the impact on any unfunded scheme were currently available however an allowance for a 3% increase had been built into the budget in 2019/20;

·        The Government would introduce an apprenticeship levy in April 2017 which was set at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s pay bill;

·        The budget in respect of wholetime personnel had been updated to allow for: retirements, leavers, continuing recruitment in future years (to include an allowance for over establishment by up to 25 personnel), personnel to be paid development rates of pay and the different firefighter pension scheme contribution rates;

·        A vacancy factor of 2.5% had been built in to reflect turnover within support staff;

·        The vacancy factor in respect of RDS staff had been increased to 15% in line with current levels.

Committed Variations

·        In order to balance the draft capital programme the Revenue Contribution to Capital Outlay was  increased in 2016/17, hence the reduction bought this back in line with future requirements, as reflected in the draft capital programme;

·        Reduction in interest receivable reflected the historically low rate of interest and based on anticipated cash balances.

Growth

·        The budget for recruits in training had been adjusted to take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52/16

At the time of the last tri-annual valuation of the Local Government Pension Scheme the Fire Authority had a funding deficit of £5.8m. This deficit was being paid off over the agreed deficit recovery period, 19 years, at a cost of approx. £200k-£300k per annum.  Members had agreed to utilise in-year underspends in 2014/15 and 2015/16 to pay off this deficit, setting aside £5.2m to do so, as this would reduce any future deficit recovery costs once the outcome of the next valuation in 2016 was agreed. Although it was noted that historically the level of deficit for the scheme as a whole had increased at each valuation, as liabilities had grown at a faster rate than assets, it was recognised that at the time of the valuation there was no guarantee that a new deficit would not exist.

Whole Scheme Valuation

The 2016 valuation had been published and this showed a marked improvement to the scheme as a whole, assets had grown significantly whilst liabilities had only increased marginally, which was completely out of kilter with historic trends.

Asset values had increased significantly due to investment returns performing better than forecast.  Liabilities had remained broadly static due to changes in actual pay and pensions inflation and changing assumptions; the basis of calculations was:-

·        pension increases had been limited to CPI;

·        pay inflation had been lower than anticipated;

·        life expectancy projections had been updated and whilst they had increased since the last valuation they had not increased by the forecasted amount;

·        the basis of assessing liabilities had been changed this year moving away from the link to gilts and moving to a link to CPI (had this not been the case the reduction in gilt yields would have resulted in a far greater liability).

Lancashire Fire Authority Fund

The Authority’s future service rate had increased from 12.8% to 14.7%, an increase of 1.9% which, based on the current budgeted wage bill, equated to £0.1m additional cost.

The Authority’s funding position had moved from a deficit of £5.8m to a surplus of £4.3m, this reflected the overall scheme changes highlighted above, and the additional contributions paid into the fund.

It was noted that contributions paid, offset by benefits accrued, accounted for £5.4m of the reduction (this was the monies set aside to pay off the 2013 deficit of £5.8m) the remainder of the reduction was due to investments generating £3.3m more returns than forecast with the balance, £1.4m, relating to the net impact of changing assumptions.

All of the above indicated the extent of volatility that the valuation was subject to, and the difficulty in making medium term predictions.  It was noted that the surplus was ring fenced for the Authority, it could not be used by others, and it would earn a return in line with the whole fund, which historically far outstripped the normal return.  Depending on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53/16

The Adrian Thomas Review on Conditions of Service as now presented, was published by the Home Office on 3 November 2016.  The report contained 45 key findings which needed to be reflected on by the various elements of the Fire Sector (Government, Local Government Association, Chief Fire Officers Association, Unions as well as individual authorities and services). 

The Review was confined to Fire & Rescue Authorities in England (46) but had a wider impact.  The findings were grouped into five areas: -

• The working environment;
• Documented Conditions of Service;
• Industrial Relations;
• Retained Duty System;
• Management of the Fire & Rescue Service.

In the body of the report, Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service was cited as having been visited in the review.  In reality Mr Warren was interviewed by Adrian Thomas on the recommendations of the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser and a separate nomination by the Local Government Association as an adviser to the National Joint Council.  The discussion with Mr Thomas was therefore related to the general nature of the fire sector rather than specifics within Lancashire, although elements of the Service’s good practice were highlighted.

The publication of the report in November 2016 was two years after the Report was commissioned and a number of comments made had now become historical in context, or overtaken.  Similarly, LFRS could demonstrate its position in a favourable light in respect of many of the findings, as was done in respect of the Sir Ken Knight Review.  In effect, many of the issues directly in LFRS’ control were being progressed within existing activity.

However, the Authority and Service should consider the thrust and direction of the Report in framing and further developing LFRS’ main HR and organisational Development activities and it was noted that a gap analysis would be undertaken to identify the Service’s position to inform that consideration.  This gap analysis would also probably be beneficial in future interactions with the proposed inspectorate regime.

Key Themes

Employment costs were a significant element if not the majority of costs for all Fire Services.

The main findings were summarised in pages 12-18 of the Report.

The themes emerging for consideration in the sector were:

·        How could some authorities make progress whilst others did not;

·        Greater cross fertilisation of issues should be developed (institutional learning);

·        The Conditions of Service and negotiation arrangements should be “modernised” including Role Maps and Duty Systems and content;

·        Issues in respect of employee engagement including culture and trust, including equality & diversity and bullying and harassment issues;

·        National Leadership development/standards;

·        Remove the Right to Strike;

·        Greater use of Retained Duty System;

·        Future Recruitment.

The key strap line was “where change is common sense, it should become common practice”.

Contained within the findings were many other areas such as governance and pay statements. 

It was noted that all the findings would be addressed in the report to the February CFA.

RESOLVED: - The Authority: -

i)             noted the publication of the Report; and

ii)            noted that a detailed assessment of the Service’s position  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54/16

The salary scheme was developed based on a set salary pro-rata to the number of hours of cover provided, and taking account of station activity levels, on a banded basis, i.e. 0-100, 100-200 etc. Under this system it was still recognised that as activity levels fell station bandings would fall and therefore earnings would reduce, hence at the time of introducing the scheme the Authority agreed to protect the overall pot of money and undertake a tri-annual banding exercise whereby base salaries for each banding were adjusted to ensure that overall costs remained the same. (It was noted that as activity levels fell, earnings would reduce under the grey book scheme.)  The salary scheme was the first in England and required an investment of £600k, and resulted in Lancashire personnel being the highest paid RDS personnel in the country, relative to activity levels.

Rebanding exercises had taken place in 2008 and 2011 taking account of the previous three years activity levels, both of which resulted in some stations moving down the banding system but with the base salary level being increased to maintain the overall pot of money. As a result of these exercises 16 stations had moved into lower bandings, and would therefore have suffered a reduction in earnings, whilst 10 had remained in the same banding and 1 had moved up a banding, all of whom would have seen an increase in earnings. Since its implementation £250k had been re-invested into the scheme in order to maintain the overall pot of money at the same level. 

The rebanding exercise scheduled for 2014 showed 12 stations reducing in banding and following concerns being raised about the impact of this on personnel the results were not implemented.

There remained serious concerns about the benefits the salary scheme had delivered. Therefore as part of the RDS Strengthening and Improving agenda it was agreed to undertake a more fundamental review of the scheme to determine whether it remained fit for purpose or if not what amendments were required, recognising that any additional investment required must deliver improvements.

Review

In order to review the scheme a questionnaire was sent to all RDS units asking them:

·        what works in the current salary;

·        what doesn’t work and why it doesn’t;

·        what changes you would propose;

·        what you anticipate the impact of any changes would be in terms of our core issues of recruitment, retention and availability.

Out of 29 units only 11 responded, and within those responses the standard was extremely varied.  Included within the questionnaire was a call for additional volunteers for the review group, but again this elicited a very limited response with only 4 personnel being put forward.  An RDS Pay Review Group consisting of 8 representatives from the RDS personnel across the service was established and they reviewed the responses.  The Group agreed that any eventual proposal must be perceived as being fair, rewarding both commitment, i.e. hours of cover provided, as well as activity, i.e. actual number of incidents attended,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55/16

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that notification had been received of an Early Day Motion (EDM) currently seeking support in the House of Commons with regards to Building Bulletin 100: design for fire safety in schools and the removal of the expectation that automatic fire suppression systems (sprinklers) would be fitted to all but the lowest risk new schools.  It was considered that such a move could compromise the safety of children, staff, local communities and firefighters.  The Chairman of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority and the Chief Fire Officer had therefore written to local MPs on behalf of the Authority, as now presented.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority note the Chairman and Chief Fire Officer’s letter and agreed to add support where appropriate.

In December 2007, the Authority introduced the “Champion” role. These positions were currently filled by:-

·        Equality and Diversity – County Councillor Terry Aldridge

·        Older People - County Councillor Mark Perks

·        Environment - County Councillor Ken Brown

·        Road Safety – Councillor Fred Jackson

Reports relating to the activity of the member champions were provided on a regular basis to the Authority.  This report related to activity for the period up to November 2016.

Equality and Diversity

County Councillor Aldridge reported that he had met with the Director of People and Development and would be meeting again in the New Year.

He was pleased to report that the Equality and Diversity Policy had now been adopted and was live on the website.  The 2016/2017 Equality and Diversity Action Plan was being updated as progress was made and would be available at the end of the year to demonstrate Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s progress in compliance with its Public Sector Equality Duty.

Equality Objectives had now been agreed for 2017/2022 and were out for consultation as part of the development of the Integrated Risk Management Plan as follows:

·        Support local business to reduce the risk of fire and remain compliant within fire safety legislation;

·        Reduce the number and impact of fire and other emergencies to our diverse communities across Lancashire;

·        Develop and deliver a Prevention Service targeting our most vulnerable communities;

·        Promote equality in our workforce policies and workforce practices;

·        Develop our staff to ensure they can respond competently, meeting the different needs of our diverse communities.

As part of creating a more diverse workforce, a project had been established to look at positive action which would commence January 2017.  An overarching approach to organisational development was in the process of being developed which looked at how the promotion of equality and diversity, including the prevention of unconscious bias was embedded into existing and proposed development programmes including a new Corporate Induction process. 

Older People

It was noted that County Councillor Perks continued to support the work that the Service had been actively involved with during the period which included:-

·        The Service continued to develop Dementia activities across the County.  The Prevention Support Manager was leading on Dementia with support from a Task Group made up of representation from each area. The group was meeting in December to agree their Terms of Reference and Membership.

·        Northern Area had been working closely with Lancashire Constabulary on the Guardian Angels scheme who provided devices to people living with dementia so that they could be quickly identified and helped if found wandering. A Dementia Event was held for Partners on 28th October with a further event held for the Public on 18th November. The task group would consider this as a larger roll out and would carry out a review of the scheme.

·        Eastern Area also held an Older People’s Open Day on 24th November which included talks from the Fall Prevention Team, Fire Safety talks and a demonstration of the Tunstall Alarms that were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57/16

A report detailing prosecutions in respect of fire safety management failures and arson related incidents within the period 1 September to 1 December 2016 was provided.  There was 1 successfully completed prosecution under the regulatory reform (fire safety) order 2005.  Fire protection and business support information was provided which included details of the Primary Authority Scheme, participation in Business Safety Week during 5th – 9^th September 2016, staff progress against the competency framework for business fire safety regulators and details of the Community Fire Risk Management Information System update and training.

Members noted that there were 3 arson convictions during the period with a number of other cases ongoing where guilty verdicts/pleas had been made where sentencing results were awaited.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority noted the report. 

This report included information for the 2 Unitary and 12 District Authorities relating to community safety activity and incidents of operational interest.

Under this item Area Manager Fryer provided Members with a current overview of the Bright Sparx Campaign which had been requested by the Performance Committee held 1 December 2016 (resolution 10/16 refers).

The Bright Sparx campaign was a well-established, multi-agency campaign which aimed to reduce injury, disorder, damage and anti-social behaviour related to the misuse of bonfires and fireworks across the county.  The campaign took place over a period of 6 weeks from 1 October to 10 November each year.

Members were pleased that community engagement, partnership work and improved response intervention had resulted in a reduction in the overall number of deliberate fires caused by anti-social behaviour throughout the year and during the Bright Sparx period. Likewise, attacks on firefighters were at their lowest level for several years with only 2 attacks reported in 2016.

County Councillor Aldridge referred to the Skelmersdale areas as having a significant volume of problems but the community engagement initiatives of the Fire and Rescue Service and Police Service, including a five a side football league in the area had done much to establish and improve relationships in the community.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that on 7 December 2016 there had been a major fire at a car dismantlers on Moorfield Industrial Estate, Altham, which had been attended by 16 Fire Engines including Specialist engines.  He wanted to acknowledge the professionalism shown by staff and partners which had limited the impact on the community and environment.  A full presentation would be presented to the Fire Authority at its next meeting on 20 February 2017.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority note the report.

Oral report.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that there had been no complaints since the last meeting.

RESOLVED: - That the current position be noted.

The next meeting of the Authority will be held on Monday 20 February 2017 at 1000 hours at Washington Hall Training Centre, Euxton.

The next meeting of the Authority would be held on Monday 20 February 2017 at 10:00 hours in Washington Hall at the Training Centre, Euxton.