Agenda and minutes

Standing item.

The Chairman congratulated County Councillor Hennessy on her appointment to the Local Government Association (LGA) Fire Services Management Committee for this municipal year.

Apologies were received from Councillor Councillors P Britcliffe, J Eaton, T Martin, M Tomlinson and Councillors S Blackburn, F Jackson and 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.

None received.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the CFA held on 18 June 2018 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

In response to a query raised by CC O’Toole regarding clarification for the 4 reasons why crewed Retained Duty System (RDS) fire engines were designated as ‘off-the-run’ the Chairman of the Performance Committee, CC Holgate reassured Members the Committee had previously requested a more detailed breakdown of the percentages attributed for each reason which would be available for the next Performance Committee meeting.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Performance Committee held on 7 June 2018 be noted and endorsed.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Audit Committee held on 24 July 2018 be noted and endorsed.

An update was provided to Members on the recent inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

The inspection took place during the week 9^th – 13^th July 2018 with the HMICFRS team speaking to staff, selected partner agencies, representative bodies, the Executive Board and the Chairman.  This was facilitated during the Winter Hill deployment and was managed through staff flexibility.  The strategic brief took place at the end of the inspection week to the Executive Board and Chairman.  There was feedback on the very positive culture that was found within Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), the ‘can do attitude’ of staff and that the Service’s values were committed to ‘making Lancashire safer’.  A second data request was received and returned to HMICFRS on 14 July 2018.

A HMICFRS staff survey had been received which asked staff their opinion on working for LFRS.  This had been circulated for staff for completion by 30 September 2018.

The HMICFRS Service Liaison Officer role had been handed over to Station Manager I Armistead, who would lead on preparing for the inspectorate as part of his role within corporate planning and would embed this into business as usual.  The HMICFRS Service Lead would continue to engage with LFRS to build on his understanding of how we operated, delivered our services and looked after our staff and to ensure that our positive relationship was maintained. 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that information had been received from HMICFRS regarding the inspection regime.  The fieldwork for services in tranche one had now been completed and HMICFRS was currently analysing the evidence and drafting service reports.  These would be shared on a confidential basis with each Service in late October to check for factual accuracies before publication in early December. The findings of which would be discussed at the next Authority meeting.

County Councillor O’Toole referred to positive feedback received since the inspection was concluded and expressed that the Service should be commended for pressing on with the work involved during the Inspection, which was also during the period of the moorland fires at Winter Hill. 

RESOLVED: - That the Authority noted and endorsed the report.

The report set out details of the Government’s latest consultation document relating to 2019/20 Local Government Finance Settlement.  The Local Government Finance Settlement was the basis by which the Government allocated funding out to individual authorities, as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.  The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a consultation document titled “The 2019/20 local government finance settlement – technical consultation paper” on 24 July, with a deadline for a response of 18 September 2018.

The proposed 2019-20 settlement was framed in the context of the overall Spending Review package.  The 2016?17 settlement offered local authorities a four year settlement, giving greater certainty over funding. The Authority was amongst the 97% of local authorities who accepted this offer. It was noted that the proposed 2019-20 settlement funding was therefore allocated in accordance with the agreed methodology announced by the Secretary of State at that time.

Members considered the questions and proposed responses: -

The fourth year of the multi-year settlement offer

The document confirmed that “barring exceptional circumstances and subject to the normal statutory consultation process for the local government finance settlement, the Government intended to present these figures to parliament as part of the 2019-20 provisional local government finance settlement in due course.”

The four year settlement showed the Authority’s funding being reduced by £5.5m (18%) over this period, although the majority of this reduction had occurred in the first two years of the settlement.  Hence, barring exceptional circumstances, the Authority expected to receive £24.0m of funding in 2019-20, a reduction of £0.4m.  However, the four year funding settlement was predicated on the Government maintaining its public sector pay cap at 1%. Any pay awards in excess of this would either require additional funding or would directly impact on future council tax levels.

Question 1: Do you agree that the government should confirm the final year of the 4-year offer as set out in 2016-17?

Proposed response

“We welcome the certainty that the four year settlement provided, and support the principle that other than in exceptional circumstances this will not change.

However we feel that the lifting of the 1% public sector pay cap qualifies as exceptional circumstances and therefore believe that the settlement needs to take account of the impact of this on pay awards, in order to ensure that local government funding, and in our case Fire Authority funding, keeps pace with pay increases. As you are aware the Fire and Rescue Services National Employers had made an offer to the Fire Brigades Union of a 2% pay increase in 2018/19. Whilst this offer has been rejected, it is clear that any final agreement will exceed the funded 1% and as such we believe it is essential that additional funding is provided to meet the eventual pay award.

Similarly the next tri-annual review of the Fire Fighters Pension fund will include an adjustment relating to the Pension Discount Factor which is likely to see a significant increase in contribution rates, with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32/18

Oral report.

The Chief Fire Officer gave Members an overview of the collaboration update since the last meeting in June 2018.  He reported that only one Fire Authority (Essex) had adopted a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) governance model but there had been a further 6 business cases going forward which were the subject of 3 Judicial Review applications.  Hertfordshire had discontinued their change to a PCC governance model in favour of collaboration between the PCC and the Local Authority and potentially co-location of premises.

With regard to Lancashire, the sequence of events had been that on 25 July 2018 at Service Headquarters the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, the Leader of the Opposition and Clerk had met with the PCC and his consultant and had been well prepared to challenge the proposal. Shortly after commencing a presentation it became clear that the PCC no longer wanted to pursue taking over the Combined Fire Authority’s governance responsibilities but hoped that closer collaboration could be used to achieve common goals for both services.

Having received a letter from the PCC dated 27 July there was growing concern that the proposal made was done so with more conditions than first apparent.  The Authority responded on 30 July 2018 and subsequently to seek clarification on a) whether the Commissioner was withdrawing plans to continue with the Business Case; and b) what the new collaboration regime would look like.  In one subsequent response the Commissioner stated that ‘collaboration was not enough’ which led to some further concern. The latest response was sent from the Authority on 30 August 2018 and a further response was awaited.  Until a response was received LFRS would continue with its well established collaboration activities and would continue to look for further areas of development.

Sharing the LFRS approach to operations may be beneficial for the Police as currently only 18% of LFRS staff were not involved in frontline delivery of services, whereas by contrast 36% of Lancashire Police staff were not involved in frontline policing services.  Clarification on what the PCC sought to achieve was therefore vital.

County Councillor O’Toole recalled the considerable degree of agreement during the course of the meeting which he felt had not been reflected in subsequent correspondence from the PCC.  He congratulated the Chairman on his replies to the PCC, confirming they had the backing of all Members of the Authority.

RESOLVED: - that the report be noted and endorsed.

Oral report.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer invited Members to view the Annual Service Report which had been prepared as a video.  Alongside the video was a supporting document which had also been produced and in order to encourage a wider audience and engagement this was accessible to all members of staff on the intranet and would be available to the public on the LFRS website.  The video and report were welcomed by Members.

RESOLVED: - that the report be noted and endorsed.

The concept of Member Champions was introduced in December 2007.  A review of the areas of focus for member Champions was considered at the Authority meeting held in June 2017 where new areas of responsibility were discussed and agreed as follows: -

·        Community Safety – CC Mark Perks;

·        Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Cllr Zamir Khan;

·        Health and Wellbeing – CC Tony Martin;

·        Road Safety – Cllr Fred Jackson.

Reports relating to the activity of the Member Champions were provided on a quarterly basis to the Authority.  This report related to activity for the period up to June 2018.  During this period all had undertaken their respective role in accordance with the defined terms of reference.

Community Safety

County Councillor Mark Perks had been visiting various community safety teams based at fire stations across the county to discuss their work and join them on home visits to see how each team acted on requests made to the Service.  These covered a wide range of requests from partner organisations, charities such as Alzheimer’s Society and the Stroke Association and borough councils etc.  CC Perks was impressed with the way the visits were undertaken by officers who took great pride and professionalism in their work in a very sensitive empathic approach.  CC Perks thanked staff on behalf of the Authority for their hard work and he was looking forward to continuing his visits to further stations.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Councillor Zamir Khan supported Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service (LFRS) who had joined the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme.  Members of staff had attended Lancaster Pride in May, Blackpool in June, and Manchester in August and were also due to attend Preston in September.  A review of LFRS Human Resources policies has been completed to ensure compliance from an LGBT perspective and LFRS was currently exploring options in relation to simple visual symbols to support the LGBT community.

Guidance and information for employees and line managers had been developed to support those applying to join the Service, or who currently worked for LFRS who had dyslexia. 

County Councillor Hennessy informed Members that she had recently attended the Local Government Association Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) meeting where, with the Chairman’s approval and on behalf of Councillor Khan she had offered our facilities to hold a regional event to promote (ED&I) at the Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Training Centre.  Members from North West Fire Authorities would be invited to attend the event.

Health and Wellbeing

On the 10th September County Councillor Tony Martin supported an event at the Service Training Centre for Suicide Prevention Day. The event was held to raise awareness of mental health issues and suicide which was attended by staff who support colleagues at work. The event included presentations from:

·        MIND Matters who delivered a session on signs and symptoms and awareness of mental health issues; and

·        PTSD999 who are a charity based in the UK that supports all members of the emergency services, both serving and retired, family and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35/18

Members’ Allowance Scheme

The Authority has had a Members' Allowance Scheme in place since 2003 in line with the Local Authorities (Members Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003.  The Scheme has been amended in line with the Regulations in June 2006, April 2008, April 2012 and June 2016 with the indices last reviewed in September 2014 and in June 2016.

Annual adjustment changes were made in line with the Authority's approved indices as follows:-

·        Basic, Special Responsibility and Co-optees' Allowances are index linked on an annual basis in line with the annual Local Government National Pay Award for green book staff at point 49;

·        Subsistence Allowances are reviewed annually (with effect from 1 April in every year) in line with the Consumer Price Index (all items) published in November of the preceding year;

·        Travel Allowances mirror the County Council's rates which are revised annually with effect from 1 April in every year in accordance with the maximum allowance for Income Tax purposes, as determined by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

To ensure the Authority complied with the regulations to have regard to the recommendations made by the independent remuneration panels of its home authorities s19 (2), the current indices used by home authorities were considered by Members as now presented.  Members considered the indices used remained appropriate, reasonable and transparent.   

Electronic submission of mileage claims

Members noted that the Member Training and Development Working Group had considered whether the Authority should adopt a process for the electronic submission of mileage claims.  The Chairman of the Member Training and Development Working Group, Councillor Smith asked the Authority to consider whether to adopt this practice from an agreed date and after Members have received appropriate training.

Full training would be available by Finance and Democratic Services Officers.  The process would be more efficient enabling Members’ payments to be processed quicker.  Members would be able to access their records on line at any time (including viewing payslips, P60s etc which would also enable LFRS to move away from manually printing and posting payslips).  It would be necessary however, for the Authority to adopt this as a single system from an agreed date, after which paper copies would no longer be accepted. 

RESOLVED:-

i)             That the Authority continued to use the existing indices for a further four?year period;

ii)            That the Authority approved the use of electronic mileage claims with effect from 1 April 2019.

A report detailing prosecutions in respect of fire safety management failures and arson related incidents within the period 1 June 2018 to 31 August 2018 was provided by Deputy Chief Fire Officer Johnston.  The report set out a number of investigations that were taking place that may lead to prosecution under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Fire protection and business support information was provided.  Members received an update on the risk-based inspection programme, the business support website, business safety and the Primary Authority Scheme.  Deputy Chief Fire Officer Johnston confirmed there had been a Fire Safety Week held during the period and that there were now 10 partners under the Primary Authority Scheme.

Five cases of arson convictions were reported during the period.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority noted and endorsed the report.

This report included information for the 2 Unitary and 12 District Authorities relating to Fire Safety Initiatives and Fires and Incidents of particular interest.

As part of the report members received a presentation by Assistant Chief Fire Officer, David Russel on the Service’s response to Winter Hill.

Following the presentation Members asked that the Authority’s thanks be passed onto all those involved during the Winter Hill major incident, including our partner agencies.  County Councillor O’Toole added that a number of Members, including himself had attended during the incident to see the hard work at first hand.

The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the Service had organised a Winter Hill ‘Thank-You’ event for all the partner agencies involved on 25 September 2018 to recognise their contribution and the assistance they provided during the incident.  The Fire Minister and others from central government had also been complimentary about the level of hard work involved in the incident.

Members expressed that they had been encouraged by the hard work and resilience of the Service and would welcome the opportunity for the video to be circulated to a wider audience which would include organisations and schools.

In response to a question raised by Councillor Smith, the Assistant Chief Officer confirmed that the Service was in the process of completing a full debrief for the incident and he reassured Members that  going forward the Service had commenced meetings with agencies and organisations who managed the land.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Wilkins, the Chairman confirmed that firefighters on all stations had access to flood suits.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority noted and endorsed 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 17 December 2018 at 1000 hours at Washington Hall Training Centre, Euxton.

The next meeting of the Authority would be held on Monday 17 December 2018 at 10:00am at the Training Centre, Euxton.

The Authority is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, they consider that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

RESOLVED: - That the press and members of the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

(Paragraphs 1 and 2)

Oral report.

(Paragraphs 1 and 2)

RESOLVED:- That the Authority approved the re-appointment of Mr Mark Nolan as Clerk and Monitoring Officer to the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority for a period of twelve months, to the September meeting of the Authority in 2019.