Agenda and minutes

Standing item.

The Chairman and Members of the Combined Fire Authority thanked Mr Kenny, Chief Fire Officer for his leadership and dedication to the Service and the communities of Lancashire; expressing sincere wishes for his retirement at the end of April 2019.

Apologies were received from Councillor Williams and County Councillor Shedwick.

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 February 2019 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding the emergency response standards to critical fires for both the 1^st fire engine and 2^nd fire engine attendance, the Committee Chairman, County Councillor Holgate advised that the majority of these incidents were during December to residential dwelling fires.  The Assistant Chief Fire Officer added that this exceptionally high period of activity with appliances tied up had resulted in extended travel distances to some incidents.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding fire engine availability for the retained duty system, the Committee Chairman, County Councillor Holgate advised that the Committee had requested the detail of why appliances were designated as unavailable.  The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that of the 4 reasons identified, having no driver occurred only occasionally with the main reason being crew deficient ie: not having enough numbers of staff.  He reassured Members that the Service maintained high (if not the highest) availability standards in the country which was something to be proud of.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Performance Committee held on 14 March 2019 be noted and endorsed.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Planning Committee held on 18 March 2019 be noted and endorsed.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Resources Committee held on 27 March 2019 be noted and endorsed.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Audit Committee held on 2 April 2019 be noted and endorsed.

The Chairman of the Working Group, Councillor Smith was pleased to report 100% of Members had agreed a personal development plan and that positive evaluation had been received from the Bay Search and Rescue visit which had included both a practical and realistic demonstration of their facilities.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Member Training and Development Working Group held on 3 April 2019 be noted and endorsed.

Verbal report.

The Director of People and Development advised that the new Chief Fire Officer, Justin Johnston had been appointed from 1 May 2019 and the Member Selection Panel was now looking to appoint a Deputy Chief Fire Officer.  The closing date was 30 April 2019 with an interview date scheduled for Tuesday 7 May 2019.

RESOLVED: - That the report be noted and endorsed.

Members considered a report from the Clerk and Monitoring Officer that detailed the proposed governance arrangements of the Blue Light Collaboration Programme which outlined the role of the Combined Fire Authority (CFA) and the provision for dealing with input from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner whilst ensuring that the CFA retained ultimate decision-making responsibilities in accordance with the Lancashire Fire Services (Combination Scheme) Order 1997, the CFA’s Constitutional, Procedural and Contractual Standing Orders (approved as at 18 June 2012) and the current relevant CFA Scheme of Delegation (last amended at the Audit Committee on 24 July 2018).

It was proposed that a bi-annual Collaborative Working Group (CWG) with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner be held.  This would be attended by the Chairman and the Clerk to the Authority on behalf of the CFA, together with the Deputy Chief Fire Officer as strategic lead from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and the Deputy Chief Constable on behalf of Lancashire Constabulary.

The CWG meeting would provide oversight of the collaboration activity.  It would also ensure the relevance to the business of the respective organisations and ensure alignment in the core roles of both organisations.  It could also raise any further areas for collaboration for consideration within the programme of work.  The role of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer would be integral to the scrutiny of the process and presence of the Chairman (with support from the Clerk to the Authority) would be vital to oversee plans which would ultimately be ratified or endorsed at meetings of the full Authority.

A report of the discussions from the bi-annual CWG would be made available to the Authority’s Planning Committee at the first Planning Committee meeting following the meeting of the CWG.  The Planning Committee would if required make decisions on any suggestions or initiatives arising from the report, provided the power for making those decisions fell within the Planning Committee’s Terms of Reference.  The Planning Committee would not be able to make decisions based on the suggestions or initiatives of the CWG if they were matters reserved for decision by the full Authority (as outlined in the report).

RESOLVED: - That the report be noted and the governance model approved.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented this year’s Annual Service Plan (updated to be effective from 1 May 2019).  The Annual Service Plan continued to provide Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) with the platform to highlight the priority activities that the Service intended to deliver over the coming year.  LFRS was leading improvements and innovation in the fire sector with some of the best firefighting equipment and training facilities in the country and a highly skilled and motivated workforce.

The year ahead would build on achievements by staying focussed on continuous improvement that made the people of Lancashire safer, particularly the most vulnerable members of our communities.  Many priorities were extensive, long-term initiatives that would transform the way we worked and bring lasting benefits.

For the first time, this year’s Annual Service Plan would be published alongside the Strategic Assessment of Risk.  First published in 2016, this document had been refreshed for the 2019/20 year and branded to mirror the 2019/20 Annual Service Plan that it supported by capturing the dynamic picture of risk in Lancashire.

This year’s Annual Service Plan was endorsed by the Planning Committee at its meeting held 18 March 2019.  As part of an engaging communications strategy a short video had been commissioned, which would summarise the salient aspects of the Annual Service Plan in a succinct format.  It was anticipated that the digital format would enable us to engage directly with a larger section of Lancashire’s communities.  The video was expected to be published on internal medial channels and the external website the following month.

RESOLVED: - The Authority noted and endorsed the decision of the Planning Committee.

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 agreed.  The current Member Champions and their areas of responsibility were:

·        Community Safety – County Councillor Mark Perks

·        Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Councillor Zamir Khan;

·        Health and Wellbeing – County Councillor Tony Martin;

·        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 29 April 2019.  During this period all had undertaken their respective role in accordance with the defined terms of reference.

RESOLVED: - That the Authority noted the report and acknowledged the work of the respective Champions.

A report detailing prosecutions in respect of fire safety management failures and arson related incidents within the period 1 February 2019 to 1 April 2019 was provided.  There were 2 successfully completed prosecutions and 2 pending prosecutions under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that changes in legislation were anticipated from Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of building regulations and fire safety, following the Grenfell tragedy.  In addition, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services had requested data relating to incidents and staffing.  He confirmed that Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service undertook a revised risk based fire safety inspection programme in which the Home Office had expressed an interest.

Fire protection and business support information was provided and Members noted that there were 2 arson convictions during the period.

In response to a question by County Councillor O’Toole regarding Houses of Multiple Occupation, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that in 2004 the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order changed to give Fire and Rescue Services a more reactive role however, the Service worked in partnership with local council environmental health departments to improve standards and it would be interesting to see what changes would come from the Hackitt review.

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.  The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the theme for the reporting period had been a Service wide winter campaign.

As part of the report members received a presentation by Group Manager Shaun Walton on the Wildfire Burn Team which had been established in April 2019 in response to the increased size, frequency and severity of wildfires.  The aim of the Team was to deal with wildfires in a more efficient and effective way.

County Councillor O’Toole felt the LGA Fire Committee and the National Fire Chiefs Council could put pressure on the government to better educate people through television advertising on the dangers of carelessness with barbeques.

In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy GM Walton confirmed that staff were based at Bacup, they had received training, personal, protective equipment and they had been mobilised to recent incidents.  Awareness of the benefits of the Team were being raised with partners and landowners.  United Utilities who were a large land owner, had already asked the Service to do a trial burning exercise.  The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the wildfire tactical advisers had a specific set of skills to advise the Incident Commander and there were a number of local events arranged to promote the Team’s capabilities.  Feedback received to date from staff within the Service had been positive.

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

Standing item.

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 June 2019 at 1000 hours at Washington Hall Training Centre, Euxton.

The next meeting of the Authority would be held on Monday 17 June 2019 at 10:00am at the Training Centre, Euxton.