Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Simon Blackburn, Mohammed Khan and Tony Williams and from County Councillor David Stansfield.

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 Clerk advised that the Resources Committee at its meeting in November 2018 approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Lancashire Business Rates Pool Pilot (resolution 18/18 refers).  The MoU set out the Pool’s approved governance arrangements which included (under section 2.4) that it’s ‘governing body’ consist of the Leaders of the local authorities in the Pilot Pool and Chairman of the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority.

RESOLVED: - That the Chairman’s membership of the Lancashire Business Rates Pilot Pool Governing Body be noted and the Minutes of the CFA held on 17 June 2019 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Strategy Group held on 17 June 2019 be noted and endorsed.

In response to County Councillor O’Toole’s concern at the cancellation of North West Fire Control meetings the Chairman advised that a recent meeting had been postponed whilst financial information was received.

County Councillor Wilkins was pleased at the progress against savings programme which reported an underspend for the first quarter of the year of £400k.

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

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Planning Committee held on 15 July 2019 be noted and endorsed.

RESOLVED: - That the proceedings of the Audit Committee held on 30 July 2019 be noted and endorsed.

Verbal report.

The Director of People and Development advised that the recruitment process had begun for the Assistant Chief Fire Officer with interviews scheduled for 23 September 2019.

RESOLVED: - That the report be noted and endorsed.

The Annual Service Report continued to provide Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) with the platform to highlight the successful delivery of planned priority activities and projects as defined in the Annual Service Plan.  In addition, the report highlighted the innovations shaped within the year in response to emergent partnership arrangements and also described the significant operational challenges which were resolved including the Winter Hill moorland fire.  The Acting Assistant 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 Authority noted the publication of the Annual Service Report as approved by the Performance Committee at its June 2019 meeting.

Under Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers must prepare, and where necessary revise, a written statement of health and safety policy. The existing safety, health and environment policy document, which was last considered by the Authority in December 2017, had been recently reviewed, amended as required, and was now presented to Members for consideration.

As the health and safety and environment functions were managed in a similar way it was considered appropriate for the Authority to declare its intent for both health and safety and the environment in the same document. 

RESOLVED: - That the Authority endorsed the revised Safety, Health and Environment Policy as now presented.

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 Hasina Khan;

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

County Councillor Perks presented his report.  In addition, he advised that every Member had now been given safeguarding information.  At a recent meeting safeguarding figures had been reported for the previous year of 108 adults and 32 children with 43 adults and 21 children the year before.  He was pleased to report that the Service’s SG1 form for referrals was now accepted by the 3 home authorities; for the first quarter there had been 41 adults and 13 children referred.  It was noted that the North West Champions Forum which was being hosted by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service would now be meeting in December.

Councillor Zamir Khan presented his report which informed on the number of areas of policy that were being developed in consultation which included HIV Policy, Transitioning at Work Policy and a review of the Bullying and Harassment Policy.

County Councillor Hasina Khan presented her report and in addition she advised that she had been invited to attend the Macmillan's Coffee Morning later in the month and would report back in due course.

County Councillor Wilkins commended the work of the Road Safety Champion particularly in relation to the focus on Biker Down (which supported the safety of cyclists).  Councillor Jackson presented his report and advised he was pleased to support the fantastic work done by LFRS staff.

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 June 2019 to 1 August 2019 was provided.  There was 1 successfully completed prosecution and 1 pending prosecution under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Fire protection and business support information was provided and Members noted that there were 4 arson convictions during the period.

In response to a query from CC Wilkins, Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer Norman confirmed that the Service investigated every fire and worked very closely with the constabulary to maintain robust incident intelligence.  AACFO Norman also confirmed that the conviction rate was higher than any other fire and rescue service in the country, whilst accepting that these matters were usually led by Police Services. CC Shedwick commended the officers whose work led to the convictions detailed in the report which resulted in sentences totalling 24 years for four cases.

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 Crew Manager Lindsay Sielski on the Fire Service Search Dogs which had been provided at the beginning of the meeting. 

Members noted the strong emphasis on community engagement throughout the report.  Particular reference was made to the positive Open Day held at Service Training Centre that saw over 3,000 people attend a partnership event which had received excellent feedback from partners and the public who attended.   In addition there were a number of occasions where water related rescues had been attended.

Members welcomed the education sessions delivered to Prince’s Trust programmes and commended the teams for their achievements which were inspirational.  In response to a query from CC Kay regarding whether the programme could be extended to children aged 15; the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the fire cadet programme may be appropriate.  He confirmed that there would be a presentation at a future Authority meeting on the Prince’s Trust programme. 

In response to a request from CC Clarke the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that where possible Members would be kept updated during incidents of operational interest.

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

Verbal 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 16 December 2019 at 1000 hours at Washington Hall Training Centre, Euxton.

The next meeting of the Authority would be held on Monday 16 December 2019 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)

Verbal report.

(Paragraphs 1 and 2)

The Clerk to the Authority withdrew from the meeting for this item.

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 2020.