Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented the report.  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) had a long and detailed evidence base of working in collaboration with partners, both within the sector and wider public services. Examples of such work extended to joint procurement with other Fire and Rescue Services; vehicle servicing, audit and finance arrangements with Lancashire County Council and site sharing at a number of locations with North West Ambulance Service.

Increased scrutiny had been placed upon LFRS through the introduction of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 whereby it had been mandated to work cohesively with other Blue Light organisations in order to deliver the most effective and efficient services.

To ensure that such collaborations could be commissioned, delivered and evaluated in the most robust manner an operational Collaboration Executive Board (CEB) had been established with the Deputy Chief Fire Officer and Deputy Chief Constable undertaking the Programme Board role of Sponsor. The CEB would review all recommendations put forward, agree business cases to be put forward to each organisations change programme to agree funding and operating models.

A Blue Light Collaboration Programme Board (BLCPB) would be jointly chaired by Chief Superintendent Chris Bithell and Area Manager Ben Norman. The BLCPB would track the progress of the projects put forward, consider any new areas of collaboration to be put before the CEB for assessment and agreement to the commitment of resources, identify and manage risks and interdependencies and share any operational changes which could change the direction of any projects within the collaboration.  Benefits realised would be reported back to the BLCPB once the implementation was complete.  The BLCPB would ensure that the projects developed within the collaboration were in line with both organisations strategic objectives and had a clear link to delivering these. 

Members considered the operational statement of intent and commended the level of work that had been done by staff to draft the initial blueprint documents in order to evaluate business as usual and project level work streams for development into business case documents and subsequent approval. The opportunities outlined were recommendations from departmental leads who had extensive knowledge of their business area and were aware of the current demands faced.  It was proposed to use a simple quadrant analysis to initially categorise the opportunities as either i) High Effort / Low Benefit; ii) High Effort / High Benefit; iii) Low Effort / Low Benefit; and iv) Low Effort / High Benefit. 

CC Hennessy expressed concern that the governance arrangements did not include at least the presence of Members given the amount of work produced by staff.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the collaboration work had been informally progressing for a couple of years without any formal framework however it was accepted that the operational environment had now changed.  Opportunities had been identified for Shared Support Services, Response, Training and Engagement and Prevention.  The assessment of these opportunities would be done at the next Programme Board which would form the basis of the Programme Plan.  Each project would develop a business case and implementation and benefits realisation plans.  Once that work had been done a more detailed breakdown could be undertaken to accurately categorise each proposal.  The options would be worked through and brought back to this committee and then taken to the full Authority for formal approval.

In relation to the proposal in the report to formulate a task and finish group to enable broader engagement and scrutiny, the Authority Chairman, CC De Molfetta suggested this consist of 6 Labour and 4 Conservative Members drawn from the Authority membership.  He advised that an email had been sent to the Chief Fire Officer on 12 March 2018 from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Clive Grunshaw’s office which stated his intention to put together an options report which included a business plan to take over the responsibilities of the Authority.  CC De Molfetta proposed that the remit of the task and finish group also consider the Authority’s response to that intention.  He advised that he had responded to the email (on 14 March 2018) on behalf of the Authority stating support for collaboration but not a takeover of the governance arrangements.  A response to his email had not yet been received.

CC O’Toole confirmed that he had been made aware of the email from the PCC and he was also alarmed.  He agreed with the Chairman’s view and the proposal to extend the remit of the task and finish group.  It was agreed therefore that Party leaders would provide membership details to the Clerk and the first meeting of the group be arranged for as soon as possible.

The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the Policing and Crime Act 2017 placed a duty on the Service to collaborate in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness.  Collaboration was something that was already happening where working together provided the best outcomes for the public ie: breaking and entry, drones and missing persons. 

He advised that some of the Authority’s long-term plans, such as the potential relocation of Service Headquarters might require reconsideration as a consequence of the PCC producing an options report.  Following discussion with the Chairman he had prepared a draft message to all staff which was now considered and the following agreed: -

“Lancashire Combined Fire and Rescue Authority remains committed to delivering the best possible service to our communities, with the resources we have available.  We continue to work productively and effectively with a range of stakeholders. We also acknowledge the new statutory duty to collaborate with other emergency services, while recognising many initiatives were already in place or in development irrespective of this mandate.

Last week we had notification from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Clive Grunshaw. He welcomed the progress we had made to date saying ‘these arrangements clearly help both parties discharge their statutory duty to keep collaborative opportunities under review and to collaborate with each other where it is in the interests of either efficiency or effectiveness’.

He went on to say he was commissioning some work ‘which will produce an Options Report for further discussion with you and other stakeholders. I see the Options Report as being complementary to the work you are already undertaking through your collaborative arrangements as described already. The Options Report will review a range of options to further police and fire collaboration in Lancashire, including the status quo, representation on the Fire and Rescue Authority, the governance model (having a Police Fire Crime Commissioner) and finally the single employer model. Through this report, I am also keen to develop a further understanding of the scale and impact of collaborative efficiencies and how these can be best harnessed for the people of Lancashire’.

The Authority remains confident that current governance arrangements present the best way to deliver a fire and rescue service for our communities. We will provide the information required for the work proposed by the PCC, which we believe will evidence that we are already effectively progressing collaborative opportunities within existing structures.

Following the Planning Committee meeting this morning (19/3/18) this position was unanimously endorsed. The Authority reaffirms its commitment to collaboration but remains strongly of the view that current governance arrangements best serve LFRS and the communities of Lancashire.

We will keep you updated on any developments.”

RESOLVED: - That:

i)             The content of the report be noted;

ii)            A Task and Finish Group be formed consisting of 6 Labour and 4 Conservative Members, with membership drawn from the Full Authority to broaden the engagement and scrutiny of collaboration arrangements and to consider the Authority’s response to the PCC adopting a governance model.