Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented the report.  He confirmed that the report did not include any details following the Chairman’s meeting with the Police and Crime Commissioner as any decision concerning governance arrangements (ie: the formation of a small Board, as referred to at the last Authority meeting) would need to be made by the full Authority as the decision-making body.

The Chairman of the Authority, CC De Molfetta confirmed that together with the Vice-Chairman he had met in January 2019 with the Police and Crime Commissioner where the potential for further consideration of the delivery of Police Public Order Training from Service Training Centre and the potential for the relocation of Service Headquarters to Hutton were discussed.  He confirmed that no assurances were given and he made it clear that any benefits from collaboration would need to be shared.

The report did detail the work delivered to build on the initial work which focussed upon the drafting of an operational statement of intent and initial blueprint documents.

Operational leads had progressed project related documents to define work streams that were recommended for continuation and identified work streams that should be closed due to a lack of identified benefit.

The paper provided clarity on the operational scrutiny of the Blue Light Collaboration Programme and the operational responsibilities of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer/ Deputy Chief Constable and their respective teams.

Area Manager Norman advised that the most significant areas of work were:

·        Co-location of Public Order - scoping out the initial needs for the public order site had begun and a matrix was being created. Viewings of the LFRS Training Centre had been carried out by both partners’ estates departments and operational leads. Next steps were to assign a Lancashire Constabulary project manager to this work in order to define the scope and scale of the possible site sharing request.

·        Misper2 and Real Time Demand Management - scoping out the opportunities within Real Time Demand Management and the possible extension of Missing Person Searches. A LFRS officer visited the Force Control Room to gain an understanding of any incidents LFRS should be responding to such as entrapment. LFRS may be able to increase existing incident types for the benefit of public outcomes through quicker more effective response arrangements. Various meetings had taken place between operational leads and the LFRS officer was currently drafting reports detailing any recommendations for consideration.

·        Occupational Health – Operational leads had met to see if best practice, specialist expertise and site sharing opportunities existed. Early conversations had been open and engaging and further work was to continue to identify if benefits could be realised. Meetings were scheduled for further work to be delivered.

·        Integrated Volunteer Partnership – Work focused upon encouraging the integration of Police and LFRS Cadets and volunteers through joint training sessions and attendance of public events together to deliver joint working on community safety and engagement projects.

·        PCSO’s as Retained/ On Call Fire Fighters and Engagement / Visibility in place – In an effort to widen the audience that may consider becoming Retained/On Call Firefighters, it was agreed to propose a marketing effort in Lancashire Constabulary, promoting the opportunity to the 2,000 police support staff.

Reports were provided that detailed progress to date and work planned for the next quarter for the following areas:

-        The Programme Board Drone Collaboration

-        Duty Officer Communication

-        Command Unit incorporating JESIP principles

-        Vehicle maintenance for LFRS flexi duty cars

-        Shared Asset Management

-        Fuel BCP

-        Rota and Resource Management

-        Joint Communications Activity

-        Shared Data, Risk and Analytical Reporting

-        First Aid Provision

-        Health and Safety

-        LFRS relocation of Service HQ to Hutton

-        Fire Crime Scene Investigation

After early initial evaluations the evidence captured by the operational leads demonstrated that there were no benefits to the people of Lancashire, LFRS or Lancashire Constabulary for the below projects. Therefore closure reports were reviewed and accepted by the strategic leads for the following:

-        Joint GDPR Working

-        Procurement

-        Accounting and Reporting Practices

-        HR Support Services

-        Leadership Development

-        Recruitment and Selection

-        Driver Training

-        Wellbeing

-        Shared Learning Opportunities

-        Shared Research and Development

In response to a question from CC Shedwick the Deputy Chief Fire Officer agreed that Lancashire’s collaboration arrangements were further advanced than other Fire and Rescue Services.

In response to a question from CC Hennessy regarding the business risk that required Fire and Rescue Services to provide greater clarity on the evidence captured as part of ongoing and future collaboration opportunities the Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that LFRS undertook evaluation and shared best practice nationally.

RESOLVED: - The Planning Committee noted and endorsed the report.