Agenda item

In relation to page 4, regarding the establishment of a wildfire burn team, County Councillor Eaton wanted to express his thanks to the staff team where their successful interventions at several incidents resulted in prevention of further fire spread and no reported injuries.

In relation to page 5, regarding the tools to improve the appraisal conversation, County Councillor Hennessy queried whether the 360° appraisal tool had been launched.  In response, the Chief Fire Officer confirmed that this had been launched, starting with the senior management and this would be extended throughout the Service over the forthcoming months.

In relation to page 7, regarding collaboration with other public services, County Councillor Hennessy requested an update on site sharing opportunities.  In response the Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that most of the former, non-covid work had slowed (as detailed later on the agenda) and consideration was currently being given as to whether fire stations could be used in support of the vaccination programme.

In relation to page 9, and County Councillor Shedwick’s request at the previous meeting for detail regarding ongoing vacancies across all on-call stations, he confirmed that the information was received immediately and at July there were 43 vacancies across the fleet of 32 on-call pumps.  He requested that if there were any significant changes in future that he be advised as a matter of course.

In relation to page 13, County Councillor Hennessy requested a further update on how the Service was preparing for any potential second wave of the pandemic in the winter months, particularly the level of physical and mental wellbeing support provided to staff.  In response the Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that from a business continuity planning point of view staff absence had been predicted including how best to mitigate this; work continued with representative bodies and health and safety consultation meetings to keep staff absence as low as possible.  For example, normal absence rate was around 40 staff at any given time which increased in the winter months due to seasonal flu however, at the moment due to self-isolation this had slightly increased to around 60 staff. He assured Members that the measures that had been put in place ensured pump availability and response to incidents was high.  In addition, he confirmed that training for staff on operational fire stations continued where it was safety critical and other training had been reviewed and amended where possible including delivering digital training sessions to new fire safety enforcement staff and the digital delivery of fire safety training in schools.  With respect to wellbeing, the Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the core support from Occupational Health and Human Resources continued and there were regular staff dial-ins for staff to discuss concerns or key topics with managers.  Feedback on this had been strong in relation to wellbeing provision and there was currently a survey open at the moment which should provide further reassurance once it had concluded.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 13 July 2020 be confirmed as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.