Agenda item

The report highlighted action taken in respect of corporate risk since the last Audit Committee meeting.  The latest review of the corporate risk register had identified 1 new risk which warranted inclusion on the corporate risk register:

Changes to Emergency Response Driver Training leading to a reduction in trained appliance drivers and hence impacting on pump availability

A new Fire Standard for Emergency Response Driver Training had been published which required more training for new drivers within the sector.  The requirements were: i) current instructors to be added to a register and new drivers would need to complete a formal pathway; ii) a 10-day course with an element of night driving for all new drivers; iii) a 10 or 15-day initial response course for flexi-officers depending on current competency in response driving; and iv) longer courses for special appliances which were not LGV.

All of these would see a marked increase in the length of a driving course, which may require additional instructor resource and the impact on driving instructors was currently being reviewed, hence the need for additional capacity within the Team.

The initial driving course extension of time from 5 days to 10 days increased instructor time and may lead to difficulties in the on-call service as personnel may not be able to take the time away from primary employment to undertake training which could lead to a decline in on-call appliance availability.

This applied to new drivers therefore the impact would be felt gradually over a period of time as personnel left the service.  This would be more significant in the on-call service as turnover rates were much higher.  The impact would be monitored over time to ensure that new entrants were able to undertake the relevant training.

In response to Member questions regarding whether the training could be split over 2 five-day sessions and the percentage of on-call staffing that were drivers the Director of Corporate Services advised that discussions were currently taking place on how best to deliver the course to achieve the standard and maintain the number of required drivers.

An updated corporate risk register was considered by Members with changes summarised in the report.  The Director of Corporate Services highlighted the following key areas: -

Risk no. 1 – insufficient resources due to poor funding settlement, inability to make required savings, additional financial pressures such as RDS pensions etc, plus council tax limits via local referendum resulting in Authority being unable to set a balanced budget

It was anticipated that a new 4-year Spending Review be published, however due to uncertainty this had been delayed. As such 2021/22 was a one-year settlement, with a four-year settlement anticipated later that year. Running alongside this was a Fair Funding and the prospect of moving to a 75% Business Rates Retention model (both of which would impact future funding) had also been put on hold.  As such it was impossible to predict what future funding will look like, which was reflected in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.  The budget for 2022/23 and beyond assumed a funding increase of 1.5% each year, and based on assumptions contained within the Medium-Term Financial Strategy showed a funding gap of up to £1.0m in subsequent years.  The Authority held sufficient reserves to meet this in the short to medium term, until March 2024.

Risk no. 27 – Increase in costs associated with changes to pensionability of allowances

Following a High Court decision on allowances within the fire service, which provided a different interpretation to both the historical basis and to previous decisions of the Pensions Ombudsman, the pensionability of various allowances changed with associated cost implications. The Service agreed eligibility with the FBU going forward and this had been implemented. The question of backdating remained unresolved. The current situation was the Service has responded positively to the FBU request for 6 years backdating for relevant allowances (primarily DCP) but the Union had not currently accepted this offer. Since the offer the Pensions Ombudsman had determined an individual case for an active employee within Lancashire and the implications for both the Service and employees was being worked through. This included liaison with our pension provider in respect of potential remedy implications. Once the appropriate action had been determined administrative resource would need to be provided to resolve.

Risk no. 29 – High levels of staff absence due to pandemic

Following implementation of Business Continuity Plans (BCP), staff absence levels peaked as expected during mid-January, following the Christmas / New Year relaxation of lockdown arrangements.  The highest levels of staff absence were evident between 13^th and 15^th January 2021, at which time 92 staff were absent, with 15 confirmed C-19 cases, 50/51 self-isolating, and 4 with suspected C-19 (awaiting test results).  This compared to staff absences which typically ran at c.40 cases across the Service at any given time.  In early December 2020, LFRS accessed a provision of Lateral Flow Tests (LFT) and began a pilot rollout across a number of locations aimed at early identification and isolation of asymptomatic cases of C-19.  An ambitious rollout plan followed which resulted in LFT provision being made available in a self-sustaining manner across all 39 fire stations, Service Headquarters and Service Training Centre. As at 15 January 2021, 4,277 LFT have been conducted with our workforce, resulting in a number of positive cases being identified and measures then implemented to reduce risk to their closest colleagues.  Interim BCP debrief conducted internally to capture learning from the first few months of the pandemic.  Further internal and Lancashire Resilience Forum debriefs to be progressed once BCP arrangements stood down.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the actions taken and endorsed the revised corporate risk register.