Agenda item

The DoCS presented the report. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) had continued to strengthen its approach to organisational risk management, aligning policy and practice with ISO 31000:2018, National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) guidance, and HM Treasury's Orange Book: Management of Risk – Principles and Concepts. Risk management remained embedded within the Service's governance framework, supporting ongoing scrutiny, informed decision-making and proportionate allocation of resources to risk treatment.

The Corporate Risk Register reflected a broadly stable overall position:

• Retention and recruitment of on-call staff and replacement of the existing mobilising system remained the highest-rated corporate risks.
• During the latest review cycle, one risk had increased (fuel due to uncertainties with the geopolitical environment), one risk was archived, and two new strategic risks were added relating to the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP), Emergency Services Network (ESN) and Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

During the reporting period, governance arrangements for strategic risk oversight were revised, with scrutiny of the Corporate Risk Register transferring from the Senior Management Team Corporate Programme Board to the Business and Development Board. This change had strengthened the alignment between risk, organisational development and resource planning.

The Service had also continued to develop its risk management framework through closer alignment with HM Treasury's Orange Book. This included enhancements to the Corporate Risk Register to improve visibility of risk treatment requirements, resource implications and associated financial considerations, enabling the financial and value-for-money consequences of risk treatment to be considered alongside operational risk exposure.

In response to a question from the County Councillor P Buckley in relation to the recent heatwave and the potential increase in wildfire events

The ACFO explained that a national tactical approach to wildfires had recently been launched by the Fire Minister and training had been undertaken overseas for members of specialised teams. Lancashire’s Chief Fire Officer was the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) lead for Wildfires. This was a very new national resilience group which recognises the need to be more prepared and responsive to wildfires.

County Councillor P Buckley asked if the 2018 Winter Hill wildfire was affected by the high occurrence of peat in the area. The ACFO explained that composition of the ground was a factor that affected the behaviour of wildfires, as was the increased growth of vegetation that followed wet summers. It was also noted that the Service worked closely with local landowners to encourage them to put in fire breaks. County Councillor P Buckley asked if there would be an entry in the Risk Register to cover this risk, the DoCS explained that the Corporate Risk Register was there to capture strategic risks and the corporate response to these. This would include contingency arrangements required to respond to events such as flooding or wildfires. The ACFO added that the Service received early warnings of wildfires and had the benefits of better equipment and technical innovations to deal with these well.

County Councillor J Ash commented that the majority of wildfires were caused by humans and asked if the Service had plans to launch a campaign to manage or reduce this risk. The Chair commented on discussions being held at Chorley Council regarding the protection of public spaces through the use of the ‘Public Spaces Protection Order’. The ACFO added that the Service had improved its ability to predict wildfires and the Service worked with partners including the police to prosecute perpetrators which could assist as a deterrent going forwards.

County Councillor A Blake asked a question about the new risk, the impact of Local Government Review (LGR) to the Service which he felt to be a higher risk than was captured in the report. The ACFO responded that mechanisms for sharing referrals with partners would shift, as would risk mapping, but further details were awaited. The Chair indicated that it would be mid-July before any indicators of structures started to emerge.

County Councillor A Joynes enquired as to why pagers have dropped significantly as a risk. The ACFO explained that the Service was a keen innovator and had been trialling new pagers, the teething issues were now resolved.  However, app based mobilising was also being utilised effectively and seemed to be preferred by Firefighters.A decision needed to be made on which system was adopt as the preferred one and whether the other system would become a resilience back up. County Councillor A Joynes asked if one system had more benefits that the other and the ACFO confirmed that the pager probably had greater coverage but it was noted that the IT Department were currently exploring the best mobilisation tools available on the market. 

Resolved: - That the Committee

·         Endorsed the Service’s current risk management arrangements; and

·         Noted the latest position reflected in the Corporate Risk Matrix and Summary Register at Appendix A.