Agenda and minutes

Committee members and officers must declare any pecuniary or personalinterest in any business on the agenda. They should also make declarations at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting. Consideration should be given to leaving the meeting if the nature of the interest warrants it.  If in doubt please contact Democratic Services before the meeting.

21.1     No declarations were made.

The Committee is asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 30 September 2022 (cream paper).

22.1     Resolved – that the Committee agrees the minutes of the meeting held on 30 September 2022.

Report by the Chief Fire Officer.

The report provides a context to the Performance and Assurance Framework for the purpose of future scrutiny of the Executive’s approach to performance.

23.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Fire Officer (copy appended to the signed minutes).

23.2     Summary of responses to Members’ questions and comments: -

·         Accidental dwelling fire casualties are mainly minor, such as smoke inhalation

·         Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) numbers are very low, on average 10 per year

·         Near misses are included in service measures and helps the Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) know what prevention activity to undertake to reduce RIDDORs

·         Prosecutions are a last resort and are mainly fire safety prosecutions

·         The coroner decides whether or not a death is attributed to fire - all such deaths are recorded in and reported to the Committee

·         The trend of less accidental dwelling fires is down to a range of factors including education, better building regulations, furniture safety and smoke detectors

·         However, this trend highlights the need for a fire training facility as hands on experience could diminish

·         The FRS is consulted on water and vehicle access during the planning stage of developments and can carry out fire risk assessments after a building is complete

·         Site specific risk information is about commercial/industrial buildings and is available to dispatchers

·         The strain on the ambulance service has no significant impact on the FRS’s attendance at incidents

·         Fire fighters have some first aid training and can treat people on scene till ambulances arrive

·         999 calls had been unusually high at times due to wildfires and flooding with multiple calls to the same incidents which can affect response times

·         At all times, resources are maximised with daily analysis of the impact of high call volume

·         The Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) assesses risk to make sure the FRS has the right resilience and resources to respond adequately to wildfires or flooding

·         The FRS has a high-volume pump to deal with flooding and works with the Environment Agency on both wildfires and flooding and looks at trend information for flooding events Action: Deputy Chief Fire Officer to speak to Highways about sharing information to better target places subject to repeat flooding

·         Unwanted fire signals are caused by users and old systems - repeat offenders are referred to protection specialists who will advise users on ways to avoid these

·         There is no evidence that non-attendance to unwanted fire signals in other areas have had negative outcomes - the FRS will always attend if a fire is notified by another method i.e. a 999 call

·         The non-attendance policy was delayed so that the FRS could speak to more premises about it

·         In Surrey the policy has led to a fall in call responses from around 20 a week to 1.5 a week

·         The target for first appliance attendance at critical fires has been met in recent years and with increased fire cover helped by additional investment, the FRS is confident this will continue

·         The CRMP refers to climate change and focuses resources on rural areas for wildfires - the FRS will always be resourced based on risk

·         Operation Willow  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

A report by the Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Support Services setting out the corporate performance, finance, workforce, risk and capital programme positions as at the end of September 2022.

The Committee is asked to examine the data and supporting commentary for the Performance and Resources report and make any recommendations for action to the Cabinet Member for Community Support, Fire and Rescue.

24.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Fire Officer (copy appended to the signed minutes).

24.2     Resolved – that the Committee: -

             i.        Supports the change in the key performance indicator relating to “fire safety order regulated buildings”

            ii.        Asks to visit the new Horsham fire station and training facility when appropriate

Report by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer.

This report provides an update on the delivery of the Community Risk Management Plan 2022.

The Committee is asked to review the progress of the delivery of the Community Risk Management Plan 2022.

25.1     The Committee considered a report by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (copy appended to the signed minutes).

25.2     Summary of responses to Members’ questions and comments: -

·         The FRS finds it easy to recruit volunteers, especially for safe and well visits

·         Guidelines set out what stations should do to increase staff dignity and reduce the risk from contaminants

·         The FRS has money from the Council to upgrade stations, but this will take time

·         The FRS has specialist trainers for the Horsham training centre who might possibly train fire fighters from other fire services

·         The FRS has a contingency plan in place in case of industrial action - finding any extra money if there is an increased pay offer will be challenging

·         The FRS is confident real fires will be identified under the new policy of not automatically attending unwanted fire signals

25.3     Resolved – that the Committee monitors the key performance indicator relating to “Automatic Fire Alarms Reduction” to ensure the new policy is successful.

Extract from the Forward Plan dated 1 November 2022 – attached.

An extract from any Forward Plan published between the date of despatch of the agenda and the date of the meeting will be tabled at the meeting.

The Committee is asked to consider whether it wishes to enquire into any of the forthcoming decisions within its portfolio.

26.1     Resolved – that the Committee notes the Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

The Committee to review its draft work programme taking into consideration the checklist at Appendix A.

27.1     The Committee considered its draft work programme.

27.2     Resolved – that the Committee agrees that: -

             i.        The item on recruitment diversity to come to the 3 March 2023 meeting

            ii.        The update on the change in culture within the Fire & Rescue Service and the Service’s Covid recovery is taken off the work programme

           iii.        The items on the Leadership & Cultural Change Programme and the Fire Safety Bill will become part of the six monthly Community Risk Management Plan update

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 3 March 2023 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester. Probable agenda items include:

·         Fire and Rescue Service Strategic Performance Report Quarter 3 2022/23

·         End of December 2022 (Quarter 3) Quarterly Performance and Resources Report

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 16 February 2023.

28.1     The next meeting of the Committee will take place on 3 March 2023 at 10.30am.