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.

29.1     No declarations were made.

The Committee is asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2022 (cream paper).

30.1     Resolved – that the Committee agrees the minutes of the meeting

         held on 25 November 2022 and that they be signed by the Chairman.

The Committee is asked to note the responses to recommendations made at previous meetings of the Committee.

31.1     Resolved – that the Committee notes the responses to recommendations made at its 25 November 2022 meeting.

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.

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

32.2     Summary of responses to members’ questions and comments: -

·         Turnout times are measured when the station receives the call and appliances leave the station (GPS technology can be used to check when a vehicle has left a station)

·         Since publication of the report, there has been one late RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) report

·         Near misses are included in RIDDOR reports

·         Fire safety inspections have been carried out by a reduced number of inspectors against a background of legislation changes following the Grenfell incident. Given the number of inspections where fire safety arrangements were found to be unsatisfactory falling against the national average, a review is being undertaken of the Risk Based Inspection Programme as well as an internal audit of the process. As a result, the measure is expected to be reported as amber in the next quarter

·         The Risk Based Inspection Programme is being reviewed and updated. As part of this the Service will review the Other Building Fires, national definition of risk work

·         The Service also carries out around 1,400 low risk inspections each year

·         The figures in core Measure 14 requires clarification – Action: Chief Fire Officer to clarify

·         False alarms are identified from fire crew reports and challenging callouts that seem suspicious – the Community Risk Management Plan commits the service to penalise companies whose premises have false alarms

·         The target for the number of false alarms is likely to reduce next year

·         The service has decided to phase in the new call challenge and non-attendance policy to ensure undue risk does not arise

·         It was felt that the wording of Core Measure 17 was unclear - Action: Chief Fire Officer to clarify

·         Core Measure 17 was red because sometimes the control centre has difficulty in identifying the location of the incident from the information given by the caller e.g. it can be hard to get an exact location for a road traffic accident in a rural location causing a delay in the fire station being alerted

·         It was suggested that a core measure be introduced for alerts that miss the target or analysis provide for outlier responses - Action: Chief Fire Officer to consider

·         The Service sometimes uses wholetime fire fighters if there are insufficient retained fire fighters to maximise the number of appliances available at a station

·         A sustainable solution was sought to address the shortage of retained firefighters. It was noted that this matter is on the Committee’s work programme

32.3     Resolved – that the Committee requests: -

                      i.        Information to be provided on retained firefighters as part of the fire service member session in February 2024

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 December 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.

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

33.2     Summary of responses to members’ questions and comments: -

·           The backdated fire service pay increase will have to be funded through the Council’s budget, possibly from the contingency, and may have an impact on delivery of the Community Risk Management Programme

33.3     Resolved – that the Committee: -

                i.      Asks to be provided with an explanation of how key performance indicators are reviewed and dealt with, particularly when a particular matter is an indicator is an outlier

Report by the Chief Fire Officer.

This report provides an update on the positive actions carried out within West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service to improve diversity in its recruitment.

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

34.2       Summary of responses to members’ questions and comments: -

·         The Committee would like to see data on the retention of staff from diverse groups – Action: Chief Fire Officer to include this information in the update to the Committee on the progress against the Community Risk Management Plan

·         The Committee would like to see appropriate material on inclusivity produced by the Service – Action: Chief Fire Officer to share appropriate material with the Committee

·         Whilst the Service captured ethnicity information of those that applied for jobs, that information was not tracked through the recruitment process at present for those that were shortlisted, employed and retained

·         There is a stereotypical view of firefighters which focuses solely on physical attributes, whereas a range of skills is required by the service

·         There is no national target for recruitment of a diverse workforce

·         The Service has targeted a range of groups in Crawley in recruitment drives and aims to recruit the best possible workforce

·         Community events such as ‘Have a go’ days have a big impact on promoting the Service and encouraging recruitment – Action: Chief Fire Officer to let the Committee know if any more ‘Have a go’ days are planned

·         The Service was working on menopause awareness – a successful workshop had taken place and the next two would now be extended. A policy to help women going through the menopause was also being developed

·         A national College for Fire was planned – details were awaited from the Home Office

34.3       Resolved – that the Committee notes the progress on the work to date and agrees the future areas of focus will be the Community Risk Management Plan.

There are currently no Forward Plan entries within the Committee’s portfolio.

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.

35.1     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.

36.1     The Committee considered its work programme (copy appended to the signed minutes) and requested: -

                     i.        A visit to the Joint Fire Control Centre to be arranged

                    ii.        An update on diversity in recruitment to be provided as part of the Statement of Assurance

                   iii.        A possible information session on new key performance indicators before consideration at a committee meeting to be arranged

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 12 June 2023 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester.  Probable agenda items include:

·         Fire and Rescue Service Strategic Performance Report

·         Quarterly Performance and Resources Report

·         Community Risk Management Plan Programme Update

·         Statement of Assurance

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 24 May 2023.

37.1     The next meeting of the Committee will take place on 12 June 2023 at 10.30am.