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.

11.1      No declarations were made.

The Committee is asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2021 (cream paper).

12.1     Resolved – that the Committee agrees the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2021.

A report by the Director of Law and Assurance, setting out the finance and performance position as at the end of June 2021.

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.

13.1     The Committee considered the end of June (Quarter 1) Quarterly Performance and Resources Report (copy appended to the signed minutes).

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

·         The increase in the cost for building the Horsham Fire Station and Training Centre might possibly cause minor changes to what is planned and delay completion slightly, but not significantly

·         The target for fire safety inspections of business premises has risen from 936 to 1,750 to provide a stretch target which is 5% of the service’s overall risk-based inspection programme and include the highest risk premises (such as care homes)

·         The service uses the latest technology to locate accidents including the app ‘What 3 Words’ and a system that provides photographs from the scene

·         Referrals for safe and well visits to houses occupied by vulnerable people are often made by fire service partners such as social services

·         The service works with the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership that breaks down accidents by type of vehicle – this could be made available to the Committee

13.3     Resolved – that the Committee is provided with further data relating to Key Performance Indicator 41 (killed and seriously injured casualties per billion vehicle miles) with a breakdown of the types of accidents.

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.

14.1     The Committee considered the Fire and Rescue Service Strategic Performance Report Quarter 1 (copy appended to the signed minutes).

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

·         Carers were given fire safety training

·         The contingency plan for a system breakdown in the Joint Fire Control Centre worked when called upon recently

·         Calls that are not answered within seven seconds are usually multiple calls for the same incident and are usually answered within a second or two more

·         Calls that aren’t answered within seven seconds are investigated and counted in the overall targets which are being met

·         The Committee thought a Task & Finish Group might be needed if call response times continued to miss targets

·         The Committee wished to see target times as well as percentages for first appliance attendance

·         One reason the availability of retained fire fighters increased in recent quarters was that they were working from home during lockdowns

14.3     Resolved – that the Committee asks: -

     i.        For the service to provide previous quarters information for comparison as part of the core measures

    ii.        For numbers as well as percentages for Core Measure 21

   iii.        Democratic Services to work with the Fire and Rescue Service to provide an updated report on the Joint Fire Control Centre at its meeting in March 2022 following the Task & Finish Group in January 2021

  iv.        The service to check the data contained in the table for Core Measure 19 for accuracy

    v.        To monitor responses times, and consider whether a Task & Finish Group may be required if this Core Measure 16 remains red

Report by the Chief Fire Officer.

The report provides an overview of the priority programmes of work during Quarter 1 of 2021/2022 including progress against the People Action Plan, the Improvement Plan and the Integrated Risk Management Plan Action Plan.

15.1     The Committee considered a report on the Priority Programme Update.

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

·         The Committee was interested in timescales for the Operational Assurance Project

·         The shadow Board has been running for several months and helped with decision-making

·         Diversity champions were raising awareness of equality and diversity issues within the service

·         Targeted activity had resulted in a significant increase in applications from under-represented groups, however the aim was still to appoint based on quality

15.3     Resolved – that the Committee asks the Fire and Rescue Service to ensure that timescales for the Operational Assurance Project are included in future reports as agreed in the minutes of the previous committee meeting.

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

16.1     The Committee considered its work programme and made the following changes: -

·         Call response times to be monitored

·         The service’s covid recovery plan to be added

·         The inspection preparedness report to be taken off as the inspection had already taken place

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 23 November 2021 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester.  Probable agenda items include:

·       Performance and Resources Report

·       Statement of Assurance

·       Priority Programme Update

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 8 November 2021.

17.1     The next meeting of the Committee will take place on 23 November 2021.