Agenda item

Report by the Chief Fire Officer.

The report provides an overview of the priority programmes of work during Quarter 1 of 2020/2021 including progress against the People Action Plan, the Improvement Plan and the Integrated Risk Management Plan Action Plan.

12.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Fire Officer (copy appended to the signed minutes). The report was first introduced by Cllr Crow, Cabinet Member for Fire & Rescue and Communities who reminded the Committee that the inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) had concentrated on prevention & protection improvements and clearing backlogs.

12.2     Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, Chief Fire Officer, told the Committee: -

·         A huge amount of work had been carried out in prevention and protection following the inspection by HMICFRS with increased capacity in each area pivotal to the service’s response to Covid-19

·         Some work was still to be done around quality assurance processes and delivering training, but the key areas around these had been completed e.g. agreement to provide a training centre at the new fire station planned for Horsham

·         The cultural change of the service would take some time beginning with the People Action Plan

·         The aim was for the service to be more than not discriminatory, it was to be anti-discriminatory

12.3     Summary of responses to committee members’ comments and questions: -

·         There were eight extra community safety posts focussing on fire safety at home, youth engagement, road safety and local risk management

·         The retained liaison officers focus on recruitment and worked from fire stations so that they could provide cover, including as incident commanders, if necessary

·         Inclusion officers would make sure that the service’s policies and processes were not discriminatory with help from diversity champions

·         The Committee heard that the Value for Money project was red. The Chief Fire Officer outlined how it had been completed initially, but was now being revisited as the Service had changed greatly. Given the additional work it was decided to reflect this within the same project, rather than closing, which was why the project status is reported as red

·         The Business Safety Team would raise awareness of fire safety in high risk areas such as takeaways

·         In light of new legislation following the Grenfell fire, the service has been liaising with the three buildings in West Sussex that had Aluminium Composite Material cladding and had plans to deal with blocks of flats that had other sub-standard cladding – ACTION: The Chief Fire Officer to provide details to the Committee on buildings with sub-standard cladding in the county

·         Government funding had been used to employ two officers to help act upon the new legislation and pay for smoke hoods which will be carried on all engines

·         WSFRS met regularly with three other fire and rescue services to work on collaborative projects such as joint procurement, integrated transport functions with the police and further work in ongoing to find collaborative opportunities for the training facilities in Horsham

12.4     Resolved – that the Committee: -

             i.        Is assured of the progress going forward based on the evidence received at this meeting

            ii.        Notes significant improvement in all areas of concern raised by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services inspection

           iii.        Notes that changes in the culture of the service takes time but that positive progress is being made

          iv.        Notes that the customer-centred value for money project red rating was raised and a satisfactory explanation was provided

            v.        Notes the change to the West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service responsibilities resulting from the Grenfell tragedy were highlighted, including concerns regarding inflammable cladding