Agenda and minutes

of the previous meeting held on 1 February 2018 attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 February 2018 be signed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSCPC/18/3) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSCPC/18/3) that set out the mandate for a Change & Improvement Programme for Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service.  This document set out a programme of work to be delivered between 2018 to 2022 based on the evidence that was provided in both the Fire & Rescue Plan that had been produced recently and the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for 2018-2022 (both of which appear elsewhere on the agenda for this meeting – Minute CSCPC/18/13 refers).  The work undertaken on identifying a number of key risks for both the organisation and the community had been utilised to inform the change and improvement options for the future.  Reference was also made to the requirements of the new National Framework produced by the Home Office and the new inspection regime under Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.  Both of these placed a greater emphasis on the Service to ensure that it was mitigating the key risks it faced and moving forward in a more resilient and flexible way whilst complying with its statutory obligations and the National Framework 2018.

It was noted that the Change & Improvement Programme was concentrated on four key strategic themes, namely:

·        Service Delivery Operating Model;

·        Digital Transformation;

·        Management of Fleet & Equipment, and:

·        Learning and Development.

Each of these strategic themes was developed and prioritised from a longer list of potential improvements as set out at paragraph 2.2 of the report.  A number of the priorities on this list had already been incorporated into the strategic themes to be undertaken within the first two years, however, the remainder would be factored into the latter stages of the four year programme.

The Chair welcomed the approach to take this work forward on a risk based approach in future and referred to the need to keep all Members engaged during this process.   It was suggested, however, that it would be helpful for the Committee to have a better indication of the timescale involved in terms of the potential timing of potential projects coming forward within the four year programme, whereupon:

Councillor Ellery MOVED (second by Councillor Trail):

“that an amendment be made to the recommendation set out in the report to add after the Change and Improvement Programme 2018 – 2022 ….  as set out in report CSCPC/18/3 and a more detailed report on timescales be submitted to the Committee in due course”.

This was CARRIED unanimously.

RESOLVED that the Committee recommends the full Authority to approve the mandate for the Change and Improvement Programme 2018 – 2022 as set out in report CSCPC/18/3 and a more detailed report on timescales be submitted to the Committee in due course.

Report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSCPC/18/4) attached.

The Committee received for information a report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSCPC/18/4) that included the new versions of the Integrated Risk Management Plan and the Fire & Rescue Plan that had been revamped to provide a suite of corporate documents for the public interface.

The Service’s new planning framework was predicated on three strategic documents, namely:

·        The Integrated Risk Management Plan;

·        The Fire & Rescue Plan, and;

·        The Change & Improvement Plan (referred to elsewhere on the agenda for this meeting – Minute CSCPC/18/3 refers).

It was noted that the production of these documents in a common, consistent format would be beneficial to both public and staff understanding and engagement.

The Chair thanked the Officers concerned on behalf of the Committee for the work that had been undertaken on the production of the revamped documents which it felt were easily understandable and well designed.