Agenda and minutes

of the previous meeting held on 11 December 2020 attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2020 be approved as a correct record subject to amendment under Minute CSCPC/14 - paragraph 2 in the third sentence as follows:

“Of the 18 internal actions which were outstanding, 13 would be completed by 31 December 2020 with the remaining 5 by 1 April 2021”.

Report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSCPC/21/1) attached.

The Committee received for information a report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSCPC/21/1) which provided a high level overview and update on the progress made with the Service’s “Safer Together” Programme.

The Programme consisted of the following key workstreams:

·       Service Delivery Operating Model (SDOM);

·       Fleet & Equipment Replacement;

·       Data and Digital Transformation; and

·       People Development.

The report gave an overview of the progress made in each of these areas based on a Red, Amber and Green (RAG) rating as requested at the previous meeting (Minute CSCPC/13 refers). 

The Director of Service Improvement advised that the Programme Team had made very good progress with the projects given the current circumstances with the third lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The key points highlighted were:

SDOM:

·       Topsham and Budleigh fire station closures and associated moves were completed;

·       Replacement of the third fire engines with a Light 4x4 Rescue Pump (L4P) at Taunton and Torquay had been completed and Bridwater and Yeovil to follow shortly;

·       The removal of the second fire appliances from Crediton, Lynton, Martock and Totnes had all been completed;

·       The Pay for Availability (P4A) project was rolling out well with 4 groups of stations already moved over to this model and 6 stations were in the process of transitioning onto risk dependent availability too;

·       A review of the approach to roving appliances was being undertaken currently to ensure that the Service could make the most of any excess capacity within Wholetime watches.

Fleet & Equipment Replacement:

·       Medium Replacement Pump (MRP) replacement was moving forward and the stowage exercise had been completed with the supplier, E1, recently;

·       The first Wildfire and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) was on run at Bovey Tracy now;

·       Asset management was on track.

Digital Transformation:

·       The Management of Risk Information (MORI) Protection app which would enable increased capability in case management of the Service’s business safety activity was progressing well; and

·       Work on the data architecture required to support digital transformation was complex but was being developed in an agile approach to ensure flexibility for the future.

People Development:

·       This project had progressed very well and it was hoped to close this shortly and to move into business as usual.  The work undertaken included the instigation of development pools for crew managers to the Service Leadership Team and the procured of MindTools recently.

The Chair of the Committee expressed thanks to officers for including the RAG rating.  He added that it would also be useful to have contrasting text on the coloured backgrounds and a key to the RAG rating in future reports.  He also suggested a list of acronyms be included as part of a briefing for new members of the Authority.

In terms of the SDOM workstream, it was noted that there seemed to be a number of places where things were being reviewed such as latent capacity.  The Director of Service Improvement advised that the projects undertook gateway reviews as normal practice.  With roving appliances, there was a need to ensure this was  ...  view the full minutes text for item CSCPC/16

Report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSCPC/21/2) attached.

The Committee received, for information, a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSCPC/21/2) on the progress made by the Service in implementing the recommendations arising from the Grenfell Phase 1 Inquiry.  The report also provided an update on the use of the additional Building Risk Review grant funding.

It was noted that a total of 44 recommendations were made as a result of the Grenfell Inquiry.  These were split into external and internal actions.  The external actions required collaboration with external partners including the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) together with changes in legislation.  There were 18 external actions, none of which had been completed but 4 of these were on track with 14 slightly off track as these were awaiting the instigation of legislation by the Government.

There were 26 internal actions of which 6 had been completed to date. Of the 20 outstanding actions, 13 were on track with the remaining 7 slightly off track.

The Service had received grant funding totalling £455,125 to support the outcomes of Grenfell in addition to general improvements in fire safety standards and outcomes as follows:

·       Building Risk Review Programme (£60,000);

·       Protection Uplift Programme Grant (£256,909); and

·       Grenfell Infrastructure Fund (£138,216).

The Building Risk Review Programme had been developed to support Fire and Rescue Services in reviewing fire safety arrangements for all “in scope” high rise residential buildings over 18 metres by December 2021.

The Service had identified a multi-disciplinary team (protection; prevention; risk; communication and engagement) and developed an action plan to deliver the programme for the 89 buildings identified in the Service area. At the end of February 2021, 35 of these buildings had been inspected, with the remainder to be addressed by September 2021.

Spending against the Protection Uplift funding was zero as at the end of February 2021.  An action plan to provide increased numbers of Building Safety Officers had been instigated and a recruitment process was underway.  Spending against the Grenfell Infrastructure funding was £35266 as the Service had provided relevant equipment including smoke hoods to all operational vehicles.

The Committee expressed its thanks to officers for instigating a RAG rating against the recommendations.  The question was raised as to whether there may be further recommendations arising as a result of Phase 2 of the Grenfell Inquiry.  The Director of Service Delivery advised that any such recommendations would be reviewed by the Service on publication.

The Committee also commented that the provision of smoke hoods was innovative and asked for a demonstration to be provided at a future meeting.

Director of Service Improvement to give an oral update at the meeting.

The Committee received for information a presentation given by the Director of Service Improvement at the meeting which covered the requirement under the National Framework 2018 to implement an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), the current iteration of which ran to 2022. 

It was noted that the Service had commenced work on the next iteration of the Plan.  The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) had produced a new National Fire Standard for a Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) now.  It was considered that a CRMP would reflects more accurately the function and content of the Plan.  Additionally, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary & Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) would monitor the Service’s performance against the new Standard.

The presentation at the meeting covered the following points:

·       The components of a CRMP, including work undertaken on defining its scope, hazard identifications, risk analysis, decision making and evaluation;

·       the engagement being undertaken with internal and external stakeholders which would also give evidence for collaborative work with partners;

·       Details of the new Fire Standard and how the Service expected to achieve any desired outcomes;

·       The Pre-Engagement exercise which would identify where consultation would be required on the new Plan, starting with station staff;

·       Timescales for the process, notably that a draft of the proposed CRMP would be available in Summer 2021 with any statutory consultation commencing at the end of August to September 2021 for 13 weeks;

·       There was an ongoing community risk project at the NFCC and the Service was hoping there would be a standard definition of “risk” to guide fire and rescue services in this process. 

The Committee noted that the agenda for future committee meetings was likely to focus on this matter as it had delegated responsibility to make recommendations to the Authority on the CRMP.  The Committee asked that the presentation be circulated by email for reference and the Director of Service Improvement undertook to forward the information requested.

Reference was made to the point that interest in CRMP may be greater this time after the Grenfell fire and that Officers needed to be prepared for greater examination by the local authorities.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the Service would be encouraging the public to respond to the Service on the CRMP engagement exercise and it recognised the need to delve deeper into communities so a stakeholder mapping exercise was being undertaken currently.

The Committee asked the Service to consider if Members could feedback and also to have material available to take to their respective local authorities.  A report was also requested for future meetings.