Agenda and minutes

of the Annual and Ordinary Meetings held on 26 May 2016.

RESOLVED that, subject to Minute DSFRA/3 (Election of Vice-Chair) being amended to read “Councillor Healey proposed (with Councillor Thomas seconding) that Councillor Greenslade be appointed Vice-Chair”, the Minutes of the Annual and Ordinary meetings of the Authority held on 26 May 2016 be signed as a correct record. 

The Chair of the Committee, Councillor Bown, to MOVE the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2016.

RECOMMENDATION that the Minutes be adopted in accordance with Standing Orders.

In the absence of the Committee Chair (Councillor Bown), Councillor Chugg MOVED the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 24 June 2016 which had considered, amongst other things:

·         an update report on organisational absence management;

·         retirement and re-employment requests made in accordance with the Authority’s approved Pay Policy Statement;

·         appointments to the Firefighters’ Pensions Scheme Internal Disputes Resolution Panel for the 2016-17 municipal year;

·         an update on proposals for organisational development; and

·         an update report on trades union facilities.

RESOLVED that, in accordance with Standing Orders, the Minutes be adopted.

The Chair of the Committee, Councillor Radford, to MOVE the Minutes of the meeting held on 28 June 2016

RECOMMENDATION that the Minutes be adopted in accordance with Standing Orders.

In the absence of the Committee Chair (Councillor Radford), the Committee Vice-Chair (Councillor Edmunds) MOVED the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 28 June 2016 which had considered, amongst other things:

·         an update from the Authority’s external auditors (Grant Thornton) on progress against its external audit work during the current (2016-17) financial year;

·         the Authority’s draft Statement of Accounts for the 2015-16 financial year;

·         a draft of the Authority’s Statement of Assurance for the 2015-16 financial year;

·         a progress report on development and implementation of a refined strategic self-assessment process to provide a wider, more systemic approach to internal audit; and

·         a report on Service performance during 2015-16 against those measures contained in the approved strategic plan (“Our Plan”) for that period.

RESOLVED that, subject to Minute APRC/3 (Election of Vice-Chair) being amended to read “….that Councillor Edmunds be elected Vice-Chair…..”, the Minutes of the meeting be adopted in accordance with Standing Orders.

The Chair of the Committee, Councillor Eastman, to MOVE the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 July 2016.

RECOMMENDATION that the Minutes be adopted in accordance with Standing Orders.

The Committee Chair, Councillor Eastman, MOVED the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 4 July 2016 which had considered, amongst other things:

·         progress made to date in reviewing the Service Community Safety Strategy;

·         an update with the pilot to refine the process for undertaking Home Fire Safety Visits;

·         an update on work undertaken with Syrian refugees in Somerset;

·         the evaluation of the Police and Fire Community Support Officer (PFCS) initiative trialled in the North Devon area; and

·         an update on the data-led approach to community safety being applied by the Service.

RESOLVED that, subject to the list of those present being amended to read “….Dyke (vice Redman)”, the Minutes of the meeting be adopted in accordance with Standing Orders.

Report of the Clerk to the Authority (DSFRA/16/16) attached.

The Authority considered a report of the Clerk (DSFRA/16/16) on proposed changes to full Authority dates for the 2016-17 municipal year.  The changes were proposed to facilitate consideration of the government four-year grant settlement offer and to afford preliminary consideration to Committee etc. appointments prior to determination at the Annual Meeting in 2017.

RESOLVED

(a)       that the dates proposed for Members Forum and full Authority meetings in September and October 2016 be amended to provide for:

                      i.        a meeting of the full Authority at 14.00hours on Friday 30 September 2016: and

                     ii.        a meeting of the Members’ Forum at 10.00hours on Wednesday 19 October 2016;

(b)       that the Authority hold its Annual and Ordinary Meetings on Friday 9 June 2017, commencing at 10.00hours, with the original scheduled date for the meetings of Wednesday 31 May 2017 being retained for a Members’ Forum for preliminary consideration of appointments to Committee places and for new Member Induction as required.

The Chair circulated, for information, a list of activities undertaken on behalf of the Authority since its last meeting.

The Chief Fire Officer reported on the following:

·         appointment of Amber Rudd MP as the new Home Secretary, and Brandon Lewis as the new Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service;

·         a possible visit to the Service by Shadow Fire Minister Lyn Brown in the autumn;

·         the development of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the British Red Cross to support the emergency services and thereby enhance community safety resilience;

·         consideration, including discussions with representative bodies, on developing a Service counter-terrorism capability to promote staff and community safety;

·         attendance at a number of station visits;

·         the visit to the Service by Sir Ken Knight to assess progress made against those recommendations contained in his “Facing the Future” report and to provide external challenge to this;

·         meetings with the Chief Constables of Devon & Cornwall and Avon & Somerset to discuss collaborative opportunities;

·         attendance at the High Sheriff’s Garden Party;

·         attendance at a Junior Lifeskills event in Plymouth;

·         operation of the new mobilisation system under the Networked Fire Control Services Partnership including some issues as to the effective operation of the system.  Members were concerned at the ongoing issues and asked to receive a briefing note on the position to date and asked that the matter be considered further at the next Members’ Forum (scheduled for 2 September), with representatives of both Capita and Virgin invited to attend the next full Authority meeting (scheduled for 30 September) to discuss the issues and their plans to address them;

·         a live exercise to be held in Plymouth on Friday 29 July 2016 to trial new firefighting equipment and techniques; and

·         a forthcoming joint exercise with the police on 31 August 2016.

RECOMMENDATION that in accordance with that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following Paragraph(s) of  Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act:

·         Paragraphs 1 and 2 (information relating to an individual; and information likely to reveal the identity of an individual) (agenda item 12); and

·         Paragraph 3 (information relating to the financial and business affairs of both the Authority and Red One Ltd.) (agenda item 13).

RESOLVED that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined:

·         for Minute DSFRA/22, in Paragraphs 1 and 2 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) to the Act, namely information relating to an individual and information likely to reveal the identity of an individual; and

·         for Minute DSFRA/23, information relating to the financial and business affairs of both the Authority and Red One Ltd.

Report of the Chief Fire Officer (DSFRA/16/17) TO FOLLOW.

(An item taken in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 during which the press and public were excluded from the meeting).

The Authority considered a report of the Chief Fire Officer (DSFRA/16/17) on the proposed retirement of a senior officer and suggested process for appointment of a successor.  In considering retirement of the officer concerned, the Authority was advised that the proposed course of action did not entail any enhanced severance payments over and above those to which the officer was contractually entitled. 

In debating the process for appointment of a successor, Councillor Randall Johnson MOVED (with Councillor Ball seconding):

“that an Appointments Panel comprising six Members be established”

Councillor Knight proposed, with Councillor Coles seconding, that the above motion be AMENDED by deletion of the word “six” and its replacement thereby with the word “five”, i.e. the amended motion to read:

“that an Appointments Panel comprising five Members be established”

The amendment was put to the vote and declared LOST by 7 votes against to 4 for. 

Members also commented that the current situation afforded an opportunity to review the top two management layers of the organisation and that this was something the Chief Fire Officer might be asked to do, reporting back to the Authority in due course on the outcome of such a review.

At the conclusion of the debate, the substantive motion was put to the vote upon which it was

RESOLVED

(a)       that the proposed arrangements for the retirement of the senior officer identified in report DSFRA/16/17, as detailed in Section 1 of the report, be approved;

(b)       that an Appointments Panel comprising the Authority Chair (Councillor Healey MBE) and Vice-Chair (Councillor Greenslade), the Chair of the Human Resources Management & Development Committee (Councillor Bown), the Chair of the Resources Committee (Councillor Dyke) and Councillors Julian and Randall Johnson be established with delegated authority to determine the process for and approve appointment of a successor to the post vacated by the retirement of the senior officer as identified in the report;

(c)       that the Chief Fire Officer be asked to undertake at the earliest opportunity a review of the top two organisation management tiers (currently the Executive Board and the Service Leadership Team) and report back to the full Authority with the outcome of this review.

(a)       Report from David Thomas attached.

(An item taken in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 during which the press and public were excluded from the meeting).

The Authority received reports from the three Members (Councillors Healey MBE, Thomas and Woodman) it had appointed as non-executive directors to the Board of Red One Ltd. on their recent activities undertaken in that capacity.

In his report, Councillor Healey MBE highlighted that it might be appropriate to review, from a shareholder perspective, the current working arrangements of the Board of Directors.  In this context, Councillor Greenslade MOVED (with Councillor Ellery seconding):

“that a review be undertaken of the current working arrangements for the Board of Directors of Red One Ltd”.

This motion was put to the vote whereupon it was

RESOLVED

(a)       that a review be undertaken of the current working arrangements for the Board of Directors of Red One Ltd;

(b)       that, subject to (b) above, the reports be noted and the Authority-appointed non-executive directors thanked for their feedback.

(NOTE:  In accordance with Standing Order 24(3), Councillors Healey, Thomas and Woodman requested that their abstentions from voting on (a) above be recorded).