Agenda and minutes

To sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the [former] Community Safety & Corporate Planning Committee held on 8 March 2021, attached.

Note: this Committee was decommissioned by the Authority at its annual meeting on 29 June 2021 and was replaced by this Committee.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Community Safety & Corporate Planning Committee (as replaced by the Community Safety Committee) held on 8 March 2021 be signed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/21/1) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/21/1) that set out proposed performance measures for the delivery of future scrutiny arrangements in accordance with strategic objectives 1 and 2 as approved by the Authority at its meeting on 29 June 2021.

The Director of Service Delivery advised that the Committee may wish to consider the areas set out within Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) pillars in order to set out its performance measures. 

The following points were raised by the Committee:

·         That evaluation was key to understanding the Service’s performance in respect of prevention activity;

·         More information was required on direction of travel with a RAG rating (Red, Amber, Green) in each area and benchmarking information in order to assess the Service’s performance;

·         To fulfil the scrutiny role effectively, the Committee may wish to understand the views of other stakeholders.

Attention was also drawn to the point that it was difficult to gauge the results of prevention activity undertaken by the Service such as the installation of smoke alarms following a home fire safety visit.  The Service had a Prevention Strategy in place for 2021-23 which set out how areas of work were quality assured and evaluated and a Business Analyst was in the process of preparing a report setting out whether the Service was targeting its resources in the right place.

The Director of Service Delivery responded that direction of travel and benchmarking information could be submitted to the Committee.  In terms of scrutiny, the Director of Governance & Digital Services stated that it would depend on the issues that the Committee wanted to look at as to who might be invited to join the meeting.  Although the Authority had not taken this approach in the past he indicated that it could be explored.  The Director of Governance & Digital Services added that the Committee should not rule out that, when having discussions on governance in 2020, it also talked about having working groups in place to explore issues in depth in between meetings.  These would give more flexibility and freedom to explore issues as such meetings could be held virtually.  It was suggested that an initial Working Group meeting be set up initially to consider the Forward Plan for this Committee at the beginning of September 2021.

RESOLVED

(a)      That, subject to the inclusion of the information at the bullet points above, those performance measures identified in Section 2 of report CSC/21/1 for monitoring progress against Strategic Priorities 1 and 2 and its associated policy objectives be approved; and

(b)      That the proposal at paragraph 2.2 of report CSC/21/1 for presenting this information to future meetings be approved.

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

The Committee received for information a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/21/2) that set out details of funding agreed under the Chief Fire Officer’s delegated power to fund a scheme for the installation of domestic sprinklers in six new build, one bedroom flats on a match funded basis in conjunction with Cornerstone Housing initially as an innovative way of preventing fire.

The Director of Service Delivery advised the Committee that there was £50k available in the 2020-21 budget to fund bespoke equipment which was held in the “Joint Working Initiative” budget within Prevention.  The Service was working with partners such as local housing associations to identify where there were high risk and vulnerable individual in the community in order to drive down the 10 people per year who were still dying in fires.  It was noted that, whilst the installation of domestic sprinklers was known to save lives, it was not a requirement in law.  There was a need to evaluate any intervention to prove that this approach would make a difference hence the instigation of this trial.

The Committee supported this innovative approach and made the following points:

·         That this was a fantastic initiative and should not be limited by the funding available currently;

·         Whilst the installation of domestic sprinklers was a good place to start, there may be other interventions available which should be considered.

The Director of Governance & Digital Services suggested that, rather than wait until another project that might exceed the Chief Fire Officer’s delegated authority (£10k), the Committee could put forward a proposal that the delegation for grants for this specific purpose be increased to up to £100k so that the Prevention Team could react to fund other fire suppression systems as they arose.

Councillor Chesterton MOVED the recommendation (seconded by Councillor Parker-Khan) with the addition of:

“part (b) to include a recommendation to the Authority an addition to the Chief Fire Officer’s delegated powers within the Financial Regulations to facilitate the making of grants of up to £0.100m, in conjunction with local housing providers, for matched funding to facilitate the fitting of domestic sprinklers and/or other fire suppression systems.”.

The motion was CARRIED unanimously.

RESOLVED

(a)         That the report be noted as evidencing a different approach to supporting the following of the Authority’s approved Strategic Policy Objectives:

Strategic Policy Objective 2(a) – provide response resources at times and in locations relevant to identified risks of fires and other emergencies; and

Strategic Policy Objective 2(c) - explore and develop opportunities to work with other agencies where the Service can add value to community outcomes.

(b)       To recommend to the Authority an addition to the Chief Fire Officer’s delegated powers within the Financial Regulations to facilitate the making of grants of up to £0.100m, in conjunction with local housing providers, for matched funding to facilitate the fitting of domestic sprinklers and/or other fire suppression systems.

Officers to report.

The Director of Service Improvement gave an oral update at the meeting in respect of the proposed process and timetable for the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) in 2021.

It was noted that the process included the following key steps:

·         Undertaken early analysis of the risks following initial meetings with internal stakeholders;

·         Formulation of the draft CRMP (for consultation) by the Executive Board in August 2021;

·         Consideration of the draft CRMP at an additional meeting of the Community Safety Committee 17 September 2021;

·         Approval by the Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Authority on 29 September 2021 of the draft CRMP for consultation;

·         Public consultation exercise – 4 October to 26 November 2021 2021;

·         Review and analysis of the results of the public consultation exercise – 29 November to 17 December 2021;

·         Submission of the CRMP to the Community Safety Committee  on 25 January 2022 for consideration;

·         Approval of the CRMP for 2022-25 by the Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Full Authority on 18 February 2022.

It was noted that the Clerk would be sending out a calendar invitation for the additional meeting of the Community Safety Committee to be held on 17 September 2021 at 10:00hours (to be a single item meeting) by email.