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Meeting Details

Full Authority
30 May 2018 - 10:00 to 11:30
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Agenda Items
1 Election of Chairman
To elect a Chairman of the Authority.
177

RESOLVED that Mr R J Phillips be elected as Chairman of the Fire Authority for the ensuing year, to hold office until his successor becomes entitled to act.

2 Election of Vice Chairman
To elect a Vice Chairman of the Authority.
178
RESOLVED that Mr P A Tuthill be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Fire Authority for the ensuing year, to hold office until his successor becomes entitled to act.
3 Apologies for Absence
To receive any apologies for absence.
179
Apologies were received from Cllr R Adams, Cllr A Amos, Cllr B Clayton, Cllr E Eyre, Cllr D Greenow, Cllr B Matthews and Cllr R Udall.
4 Declarations of Interest (if any)
This item allows the Chairman to invite any Councillor to declare an interest in any of the items on this Agenda.
180
There were no interests declared.
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 14 February 2018.
181

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Fire Authority held on 14 February 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

6 Chairman’s Announcements
To update Members on recent activities.
182

[Councillor Pat Agar entered the meeting at 10.03am].

The Chairman welcomed new Member Councillor Tracy Bowes to the meeting who had replaced Councillor Jim Kenyon.

The Chairman informed the Authority of the following:

  • He would bring Item 14 - Transfer of Governance further up the agenda;
  • He had recently attended a meeting for staff with the PCC and Vice-Chairman regarding the change of governance;
  • The Grenfell report and the outcomes that would likely impact on Fire and Buildings Regulations;
  • Meetings he recently attended with Legal Officers and the Fire Commission;
  • Agreement with the Chief Fire Officer to support work by the Sparse Rural Network on evidence work to submit to the Home Office and DCLG on future funding criteria; and
  • A visit to the new Command Centre at Hindlip would be arranged for all Members.

He also reassured Members that the Authority would continue good governance for the foreseeable future, in particular in preparation for the HMICFRS inspection due in July.

The Chairman asked the Chief Fire Officer to update Members on the alliance with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Authority. He informed Members that the Plan was progressing well and a final version would be emailed to all Members for their comments mid June, which Members welcomed.

Finally, Members were advised that today's meeting had replaced the scheduled meeting on 13 June 2018, which therefore was cancelled.

7 Public Participation
To allow a Member of the public to present a petition, ask a question or make a statement relating to any topic concerning the duties and powers of the Authority.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal Services in writing or by email indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation to be received no later than 2 clear working days before the meeting (in this case 24 May 2018). Further details about public participation are available on the website. Enquiries can also be made through the telephone numbers/email listed below.
183
There was no public participation.

To consider the allocation of seats on Committees to political groups, appointments to those Committees and to outside bodies (insofar as is necessary).

184

A report was presented to consider the allocation of seats on Committees to political groups, appointments to those Committees and to outside bodies (insofar as is necessary).

RESOLVED that:

i) the allocation of Committee seats to political groups as set out at Appendix 1 to these minutes be noted;

ii) the current Committee membership as set out in Appendix 1 to these minutes be retained for 2018/19;

iii) the current practice for representation and voting on the Local Government Association as set out in Appendix 2 to these minutes be continued;

iv) the place and vote on the Local Government Association Fire Commission continues to be exercised by the Chairman of the Authority; and

v) the Chairman of the Authority continues as the Member representative on the Place Partnership Ltd. Shareholder Group.

  1. To receive provisional financial results for 2017/18, to approve treatment of financial variations and transfers to and from reserves.
  2. To approve revisions to the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP)
  3. To review Treasury Management activities for 2017/18 and confirm compliance with Prudential Code indicators
185

A report was presented with the provisional financial results for 2017/18 which requested Members to approve treatment of financial variations, transfers to and from reserves and revisions to the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

Members were also asked to review Treasury Management activities for 2017/18 and confirm compliance with Prudential Code indicators.

The Treasurer was pleased to announce that the Authority had a sustainable Medium Term Financial Plan for the foreseeable future, subject to the estimates about the unknown funding future.

Members thanked the Treasurer and staff for producing such a comprehensive report ready for this meeting.

RESOLVED that the Authority:

i) Notes the provisional financial results for 2017/18;

ii) Approves the transfers between reserves as below;

i. £0.574m from the Grant Phasing Reserve

ii. £0.285m from the Equipment Reserve

iii. £0.045m from the NNDR Phasing Reserve

iv. £0.659m to the Property Maintenance Reserve

v. £0.308m to the ESMCP Reserve

vi. £0.511m to the Budget Reduction Reserve

vii. £0.267m to a new Pay Award Reserve

iii) Noted that the Treasurer will certify the 2017/18 Statement of Account, in accordance with the regulatory time-scale, on 31st May;

iv) Noted that the Audit of the accounts will be undertaken by Grant Thornton LLP;

v) Confirm the changes to the MTFP and the consequential adjustments to the phasing of the use of balances within the approved Reserves Strategy;

vi) Noted that the MTFP is now balanced to 2023/24; and

vii) Confirm that the Prudential Indicators for 2017/18 were within the limits set by the Authority and no matters require further action.

To adopt the Fire Authority Annual Report 2018-19 and approve for publication.
186

The Fire Authority Annual Report 2018-19 was presented for adoption and approval for publication.

The Chief Fire Officer explained to Members that the Report gave a good overview of the last 12 months that developed the Saving More Lives theme.

Members thanked staff for producing such a comprehensive Report and agreed to the publication of the Report on the website and also requested that it be shared with District, Town and Parish Councils.

RESOLVED that the Authority adopts the draft Fire Authority Annual Report 2018-19 and approves it for publication, subject to any final minor changes as agreed by the Chief Fire Officer in consultation with the Chairman.

This report is a summary of the Service’s Quarters (Q1 - Q4) performance against a comprehensive set of Performance Indicators agreed by Senior Management Board (SMB).
189

The Annual Performance for 2017-18 was presented to the Authority using the set of Performance Indicators agreed by the Senior Management Board.

A Member questioned the number of Special Services Incidents attended and were reassured that incident trends were monitored to eliminate repeat activity.

A Member also requested further information on Road Traffic Collisions, in particular if there were any hot spots in the two counties.

Members finally thanked Deputy Chief Fire Officer Richard Lawrence for his long and distinguished work for the Authority and wished him well on his retirement. 

[Councillor Phillips left the meeting at 11.28am].

RESOLVED that Members note the following headlines drawn from Appendix 1 relating to performance in Quarters 1 - 4, 2017-18:

i) A total of 6,931 incidents were attended in Q1-Q4, an increase of 2.7% (182 incidents) over the same Quarters of 2016-17, and 5.1% (353 incidents) higher than the average for the last five years. However, the overall 5 year trend remains relatively consistent and is still 30% less than 10 years ago.

 

ii) The majority of the increase in Q1-Q4 is accounted for by a rise in the numbers of Special Service and Fire related incidents, while the number of False Alarm incidents was down:

a. Special Services: an increase of 11.8% (184 incidents) is mainly accounted for by increases in the number of flooding (66) Road Traffic Collisions (64) and Assist other Agency (35).

b. False Alarms: a small decrease of 0.4% (13 incidents), most common automatic activations are at a number of sheltered housing, nursing homes and hospitals.

c. Fires: Have increased slightly by 0.6% (11 incidents) over the previous year this is largely accounted for by a spike in Secondary Fires in Quarters 1 & 2 during spring and the early summer period.

iii) Overall Staff Sickness levels were 7.11 days lost per head and is within tolerance levels.

iv) The Service attended 59.7% (380 incidents) of Building Fires (636 incidents) within 10 minutes in Quarters 1 – 4, compared with 58.2% in the same period in 2016-17. The average time for the first fire appliance attendance at all building fires was ten minutes and eighteen seconds.

v) The overall availability of the first On-Call (Retained) fire appliance remains high at 89.6%; however this has decreased by 2.2% when compared to the same period in 2016-17.

To approve the minutes of the Audit and Standards Committee meeting held on 25 April 2018 and the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 28 March 2018.

Should members wish to discuss Policy & Resources Committee Minute Items 121 and/or 122, the Authority will need to resolve to exclude the Public and Press from the meeting.

190

Members were asked to approve the minutes from the Audit and Standards Committee meeting held on 25 April 2018 and the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 28 March 2018.

RESOLVED that the minutes from the Audit and Standards Committee meeting held on 25 April 2018 and the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 28 March 2018 be approved.

13 Exclusion of the Press and Public
In the opinion of the Clerk to the Authority the meeting will not be, or is not likely to be open to the public at the time Item 14 is considered for the following reason:

Item 14 is likely to disclose information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.
187

The Authority were asked to exclude members of the public and press from Agenda Item 14.

It was RESOLVED to exclude the public and press on the grounds that the discussion would be likely to disclose information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

188

The Head of Legal Services presented a report to consider the Home Secretary's decision to approve the PCC's business case for the transfer of governance of the Fire and Rescue Service and a possible challenge to that decision by way of judicial review.

Members were advised by the Head of Legal Services of the risk and uncertainty involved in any litigation and emphasised that a Judicial Review was not concerned with the decision but with the process.

Following discussions, Members were satisfied that it would be in the public interest to proceed with a judicial review and voted unanimously.

RESOLVED that:

i. The Authority commence judicial review proceedings in respect of the Home Secretary’s decision to approve the transfer of governance of the Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service to the West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner, as advised by Counsel;

ii. The conduct of the proceedings be delegated to the Head of Legal Services in consultation with the Chairman, Vice-chairman and Group Leaders; and

iii. The Authority seek to share the costs of the proceedings with Shropshire & Wrekin Fire Authority and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Fire Authority, so far as possible.

Additional Meeting Documents

  1. Exempt Minute for Agenda Item 12
    • Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings;
  2. Transfer of Governance - v3
    • Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings;
  3. Transfer of Governance Appendix 1
    • Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings;
  4. Transfer of Governance Appendix 2
    • Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings;

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

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