1. The Chairman announced that Fair Trade tea, coffee and sugar was now available at meetings, following Members’ request.
2. Mr Prodger MBE, Chairman of the Authority, announced the forthcoming Members’ Visit scheduled for Thursday 27 November 2014 and urged all Members to attend.

The Treasurer presented a report on the current position on budgets and expenditure for 2014/15. Members’ attention was drawn to the planned underspend of £0.705m.

On the subject of capital expenditure, the Chief Fire Officer advised Members that the Service had withdrawn the current Hereford Fire Station planning application due to significant objections with regard to conservation. However, the Service will continue looking at whether any alternative suitable sites are likely to become available in the immediate future or if the objections raised can be overcome and will provide regular updates to the Committee.

(Mr Hardman entered the meeting at 10.38am.)

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Treasurer presented Members with an update on the approved Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) following decisions made at the October meeting of the Fire Authority. Members’ attention was drawn to the information on the core funding elements, which will not be confirmed until the end of the year and also changes that have been identified and that are now factored into the revised projection.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Chief Fire Officer presented a report to inform Members that the Authority had been successful in attracting a total of £4.27 million from the Government’s Fire Transformation Fund that was made available to fire and rescue authorities to help ensure better and more efficient front-line services for the public.  Members were also provided with details of the Transformation Bids to develop a new Wyre Forest blue light hub and to relocate the Fire Authority Headquarters to join West Mercia Police at Hindlip. The Chief Fire Officer advised Members that the two schemes were independent of each other and did not need to be completed together. Both schemes are subject to formal Member approval and in the case of the Wyre Forest Hub, public consultation.

RESOLVED that:

i)  officers be authorised to carry out the necessary work (including incurring professional fees, where necessary) to prepare detailed schemes and proposals for implementation of the Transformation Bids in relation to:

a)  the development of a new Wyre Forest blue light hub; and

b)  the relocation of Fire Authority Headquarters to join West Mercia Police at Hindlip; and

ii)  a further report be submitted to the Authority for approval prior to undertaking public consultation or entering into any contractual arrangements for land purchase or building construction.

Area Commander Mark Preece presented a report for Members to note the progress made to date and, prior to consideration by the full Authority, discussed the recommendations which represent the detailed findings of the Project Arrow Team as supported by the Joint Project Board and the Member Reference Group.  The Chief Fire Officer confirmed to Members that the reserve set aside for additional costs during the review had not been used.

 RECOMMENDED that:

i)   an operational collaboration between the two Fire and Rescue Services be progressed under the direction of the two Chief Fire Officers and the Strategic Director of Resources, Warwickshire County Council;

ii)  Hereford & Worcester Fire Authority and Warwickshire County Council continue exploring greater collaboration between the two Fire and Rescue Services, working towards a strategic alliance light by late 2015 under the direction of the Joint Project Board;

iii)  a further report be submitted to the Joint Project Board in the summer of 2015 detailing the progress made;

iv)  the Joint Project Board continue to meet biannually;

v)   work to date is shared with other key partners, notably Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police with the aim of stimulating interest in wider collaboration; and

vi)  no further work on Options 4 (strategic alliance contractual) and 5 (full combination) in the options appraisal attached at Appendix 1 be progressed until the report submitted in the summer of 2015 has been considered.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented a summary of annual performance against the Fire Authority Annual Plan 2014-15 using the set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) agreed by Senior Management Board.

 RESOLVED that the Committee noted the following headlines taken from Appendix 1 relating to performance in Quarter 1 and 2 2014-15:

 i)     the total number of Incidents attended in Quarter 1 and 2 2014-15 is the lowest total in the nine years that the current data set has been collected;

ii)    the Service attended the lowest Quarter 1 and 2 totals of Fire and False Alarm incidents in the last nine years but the number of Special Service incidents attended in Quarter 1 and 2 2014-15 have increased when compared to the same period last year;

iii)  although Sickness levels for all staff continue to remain within tolerance levels for the year so far, sickness levels are beginning to rise again since dropping from a peak in October 2013;

iv)  the Service saw a reduction in the percentage of attendances at building fires that met the 10 minutes attendance standard compared with the same period last year, and has investigated the reasons behind reductions in the number of building fires attended by the first appliance within 10 minutes; and

v)   retained appliances were available for operational duty 90.5% of the time.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented an update on the activities and items of significance from the Service’s Health and Safety Committee.

RESOLVED that the following issues, in particular, be noted:

(i)   the involvement of the Service in a number of Health and Safety initiatives at national level;

 (ii)  Health and Safety performance for Quarter 2 (July – September 2014)