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Meeting Details

Policy and Resources Committee
25 Mar 2015 - 10:30 to 11:54
Occurred
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Agenda Items
1 Apologies for Absence
To receive any apologies for absence.
2 Named Substitutes
To receive details of any Member of the Authority nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.
3 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.
9
None
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2015.
10
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Policy and Resources Committee held on 27 January 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
5 Chairman’s Announcements
To update Members on recent activities.
11
The Chairman informed the Committee that: 

i)     he had been asked to allow consideration of a late item relating to Evesham fire station and this was agreed.

ii)    there was no Health and Safety Committee update on the agenda this time as the last meeting was cancelled due to the national firefighters strike.

iii)    it was Councillor Brigadier Jones CBE last meeting for the Authority. He was thanked for all his work over the years on the Policy and Resources Committee and was wished well for the future. 

To inform the Committee of the current position on budgets and expenditure for 2014/15.
12
Members were informed of the current financial position for the period April - December 2014 and an outturn projection based on that position.

RESOLVED that the current position on budgets and expenditure for 2014/15 be noted.
To seek approval to let accommodation on the ground floor of the Service Headquarters to the Joint Property Vehicle.
13
Members were asked to approve the letting of accommodation on the ground floor of the Service Headquarters to the Joint Property Vehicle.

RESOLVED that:

i)     the offer of accommodation to the Worcester Hospital NHS Trust be withdrawn; and

ii)    the Chief Fire Officer be authorised to enter into a lease of office accommodation at Service Headquarters to the Joint Property Vehicle on terms to be agreed by Head of Legal Services and Director of Finance.

This report is 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 (SMB).
14
Members were provided with 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 note the following headlines taken from Appendix 1 relating to performance in Quarter 1 to 3 2014-15:

i)    the total number of incidents attended in Quarter 1 to 3 2014-15 is the lowest overall total in the nine years that the current data set has been collected.  It is also the lowest number of incidents for the three main categories of incident individually;

ii)    this is despite an increase in wet weather related special service incidents attended in Quarter 1 to 3 2014-15 which 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 slight increase 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 over the past number of years; and

v)    retained appliances were available for operational duty 90.9% of the time.

To review the Authority’s policy on the authorisation of covert surveillance techniques under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
15
Members were asked to review the Authority's policy on the authorisation of covert surveillance techniques under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

RESOLVED that:
  

i)    the Committee note there has been no use of covert investigatory techniques during the past year; and

ii)    
no changes be made to the existing policy.

To report progress to the Committee regarding the provision of a new fire station in Hereford.
16
Progress was reported to Members regarding the provision of a new fire station in Hereford. A property update report will be presented to all Members at the Fire Authority meeting on 17 June 2015.

RESOLVED that progress to explore the potential of a preferred option to replace Hereford fire station, be noted.
This report informs the Committee of the requirement to establish a Pensions Board for the Firefighter Pension Schemes (FPS) to assist the Scheme Manager in securing compliance with the Public Services Pensions Act 2013.
17
Members were informed of the requirement to estabish a Pensions Board for the Firefighter Pension Schemes (FPS) to assist the Scheme Manager in securing compliance with the Public Services Pensions Act 2013.

RESOLVED that:

i)    the establishment of a pensions board be approved with effect from 1 April 2015 in accordance with the Public Services Pensions Act 2013 and relevant DCLG guidance; and

ii)    authority to implement the pensions board and make appointments to the board be delegated to the Head of Legal Services, in consultation with the Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee, having regard to the relevant regulations and any further best practice advice that my emerge.
To provide the Committee with an update from the Equality and Diversity Advisory Group since the last report on 10 September 2014.
18
Members were provided with an update from the Equality and Diversity Advisory Group since the last report on 10 September 2014.

RESOLVED that the following key areas of development be noted:

i)      Positive Action Sub Group - key development areas;
   

ii)     AFSA National Conference 2014; and

iii)    Corporate membership of Networking Women in the Fire Service has been renewed.

To inform the Committee of the activities of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) since September 2014.
19
Members were informed of the activities of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) since September 2014.

RESOLVED that the following items currently under discussion by the Joint Consultative Committee be noted:

i)      Project Arrow update;

ii)     Transformation Bids (Hindlip and Wyre Forest);

iii)    Joint Property Vehicle (JPV);

iv)    Voluntary redundancy;

v)     Logging of pre-arranged overtime;  

vi)    Policy on financial assistance for medical treatment; and

vii)    Restructure involving Performance and Information department.

Late Item
20
In accordance with Section 100B 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) the Chairman allowed consideration of this late item as a matter of urgency because of the need to enter into formal agreements with Wychavon District Council prior to the date of the next meeting.

RESOLVED that:

the press and public be excluded from the discussions relating to the Appendix to the following item on the grounds that it is likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, namely - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Evesham Fire Station

Members were asked to approve the revised terms for the re-provision of Evesham Fire Station in light of additional project costs that had now been identified.

RESOLVED that the Head of Legal Services, in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer and Director of Finance, be authorised to enter into an agreement with Wychavon District Council for the sale and replacement of Evesham Fire Station on terms that:

(i) the Fire Authority will contribute an initial £150,000 towards the cost of the development; and
 
(ii) any additional costs in excess of the partners' currently identified funding, as detailed in appendix 1 (exempt information), be shared equally between the Fire Authority and Wychavon District Council.

Additional Meeting Documents

  1. pdf Late Item P+R Cttee Evesham Fire Station (198Kb)
    1. Late item - Appendix 1 EXEMPT
      • Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information);

Attendance

Name
No other member attendance information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for Sending ApologySubstituted By
Councillor Mr Andy Fry  
Councillor Mr Philip Gretton  
Councillor Mr Adrian Hardman  
Councillor Mr David Taylor Councillor Mr John Thomas
NameReason for AbsenceSubstituted By
No absentee information has been recorded for the meeting.

Declarations of Interests

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

Visitors

Visitor Information is not yet available for this meeting