Stephen Mold (SM)
Paul Fell (PF)
Paul Bullen (PB)
Helen King (HK)
Darren Dovey (DD)
Shaun Hallam (SH)
Rob Porter (RP)
Louise Sheridan (LS)
Apologies:
Rob Porter (RP)
– The minutes from the previous meeting were approved.
– Relevant updates on any outstanding actions were provided and the Action Log updated.
– HK provided an update on NFRS’s new responsibilities of being a separate entity.
– HK confirmed she is meeting with NCC on Friday 15 March to finalise the closing and opening balance.
– Due to delays with closing off the NCC Accounts, HK advised the Commissioner there is a risk that the Accounts will not be finalised in time to meet the statutory declaration deadline.
– The number of fire vehicles (167) will be reviewed under fleet strategy.
– HK stated that she was working on the basis that the opening reserve balance will be circa £700k. (£450k general & £250k for insurance).
HK provided assurance to the Commissioner that the Fire Service has a balanced budget for 2019/20 but there remains some risks in the medium term.
– DD advised that there were 962 responses to the IRMP consultation.
– The FBU responded separately by letter. DD will reply to the points they raised directly.
– DD confirmed that the majority of feedback concerned attendance times and the number of available appliances.
– DD agreed to address these via the regular management briefings.
– In terms of safety inspections DD will also give OPFCC staff an overview of what the protection team do and don’t inspect.
– The Commissioner was reassured that there was nothing at this point in the responses to the consultation that warranted any changes to the IRMP
– SH provided a presentation which included the metrics used to measure delivery against the targets and aspirations contained within the IRMP.
– SH explained the difference between Primary (House/car) and Secondary (grass/rubbish) fires.
– There was a discussion about the number of lift rescues and whether they should be chargeable. DD advised that the NFRS charge £700 per hour in half hour chunks unless responding to an incident where medical services were also given. However this charge often results in bad debt when company owners do not always pay.
Action – HK will monitor this on a monthly basis.
– There was a discussion about NFRS trend data which is comparable within the Family Group.
– DD advised that 2019 is projected to be the lowest year for incidents attended.
– Co-responding requests from EMAS have also declined.
– There was a discussion about his plans for the additional capacity created in the wake of the declining trends
– Overall, organisational performance is improving however response times are still slightly above the 10 minute aspiration.
– It was noted that there has been a noticeable increase in the number of high risk inspections from 119 to 233 with 84% of these in a high risk area. An increase from 69%.
– A discussion took place relating to Safe and Well checks
– A discussion took place in relation to the arson task force. DD made the point that the Fire Service had a succession plan for the Fire Service representative but was not aware of the Police plan.
ACTION DD to arrange for this to be raised at Interoperability Board
ACTION – SH to review the number of Home Fire Safety checks acknowledging that whilst there was a big increase in Q1 18/19 they have started to decline again.
– There was a discussion about the number of FOI requests which take up a lot of time.
ACTION – DD will provide numbers
– There was a discussion about rates of absence.
ACTION – SH will provide % of sickness rather than days so that the information is comparable with force data.
SM thanked SH for providing a really informative report. It was agreed that future reports will be aligned to when NFRS data is available.