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Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board

Meeting held on Thursday 20 October 2005 at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Birkenshaw


Present:

Humberside Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor C Randall
Councillor N Sherwood


North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor E Broadbent
Councillor J Morley


South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor J Andrews
Councillor J Bird
Councillor P Scriven


West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor G Beever
Councillor P M Harrand (for items 1 – 8 and 10 only, Min nos 19 – 26 and 28 refer)
Councillor M Khan (for items 7 – 14 only, Min nos. 25 to 32 refer)
Councillor R Light


Secretariat:

Mr M G Barnes
Mrs N Houseman


Treasurer:

Mr M Price


In attendance:

Mr F Duffield Humberside
Mr K Marshall Humberside
Mr N Hutchinson North Yorkshire
Mr C Anderson North Yorkshire
Mr A Trowsdale North Yorkshire
Mr S Swarbrick South Yorkshire
Mr M Davis South Yorkshire
Mr P Toase West Yorkshire
Mr K Arbuthnot West Yorkshire
Mr S Pilling West Yorkshire
Mr M Redfearn West Yorkshire
Ms J Freeman ODPM, FireControl project
Ms M Winckler ODPM, FireControl project

19  Apologies for Absence


No apologies for absence were presented to the meeting.


20  Minutes of the Last Meeting


Resolved


That the Minutes of the Board at a meeting held on 21 July 2005 be signed by the Chair as a correct record.


21  Urgent Items


None


22  Admission of the Public


The meeting determined that there were no items which necessitated the
exclusion of the public.


23  Declarations of Interest


There were no declarations of interest made in any matter under consideration
at the meeting.


24  Minutes of the Local Government Association Regional Management Board Chairs’ Meeting


Resolved


That the Minutes of a meeting of the Local Government Association Regional
Management Board Chairs’ meeting held on 20 September 2005 be received.


25  Regional Management Board – Progress Report - Overview


Consideration was given to a report of the Secretary which advised of progress
made within the region against the six nationally set objectives for the Regional
Management Board as identified in the National Framework Document.


Members were advised that all the regional projects had either been achieved or were on target to be achieved.


Resolved


That the report be noted.


Strategic Functions – Update


Resolved


That all future reports on the six strategic functions include a section for Member Champion comment.


26  Resilience


The Deputy Chief Fire Officer (West Yorkshire) submitted a report which
provided an update on the issue of regional resilience and specifically on the
following areas;


Resolved


That the report be noted.


27  Specialist (Common) Services


Consideration was given to a report of the Deputy Chief Officer of Humberside
Fire and Rescue Service advising of the progress made by the Common
Services Sub Group in the following areas;


Members were advised that an amended Strategy and Terms of Reference for
the Sub Group had been proposed for Member approval.


Resolved


(i) That the report be noted;

(ii) That the Website Content Protocol be approved as detailed at appendix B
to the report now submitted;


(iii) That further work be undertaken on the design of the website with a view
to making it more “customer friendly”;


(iv) That approval be given to the amended Common Services Sub-group
Strategy and Terms of Reference as attached at Appendix C; and


(v) That the framework for Fire Investigation across the Yorkshire and
Humberside Region, as outlined in Appendix E, be approved for implementation.


28  Regional Control Rooms


ODPM presentation


The Chair welcomed Ms Marie Winckler to the meeting who had agreed to
attend, as representative of the ODPM national FireControl project, to provide
Members with an update of its progress.


Members were provided with some detail with regard to the progress made on
the following issues;


Members continued to express their grave concerns about the status of the
Business Case and, more specifically, with the fact that figures contained therein were still only indicative. They expressed their extreme disquiet with the fact that the constituent authorities worked within tight financial constraints which were only exacerbated by the lack of information with regard to the impact of the establishment of the Regional Control Centre.


Regional Control rooms – update


The Chief Executive and Chief Fire Officer of the West Yorkshire Fire and
Rescue Service submitted a report which advised Members of the status of the
FireControl project and which sought approval for a proposed communications
strategy.


Members were advised of the local issues relating to;


There remained a number of unresolved items which were detailed at paragraph 4.2 of the report now submitted.


Governance

The Secretary and Treasurer to the Board submitted a joint report which advised of the receipt of a request from ODPM with regard to the governance
arrangements for the Regional Control Centre.


Following the earlier consultation process when this RMB advised the ODPM
that its preferred option for governance of the new Regional Control Centre was
the lead authority model, Members were advised that the preference of the
ODPM was to establish a local authority company. The RMB were now being
invited by the Minister responsible to re-consider its original decision and to
submit a response by 31 October.


Members repeated earlier concerns about the establishment of a local authority
company in terms of legal and financial liability issues and the lack of
appropriate detailed information upon which governance decisions could be
taken.


Resolved


i) That the Board declines to revisit its previous conclusion to support a lead
authority model to run the new Regional Control Centre until the next meeting of the Board after such time as the ODPM provide copies of the proposed draft memorandum of association and articles of agreement for such a company and provides further detailed guidance on financial, taxation, legal and constitutional issues relating to the operation of such a company;


ii) That a letter be forwarded to the ODPM in respect of (i) above; and


iii) That the Regional Communications Strategy as detailed in the report now
submitted be approved.


29  Procurement


Members considered a report of the Director of Support Services (South
Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service) which provided an update with regard to
national procurement issues as follows;


Resolved


(i) That the report be noted; and


(ii) That a report be submitted to the January 2006 meeting of the Board
advising of the implications for the region of the National Procurement
Strategy.


30  Training


Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive
of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service which updated Members on the
Training function and specifically on the following issues;


Resolved


(i) That the report be noted;


(ii) That the result of the options appraisal for Strategic Incident Command
Development be submitted to the January 2006 meeting of the Board.;


(iii) That the response submitted on behalf of the Regional Management
Board to the consultation document “Draft National Fire and Rescue
Service Learning and Development Strategy for England” and Fire
Service Circular 25 – 2005 be noted; and


(iv) That, in respect of possible cross-over of responsibilities for the Training
function with IPDS and Human Resources, a project management report
be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.


31  Personnel and HR Management


The Director of Human Resources at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
submitted a report which advised of the collaborative work which had been
undertaken with respect to Personnel and HR Management issues since the date of the last meeting.


It was reported that work had been progressed on the following issues;


Resolved


(i) That the report be noted; and


(ii) That recommendations related to the implications of the establishment of
Assessment and Development Centres be submitted to the next meeting
of the Board.


32  Date of Next Meeting


Resolved


That the next meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board be held on Thursday 12 January 2006 at the offices of the South Yorkshire Joint Secretariat, Barnsley.


Chair