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10 January 2008
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Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Fire Authorities’ Regional

Management Board


Meeting held on Thursday 10 January 2008 at the Offices of the

South Yorkshire Joint Secretariat, Barnsley


Present:

Humberside Fire and Rescue Authority

Councillor D Barkworth (RMB Vice chair)
Councillor D Engall


North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor J Fort
Councillor K King


South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Councillor J Andrews
Councillor M Cuthbert


West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor D Atkinson
Councillor G Beever
Councillor M Coulson (RMB Chair)
Councillor R Light (with the exception of agenda item no. 11, Min no. 45 refers)


Secretariat:

Mr M G Barnes
Mrs N Houseman


Treasurer :

Mr B Wilkinson


In attendance :

Mr R Hanningan Humberside
Mr R Graham Humberside
Mr N Hutchinson North Yorkshire
Mr C Anderson North Yorkshire
Mr A Trowsdale North Yorkshire
Mr M Smitherman South Yorkshire
Mr J Hoey South Yorkshire
Mr P Toase West Yorkshire
Mr A Hughes West Yorkshire
Ms U Harrison Regional Project Support Office


34  Apologies for Absence


Councillor J Bird – South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority


Apologies were also presented on behalf of Mr F Duffield (Chief Fire Officer, Humberside) and of Mr S Pilling (Deputy Chief Fire Officer, West Yorkshire)


35  Chair’s Announcements


Regional Control Centre – establishment of company


Members were advised that the Chairs of the constituent authorities had
met on 17 December 2007 and had agreed the arrangements for the
formation of the company (Minute no. 44 refers)


LGA Fire Forum and associated meetings


The Chair wished to encourage those Members who were representatives
on the LGA Fire Forum to attend its meetings wherever possible as
Members of the Forum were increasingly being used as a “sounding board”

for national fire policies.


36  Membership of the Board and Appointment of Member Champion

Consideration was given to a report of the Secretary to the Board which
advised of a change in representation on the Board as a result of the
nominations made by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority consequent

upon decisions made at its Annual Meeting held in December 2007.


It was reported that Councillor Eric Broadbent (Labour) had been replaced
by Councillor Ken King (Labour) and Councillor Jonathan Morley (Liberal
Democrat) had been replaced by Councillor John Fort (Conservative).


As a result of the change in nominations, the political balance of the

Regional Management Board was reported to be 6 Labour, 3 Conservative

and 2 Liberal Democrat.


Resolved


(i)  That the report be noted; and


(ii)  That Councillor Ken King (North Yorkshire) be appointed Member
Champion (procurement) until the Annual meeting in July 2008.


37  Minutes of the Board at a Meeting held on 4 October 2008


Resolved


That the Minutes be signed by the Chair as a correct record.


38  Urgent Items


None.


39  Admission of the Public


There were no items which required the exclusion of the public and press.


40  Declarations of Interest


Councillor Light declared a prejudicial interest in agenda item 11
(Procurement) due to his appointment as Director of Firebuy. Councillor
Light withdrew from the room and took no part in the discussions thereon.


41  Appointment of Treasurer


The Secretary submitted a report which advised of a requirement to make
an appointment to the role of Treasurer for the Regional Management
Board subsequent upon Mr Price ceasing to provide the role of Treasurer /
Section 151 function to Humberside Fire Authority.


Members were advised that the position had been temporarily filled by

Mr Bill Wilkinson, statutory finance officer at South Yorkshire.


Resolved


(i)  That Mr Bill Wilkinson, statutory Finance Officer at South Yorkshire,
be appointed Treasurer to the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board (RMB); and


(ii)  That a letter be forwarded to Mr Michael Price on behalf of the RMB
thanking him for his service to the Board since April 2004.


Strategic Functions – Update


42  Resilience


The Chief Fire Officer (South Yorkshire) submitted a report which updated
Members on resilience matters which had been identified as a key priority
for Fire and Rescue Authorities following the publication of the draft Fire
and Rescue National Framework document 2008 – 2011.


The report covered progress in the following areas;


•  Detection, identification and monitoring (DIM) – bespoke vehicles had

been delivered to the region’s DIM teams – some possible financial burden identified for extensive training


• Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) – region has complete provision


• High Volume Pumping (HVP)


• Command and Control – delivery of vehicles (including additional
prime movers) will complete New Dimension assets in the region


• Asset Transfer and Long Term capability management


• Regional resilience issues


• Impact of recent flooding


Resolved


(i)  That the report be noted;


(ii)  That the national locations for the Command and Control equipment be confirmed;


(iii) That insurance and licensing issues for prime movers be addressed
in the report to the March meeting; and


(iv) That a report be submitted to the next meeting detailing the regional training / exercises on the New Dimension equipment.


43 Common Services


The Assistant Chief Officer / Director of Community Protection
(Humberside Fire and Rescue Service) submitted a report which advised
of the progress made with the work in the Common Services strategic
functional theme and specifically in the following areas;


•  Information technology – regional framework now complete


•  Fire Safety – Building Control protocol complete. Sprinkler protocol out

for consultation. Unwanted fire signal procedure reported to be subject

of legal advice.


•  Community Safety – Home fire risk check procedure complete.
Hoax call policy on target for completion and Safeguarding children
protocol due for completion in March 2008.


•  Fire investigation – MOU for arson prevention on target for completion


•  Road safety – collaboration as part of greater North East Regional
Road Safety Strategy Group


•  Operational collaboration – projects on target except mutual assistance arrangements


•  Peer review – to take place in April 2008 with report back to RMB in
October 2008.


Resolved


(i)  That the report be noted;


(ii) That a press release be circulated across the region stressing the
Board’s concerns about sprinkler installation and to encourage positive

liaison between individual planning authorities and fire authorities; and


(iii) That a report be submitted to the October meeting of the Board
setting out the results of the peer review.


44  Regional Control Rooms


Consideration was given to a report of Chief Fire Officer (West Yorkshire)
which updated Members on the status of the Yorkshire and Humberside
FireControl Regional Control Centre project.


Members were advised of the current position with regard to;


•  Building schedule – on target but Facilities Management contract delayed


•  CLG delay in releasing details relating to transition data (data migration)


•  Business case draft assumptions have been updated and has a number of positive elements except, uncertainty remains with regard to management of long cut-over period, New Burdens funding process, implementation dates and grant phasing and more detail required concerning national functions.


It was further reported that consensus had been reached (Minute no. 35
refers) with regard to the corporate governance issues as follows – the
detail of which would have to be ratified by the constituent authorities;


•  Share holding / director nominations – on a proportional basis in line with proportionality on the RMB itself (11 Directors – 4 West Yorkshire, 3 South Yorkshire, 2 North Yorkshire and 2 Humberside)


•  No automatic rotation of chair


•  Chair to be given casting vote


With regard to the formation of the company, Members were reminded
that the Board had previously supported share capital formation although
all other regions had adopted the “limited by guarantee” method. This
would be the subject of further discussion with lawyers and would be
reported back to the Board.


Due to the timescales involved, approval was sought for interim control by
a shadow board to meet on an ad hoc basis due to the fact that the
company would, at that time, have no legal existence.


Members were further advised of the slippage of the Firelink programme to February 2009 although it was anticipated that this would create too many problems for the Fire and Rescue Services in the Yorkshire and Humberside region.


It was reported that the decisions had to be taken in the region with regard
to the appointment of the RCC Director and specifically with regard to
advertisement procedures, salary and appointments process / timetable
for which a number of options were detailed in the report now submitted.


Resolved


(i)  That the report be noted;


(ii)  That an advertisement for the appointment of the Regional Control
Centre Director be published in the Yorkshire Post (in addition to

advertisements placed centrally by CLG) and that the associated costs be apportioned on a pro rata basis between the constituent authorities;


(iii)  That the starting salary to be offered for the post at (ii) above be
£64k – 68k;


(iv)  That the terms and conditions of employment for the post of Director

be as set out in the report now submitted;


(v)  That West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority act as interim employer pending the formal establishment of the Local Authority controlled company


(vi) That shortlisting for the post be undertaken by a regional panel to
be chaired by regional HR lead (ACO Hughes) assisted by a Human Resources professional from each constituent authority (administrative support to be provided by CLG) during week commencing 10 March 2008;


(vii)  That interviews for the post at (ii) above be on 7 or 8 May 2008 and
the interviewing panel comprise of the Regional Project Director (DCFO Pilling),

a regional Human Resources representative and four elected Members (one

from each constituent authority);


(viii)  That a shadow Local Authority Controlled Company (LACC) board
be established in the interim period before the formal establishment of the Company – the constitution of the shadow board to mirror that of the Regional Management Board;


(ix)  That a report be submitted to the next meeting of the Board presenting options for RCC project assurance; and


(x)  That a report be submitted to the next meeting confirming legal opinion regarding the options of share capital support or whether the LACC should

be a company limited by guarantee.

45  Procurement


Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Chief Officer (South
Yorkshire) which provided Members with an update on progress within the
procurement workstream.


It was reported that £10,000 had been secured from the Centre of
Excellence to commission an evaluation of the telecoms infrastructure,
systems and charges incurred by each constituent Fire and Rescue
Authority with a view to providing a cost comparison with the Ministry of
Defence system that is preferred by Firebuy.


Members were further updated with regard to progress with the Integrated
Clothing Project and were advised of a proposal to host a regional
procurement seminar at South Yorkshire Training Centre on 28 March 2008.


Resolved


(i)  That the report be noted;


(ii)  That support be given to a regional procurement seminar in South
Yorkshire on 28 March 2008; and


(iii)  That Councillor Eric Broadbent be thanked for his support and work
as Member champion (procurement).


46  Training


The Assistant Chief Fire Officer / Director of Human Resources (North
Yorkshire) submitted a report which updated members on the Training
function and specifically on the following issues;

•  Regional leadership project – leadership culture survey completed and individual leadership assessments underway. Following this second phase

of work a framework of leadership development will be jointly produced which,

it is anticipated will offer a range of development opportunities for each FRA within the region.


•  Assessment and Development Centres – the collaborative ADC which was based upon the national Strategic Manager process operated successfully in November 2007 as the most cost effective method of provision for the region with a total of 18 managers from the region being assessed. This process will

be subject to continuous review to ensure that the most cost effective means of providing ADC’s for this region is maintained. This is important as the

numbers of candidates may vary from year to year and the region is committed to securing the most effective means of providing such processes.


•  Common development products and delivery – work continues to progress outcomes from the best value style review and further opportunities for collaboration on shared training products and delivery where these are

identified as being a cost effective and efficient means of provision.


Resolved


That the report be noted.


47  Personnel and HR Management


Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Human Resources
(West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service) which advised of progress with
regional collaboration on human resource issues as follows;


•  Occupational Health Review – had stalled due to staffing difficulties
now revived and the results of the scoping exercise would be submitted

to the March meeting of the Board


•  Rank to Role – Brigades at different stages within the process


•  Continuous Professional Development (CPD) – payments being made within each Brigade in a manner which reflected their own particular circumstances


•  Abatement of firefighters pensions and re-engagement policies


•  Mediation course


Resolved


That the report be noted.


48  Programme Management - Update


Consideration was given to a report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer, North
Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service which provided a summary of work
being conducted within the Region and which advised of the progress
made in each strategic functional area on specific projects.


Six areas were showing “amber” (potential overrun / resource difficulties)
and one area (mutual assistance protocol) was marked as “red” (behind
schedule) due to the complexity of the matters involved.


Resolved


That the report be noted.


49  Date of Next Meeting


Resolved


That the next meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’
Regional Management Board be held on Thursday, 27 March 2008 at the
North Yorkshire FRS Training Centre, Easingwold.


Chair