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26 July 2007
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Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Fire Authorities' Regional Management Board
Annual Meeting held on Thursday 26 July 2007 at Humberside
Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Hull
Present:
Humberside Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor D Barkworth
Councillor D Engall
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor E Broadbent
Councillor J Morley
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor J Bird
Councillor M Cuthbert (as substitute for Councillor P Scriven)
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor D Atkinson
Councillor G Beever
Councillor P Booth (as substitute for Councillor R Light)
Councillor M Coulson
Secretariat:
Mr M G Barnes
Mrs N Houseman
Treasurer:
Mr M Price
In attendance:
Mr M Khuri Humberside
Mr R Hannigan Humberside
Mr C Anderson North Yorkshire
Mr A Trowsdale North Yorkshire
Mr M Davies South Yorkshire
Mr J Hoey South Yorkshire
Mr P Toase West Yorkshire
Ms U Harrison West Yorkshire
Councillor L Barron Firebuy (Chair)
Mr A Davies Firebuy (Deputy CEO)
1 Appointment of Chair
Resolved
That Councillor M Coulson (West Yorkshire) be appointed Chair of the Yorkshire and
Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board for the 2007 / 2008 year.
2 Appointment of Vice Chair
Resolved
That Councillor D Barkworth (Humberside) be appointed Vice Chair of the Yorkshire
and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board for the year 2007 /
2008.
3 Membership of the Board
Consideration was given to a report which detailed the membership of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board for
2007 / 2008 as notified by the constituent Fire Authorities as follows.
Humberside
Councillor D Barkworth
Councillor D Engall
North Yorkshire
Councillor E Broadbent
Councillor J Morley
South Yorkshire
Councillor J Andrews
Councillor J Bird
Councillor P Scriven
West Yorkshire
Councillor D Atkinson
Councillor G Beever
Councillor M Coulson
Councillor R Light
The political composition of the Board was Labour 6, Liberal Democrat 3 and
Conservative 2.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
4 Apologies for Absence
Councillor J Andrews –South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor P Scriven – South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor R Light – West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Apologies were also presented on behalf of Mr M Smitherman (Chief Fire
Officer, South Yorkshire), Mr S Pilling (Deputy Chief Fire Officer, West
Yorkshire), Mr F Duffield (Chief Fire Officer, Humberside) and of Mr N
Hutchinson (Chief Fire Officer, North Yorkshire).
5 Chair's Announcements
The Chair wished to thank, on behalf of the Regional Management Board,
all the officers and support staff who had been involved in the Fire Service’s response to recent serious flooding incidents.
6 Urgent Items
None.
7 Admission of the Public
There were no items which required the exclusion of the public and press.
8 Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest made in any matter under consideration
at the meeting.
9 Minutes of the Board at a Meeting held on 29 March 2007
Resolved
(i) That the Minutes be signed by the Chair as a correct record; and
(ii) That a report advising of options for communication as a Regional
Management Board be submitted to the October 2007 meeting.
10 Firebuy
Members received a presentation by Councillor L Brewer (Chair of Firebuy) and
by Mr Andy Davies (Deputy Chief Executive – Firebuy).
It was reported that Firebuy were responsible for leading on the national
procurement project for which orders worth £4m had already been placed. The
main areas of procurement were detailed as follows;
• Integrated clothing project (ICP)
• Pumping appliances
• Vehicles – operational equipment, light vehicles, aerial appliances
• Respiratory protective equipment
• Capability management of New Dimension assets
• Technical services (coordination of Research and Development)
• Fireguard
Firebuy were also involved in framework agreements with individual authorities
for specific items eg. Smoke alarms, extinguishers, fireground radios, and were
looking to expand this area. A large project currently being initiated was a
telephony contract with British Telecom which it was anticipated would produce a
large saving of 25% on individual authority’s telephone bills. Another large
contract to which a number of Fire and Rescue Authorities had signed up was
with Insurance Mutual which it was anticipated would produce a cashable
saving of £2.5m - £3m.
Members were advised that the funding formula for 2008 / 9 and beyond had
yet to be agreed with participating authorities but it was likely to be in the form of a small surcharge on all purchases with a single charge in the first 2 years to each authority.
It was further reported that the regional procurement group had worked
collaboratively with Firebuy but had also been able to find some excellent deals
on equipment by direct purchase. The group were looking closely, however, at
the BT and insurance deals negotiated by Firebuy before offering them to the
constituent fire authorities.
Questions were asked by Members with reference to the following issues;
• Choice of automatic transmission on fire appliances
• Communications with regional procurement teams
• Transfer of ownership of New Dimension equipment and subsequent
responsibility for maintenance / management
• Financing of Firebuy
• Length of contracts for ICP – impact on research and development
• Joint working / financing (Humberside and South Yorkshire) on combined
appliance rescue pump – possible recompense for substantial investment
made if this to be taken over by Firebuy
Resolved
(i) That the detail of the presentation and information offered by Firebuy be
noted;
(ii) That Members be circulated with a copy of the presentation; and
(iii) That Firebuy responds to specific queries made with reference to,
• Choice of transmission on fire appliances
• Arrangements for financial recompense to individual authorities where
relevant
11 Appointment of Member Champions
The Secretary submitted a report which sought the appointment of Member
champions.
Resolved
That Member champions be appointed for 2007 / 8 as follows;
| Resilience | Councillor J Bird | South Yorkshire |
| Councillor M Coulson | West Yorkshire | |
| Common Services | Councillor R Light | West Yorkshire |
| Regional Control Rooms | Councillor J Andrews | South Yorkshire |
| Councillor G Beever | West Yorkshire | |
| Procurement | Councillor E Broadbent | North Yorkshire |
| Training | Councillor D Atkinson | West Yorkshire |
| Personnel & HR Management | Councillor D Barkworth | Humberside |
| Councillor J Morley | North Yorkshire |
Strategic Functions - Update
12 Resilience
Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Fire Officer (South Yorkshire)
which provided an update on the issue of regional resilience.
Members were advised in some detail of the following issues;
• requirements under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 reinforcing
cooperation between emergency services
• roll-out of Detection, Identification and Monitoring (DIM) equipment /
training – existing arrangements due to end March 2008
• Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)
• High Volume Pumping (HVP) – update given on recent flooding incidents
and response of National Co-ordination centre based in West Yorkshire,
arrangements for re-charging under the Bellwin scheme
• Progress of Command and Control project – Enhanced Command
Support vehicle (ECS) to be located at Tadcaster, North Yorkshire for coverage
of the north east region, interim arrangements prior to implementation of Airwave
• Long-term capability management of New Dimension assets
• New Dimension funding and Mutual Aid protocols (all now signed)
• Regional resilience
Resolved
That the report be noted;
13 Specialist (Common) Services
Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Chief Officer of Humberside
Fire and Rescue Service and Director of Community Protection advising of the
progress made with the work in the Common Services strategic functional
theme and specifically in the following areas;
• Data sharing
• Work on support structure for the Regional Control Centre (RCC)
• Technical support – Fire safety
• Technical support – Community safety (three key working groups –
community safety, road safety and partnership working)
• Fire investigation – issues relating to training
• Operational convergence ie standard operating procedures, cross-border
Memoranda of understanding
• Feedback on proposed peer review – some concern remains with regard
to cost of the review
Resolved
That the report be noted
14 Regional Control Rooms
The Chief Fire Officer with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service submitted a
report 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 the following key
issues;
• Governance – original deadline for establishment of company had been
put back from May 2007 to September 2007. Members were advised
however that Communities and Local Government (CLG) recommended a
30-month lead-in time prior to the go-live date (April 2011) – this still
allowed time for the Company to be established in August / September
2008.
• Infrastructure services – including current Control Room costs estimates
and proposed regional cost breakdowns – basis for cost apportionment to
be provided by CLG in due course
• Firelink – design specifications due to be agreed by end of August 2007
• Interim control room solutions – not yet agreed
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That a letter be forwarded to Communities and Local Government (CLG)
advising of the intention to plan a cut-over date for the Regional Control
Centre company of 1 August 2008;
(iii) That two Members of the Regional Management Board (Councillors
Barkworth and Beever, or substitutes) be recommended to attend a
Regional Control Centre event (accompanied by an appropriate officer)
to be held in Leicestershire on 6 September 2007; and
(iv) That CLG be invited to organise a briefing for all Fire Authority members
on FiReControl issues on 4 October 2007 (after the next Regional
Management Board) to be concluded by a visit to the site.
15 Procurement
Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Chief Fire Officer (Director
of Support Services, South Yorkshire) which advised on progress against the
Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Procurement Strategy (including
management resources) and developments with regard to Firebuy (pumping
appliances and the Integrated Clothing Project).
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted; and
(ii) That a report be submitted to a future meeting detailing the business case
for the establishment of a Regional Procurement co-ordinator post.
16 Training
Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Chief Fire Officer (Director
of Human Resources) of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service which
updated Members on the Training function and specifically on the following
issues;
• Learning and development strategy – support for continuation of
individual training centres
• Specialist training (rescue, road traffic collision, instructor training,
advanced firefighter training)
• Possibility of identification of lead officers drawn from constituent brigades
for a number of specific training areas (effective use of resources)
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That approval be given to a more detailed review being undertaken by the
Strategic Training Function of specialist technical training, in particular
Road Traffic Collision and technical rescue instructors, and firefighting
and fire behaviour training to identify where training may be delivered by
one or more centres within the region;
(iii) That approval be given to a review by the Strategic Training Function of
the outcomes of the leadership project;
(iv) That a report be submitted to a future meeting in respect of (ii) above to
consider the potential for the establishment of a virtual centre for
leadership within the region;
(v) That a regional framework for the common design of training products be
provided by the Strategic Training Function as appropriate; and
(vi) That consideration of the value on the provision of a single training
administrative arrangements for the longer term be not pursued.
17 Personnel and HR Management
The Director of Human Resources at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
submitted a report which advised of the progress with regional collaboration on
human resource issues.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
18 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. Members were further advised that
the new Programme Management system would be reviewed within the
next few months by the Audit Commission as part of their overarching project - “Review of Arrangements for Supporting the RMB”.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
19 Date of Next Meeting
Resolved
That the next meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’
Regional Management Board be held on Thursday 4 October at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Birkenshaw
Chair