Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board
Annual Meeting Held on Thursday 21 July 2005 at Humberside Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Hull
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 M Cuthbert (as substitute for Councillor P Scriven)
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor G Beever
Councillor P M Harrand
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 A Trowsdale North Yorkshire
Mr M Smitherman South Yorkshire
Mr K Arbuthnot West Yorkshire
Mr A Hughes West Yorkshire
Ms J Freeman ODPM, FireControl project
1 Appointment of Chair
Resolved
That Councillor R Light (West Yorkshire) be appointed Chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board for the 2005 / 2006 year.
2 Appointment of Vice Chair
Resolved
That Councillor C Randall (Humberside) be appointed Vice Chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board for the year 2005 / 2006.
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 2005 / 2006 as notified by the constituent Fire Authorities as follows.
Humberside - Councillor C Randall and Councillor N Sherwood
North Yorkshire - Councillor E Broadbent and Councillor J Morley
South Yorkshire - Councillor J Andrews, Councillor J Bird and Councillor P Scriven
West Yorkshire Councillor G Beever, Councillor P M Harrand, Councillor M Khan and Councillor R Light
The political composition of the Board was Labour 4, Liberal Democrat 4 and Conservative 3.
Resolved
That the report be noted
4 Apologies for Absence
Councillor M Khan – West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor P Scriven – South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
5 Urgent Items: Appointment of Auditor – Audit Commission
The Chair had agreed to the inclusion of the item advising of the appointment of an Auditor for the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Management Board on the grounds that the information from the Audit Commission had been received after the despatch of the agenda papers. The item would be considered immediately after agenda item 17 (Min. no. 18 refers).
6 Admission of the Public
The meeting determined that there were no items which necessitated the exclusion of the public.
7 Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest made in any matter under consideration at the meeting.
8 Minutes of the Final Meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Fire Forum held on 7 April 2005
These were agreed as a correct record.
9 Appointment of Member Champions
The Secretary submitted a report which sought the appointment of Member champions to replace those Members who were no longer members of the RMB.
Resolved
That replacement Member champions be appointed as follows;
Regional Control Rooms - Councillor G Beever, West Yorkshire
Procurement - Councillor E Broadbent, North Yorkshire
Training - Councillor N Sherwood, Humberside
Personnel & HR Management - Councillor C Randall, Humberside
10 Regional Management Board – Progress
Consideration was given to a report of the Secretary which advised of progress made against the nationally set objectives for the Regional Management Board.
Members were advised that much of the work associated with the six strategic functions was not subject to specific deadlines or detailed objectives. This report was the first of a series of periodic reports which indicated the status of individual projects.
Upon consideration of the annex, comment was made about the relevance of the inclusion of reference to Integrated Risk Management Plans which were a local rather than regional issue. One other issue of concern was the reference to FireBuy where little or no progress had been made. This was not due to poor performance on behalf of the RMB but rather that the national programme was slipping and, as a result, no regional work had yet been completed.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted; and
(ii) That a revised report be submitted to the October meeting of the RMB which detailed more precisely the work undertaken on behalf of the Regional Management Board.
Strategic Functions - Update
11 Resilience
The Deputy Chief Fire Officer (West Yorkshire) submitted a report which provided an update on the issue of regional resilience.
It was reported that there was planned deployment of a further five High Volume Pumps into the region by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Members expressed concern about the cost of the equipment together with its infrequent use.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That a report be submitted to the next meeting advising of ODPM guidelines for the deployment of such equipment ; and
(iii) That details of the use made of the equipment be submitted to future meetings as appropriate.
12 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;
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted; and
(ii) That a report be submitted to the next meeting of the RMB seeking approval of the criteria for Level III mobilisation.
13 Regional Control Rooms
The Director of Fire Safety and Technical Services with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service submitted a report which advised Members of the status of the FireControl project.
It was reported that no announcement had yet been made with regard to site location and preferred developer as had been expected in late Spring. There was a possibility that this would, unusually, be announced during parliamentary recess.
Members were advised that the FireLink radio project had slipped back a further six months and, should the national FireControl team further delay its own deliberations over resourcing requirements at local and regional levels as part of the new burdens remit, the project may not be able to achieve the key milestones.
Some funding (£159,030) had been received as an interim payment to reimburse expenditure by the region. This would be apportioned between constituent authorities as detailed in the terms of the RMB’s Constitution.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That the communications strategy for consultation with stakeholders be reported to the next meeting;
(iii) That a letter be sent to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister outlining Members’ concerns at the way in which the project was currently being handled and expressing concern at the lack of information with regard to the tangible benefits of Regional Control; and
(iv) That the letter at (iii) above be circulated to other Regional Management Boards for information.
14 Procurement
A verbal report was given to Members by the Chief Fire Officer of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service with regard to the progress to date on regional procurement.
It was reported that the national strategy was still awaited although some collaboration had taken place on a regional level with regard to specific opportunities for joint procurement.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
15 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;
Members expressed concern at the possible duplication of effort when some of these issues were already being addressed at a local level and were perhaps not pertinent to the regional training function.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That work supporting Fire Authority Member development be continued at a local rather than regional level;
(iii) That a response be 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; and
(iv) That the appraisal of options for strategic incident command development and assessment systems in support of organisational competence and service resilience be reported back to the next meeting.
16 Personnel and HR Management
The Director of Human Resources at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service submitted a report which sought approval for the following draft protocols;
It was anticipated that these draft protocols, if approved, would be consulted on locally and used as a framework rather than a policy document within each constituent authority.
Members were further advised of the National Employers Guidance on Human Resource matters associated with Regional Control Rooms. The guidance provided information on the following three key issues;
Members continued to be concerned at the lack of clarity with regard to these issues and particularly whether redundancy payments, for example, would be a national, rather than regional / local, burden.
Resolved
(i) That the draft protocols be approved as annexed to the reports now submitted;
(ii) That the content of the National Employers’ Circular EMP/13/05 be noted; and
(iii) That further reports advising of the impact on staff of the implementation of regional control centres be brought back to the RMB at the earliest opportunity.
17 Date of Next Meeting
Resolved
That the next meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board be held on Thursday 20 October at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Birkenshaw.
18 Appointment of Auditor – Audit Commission
The Secretary to the Board submitted an urgent report advising of the appointment of an Auditor for the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Management Board together with information related to the payment of audit or related costs.
Resolved
That the appointment of Mr Mike Newbury, District Auditor from the Audit Commission’s Northern Region, as auditor to the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board be noted.
Chair
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