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> RMB Minutes 11 January 2007
Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Fire Authorities' Regional Management Board
Meeting held on Thursday 11 January 2007
at the Offices of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Joint Secretariat
Present:
Humberside Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor C Randall
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor E Broadbent
Councillor J Morley
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor J Andrews (Chair)
Councillor J Bird
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Councillor D Atkinson
Councillor G Beever
Councillor M Coulson (Vice chair)
Councillor R Light
Secretariat:
Mr M G Barnes
Mrs N Houseman
Treasurer :
Mr M Price
In attendance :
Mr K Marshall Humberside
Mr F Duffield Humberside
Mr N Hutchinson North Yorkshire
Mr A Trowsdale North Yorkshire
Mr M Davies South Yorkshire
Mr D Cutting South Yorkshire
Mr S Pilling West Yorkshire
Mr A Hughes West Yorkshire
Mr R Stuart Programme Manager
Ms J Freeman DCLG
37 Apologies for Absence
Councillor N Sherwood – Humberside Fire and Rescue Authority
Apologies were also presented on behalf of
Mr P Toase (Chief Fire Officer, West Yorkshire)
and of Mr M Smitherman (Chief Fire Officer,
South Yorkshire)
Resolved
That Members’ best wishes be sent to Mr Phil Toase, Chief Fire Officer, West Yorkshire, for a full and speedy recovery.
38 Minutes of the Board at a Meeting
Held on 19 October 2006
Resolved
That the Minutes be signed by the Chair as a
correct record.
39 Urgent Items
None.
40 Admission of the Public
Resolved
That the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the item of business specified
below as it was likely, in view of the nature
of business to be transacted or the nature of
the proceedings, that if members of the public
and press were to be present during this item,
there would be disclosure to them of exempt information of the description specified.
Agenda Item No - 14
Title of Report - Annex – Regional Control
Centre – Establishment of Company
Minute Number - 49
Description of exempt information by
reference to the paragraph number in
Schedule 12A of the
Local Government Act
1972 - Paragraph 5 -
legal privilege
41 Declarations of Interest
Councillor Light declared a non-prejudicial
interest in agenda item no. 10 (Procurement).
42 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 remained on target to be achieved.
Resolved
That the Progress Report be not reported to future meetings of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board as this would be superseded by the standing item (listed
at agenda item no. 13 to this agenda) – Programme Management – Update (Min no 48 refers).
Strategic Functions– Update
43 Resilience
Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Fire Officer (South Yorkshire) which provided an update on the issue of regional resilience.
The report covered the following main issues;
• production of regional Community Risk Register and one by each local resilience forum
• roll-out of mass decontamination / HAZMAT specialist vehicle (24 trained operators across
the region)
• update on position regarding USAR, HVP, Command and Control,
Operational logistics
and interoperability, New Dimension Funding
and Mutual Aid arrangements
• location of New Dimension assets across the region
Resolved
That the report be noted.
44 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 with the work in the Common Services strategic functional theme.
The report covered the following main issues;
• progress towards regional Memorandum of Understanding on promotion of the use of sprinklers
• IT – document management and website development
• Fire Safety
• Adoption of performance management framework
• Technical support – Community Safety, Fire Investigation
• Data sharing
• Regional Personal Protective Equipment
(Fire Investigation)
• Operational convergence
Members were advised that all five of the national framework requirements had been completed (reduction of false alarms, remote monitoring of fire alarms model agreement, reduction of hoax and unwanted AFA’s (Automatic Fire Alarms), logging of callers creating most demand and pooling of fire investigation capacity).
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That a report from the Sprinkler sub-group be reported to each meeting; and
(iii) That individual Fire Authority Chairs (North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire) be requested to give consideration to writing to the Chair of their local Police Authority to request urgent progress towards signing the Memorandum of Understanding regarding technical support – fire investigation.
45 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 and progress on the FireLink scheme.
The report covered the following main issues;
• Update on FireLink
• DCLG proposed options for Facilities Management
• Human Resources
• Progress with National Business case
• FRS Circular 76-2006 (FireControl Project – Implementation Funding 2007 – 08)
Members expressed their continued frustration at the lack of clarity and direction due to the delay in the production of a final National Business Case and particularly with the unsatisfactory information on the financial aspects of the project (current net costs estimate likely to exceed existing costs, intra-regional apportionment, reverse premiums, separation of FireControl and FireLink and other general funding issues). Concern was also raised at the perceived underutilisation
of floorspace in the new Regional Control Centre.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted; and
(ii) That DCLG be advised of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board’s preference for option 2 (Facilities Management) which would allow critical services to be procured centrally for all the Regional Control Centres with optional access to centrally procured essential services;
46 Procurement
Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Chief Fire Officer (Director of Support Services, South Yorkshire) which advised of the work being undertaken at national level with regard to various national procurement projects, the work in hand to respond to FRS Circular 65-2006 (Consultation on the Future Funding of FireBuy) and progress against the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Procurement Strategy.
It was reported that there was no business case at present which would support the appointment of a Regional Procurement co-ordinator.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That the Procurement lead officer (South Yorkshire FRS, Director of Support Services) be instructed, to compose (in consultation with the Secretary and Treasurer to the Board) and
submit a response to FRS Circular 65-2006 on behalf of the Board.
[Councillor Robert Light declared a non-prejudicial interest and remained in the room during consideration of this item].
47 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.
The report covered the following main issues;
• progression of Best Value review
• receipt of funding from Capacity Building Fund for leadership and culture change assessment tools across the region
• implementation of national Firefighter selection tests and Assessment and Development Centres
Resolved
That the report be noted.
48 Personnel and HR Management
The Director of Human Resources at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service submitted a report which updated Members on the regional collaboration on Human Resource issues – a regional protocol had been adopted for rank to role implementation.
Members were further advised that additional administration would be required with regard to the organisation of the national selection tests and this may be outsourced. Work was ongoing with regard to the implementation of the Regional Control Centre and related Human Resource issues.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
49 Programme Management Update
Consideration was given to a report of the interim Programme Manager which advised Members on the action taken to meet the requirements of the programme management commission.
The main issues covered in the report were as follows;
• results of the gap analysis of the RMB’s position
• proposed programme of future programme management work, timetable for action and ongoing Programme Manager requirement
• update on the establishment, implementation and management of a clear administration process for reporting to the RMB.
Resolved
(i) That the current position with regard to Programme Management be noted;
(ii) That future status reports subsume the RMB Milestones report (Min no. 41 refers);
(iii) That the proposed programme of work and timetable for action be
supported;
(iv) That a clear administration process be introduced and a Programme
Management Team established comprising representatives from the six
strategic projects; and
(v) That (iv) above be subject to review.
50 Establishment of Regional Control Centre Company
The Secretary submitted a report which updated Members on the proposals to establish the Regional Control Centre Company.
The target date for the establishment of a company in Yorkshire and Humberside was 1May 2007 for which the constituent Fire Authorities would be required to enter into a legal agreement and provide associated funding.
Confidential legal advice had been sought from specialist corporate solicitors which had been circulated to Members.
Resolved
(i) That the report and confidential legal advice be noted;
(ii) That the formal policy decisions relating to the establishment of the Regional Control Centre Company and specifically how it may be governed (proportional or equal ownership) and the method of funding be remitted to the constituent Fire Authorities without delay;
(iii) That decisions concerning the appointment and inter-regional
proportionality of Company Directors be considered at a future meeting as appropriate; and
(iv) That the transitional arrangements be
considered at the April 2007 meeting of the RMB.
51 Amendment to Framework Agreement
Consideration was given to a report of the Secretary to the Board which advised that each constituent Authority had given its approval to the proposed amendment to the Framework Agreement as considered at the October 2006 meeting of the Board. The amendment related to the apportionment of officer support costs (time and travel) for participation by lead officers in national working groups.
Resolved
That paragraph 2 (b) Schedule 5 of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board Framework Agreement be deleted and replaced with the following;
“There will be no recharge for Officer time, save for the time and travel costs of lead Officers arising from participation on behalf of the RMB on national working groups which costs shall be pooled and reallocated to the Constituent Authorities in accordance with the formula set out in paragraph 1to this Schedule”.
52 Date of Next Meeting
Resolved
That the next meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside Fire Authorities’ Regional Management Board be held on Thursday 29 March 2007 at the North Yorkshire FRS Training Centre, Easingwold.
Chair
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