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Full Authority 15 February 2008
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Minutes of a Meeting held at Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Birkenshaw, on Friday 15 February 2008
Present: Councillors P Booth (in the chair),
S Armitage D Atkinson, G Beever, V Binney, J Cole, M Coulson, J Godward, P Harrand, M Harkin,
D Hollingsworth, N Ikram, M Jamil, M Khan,
G Kirkland, R C Light, A McKenna, A Ogilvie, B Smith, R Taylor and G Wilkinson
Apologies: Councillor T Hardwick
62 Chairman's Announcements
Retirement ACO Allan Hughes
The Chairman advised members that this would be the last meeting of the full
Authority for ACO Allan Hughes, Director of Human Resources. It was reported
that Mr Hughes would formally retire at the end of March 2008.
A number of elected Members from all political groups and the Chief Fire Officer / Chief Executive publicly thanked Allan Hughes for his dedication and
commitment to the organisation during his 30 years’ service.
Performance Management – presentation
Members were reminded that a brief presentation
on Performance Management would take place immediately upon the rising of the meeting.
Attacks on firefighters
A short DVD presentation would be made on the conclusion of the meeting which illustrated the content of the Chief Fire Officer’s recent interview with Sky News on the issue of attacks on firefighters and the Authority’s Young Firefighters scheme.
Member training – Health and Safety
A Member training session on Health and Safety had been arranged for 2pm.
63 Admission of the Public
The meeting determined that there were no items which necessitated the
exclusion of the public.
64 Urgent Item
None.
65 Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest made in any matter under consideration at the meeting.
66 Award of the Queen's Fire Service Medal
The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive
submitted a report which advised Members of the award of the Queen’s Fire Service Medal to Nigel Charlston, Senior Fire Services Manager, in recognition of his achievements during his 33 year’s with the Fire Service.
Members congratulated Mr Charlston on his award which they regarded as a
fitting tribute in respect of all his achievements and, specifically, with regard
to his work in Fire Safety and his role in the establishment of best practice.
Resolved
That Mr Nigel Charlston, Senior Fire Services Manager, be congratulated on his
award of the Queen’s Fire Service Medal.
67 Minutes of the Last Meeting
Resolved
That the Minutes of the Authority at a meeting held on 21 December 2007 be
signed by the Chair as a correct record.
68 Minutes of the Audit Committee
That the Minutes of the Audit Committee at a meeting held on 25 January
2008 be received.
69 Minutes of the Finance and Resources Committee
Resolved
That the Minutes of the Finance and Resources Committee at a meeting held
on 1 February 2008 be received.
70 Minutes of the Executive Committee
Resolved
That the Minutes of the Executive Committee at a meeting held on 5 February
2008 be received.
71 Local Government Association - Minutes
Resolved
That the Minutes of the Fire Services Management Committee at a meeting held on 14 January 2008 be received.
72 Minutes of the Regional Management Board
Resolved
That the Minutes of the Regional Management Board at a meeting held on 10
January 2008 be received.
73 Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2008 / 09 – 2010 / 11
(Incorporating Revenue Budget, Capital Plan Treasury Management)
Members considered a joint report of the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive,
the Chief Finance Officer and the Director of Corporate Resources which
presented an overview of the financial position for 2008 / 2009 together with the draft revenue budget and £38m capital plan.
The report also sought approval for the Treasury Management Strategy and
advised of the prudential indicators.
The detail of the report advised Members of;
(i) the level of balances likely to be available at the start of the new financial
year
(ii) the cost of providing the current level of service in 2008 / 09
(iii) the review of announcements contained within the 2007 Comprehensive
Spending Review and the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2008
/ 09 – 2010 / 11
(iv) the Management Board budget proposals (including £1.102m service
development bids)
The Chief Finance Officer set out a strategy for the use of balances and provided positive assurance under section 25 of the Local Government Act
2003 of the adequacy of balances and the robustness of the budget estimates.
Resolved
1. (i) That, having considered the Prudential Indicators relating to the
revenue costs of funding capital investment, the three-year Capital
Investment Plan be approved as set out in Appendix 1 to the report
now submitted;
(ii) That approval be given to the Prudential Indicators in respect of
the following (details as outlined in the report now submitted)
(a) the Capital Financing Requirement
(b) the level of External Debt
(c) the Authorised Limit for external debt
(d) the Operational Boundary for external debt
(e) the upper limits on its fixed and variable interest rate exposures; and
(f) the limits for the maturity structure of its borrowings
(iii) That approval be given to the proposed borrowing strategy as set
out in the report;
(iv) That approval be given to the proposed changes to the investment
strategy as detailed in the report.
2. (i) That the Authority adopts the Budget set out in the report now
submitted and a precept of £49.91 at Band D, an increase of 3.947%.
(ii) That the Revenue Budget for 2008-09, net of the use of balances,
be set at £88.689m, and that the precept be agreed as follows:-
Budget Requirement £88,689,000
Less Revenue Support Grant £-6,753,423
Less Non-Domestic Rates £-48,513,138
Less Proportion of Collection Fund
Surpluses £-192,675
Precept 2008-2009 £33,229,764
(iii) That it be noted that the constituent District Councils have formally set their Council Tax bases for the year 2008-2009 in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 made under Section 33(5) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as follows:-
Bradford tax base £143,718.00
Calderdale tax base £63,633.70
Kirklees tax base £125,199.72
Leeds tax base £233,204.00
Wakefield tax base £100,017.00
Total £ 665,772.42
(iv) That the following amounts be now calculated by the Authority for
the year 2008-2009 in accordance with Sections 43 to 48 of the
Local Government Finance Act 1992:-
(a) £93,143,000 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Authority estimates for the items set out in Section 43(2)(a) to (d) of the Act.
(b) £4,454,000 being the aggregate of the amounts which the
Authority estimates for the items set out in Section 43(3)(a) to (b) of the Act.
(c) £88,689,000 being the amount by which the aggregate at (a) above exceeds the aggregate at (b) above calculated by the Authority in accordance with Section 43(4) of the Act as its budget requirements for the year.
(d) £55,266,561 being the aggregate of the sums which the Authority estimates will be payable for the year into its General Fund in respect of redistributed non-domestic rates, Revenue Support Grant and sums to be transferred from billing authorities Collection Funds.
(e) £49.911596 being the amount at (c) above less the amount at (d) above divided by the total amount at (ii) above, calculated by the Authority in
accordance with Section 44(1) of the Act as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year.
(f) Valuation Bands
£
A 33.274397
B 38.820130
C 44.365863
D 49.911596
E 61.003062
F 72.094527
G 83.185993
H 99.823192
being the amounts given by multiplying the amount at (e) above by the number which in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band 'D', calculated by the Authority in accordance with Section 47(1) of
the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.
(g) Resultant Precepts
Bradford £7,173,195
Calderdale £3,176,060
Kirklees £6,248,918
Leeds £11,639,583
Wakefield £4,992,008
Total £33,229,764
being the amounts given by multiplying the amount at (e) above by the appropriate tax base at (ii) above in accordance with Section 48(2) of the Act, as the amount of precept payable by each constituent District Council; and
(v) that the precept for each District Council as calculated above be issued
in accordance with Section 40 of Local Government Finance Act 1992.
74 Audit Commission – Fire and Rescue Performance Assessment 2007
The Director of Corporate Resources submitted a report which advised of the
results of the Fire and Rescue Performance Assessment 2007 carried out by the Audit Commission.
It was reported that, since the earlier assessment in 2006, there had been some changes to the scoring methodology as related to Performance Information and, as a result, this Authority had attracted a score of 2 (Adequate Performance) as compared with the previous 4 (Performing Strongly). The Operational Assessment of Service Delivery however remained at the maximum level of 4. Members were further advised that the allocated score for the Direction of Travel was 3 (as reduction on the previous year) and for Use of resources, 4 (an increase on the previous year).
Members were advised that the changes to the Performance indicators would
have a negative impact on the larger metropolitan authorities and the Chief Fire
Officer reported that a letter outlining concerns of this and similar authorities had been sent to the Head of the Audit Commission.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted; and
(ii) That a letter be sent to the Audit Commission expressing the concern of
elected Members at
the changes to the scoring methodology for Performance Information monitoring.
75 Comprehensive Area Assessment – Consultation Response
Consideration was given to a report of the Director
of Corporate Resources which advised Members
of the main changes from the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) to the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) process which was due to be implemented with effect from 1 April 2009.
Members were advised of the proposed responses to the consultation process
and took the opportunity to comment that there was concern over the frequency of the assessments and their intensive nature. They considered it more appropriate that they should be carried out on a 3-yearly basis for high
performing areas and only annually for those authorities at risk of not delivering
on priorities.
Resolved
(i) That the draft consultation response be approved as detailed at Annex A
to the report now submitted; and
(ii) That the response at (i) above be amended to include Members’
comments about the frequency of the assessments and associated
bureaucracy.
76 Use of Resources by Members – Adoption of Protocol
Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Corporate Resources
which proposed the adoption of a “Use of Resources by Members” protocol and
its incorporation into the Authority’s Constitution document as recommended by
the Finance and Resources Committee at its meeting held on 1 February 2008.
Resolved
That the Use of Resources by Members protocol be approved as detailed in the
report now submitted and be incorporated into the Authority’s Constitution.
77 Performance Management Report
The Chief Fire Officer / Chief Executive submitted a report which outlined the
activities of the Brigade in the areas of Operations and technical matters for
the period 1 April 2007 to 31 December 2007.
Members were advised that a number of changes had been made in terms of the presentation of the information as follows;
• Data shown on a monthly basis to enable direction of travel to be shown
clearly
• Inclusion of comparative information from other metropolitan brigades
• Violence at work incidents detailed on a district level
Members raised concern at the level of violent incidents and attacks on
firefighters and were advised that the Deputy Chief Fire Officer had recently
attended a meeting with the Assistant Chief Constable with a view to organising a countywide strategy which would focus on specific areas where such incidents were particularly prevalent.
Resolved
(i) That the report be noted;
(ii) That a report be submitted to a future meeting advising of the outcome of
meetings with local Police commanders concerning attacks on firefighters;
and
(iii) That future Performance Management reports include detailed
commentary from the District Managers.
Chair
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