Hampshire County Council Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Meeting

Apologies were received from Councillor Jonathan Glen.

The Chairman also took the opportunity to welcome Councillor Dave Stewart from the Isle of Wight Council, and James Payne from the Police and Crime Commissioners office.

Members were mindful of their duty to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they had in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest was not already entered in the Authority's register of interests, and their ability to disclose any other personal interests in any such matter that they might have wished to disclose.

It was noted that Councillor Dave Stewart’s name was misspelled in the minutes. The minutes of the last meeting were then agreed and signed by the Chairman.

There were no deputations for the meeting.

The Chairman opened his announcements by thanking the Fire Service for their help and assistance to the public with the flooding that had affected areas of the County. The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the Fire and Rescue Service were working closely with the Police and other Authorities. Whilst high volume water pumps were on hand for other Service’s to use, there had not been a requirement for them yet.

The Chairman updated Members on the Combined Fire Authority (CFA), stating that the Home Office were continuing with their planned timetable to lay the Combination Order before Parliament in early March.   Following this, if all went to plan, the order would come into force on 1 April. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer thanked the Legal team for their hard work within the challenging time frames and also Geoff Howsego for his contributions to the CFA and getting it to the stage it was at. The Chairman echoed thanks to Geoff on behalf of the Authority ahead of him leaving the Fire and Rescue Service in May.

Paul Hodgson, Head of Legal for the Fire Authority, confirmed that Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council had been invited to appoint Members to the Shadow Authority at their upcoming County Council meetings, ahead of the first meeting in April. The first meeting would focus on the appointment of a Chair and Vice Chairman and the adoption of key constitutional documents.

Members also learned that the Risk Management Policy had been consulted on with the public at the end of 2019. This had been overseen by the Consultation Institute who said “The HFRS/IWFRS recent consultation was another example of good practice and we were encouraged by the way in which they were continually open to adapting their Consultation to the requirements of their public”.

HMICFRS inspection dates had now been confirmed, and the inspections of IWFRS and HFRS would take place separately. The IWFRS discovery week will commence on 30 March 2020, with the inspection week starting 27 April 2020 and the HFRS discovery week will commence on 31 August 2020, with the inspection week starting 28 September 2020.

A new “Protection Board” was being led by the National Fire Chiefs Council and its purpose was to develop a programme of work designed to deliver the Secretary of State’s commitment to increase the pace of activity across high-rise residential buildings with ACM cladding systems.

Hampshire Officers were engaged with the group to help shape developments such as a revised framework to help deliver better and more consistent regulation with regards fire safety.

The Chairman paid thanks on behalf of the Fire Authority to the Fire Fighters fighting the Australian wildfires. Members learned that UK Fire and Rescue Services were represented through the national resilience lead officer, and Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were linked into this officer. A Hampshire Fire Fighter had gone out on leave to assist with a charity during the recovery process.

The Chairman confirmed his attendance at the Unity 101 Community Radio 14^th Anniversary Awards and Achievement Dinner, which was the south’s first and longest running Asian and ethnic community radio station.

On the 14 February Cosham Fire Station organised an “I Need My Space” event to raise awareness of where vehicles are parked by residents as well as how emergency vehicles are received and accounted for on the road when attending an incident.

On the 6 April there was a commemorative event planned to mark 10 years since the death of two Fire Fighters at Shirley Towers. Further details would follow in due course.

The Chairman confirmed his attendance on 22 January at the LGA Diversity Champions Network event, whereby he was able to update attendees on Hampshire Fire and Rescue initiatives.

Councillor Rhydian Vaughan had attended the Princes Trust event in Basingstoke in December.

Councillor Roger Price had attended a presentation on Grenfell, which included a presentation by the London Mayor, as well as a Fire Service Management Committee meeting, which would be discussed further at a future APAG meeting.

Councillor Sharon Mintoff had also attended a Princes Trust event in Southampton in December.

Councillor Geoff Hockley left the meeting before the recommendations were approved by the Authority

The Authority considered a report from the Treasurer (item 7 in the minute book) regarding the budget and precept requirement for 2020/21.

The following paragraphs were highlighted to the Authority:

16 – that referendum limit had been assumed at 2% in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and this had now been confirmed by the Government;

20 - £179,00 should read £179,000;

36 – there was a surplus being available within the budget of just over £1m;

46 - a small deficit of £116,000  was predicted for 2021/22;

47 – the plan was to balance the budget in 2021/22 through the use of reserves (or reduced contributions to reserves) as done in previous years;

51/52 – efficiency savings that were being considered; and

57 – the report was seeking approval for funding of up to £800,000 from the Capital Payments Reserve for the costs anticipated for the implementation of an Availability and Competency Management System.

During questions, Members learned that the increased cleaning costs as stated in paragraph 14 would be further investigated. Cleaning across HFRS estate were a combination of in-house and external contracts and that value for money was always a priority when setting up and continuing contracts. It was highlighted that Fire Fighters did do a lot of cleaning themselves to maintain operational areas and equipment and that was separate to cleaning costs under discussion.

Paragraphs 40-41 in the report covered the overspend with Phase 2 of the Strategic Headquarters and Members were happy that a compromise had been negotiated following two years of discussions.

RESOLVED:

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority approved:

1.         The Revenue Budget, as set out in Appendix A.

2.         The interim financial plan as set out in paras 44 to 53.

3.         The Capital Programme and funding as set out in Appendix C.

4.         The additional works at a cost of £80,000 on Basingstoke Fire Station, which would be funded from the Capital Payments Reserve.

5.         That the forecast overspend of £77,000 on the Strategic Headquarters capital programme be funded from the Capital Payments Reserve.

6.         Funding of £800,000 from the Capital Payments Reserve for implementation of the Availability and Competency Management System.

7.         The virement to create new posts within the FM function to bring the service fully in-house.

8.         A total of £1,035,000 to be budgeted and transferred to the Transformation Reserve in 2020/21.

9.         The Reserves Strategy as set out in Appendix D.

10.      The Treasury Management Strategy as set out in Appendix E, including the Annual Investment Strategy for 2020/21, (and the remainder of 2019/20).

11.      That authority be delegated to the Chief Finance Officer to manage the Fire and Rescue Authority’s investments and borrowing according to the Treasury Management Strategy Statement as appropriate.

12.      The Capital and Investment Strategy as set out in Appendix F for 2020/21, (and the remainder of 2019/20).

13.      The Section 25 Report as set out in Appendix G.

14.      The council tax requirement for the Authority for the year beginning 1^st April 2020 of £44,492,056.

15.      The Authority’s tax be increased by 1.99% for the year beginning 1^st April 2020 and for the properties in each band, as set out in para 18 of this report:

Band A:            £46.04                                    Band E:          £84.41

Band B:                        £53.71                                    Band F:          £99.75

Band C:                        £61.39                                    Band G:         £115.10

Band D:                        £69.06                                    Band H:         £138.12

16.      The precepts set out in para 19 of this report, totalling £44,492,056, which are to be issued on the billing authorities in Hampshire, requiring the payment in such instalments and on such dates set by them and previously notified to the Authority, in proportion to the tax base of each billing authority’s area as determined by them.

The Authority considered a report from the Chief Fire Officer (item 8 in the minute book), which proposed a risk management policy position for the Fire Authority, setting out how the Fire and Rescue Service in Hampshire and Isle of Wight will approach risk management.

It was highlighted that through a proposed risk management approach, the Fire and Rescue Service would align external risks far more closely with internal risks, creating a truly integrated risk management process. The policy would support both the Hampshire as well as the Isle of Wight Safety Plans.

Members learned that the whilst the policy position would be reviewed in 2024, the risk register was more fluid and a working document.

RESOLVED:

The Risk Management Policy was approved by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

The Authority considered a report from the Chief Fire Officer (item 9 in the minute book). Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority (HFRA) and the Isle of Wight Council (IWC) had agreed that due to the imminent Combined Fire Authority (CFA) that a fully aligned Safety Plan would be proposed for both HFRA and the IWC.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer thanked the community for their participation and contributing to the consultation that took place towards the end of 2019 and formed the basis of the plan and priorities within.

Longer term visions had been captured within the plan, but it was acknowledged that risk management would be reviewed and updated regularly. The plan was all inclusive, making things safer not only for members of the public, but also staff and the organisation as a whole.

Members queried whether the sprinkler review should be incorporated as part of the Safety Plan and it was agreed that this could be added. Comments on page 140 of the pack on the Forestry Commission had been discussed and it was noted that ongoing dialogue with Forestry England had meant that progress had already been made regarding comments in paragraphs 5.11 and 5.13.

Councillor Dave Stewart from the Isle of Wight supported the document and the cross-working approach going forwards.

The Chief Fire Officer thanked the Authority for their support with the Plan.

RESOLVED:

Option 1 was approved by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority to adopt the aligned Hampshire and Isle of Wight Safety Plan for 2020-25.

It was resolved that the public be excluded from the meeting during the

following items of business, as it was likely, in view of the nature of the

business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if

members of the public were present during the items there would be

disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of

Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all

the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the

exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for

the reasons set out in the reports.

The exempt minute regarding Property Matters from 4 December 2019 was approved by the Authority.

The exempt minute regarding the Local Pay Award was approved by the Authority.