LGA Fire Conference and Exhibition 2020

Purpose of report

For discussion.

Summary

The paper summarised proposals for the LGA Fire Conference 2020 and asks members to comment on these proposals.

Recommendation That members comment on the proposals for the LGA Fire Conference 2020 content and format. Action That officers make changes with reference to members’ comments.

Contact officer:	Jessica Norman

Position: Policy Adviser

Phone no:	0207 664 3221

Email:	Jessica.norman@local.gov.uk

LGA Fire Conference and Exhibition 2020

Background

The LGA Fire Conference and Exhibition 2020 will be taking place on the 10-11 March at the Grand Hotel Blackpool with the Fire Services Management Committee meeting at the same venue on the 9 March.

We have conducted a review of last year’s feedback and a blank paper exercise to consider topics and potential new formats for this year’s conference.

Members are encouraged to comment on the topics suggested for both main and workshop sessions.

Feedback from 2019 Fire Conference

Feedback was received from 16 delegates for last year’s conference, these comments therefore only represent the views of a small proportion of the attendees.

Common criticisms were:

that they were hearing from the same speakers saying similar things to what they have heard elsewhere;

that there was duplication of content from plenary to workshops;

that HMI didn’t bring anything new to the audience in their presentation;

that the Minister was conspicuous by his absence;

that there were too many speakers in some sessions;

and that there could be more debate throughout the conference.

Topics identified as of interest or of concern were: Governance; Policy; Scrutiny; Culture change; Service innovation; Finance/funding; Recruitment and retention; On-call availability; Dealing with inspection; and Pressure to collaborate.

2020 Conference main sessions

We would like to propose we vary the main session format to include debate as well as traditional plenary formats. Members are asked to comment on this and suggest which sessions lend themselves to debate.

There are seven plenary sessions planned within the current programme; topics are suggested below.

Ministerial address: One of the main criticisms of previous conferences is that the Fire Minister has not been in attendance. Members may remember that for 2019 the Minister sent a short video and Luke Edwards, Director for Fire and Resilience, spoke on behalf of the Minister. This year Kit Malthouse MP, the new Minister, has agreed in advance to speak at conference and we would expect this to be the keynote session at the head of the conference.

Shadows session: Shadow Ministers for Labour and Liberal Democrat will have the opportunity to address the conference.

Climate crisis: With the increasing profile of the climate crisis agenda, the recent Whalley Bridge incident and previous wildfires, climate change is a possible new addition to the conference agenda. The proposal is to consider this from the perspective of an emergency service looking to deal with the consequences of climate change, and also how services can contribute themselves to the UK’s commitments to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Finance and funding: Members will be aware that the comprehensive spending review (CSR) was postponed this year and that a one year roll-over was conducted instead. The outcome of the CSR will be significant for the fire service when it is conducted and this is clearly a priority for the sector.

Building safety and Grenfell: The Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report is due to be published this autumn and this is expected to have national implications for the fire sector, as will the implementation of the Hackitt report recommendations. In particular the need for closer working between the fire services and council building control departments may be an area of focus for the Conference.

Responding to inspection: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) will have published the State of Fire and Rescue Report in December 2019; in the second tranche national report they made recommendations and it is expected they will do the same again. The sector will be expected to respond to these recommendations and this would be an opportunity to present this to the sector.

Culture, diversity and inclusion: HMICFRS’ reports have been quite clear that there are improvements needed in the ‘People’ pillar of inspection. As diversity is a priority for FSMC, members are asked to consider whether there should be a stand-alone session on this topic or whether it might be better to include an element of diversity and inclusion in each part of the programme.

One way of doing this may be to have a debate on the future of the firefighter workforce and have segments on elements like on-call, duty systems and recruitment fitness standards – all of which are integral to the discussion on inclusivity.

Workshop sessions

At Conference we usually have 10 workshops on the first day. The workshops are selected by members from a pool of bids made by the sector. This bidding system allows services and authorities to share innovative and interesting practices taking place across the service. The current bidding process is open and will close on 18 October. We have received five bids so far.

Other options for workshops include sessions on our sector-led improvement and good governance training offer.

Next steps

Members are asked to comment of the proposals within the paper.

Officers will develop a programme in line with these proposals and bring further drafts of the programme to the Committee for comment.