Agenda item

Presentation by Ian Taylor, Business Change Lead CFOA, ESMCP

The Chair introduced Ian Taylor, CFOA’s Business Change Lead on the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP), who had been invited to update the Committee on the scope and progress of the ESMCP. This report outlined the need to deliver a replacement communications system for the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) which was more in line with technological advances than the existing systems, FiRelink and Airwave. It was acknowledged that the system had worked well but that its equipment would be obsolete within a few years. It was noted that the new system, the Emergency Services Network (ESN), would be more cost effective than the current provision.

The report provided an update on the tendering process and confirmed that the users services contract had been awarded to Motorola and the network provider would be EE. The full business case was approved in autumn 2015 and the Committee were advised that the new system was likely to make financial savings just short of £3 billion over a 15-year period, and would be half the price of Airwave. Members were told that all Chief Fire Officers had agreed to sign up to ESN and that this was mirrored across all emergency services.

On funding, Ian Taylor explained that funding principles for the programme had not changed following a move from the Department for Communities and Local Government to the Home Office and that approximately £74 million would be provided by the Government to fund ESMCP. In terms of transition costs, £2 million of Section 31 grant money had already been assigned and a further £20 million was earmarked for FRSs to pay for transition costs over the next year. One of the key areas for transition lies within the extended area services (EAS) project. The Committee were told that the project would need to install 230 additional masts in remote locations not already covered by EE. It was acknowledged that there would likely be concerns from local residents about masts and that the ESMCP needs to be clear about the benefits the masts would bring in terms of extending access to 4G.

The report also offered members an update on governance and the review undertaken by the National Audit Office (NAO) last year. The NAO report identified concerns from staff about timelines, user engagement and the delivery of new technology, each of which the ESMCP are working to address. One of the concerns recently raised by the Public Accounts Committees about timescales was about contingency plans should the programme be delayed. ESMCP offered assurance that the emergency services would not lose access to Airwave and would not transition onto new system until it is ready. The Public Accounts Committee were satisfied with this response.

In terms of next steps, Ian Taylor offered to provide updates on the ESMCP going forward,

A discussion followed, in which Members raised the following points:

·         Questions were raised about Section 31 grants and what the additional money would cover. Ian Taylor explained that an additional £10 million would go towards improving ICT security measures for a number of authorities which were not originally considered in the full business case.

·         A Member noted that largescale public procurement projects were often fraught with unexpected problems. It was asked whether there were likely to be any extra unexpected costs. The Committee was advised that the ESMCP had negotiated a fixed price for development aspects of the project but that the EE network may have variable prices for usage.

·         The issue of coverage in rural areas was discussed at length, with several members noting that current coverage provisions are very poor in large swathes of the country. Ian Taylor responded by explaining that EE would have 97.5% coverage on all major roads in the UK under the new system but he acknowledged that more needed to be done to increase coverage in more isolated areas. He suggested that the ESMCP was working on stakeholder engagement to ensure that proposed masts were not blocked and that discussions were being had with councils’ and national parks’ planning teams to ensure that applications were approved as far as possible.

·         Members asked whether the ESMCP was in discussion with BT about coverage, given that they have spent £100 million on updating broadband in rural areas. It was explained that the programme had contracted with different suppliers on some lots and they expected BT to appear as a contractor or subcontractor somewhere along the line. The ESMCP is also looking at the possible use of satellites to enhance coverage in rural areas. The point about BT specifically was noted.

·         Members sought assurance that each individual FRA’s costs for the new system would be lower than they are under the existing FiRelink/Airwave system. Ian Taylor explained that tailored costs had been provided to each FRA, based on their current use of Airwave against the unit cost of the new system. All bar two services would be better off in terms of costs but other cost pressures may creep in. The Fire Finance Network was working with the ESMCP to ensure that the new programme would be cheaper than current provision.

·         Concerns were raised about whether the new digitalised system could be a risk of cyber-attack and how resilient the system would be from outside interference. It was noted that the old system was not subject to a cyber-attack but that the new one could be. Ian Taylor agreed that this was something to keep in mind but he offered assurance that security measures to prevent hacking had been applied. Though the next system would operate on 4G, it would operate at a layer above to prevent easy access by hackers. The Committee were told that these security measures would be tested robustly before the transition process begun.

Decision

The Fire Services Management Committee added to the recommendations that they were particularly concerned about the issue of rural coverage and then noted the ESMCP report and agreed to help the programme engage on planning issues related to rural coverage.

Action

Officers to monitor progress of the programme, informing members as and when updates from the ESMCP are available.