Agenda item

Update from Roy Wilsher, Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council

The Chair introduced Roy Wilsher, Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), who gave members an update on the work of the NFCC, seven months after it was first established. Roy was clear that a strength of the NFCC was the consistency and continuity it could provide across services and to members. It was noted that the position of the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser to the Home Office no long existed so Roy, as Chair of the NFCC, took on this role and provided professional and technical advice to the members, the new inspectorate and the Government, particularly in response to major incidents such as Grenfell. Roy also explained that the committee structures of the NFCC were working well and that the nine committees were all up and running.

In terms of providing professional and technical advice, Roy noted that statements on various issues had been put out by the NFCC in recent months and that these included references to marauding terrorism firearms attacks, pay, sprinklers, risk and demand, national resilience and business continuity plans, amongst others. The NFCC was also providing advice to the team working on the new inspectorate, and was being represented at meetings of the Professional Standards Body, the Fire Implementers Group, JESIP and the Strategic Resilience Board. Roy also noted the impact the Grenfell Tower had had on the NFCC, and the work he had been doing as part of the expert panel advising DCLG.

Members were told that the National Operational Guidance team were moving to a central program office, which sits within the London Fire Brigade, and would help manage projects in all areas and would work alongside CFOA staff who had transferred to the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service, while national resilience work was led by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services. Consideration was also being given to ensuring efficiency and value for money, with a particular focus on fire kit procurement and the Fire Commercial Transformation programme led by Ann Millington.

Finally, Roy spoke to members about the work done on the National Fire Chiefs Strategy, which the NFCC had worked closely with LGA officers on. The strategy for UK fire and rescue services was designed to complement the Fire Vision and was looking at five key areas: community risk, governance, workforce, finance and a new digital platform.

Members made the following comments:

·         A member asked what mechanisms were in place to influence or discuss conversations held between members, officers and other attendees at outside body meetings. Roy noted that all papers for NFCC meetings were available to the public and LGA officers noted that they were happy to circulate reports from meetings where possible. There would also be a standing item on each agenda for members to provide feedback following their attendance at outside body meetings.

·         A brief discussion was had about funding and Paul Hancock’s previous attendance at an FSMC meeting as CFOA President where he was he was optimistic that CFOA was moving towards a more independent source of funding. Roy said that in order to have a national group which works, help was needed from fire authorities. He said that a funding agreement needed to be in place by this time next year and while he could not put a figure on it, he said that the aim was to reduce the amount sourced from fire and rescue authorities as far as possible. Roy said he would update the Committee on this at future meetings.

Decision

Members noted the update.

Action

Officers to circulate any relevant reports to members following meetings with outside bodies.