Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Suzanne McCarthy, Chair of the Fire Standards Board, to the meeting and asked her to update members of the Commission on the work of the Board.

Suzanne explained that the Fire Standards Board was established by the Home Office in January to create a suite of professional standards which would support the continuous improvement of services delivered by fire & rescue services across England. This in turn would achieve greater transparency and lead to enhanced public confidence in fire services. She stressed that the Board is not a regulator and doesn’t have the power to enforce the standards. She said that the board comprises seven members with her as the independent chair, and an independent vice chair, Alison Sansome, who was also in attendance. She added that the Board has been given five years to establish the standards but she was optimistic that it could be done more quickly than this.

Suzanne went on to explain what the Board had been doing since it was set up in January:

·         She reported that the Board had now met three times, agreeing a governance process and a process for developing individual standards.

·         She stressed the importance of the Board not working in isolation and that they were seeking views of stakeholders in the process. To this end, she explained that a Strategic Engagement Forum had been established.

·         Work had started on creating a standard template. Suzanne stressed that this must be short, concise and written in plain English so that fire & rescue services are clear what is expected of them.

·         Scoping of a full suite of standards would take place at the Board’s next meeting in November.

Suzanne explained that the Board was working very closely with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) over the development of the standards and the two organisations were currently in the process of agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding.

Suzanne explained that the Board was going to pilot two standards in the first instance, to determine how well the process works, and that they aimed to get the first of these officially in place during 2020.

Suzanne stressed the importance of communicating what the Board was doing and flagged up the Board’s new website – www.firestandards.org. She asked members of the Commission to make use of it and to spread the word to other colleagues and stakeholders.

Suzanne concluded by saying that she wanted the Board to remain in regular dialogue with the LGA to make the process of developing and introducing the standards as efficient and effective as possible.

Following Suzanne’s presentation, members asked the following questions:

·         How would success be measured against the standards? Suzanne said that they would be reporting annually to the Home Office.

·         Wouldn’t it have been more sensible for the standards to have been set before the HMICFRS started work? Assurance was sought that the new standards were being led by the independent Board and not by the Inspectorate. Suzanne repeated that they are working closely with the Inspectorate but that they are separate independent bodies.

·         Within each standard, how high would the bar be set? Suzanne said that a basic standard would need to be reached but that support should also be provided to help and encourage Fire & Rescue Services to go beyond that standard.

The Chair thanked Suzanne for her presentation.

Decision

The Commission noted the presentation.