Agenda item

The Chair invited Fiona Twycross, FSMC’s Equality & Diversity Champion, to introduce the report.

Fiona said improving equality and diversity was a key focus for the LGA’s Fire Vision 2024 which set ambitious targets, including that 30% of new firefighter recruits should be female and that FRS staff should reflect the ethnic diversity of the communities they served. It was also important that this diversity was reflected at senior levels. Fiona said that the first cycle of HMICFRS inspections of FRS’s during 2019/20 had highlighted that significant issues remained around diversity and inclusion in the sector.

Fiona reminded members that in late 2019, the LGA established the Fire Diversity and Inclusion Champions Network to bring together FRA members with responsibility for diversityand inclusion to try and address some of HMICFRS’s criticisms. Fiona thanked everyone who had been involved so far and, in particular, for bringing an open and honest attitude to discussions. She also thanked Cllr Rebecca Knox who had deputised as Chair of the Network on several occasions. There had been 4 meetings of the Network during 2020 and 2 sessions on racial inequality were scheduled for January and February 2021.

Cllr Knox added that it was important for all FRA Chairs to get EDI on their meeting agendas on a regular basis in order for learning to be shared with all authority members.

Following the introduction, members raised the following points:

·       There was strong support for the LGA’s work on EDI and the targets in Fire Vision 2024. However, their achievability for FRS’s in more rural areas was queried. Fiona said that some FRS’s were already making significant progress to achieving the targets which proved it was possible. It was important to share best practice so all FRS’s could get up to this standard.

·       How did the LGA’s work on EDI align with that of the NFCC who had recently issued 3 equality of access statements? Rachael Aldridge, Adviser, said that the LGA worked closely with the NFCC on EDI and that in addition, the Fire NJC had established and leads the Inclusive Fire Service Group, the membership of which included the National Employers, FBU, FRSA, FOA and NFCC.

·       Was neurodiversity taken into account in the LGA’s EDI work as this was a significant issue in some FRS’s? Rachael said that she had spoken with the CFO of East Sussex FRS, where this is a particular issue and would schedule a session on neurodiversity at a future meeting of the Champions Network.

·       It was suggested that one route of increasing workforce diversity was through the RDS (on-call) workforce where staff turnover was higher than fulltime. The job marketing also needed to more effectively target potential female and BAME recruits. Fiona agreed with this analysis and said that it was particularly important for services that relied heavily on RDS (on-call) firefighters – often more rural brigades. It was suggested that the NFCC’s On-Call Steering Group be relaunched in order to address these issues.

Decision:

·       Fire Services Management Committee noted the report.

Action:

·       Officers to e-mail the agenda report to Cllr Byrom.

·       Officers to schedule a session on neurodiversity on Fire Diversity & Inclusion Champions Network forward plan.