LGA Governance


Agenda item

Agenda item

Thomas Review

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Adrian Thomas, who had been appointed by the Fire Minister to undertake an independent review of terms and conditions for operational staff in the fire and rescue service.  He informed members that he was an HR professional, but had no experience with the fire and rescue service prior to the commencement of his review.  He explained that he had visited approximately 20 fire and rescue services out of 46, and had met with representatives of some others.  He would be drawing his final report together in January 2015, and would report to the Minister in February 2015. 

 

Adrian Thomas stressed that his comments related to practice he had found during visits to individual Fire & Rescue Services and should not be taken as applying to all. He also pointed out that this feedback was not his words but rather what authority members or FRS staff or representatives had said to him. He commented that he had been shocked by the culture of the fire service, and the general lack of trust between operational staff and management. It was his view that the conditions of service reinforced this issue, and resulted in a combative and negative behavioursHe felt that there was a lack of clarity over who the end users or customers of the service were; the community as a whole, or individual residents who dialled 999. There was also a general aversion to service change and different ways of working. 

 

He had noted a poor relationship between full-time and retained firefighters, and commented that there were cases where a full crew for a particular appliance could not be found as full-time staff would not mix crews with retained staff.  Individual fire and rescue services adapted grey book rules to meet local needs, although some stuck firmly to the roles as set out in the grey book.  Adrian noted that there was a lack of understanding of governance of the service and the role of the National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services, although also concern that without it each fire and rescue service would have to negotiate individually. 

 

Members noted Adrian Thomas’ comments and observations with concern.  During the discussion which followed, the following points were raised:

 

  • The public satisfaction rate with fire and rescue services remained very high.  Adrian Thomas commented that the service was performing well, but his report would focus on the areas which needed improvement to provide an aspirational vision of the current fire and rescue service.  Reduction in the number of recorded fires was easy to track, but improvements and customer satisfaction levels in other areas such as community safety was less easy to quantify. 
  • The grey book itself was not preventing delivery of an excellent fire service, although the application of it may be.  Although it was seen by many managers as a barrier to service change, many staff members saw it as a positive tool for negotiations. In other organisations similar conditions of service as the grey book had been replaced by a contract of employment and general employee handbook.  
  • There was great concern regarding the amount of bullying and harassment cases which had been anecdotally reported as part of the review, although the actual number of reported cases remained very low.  The service also suffered from very low morale, although this was common in the public sector given the level of cuts and the ongoing pension dispute with government could contribute to the issue.  However, this did not translate into people leaving the service.

Adrian Thomas commented that he hoped that the Fire Brigades Union would contribute evidence for the review on this subject before the closing date later in December 2014. 

  • There was an acknowledgement from front line staff that service change was inevitable including co-responding with other emergency services.  Co-responding was currently being undertaken on a voluntary basis. 

·         There was a concern about succession planning for Chief Fire Officers and a sense of managerial and technical management rather than strong leadership. The educational standards required for entry and progression were very low in comparison to other public organisations. 

·         Any recommendations from the report would likely be left for the next government to implement following the General Election in May 2015.  The final report was yet to be written, and it was unclear at this stage if the report would be published to a wider audience following submission to the Fire Minister.  The Board supported the view that the report be published. 

·         The FSMC requested that the final report presents a balanced view of the F&RS and one that was not sensationalised by some experiences.

·         Members would welcome Adrian Thomas’ report explaining what leadership was like in the F&RS.

 

The Chair thanked Adrian Thomas for the update on his review, and commented that he hoped that the report would be published before the next meeting of the Committee at the LGA’s Annual Fire Conference. 

 

Decision

 

The Committee noted the report.

 

Action

 

That FSMC discuss the recommendations of the Review at the March FSMC

 

Supporting documents: