Agenda item

The Chair introduced Dan Greaves, Fire & Resilience Director at the Home Office, who spoke to the Fire Commission about the Home Secretary’s speech on fire reform.

The Home Secretary has great respect for the fire service’s strengths and achievements in securing the continued downward trend in deaths, false alarms, and its work on prevention and with partners. There were three key areas covered in the Home Secretary’s speech: efficiency and collaboration, workforce reform, and governance and transparency.

There is already lots going on across the fire service to reduce expenditure, but the government wants to see all up to the standard of the best. The collaborative duty contained in the Police & Crime Bill is to support this work. Research and development is another key area where Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) can work with CFOA and partners to deliver efficiency.

The Government believes better procurement can result in savings and is an area where efficiencies can be made. The Fire Minister will write to all FRAs and will publish a table showing how much each authority has paid for 25 standard items of equipment.

The government will offer a four year funding settlement in exchange for robust financial plans from authorities.

The Home Secretary set up the College of Policing to set standards and expectations within the police. The intention is to establish something similar for the fire service to drive up standards and professionalism. This provides an opportunity for the sector to set this framework for the service.

The high spend on workforce means it needs to be flexible and diverse. Flexible deployment means an increase in on call firefighters and there shouldn’t be a distinction between on-call and whole-time firefighters. Traditional models should not be barriers to change.

The Home Secretary and the Director have heard from some that the National Joint Council (NJC) is a barrier to change. If so, the challenge to the sector on the NJC is to reform it or withdraw from it.

The natural churn within the FRS gives it an opportunity to change the demographic of the service so that it is more representative. The Home Secretary does not want to set targets for this but she will provide challenge where necessary. There is nothing in the Thomas review that FRAs need to see before they take action on this

On governance the Home Secretary’s view is that a single individual elected with a mandate for change is able to provide strong leadership and accountability at the ballot box. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are expected to work with local representatives. These plans are not mandatory but are to be locally led. Police will not be taking over the FRS, there will be clear distinctions in finances. The government is not going to change its view on this however, it is willing to have a conversation on who conducts the independent review. Where FRAs do not agree PCC proposals, the Home Secretary will submit the business case for independent review with counter-representations. There is no guarantee that PCCs will be able to take over FRAs without their consent.

The Home Secretary wants to see robust independent assessments which are comparable. She will lay amendments to the Police & Crime Bill to establish an independent inspection regime. Inspection and peer review are about assurance and improvement and serve two different purposes, and again the Home Office wants to hear FRA views and have their input to its development.

The government has a programme for fire reform which is radical, ambitious and sector driven. The reforms aim for a more accountable, effective, professional than ever before.

In the discussion which followed the Director’s talk a number of points were raised:

·         The Director would like to meet a group of elected members to discuss what the independent inspection regime will look like and how the independent review of a PCC business case will work in practice. He also indicated that he was willing to discuss the points made in the on-call report produced by Kent.

·         The Director recognised that some county fire authorities have good links with other public services, which is why when looking at governance it is important to look at the process and balance of benefits.

·         The Home Office does not have a position currently on sprinklers or carbon monoxide alarms. However, they are looking again at a ‘fire kills’ campaign and fire prevention.

·         The Home Office is aware of the long-term downward trend in demand and the reductions in staffing within the FRS. There will continue to be reductions and FRAs should look at efficiency and collaboration to reinvest in the frontline.

·         The Home Office does not want to penalise those FRAs that have already made savings through efficiency and collaboration and will take this into account when looking at efficiency plans.

·         The Home Secretary is not in favour of five year plans and national targets around diversity and representation. There is churn in on-call firefighters and it is up to the sector to make drive change, and the Home Office will work with them to achieve this.

·         The relationship with the FRS and the Home Office is a positive one accepting of change and able to offer lots to the police and public sector.

·         On governance leadership is critical to maximise efficiency. There are a range of views in relation to the success of PCCs but the Home Affairs Select Committee recently said they were more effective than police authorities. Members are embedded in their communities and elected by the people.

·         The duty to collaborate with the ambulance service is part of the Police & Crime Bill.

·         The Home Secretary is not in favour of top down reorganising the service. If a PCC does not want to assume responsibility for the FRS then the Home Secretary is happy to leave the arrangements as they stand.

The Chair thanked the Director for attending the meeting and looked forward to working together in the future.

Decision

The Fire Commission noted the paper and the comments of the Fire & Resilience Director.