Cllr Chard gave members a summary of the meeting he and the Fire Services Management Committee lead members had with the Minister for Policing and the Fire Service on 10 October 2017. He told members that they discussed the independent assessment of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) business case submissions, the pay negotiations, the NJC and the implications of Grenfell Tower. The lead members and Cllr Chard told the Minister that if the fire and rescue service will be allocated a greater role in terms of inspections, it should come with additional resources and statutory duty. The Minister said he would welcome evidence from authorities detailing how much they had already spent, and predicted future costs.

In response to the update paper, the statistics in paragraph 14 were queried. It stated that 31 per cent of all incidents were non-fire related and that 29 per cent were fire related. It was not clear what sorts of the calls the remaining 40 per cent were made of. Officers said that they would look at the statistics and update members via email.

Decision:

Members noted the update paper.

Action:

Officers to review statistics featured in the paper and update members.