Agenda and minutes

Cllr Ray Jelf substituted for Cllr Stewart Lilly and Cllr Michael Gibbard substituted for Cllr Anthony Gearing. 

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 3 September (SSC3) and to note for information any matters arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 September (SSC3) were approved as a correct record and signed by the chairman.

Matters arising from the meeting 3 September.

·        Item 45/12: Councillor Pressel requested a road safety update.  The chairman confirmed he would investigate if this formed part of the work programme with Environment and Economy.

·        Item 46/12: Councillor Pressel requested a figure for the number of applicants for the community library co-ordinator. It was confirmed that an update on progress would be covered in the meeting but the number of applicants can’t be disclosed at this stage.

There we no requests to address the committee or petitions.

10.10

The Head of Law and Culture, Peter Clark, will give a verbal update on key issues affecting Registration, Coroner’s Services and Cultural Services.

The Chief Fire Officer, Dave Etheridge will update the committee on key issues for the Fire & Rescue and Community Safety including the election of the new Police & Crime Commissioner and current performance.

Jacquie Bugeja gave a verbal update on Behalf of The Head of Law and Culture Peter Clark. The update included, amongst other items:

·        The customer satisfaction for the registration service remains high (98% of certificate application clients and 100% of key partners). Since the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 came into force in October 2012 only one enquiry has been received and no firm bookings made regarding couples being able to get married any time of day or night. 

·        The Oxfordshire Coroner’s Service has,  in conjunction with Hertfordshire County Council been organising training sessions for Coroner’s, Coroners’ Officers, Court Clerks and Volunteers. 

·        The library service had the following updates:

-          Implementation of the roll out programme for phase one of the self-service machines. 

-          Working with the Arts Council and partners to apply for funding through its Grants for the Arts programme to deliver initiatives designed to attract people to arts and cultural activity through libraries. 

-          Launched the new audiobook download service on 10th September.  The service offers unlimited downloads of nearly 1,000 popular titles, most of them in MP3 format. 

·        The Oxfordshire History Service has started work on digitizing the tithe maps of Oxfordshire, funded by the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre. 

·        The committee wished to thank Carol Boardman for his contribution to the History Service as he is leaving.

·        Pegasus Theatre Trust was shortlisted and won the Lifetime Achievement Award at OCVA's Charity and Volunteer Awards on Tuesday for longstanding and consistent contribution as a charity to the sector

Chief Fire Officer, Dave Etheridge, gave a verbal update from Community Safety.  The update included:

·        The OSCP has developed the business plan approach from the new Police & Crime Commissioner and this will be communicated to the new candidate at the earliest opportunity.

·        Richard Webb has been appointed permanently as trading standards officer.  The whole committee offered their congratulations. Trading standards is currently experiencing a lot of operational activity.

·        Buckinghamshire have formally asked to be part of the Thames Valley Centre. Oxfordshire Fire Service will make a strong recommendation to support this request and the delegated decisions paper is due in December.

Dave Etheridge explained how the Police and Crime Commissioner would operate across the 18 local authorities in the Thames Valley region. The Police and Crime Panel will be the main way to challenge and hold the Commissioner to account.

The committee noted that the we have signed up to a national programme Stop Hate UK to tackle hate crime. Members were interested to explore whether this is something to put on the forward plan.

Given recent flooding concerns the committee was told that relationships with the Environment Agency have matured and we now have early notification of potential flooding situations.

10.30

Report (SSC6a) by Assistant Chief Fire Officer  on the Fire and Rescue Authority's next draft five-year Strategic Integrated Risk Management Action Plan (IRMP) (SSC6b), also known as its Community Risk Management Plan,  based on the analysis of both the current and anticipated future fire and rescue-related risks facing Oxfordshire.

This strategic IRMP will form the evidential basis for future annual action plans over the next five-year period, providing the Fire and Rescue Authority with the flexibility to manage the foreseeable risks within the wider context of the County Council’s priorities and pressures.

The report also provides an update on the Government's new Fire and Rescue National Framework (2012) - which sets national expectations - has an impact on the direction of the Authority's Strategic IRMP - and the first IRMP action plan (2013-14) to be associated with this strategic document is the subject of a separate delegated decision paper.

The Scrutiny Committee is asked whether it supports the strategic risk profiling methodology as set out within the 5-year IRMP – as well as the resulting risk analysis and future options for managing the risk.

The Committee is asked to support full public consultation on the proposals.

Dave Etheridge, Chief Fire Officer gave a presentation updating the committee on the Fire and Rescue Authority's next draft five-year Strategic Integrated Risk Management Action Plan (IRMP) (SSC6b), also known as its Community Risk Management Plan.

The report identified 5 main groupings of risks for people and communities of Oxfordshire:

-          Risk at home

-          Risk at work

-          Risk whilst travelling

-          Heritage risk

-          Extreme events

This strategic IRMP will then form the evidential basis of future annual action plans over the next five-year period (the 2013-14 action plan is presented under a separate paper), providing the Fire and Rescue Authority with the flexibility to manage the foreseeable risks within the wider context of the County Council’s priorities and pressures. Following scrutiny consideration of the plan there will be a 12-week public and stakeholder consultation process before final approval is sought from the Cabinet in February 2013.

Nigel Wilson answered a range of questions and confirmed that there are no current plans to reduce frontline staff. Dave Etheridge confirmed the fire services are communicating a strong message to the public to encourage all homes to have smoke alarms. Cllr Heathcoat praised her recent home risk assessment and highlighted the importance of finding an exit route. Oxfordshire fire service remains the most cost effective in the UK.

The committee noted the push for fire stations to integrate into their local communities.

The need for the Fire service to work closely with Environment and Economy who maintain responsibility for engineering elements of road safety.

The Chairman commented on how useful the report with particular reference to the statistics used. Dave Etheridge agreed an update would come back to the committee in the February meeting.

The committee supports the strategic risk profiling methodology and the full consultation on the proposals.

10.50

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer  will present a report (SSC7) on a number of projects to be included within the Fire Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Action Plan (IRMP) for the fiscal year 2013-14, based on the analysis contained within its latest strategic IRMP (2013-18). 

The proposals summarise areas where the Service’s Senior Leadership Team believe service improvements may be achieved. To meet the requirements of the IRMP process, each proposal is supported by evidence, validating both their inclusion and their contribution to improved community engagement and community/firefighter safety.  Similarly, each proposal recognises the prevailing economic constraints.

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to endorse the project options highlighted in the 2013-2014 IRMP Action Plan and support full public consultation on the proposals.

Nigel Wilson, Operations & Resilience Manager, presented a report (SSC7) on a number of projects to be included within the Fire Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Action Plan (IRMP) for the fiscal year 2013-14, based on the analysis contained within its latest strategic IRMP (2013-18). 

The projects that have been proposed for the action plan 2013-14 will be subject to consultation for 12 weeks starting on the 12th November 2012. The proposals summarise areas where the Service’s Senior Leadership Team believe service improvements may be achieved.

Dave Etheridge confirmed the service follow an intelligence led approach where they send the firefighters best able to deal with the situations.  He also confirmed that there are many levels of support available for firefighters that have been involved with horrific incidents.

There was some discussion about the support provided to firefighters for difficult circumstances. Dave Etheridge outlined the different levels of support that is provided for employees.

The committee Agreed the report and endorsed the findings.

11.15

Report (SSC8) on the Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service performance against our agreed local Response Standards for attending emergency incidents in the county.  Cabinet approved these standards on 22 June 2006. 

The report will be presented by Nigel Wilson, Operations & Resilience Manager.

Nigel Wilson, Operations & Resilience Manager, presented a report (SSC8) on the Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service performance against our agreed local Response Standards for attending emergency incidents in the county. 

In Oxfordshire 80.5% of all emergency incidents are responded to within 11 minutes (above the local response standard of 80%) and 93.25% are responded to within 14 minutes (just short of the local response standard of 95%). The trends show that performance is increasing. 

It was noted that performance has been affected by travel traffic management, increased traffic levels and more reduced speed limits. The service has reviewed the attendances of vehicles to ensure quickest response and seeks to anticipate likely traffic management issues in advance. It is anticipated Automatic Vehicle location system will be in place by late 2014 and this will allow the service to mobilise the nearest fire appliance.  

Nigel Wilson confirmed they consult with other organisations and directorates within the Council when events can be predicted. Nigel also noted Cllr Goddard’s interest in mapping population density against response time.

11.35

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) sets out a regulatory framework for the use of covert investigatory techniques by public authorities. RIPA does not provide any powers to carry out covert activities. If such activities are conducted by council officers, then RIPA regulates them in a manner that is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), particularly Article 8, the right to respect for private and family life.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 introduces two important amendments to RIPA. These amendments take effect from 1^st November 2012. Firstly, a local authority can only authorise directed surveillance under RIPA where the authority is investigating particular types of offences. Secondly, internal authorisations granted under RIPA will not take effect until approved by a Magistrate.

This paper (SSC9) provides an overview of these changes and their likely impact on the functions of the Council. The authority's revised RIPA policy is included with the report for the committee to review and comment on.

The Acting Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety, Richard Webb will present the report.

Richard Webb, The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety, presented a report on the Authority’s revised RIPA policy (SSC9b) following the publication of The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 introduces two important amendments to RIPA. These amendments take effect from 1^st November 2012. Firstly, a local authority can only authorise directed surveillance under RIPA where the authority is investigating particular types of offences. These are criminal offences which attract a minimum custodial sentence of six months or more criminal offences relating to the underage sale of alcohol or tobacco. Secondly, internal authorisations granted under RIPA will not take effect until approved by a Magistrate.

It was noted that the implications for the Council should be minimal as all authorisations in recent years have met the serious crime threshold. This revised policy makes clear that authorisation still needs to come from a senior officer able to authorise activities under RIPA and that advice should be sought from the County Solicitor. It was confirmed that in a circumstance where surveillance is required urgently judicial approval is not required.

11.55

The Acting Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety, Richard Webb will present a report (SSC10) with an overview of the performance of the Citizens Advice Consumer Service and a summary of Oxfordshire Trading Standards monitoring of this service.

In April 2012 Citizens Advice assumed responsibility for the provision of the national consumer advice service formerly known as Consumer Direct. At the same time, Oxfordshire Trading Standards Service ceased providing first-tier consumer advice and referred anyone seeking consumer advice to this national service.

In the first 6 months of operation Citizens Advice have established the new national service, now called the Citizens Advice Consumer Service and have developed new working arrangements with local Trading Standards Services. As the national service provides the portal for consumer cases to be referred to Oxfordshire Trading Standards, so that additional help can be provided to the consumer and to ensure that unfair or illegal business practices can be stopped, it is important that we ensure these new arrangements work well. It is also important that we maintain an awareness of the quality of service being provided to Oxfordshire residents.

Trading Standards Team Leader, Kate Davies, presented a report (SSC10) with an overview of the performance of the Citizens Advice Consumer Service and a summary of Oxfordshire.

In the first 6 months of operation Citizens Advice have established the new national service, now called the Citizens Advice Consumer Service and have developed new working arrangements with local Trading Standards Services. Consumer cases are now referred to Oxfordshire Trading Standards through this national portal.

Citizens Advice has been working to relaxed performance targets while new arrangements are in their initial stages and audit reports show the service is meeting these relaxed KPI’s.  The service will now work to the official KPI’s.

Kate Davies, a team leader in Oxfordshire Trading Standards Service has joined a national working group between Citizens Advice and Trading Standards which meet quarterly. At the meeting in September Citizens Advice identified the current issues of staff training and retention issues and high numbers of protocols. It is currently focusing on quality improvement with new advisors beginning work in September and additional briefing documents.

It was agreed an update on performance would be presented to the committee in six months.

12.10

The Committee is asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which is may wish to have an opportunity to offer advice to Cabinet before any decision is taken. The current Forward Plan can be found on the Council’s website http://mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk/mgListPlanItems.aspx?PlanId=156&RP=115

The Chairman confirmed the January meeting would be to discuss the budget and items should be suggested for the meeting in February. The Chairman suggested the committee should first review the Community Centre grants criteria on the website before considering if a review of the grants should be added to the work programme. The Chairman agreed to extend an invite to Councillor Mallon to talk about community cohesion and equalities. It was agreed that the committee would look into the voluntary sector and the impact of the current economic situation.

Requested information on Road Safety.  The chairman will question this with E&E.

12.20

The meeting finished at 12.30pm.