3:55
Report back on advice given by this Committee to the Cabinet, full Council, other scrutiny committees, relevant strategic partnership bodies and other organisations where appropriate.
· Service and Resource Planning 2010/11 – 2014/15
This Committee had agreed to advise the Cabinet via the Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee, that whilst recognising that difficult choices had to be made, it supported the proposals for savings as listed within the relevant Directorate Efficiency Strategies.
Councillor Mitchell’s response is given below:
The Cabinet thanks the Safer & Stronger Communities Scrutiny Committee for their support for budget savings which they have largely incorporated into the budget and which has now been agreed by the Council.
· Integrated Risk Management Action Plan
This Committee had received a presentation and conducted a question and answer session in relation to proposal (a) ofthe Draft Fire Authority Integrated Risk Management Action Plan 2010/11 (Day Crewing Review at Abingdon and Didcot Fire Stations) and had agreed the following:
This Committee:
· recognises the detailed work that has already been carried out to prepare the proposal, with particular regard to the close working with staff and the Fire Brigades’ Union;
· agrees that the proposal will provide a more robust means of delivering fire service cover across the whole of the county;
· fully supports the proposal and would welcome its implementation next year.
On 16 March the Cabinet agreed:
(a) to approve all seven of the proposed projects for inclusion in the IRMP action plan 2010/11;
(b) in light of the concerns expressed through the extensive internal and external consultation, to instruct the Chief Fire Officer to mitigate as far as practicable concerns raised when considering any future duty system;
(c) in recognising the public concern around the potential impact of project one on attendance times to incidents during specific short periods, to instruct the Chief Fire Officer to report to the full Cabinet, the Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities and the related Scrutiny Committee on a four monthly basis in the first twelve months after implementation. This report to also include details of the beneficial elements to RDS stations from the staff redeployment of the four Watch Managers; and
(d) to instruct the Chief Fire Officer to provide performance data relating to the implementation of project one to the South and Vale of White Horse District Councils and Abingdon and Didcot Town Councils.
Minutes:
· Service and Resource Planning 2010/11 – 2014/15
The Committee noted Councillor Mitchell’s response to its budget advice as listed on the face of the agenda.
The Committee noted the Cabinet’s response to the Draft Integrated Risk Management Action Plan 2010/11 as listed on the face of the agenda.
The Deputy Chief Fire Officer reported that several themes had arisen from the consultation on proposal (a) Day Crewing Review at Abingdon and Didcot Fire Stations including:
The Committee noted that the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities would report back to Scrutiny once the new shift pattern had been implemented as it appeared that all of the issues raised through the public consultation process could be mitigated by introducing a new shift pattern.
· Information Share
The Director for Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officergave a verbal update on key issues as listed below:
· OFRS had carried out a very detailed action plan following the high rise incident in Hertfordshire. However, properties in Oxfordshire were not of a similar construction;
· OFRS had been reaccredited for the Customer Excellence Award and was the only Brigade in the country (out of 46 Brigades) to have received it;
· The Gypsy & Traveller Service was the only one in the country to have received the award.
The Committee noted the Director for Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer’s imminent retirement, thanked him for his sterling work over the years - including his fantastic communication and people skills - commenting that he had been a valued and helpful officer who would be greatly missed, wished him a happy retirement and noted that he would stay in post until the new post holder had been appointed (June or September depending on whether an internal or external candidate was appointed).
· Update on actions arising from the HSE Inspection of Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service
The Committee had before it an update on actions arising from the Health and Safety Executive Inspection of Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service (SSC14).
The Director for Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer reported as follows:
· OFRS had received 18 recommendations for improvement as set out in report SSC14. The Inspectors had felt that OFRS had not paid enough attention to developing an overall strategic Health & Safety Plan for the Service. An overall Health & Safety Strategy for the County Council was in place, but this needed to be refocused, which would take a couple of months. However, no issues had been raised that OFRS were not already aware of;
· OFRS was the only Brigade that received health and safety support from Shared Services and no negative comments had been made about this;
· Three of the recommendations did have a readily identifiable financial impact (R5, R7 and R8). Some of the work associated with those recommendations was not yet fully known, but the financial impact was being considered during the planning process.
The Committee noted that a question and answer session on the Executive report and action plans would be held at this Committee’s July meeting and AGREED to request the action plan be an implementation plan, and that a GAANT chart showing the likely timeframe for implementation of the recommendations should also be provided.