Meeting documents

Cabinet
Tuesday, 6 June 2006

CA060606-10

Division(s): N/A

Report by Director for Community Safety

Introduction

This is the second consultation on governance arrangements for the Regional Fire Control Project undertaken by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) / Department for Communities and Local Government. The initial consultation, conducted in late 2004 / early 2005, sought fire and rescue authorities’ (FRA’s) views on the options for either a company based structure or lead authority arrangement. Advice was given by Legal Services on these options, including the VAT and Tax implications, and views of other South East FRA’s were canvassed.

Oxfordshire’s response, endorsed by the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, was that Oxfordshire County Council, as FRA, supported the South East Fire and Rescue Service Regional Management Board position recommending a Local Authority Company proposal as the most effective controlling entity for the Regional Control Centre. This response was caveated on the basis that outstanding issues on VAT and Tax needed to be resolved. Until then, the Council reserved its option to review its decision. With the exception of Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Management Board (RMB) all other RMB’s in principle also supported the Local Authority Company solution.

In December 2005 Jim Fitzpatrick, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the ODPM, wrote to the Chairs of Regional Management Boards announcing a second consultation in which further details such as insurance, legal liabilities and contractual relationships with individual FRAs would be covered. A copy of this consultation Is in the Members’ Resource Centre.

Consultation Detail

This second consultation is based on the Government’s view that a Local Authority Company remains the preferred option. The consultation seeks comments on the proposed governance mechanisms and the draft Articles and Memorandum of Association for the prospective local authority companies.

The Government states that these have been drawn up to meet the following key criteria:

Full responsibility for running the fire control service should continue to rest with fire and rescue authorities;

Fire and rescue authorities should have as much freedom as possible in running their own control service, working within the National Framework and observing national standards;

Safeguards must be built into the system to ensure that the control centres operate effectively as a national network and the resilience assets are deployed as national and regional imperatives require;

These safeguards should be designed to achieve voluntary co-operation and minimise the need for national intervention; and

The companies should not be able to operate in a way that could pose risks for the other companies and thus for the safe operation of the assets.

Unfortunately, the level of detail provided fails to provide full information and thus there are significant issues remaining to be resolved. The lack of comprehensive financial information and fully developed performance standards leaves officers unable to determine whether the arrangements put forward in the consultation document are effective in providing the most appropriate framework for the delivery a control room service to this FRA.

As a result I believe this Authority should be reluctant to proceed with the creation of a Local Authority Company until the issues that have been identified are resolved prior to the adoption of the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Against this background of concern, the attached response (Annex1) (download as .doc file) seeks to clarify the remaining areas requiring further resolution before I could recommend this FRA to accept that these arrangements to provide a governance framework able to deliver a resilient control centre network that is effective in meeting national requirements whilst maintaining FRA accountability and with an appropriate level of flexibility for elected members to ensure the service meets the needs of local people.

Responses to the 7 direct questions posed in the Consultation Document plus other detailed points are included in the Annex. It should also be noted that all FRA’s have jointly commissioned detailed legal comments on the Memorandum and Articles of Association via the Fire Lawyers Network.

Financial and Staffing Implications

RECOMMENDATION

confirm the previous position put forward on behalf of the Cabinet that a Local Authority Company remains the best option to provide a controlling entity for the Regional Control Centre, subject to the satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues on tax and VAT;

approve the response to the consultation on regional fire control governance arrangements at Annex 1 (download as .doc file) to the report.

JOHN PARRY
Director for Community Safety

Background papers: Fire Service Circular 13-2006.

FiReControl Governance Consultation

Contact Officer: Colin Thomas Community Safety Business Manager (Technical Support), Senior User FiReControl, Tel 01865 855211