Agenda item

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/051

Contact: Dave Etheridge, Chief Fire Officer Tel: (01865) 855250

Report by Chief Fire Officer (CMDSSC4).

In July 2010 the Fire Minister Bob Neill announced the termination of forced regionalisation of fire services in the UK with the intention to give greater powers and responsibilities to communities.

The Minister also announced that whilst the 2008/11 Fire & Rescue Services National Framework remained in force, without fettering his discretion, he will no longer expect to enforce Regional Management Boards* and he would allow freedom for individual authorities to work on a collaborative basis in a way that works best locally and is not determined by regional boundaries.

In December 2010 the three Thames Valley Chief Fire Officers met & agreed that they wished to see more  formal joint working and collaborative arrangements between the three Thames Valley Services. They decided to concentrate on three projects that can be agreed and delivered in reasonable time frames. The projects were subjected to scoping studies each led by a different Fire Authority. The projects are as follows:

Project 1  - Sharing of high level  operationally related Health & Safety policy and strategy provision. Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority to lead.

Project 2 - To assess whether there can be a similar common policy development process for Fire Safety Enforcement to include inspection protocols, enforcement procedures and fire engineering advice. Oxfordshire Fire Authority to lead.

Project 3 - A study of operational officer cover arrangements, including issues such as the provision of Fire Investigation, Accident Investigation, Fire Safety Enforcement, Post Fire Inspection and New Dimension (Resilience) cover.  Consideration to be given to a common incident command system, common training and assessment and the interoperability of rota systems.  This review is to cover roles from Station Manager to Brigade Manager. - Royal Berkshire Fire Authority to lead.

On 18 January 2011 the initial scoping studies were presented to the three Thames Valley Chief Fire Officers and it was agreed that subject to political agreement in all three authorities further work should be undertaken to progress the projects. 

*Regional Management Boards (RMB) were established in 2003 and were made up of Fire and Rescue Authorities grouped together by their relevant Government Office region. At a South East RMB meeting on 6th October 2010, it was agreed that the recommended approach would be to use the South East Fire Improvement Partnership (SEFIP) to replace the South East RMB. The remit of SEFIP would be broadly similar to South East RMB but would no longer be constrained by the requirement to work Regionally.

The Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)               authorise the Chief Fire Officer to commence a formal collaboration programme between Oxfordshire County Council Fire Authority, Royal Berkshire Fire Authority & Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority to improve operational & organisational resilience & realise efficiencies whilst maintaining existing governance structures; and

(b)              request the Chief Fire Officer to provide regular updates at appropriate times on project progress and delivery of efficiencies against the savings targets identified within the medium term financial plan.

The Cabinet Member considered a report by the Chief Fire Officer (CMDSSC4) requesting authorisation to commence a formal collaboration programme between Oxfordshire County Council Fire Authority, Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and the Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority to improve operational and organisational resilience and realise efficiencies whilst maintaining existing governance structures.

It was AGREED (amendments in bold italics):

(a)               authorise the Chief Fire Officer to commence a formal collaboration programme between Oxfordshire County Council Fire Authority, Royal Berkshire Fire Authority & Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority to improve operational and organisational resilience and realise efficiencies whilst maintaining existing governance structures;

(b)              request the Chief Fire Officer to provide regular updates to the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities at appropriate times on project progress and delivery of efficiencies against the savings targets identified within the medium term financial plan;

(c)               the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities to be the point of any future programme board arrangements which includes elected members from other authorities; and

(d)              to request the Chief Fire Officer to inform the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities when the primary legislation is to be amended.