Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Safer & Stronger Communities

Forward Plan Ref: 2011/192

Contact: Colin Thomas, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Tel: (01865) 855206

Report by Deputy Chief Fire Officer (CA6).

The Fire Control rooms in Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (OFRS) and Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) both receive emergency calls via 999/112 and direct from alarm receiving centres and other emergency services.  This is a statutory function identified within the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004.  Trained staff assess the call details and determine and mobilise the appropriate response.  They then support the ongoing resource needs of the incident, relaying information to responsible officers and partner agencies and support the incident as required.

Following the termination of the National FiReControl project an alternative course of action is required to secure an effective and resilient control room operation for Oxfordshire.   Discussions have been taking place with Royal Berkshire Fire Authority to identify the most effective joint approach to the delivery of fire control services across both authority areas.

The Thames Valley Fire Control Service (TVFCS) programme will deliver a single joint control room with a fully functional secondary control room and “remote buddy ” Fire and Rescue Service.

The programme has three strategic aims:-

An improved service to the public and our firefighters

Improvements in securing uninterrupted service to all fire control users, both addressing the urgent need to replace legacy systems and make use of the latest technology for dealing with periods of exceptional workload,  and;

The delivery of financial efficiencies.  The anticipated gross efficiency saving across both Services is approximately £10M over the 15 year life of the joint control room.

The programme if approved by Oxfordshire County Council and Royal Berkshire Fire Authority will be completed in 2014.

A public consultation has been undertaken, the outcomes of which are included in the report.

The Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet is RECOMMENDED:-

Subject to:-

1.                  the decision of the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority to approve the relocation of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service HQ site from Dee Road, Reading, to Calcot, West Berkshire, and

2.                  the approval of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority’s subsequent decision to proceed with the TVFCS Programme,

to:-

(a)              Approve the progression of the programme to create a joint control room with Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

(b)              Confirm the future location of the primary control room as Calcot, Berkshire

(c)               Confirm the future location of the secondary control room as Kidlington, Oxfordshire

(d)              Approve the apportionment methodology

(e)              Approve the creation of the a Joint Committee and the underpinning legal arrangements  

(f)                Delegate to the Chief Fire Officer:-

i.                    authority to sign the legally binding programme partnership agreement which will include the decision of the lead authority for employment matters

ii.                  authority to sign the legally binding steady state partnership agreement

iii.                the identification of and arrangements with the remote buddy FRS

(g)              Require the Programme Sponsoring Group to ensure the human resources strategy maximises the opportunities to support control staff throughout the programme

(h)              Require the Chief Fire Officer to ensure business continuity plans are in place to maintain the continued effectiveness of the respective control room up to the point of transition into the single joint control

(i)        Require the Chief Fire Officer to support the appointed Members’ of the TVFCS Joint Committee to provide strategic direction and track benefit realisation.

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval to The Thames Valley Fire Control Service (TVFCS) programme which would deliver a single joint control room with a fully functional secondary control room and “remote buddy ” Fire and Rescue Service.

Councillor Dr Paul Bryant, Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and Chairman of the Joint Sponsoring Group spoke in support of the proposals commenting that money would be saved and facilities improved by combining services. He paid tribute to the work of the members and officers involved in the Sponsoring Group.

Councillor Zoe Patrick, Opposition Leader, gave personal thanks to Dave Etheridge for providing a thorough briefing. She commented that the report was comprehensive and that as a Group the Liberal Democrats were pleased that the national project had been dropped. Councillor Patrick highlighted areas of concern including that the financial consequences and governance of the proposed Programme had to be worthwhile. It should retain and exploit local knowledge and she hoped that this would be helped by having the secondary control room in Kidlington. She felt that the consultation could have been handled better and queried the choice of location for the public meetings. Going forward the Programme needed to be handled sensitively with staff receiving guidance and support. They would be essential to efficient working during the transition and in the future.

Rachel Dobson, Fire Brigade Union, expressed grave concerns that a single joint control room would be able to cope. She opposed the move to work that would affect operational support and impacted on work vital to the efficient running of the service. Ms Dobson highlighted the nature of the role they undertook which included, round the clock responses to: crewing problems, resource management, responding to large public events, emergency road closures and severe weather. She stated that the FBU wished to see a report commissioned to identify the operational support work and that the decision to proceed be deferred until that report was available.

Responding to a question about whether they viewed that the management of resources would be less possible from the new centre, Ms Dobson replied that Berkshire did not cover retained stations as the Oxfordshire Centre did. There would not be enough staff on duty in the joint control room to deal with the fluid crewing situation. There would be half the staff doing twice the duty.

Councillor Judith Heathcoat, Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities introduced the report, stressing that it was the result of a public and transparent process. She outlined the reasons for recommending that the Programme be agreed and highlighted that the proposed location of the joint control room had been chosen on completely objective grounds. Staff from both authorities would have the same opportunity to apply for jobs in the new control room. She added that wherever possible compulsory redundancy would be avoided and that the direction they were taking was not unique but was a path being followed by others.

Dave Etheridge, Chief Fire Officer, added that improvement for the public was the primary driver. The programme would deliver increased resilience. With regard to workload they had been successful in dramatically reducing the number of incidents and he was confident this would continue. The numbers of incidents was not the whole story as the FBU did not recognise the impact that use of new technology would  make. In terms of local knowledge the combined area was still less than some other single services. The technology would identify where calls were coming from.

Mr Etheridge recognised that with non incident related activity there would be significant work needed to align work practices. This was referred to in paragraph 21 and formed a major part of the project.

He confirmed that there would be financial benefits to be gained alongside the prime mover of improved service/resilience.

Mr Etheridge paid tribute and gave thanks to the control room staff who had faced a long period of uncertainty. The Programme would be in place by 2014 and they were committed to enabling staff to compete on a completely level playing field for the jobs available and to providing training opportunities.

During lengthy debate  Cabinet:

·        thanked local Brigades, including Chipping Norton and referred to the importance of not losing retained staff;

·        explored with officers the work needed to ensure operational alignment of work practices;

·        recognised that there would be staff across both services that will need support. OCC was a big organisation and an exemplary employer. The staff;

·        received information on the role of the secondary control room and on the difference between voice and data calls;

·        queried what would happen if response times were to drop and stressed the importance of monitoring.

Cabinet Members asked that regular monitoring reports be submitted and the Chief Fire Officer confirmed that regular reports would be submitted to the Safer & Stronger Communities Scrutiny Committee

RESOLVED:

Subject to:-

1.                  the decision of the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority to approve the relocation of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service HQ site from Dee Road, Reading, to Calcot, West Berkshire, and

2.                  the approval of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority’s subsequent decision to proceed with the TVFCS Programme,

to:-

(a)               Approve the progression of the programme to create a joint control room with Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

(b)               Confirm the future location of the primary control room as Calcot, Berkshire

(c)               Confirm the future location of the secondary control room as Kidlington, Oxfordshire

(d)               Approve the apportionment methodology

(e)               Approve the creation of the a Joint Committee and the underpinning legal arrangements 

(f)                 Delegate to the Chief Fire Officer:-

i.                    authority to sign the legally binding programme partnership agreement which will include the decision of the lead authority for employment matters

ii.                  authority to sign the legally binding steady state partnership agreement

iii.                the identification of and arrangements with the remote buddy FRS

(g)               Require the Programme Sponsoring Group to ensure the human resources strategy maximises the opportunities to support control staff throughout the programme

(h)               Require the Chief Fire Officer to ensure business continuity plans are in place to maintain the continued effectiveness of the respective control room up to the point of transition into the single joint control

(i)         Require the Chief Fire Officer to support the appointed Members’ of the TVFCS Joint Committee to provide strategic direction and track benefit realisation.