Information

1 Welcome and introductions.

Attendees:
PFCC Danielle Stone (DS)
DPFCC Marianne Kimani (MK)
Jonny Bugg (JB)
Vaughan Ashcroft (VA)
Paul Fell (PF)
Stuart McCartney (SMc)
CFO Nikki Watson (NW)
ACFO Phil Pells (PP)
ACO Paul Bullen (PB)
Nick Alexander (NA)
Sam Ashby-Clarke (SAC)
CC Ivan Balhatchet (IB) For part 2 only

2 Minutes and decisions of previous meeting

The Commissioner welcomed everyone to the meeting and the minutes were agreed. The Chief Fire Officer provided an update on the outstanding actions and briefed the meeting on the progress relation to the future modelling work.

3 PART 1

Appliance Availability

ACFO Pells updated the meeting and explained the service now had an improved level of appliances available (around1 7 on average) due to enhanced recruitment and availability of firefighters. He also noted that the use of overtime was now more efficient, and work was being undertaken to improve the situation further. He explained that some of the improvement has been driven by nighttime availability which did not require further resources. He confirmed that previous decisions made relating to firefighter recruitment and additional driver training were b=now paying dividends and and had supported this and that overtime was in effect only now paid to maintain appliances above 14.

The Chief Fire Officer noted the need for the service to be more nuanced in how resources are allocated and the work related to modelling will help inform the future approach in meeting demand. The OPFCC Chief Executive asked what happens when appliance availability falls below 14. The Chief Fire Office responded and explained that when this situation occurs, it is only for short periods, and the service have contingency plans in place to deal with it.

ACFO Pells explained how the service allocated resources following an HMICFRS inspection which kept pumps on the run but impacted on the response to RTCs due to geographical issues. The Commissioner asked if the service use standard appliances to deal with RTCs. ACFO Pells responded and explained how wholetime firefighters help to cover retained stations and that the service was undertaking a mapping exercise to deliver efficiencies. He stated that at this point this was the normal response to RTCs but that this was a matter that would form a part of the considerations in the commissioned modelling as to whether this was the correct approach for the future.

The Commissioner enquired what the impact of response times was on the outcomes at RTC. ACFO Pells noted that this was difficult to ascertain but times are reducing and the service were using pre-alerts to get crews mobilised at an earlier stage. He noted the service were also looking at predicting where future demand will be. The Commissioner asked if this work would feed into the Safer Roads Alliance. The OPFCC Delivery Director responded and noted that partners need to better understand the patterns within the data held by the service. The Commissioner noted the importance of prevention and of sharing data. ACFO Pells responded and explained how joint working with the East Midlands Ambulance Service could reduce demand in relation to RTCs. He also explained the work relating to response will help vehicle availability and increase flexibility.

Assurance Statement
The Commissioner recognised the positive progress that has been made and was suitably assured that the times that appliances had dipped below 14 were few and for minutes rather than long periods of rime. She looked forward to a more sensible availability criteria post the modelling work rather than a fixed number which was a legacy of the old CRMP. The Commissioner also welcomed the reduced overtime spend in relation to this making the point that she welcomed the level of availability that was currently taking place but that given the financial situation, this could not be propped up by financial commitments such as overtime.

CRMP / Standards of Response

The Chief Fire Officer updated the meeting on the Service’s five-year plan and noted the introduction of a annual plan of work to maintain momentum to deliver the CRMP. This will then form the basis of an annual report on progress. She explained the first annual report will be brought to the next meeting and work is underway for year 2 and key items are already planned for year 3. The OPFCC Chief Executive asked for an update in relation to the Direct Entry Programme. The Chief Fire Officer responded an explained the NFCC’s had pulled the scheme, but work was being undertaken about what could be delivered in-house and she was keen to engage with this in a future year. The Commissioner asked if the Service were pleased with the progress being made. ACFO responded and noted the changes implemented in relation to delivering the CRMP have improved and the Service have dedicated workgroups to review issues and deliver solutions. The Commissioner asked how the Service received concerns relating to vulnerable people. The Chief Fire Officer explained the process and ACFO Pells noted that crews do raise issues which are then fed back to the Service. The Commissioner then asked if the Protection team have a role in planning issues. The Chief Fire Officer responded and explained how the Service help to inform the planning process. In conclusion, the Commissioner welcomed the new approach was assured by the update as it demonstrated a strategic approach to delivering the five-year plan.

In terms of standards of response there was a specific discussion relating to attendance at RTC, which is the only area where the target time is not being met. These times did vary month by month and there were a number of factors affecting this including whether the deployment was by wholetime or retained staff and the locations.

ACFO Pells was pleased to be able to report that call answering times, turn out times and drive times were all improving. He added that the future procurement of a dynamic cover toll will assist further

Actions
The Chief Fire Officer to provide an annual report on delivery at the next accountability board meeting.

Assurance Statement
The Commissioner welcomed the discussion in relation to RTC attendance times. She was pleased that times were improving and dully understood the issues in relation to why these were slower than other types of incidents and was pleased that this would be explored in more detail in the forthcoming modelling activity which she urged to be completed at some pace. She thanked the CFO for the presentation on the Year 2 CRMP annual plan and endorsed this but made the point that this was subject to the presentation in May at her accountability board that would demonstrate how all of the adopted ECR recommendations had been weaved into and included in the CRMP work overall.

4 PART 2

Developer Contributions (to be joined by Chief Constable for joint paper)
The Commissioner set out the importance of this issue given the growth of the county and was concerned whether partners were fulfilling their community safety responsibilities. She felt it was important to better understand what has happened in relation to the planning process in the county and when S106conbtributions become available. She explained that it was important more work was undertaken in partnership with planning officers to inform future decisions. ACO Bullen updated the meeting and explained that the main issue was a lack of planning policy that supported emergency services. He updated the meeting on the current plans in place in the County and need for a policy approach to help inform future planning strategies and decisions. The Commissioner noted the need for a tracking process for S106 monies and when money will be received by the Force and Fire and Rescue Service. ACO Bullen stated that this had commenced but agreed to look into how this can be delivered more effectively. The Chief Constable noted that given the level of growth, more support was needed to enhance the approach of dealing with planning and related S106 monies. This was supported by the Commissioner who felt someone with knowledge and understanding of the strategic plans of policing and fire and rescue and how they can be supported through the planning process was essential. ACFO Pells explained the importance of establishing an internal governance approach to help inform and monitor the planning process. The Chief Constable felt it was important to review how the Fire and Rescue Service have linked with planning officers to train them in relation to potential fire risks with developments and identify whether there is learning for Northamptonshire Police to adopt this approach with them.

It was reported that Local Authorities did not always keep effective data on what applications had been made relating to developer contributions, but the Commissioner responded stating that it was also incumbent of the two Chiefs to ensure that their organisations had effective records of applications made.

The Chief Constable agreed that there needed to be improvements in the processes relating to making and tracking of applications and this warranted a discussion with LA Chief Executives.

Actions
• Chief Fire Officer and Chief Constable to discuss the development of a more effective internal governance process for applying for, tracking and securing developer contributions with the Chief Executives of the two Local Authorities.
• Paul Bullen to ensure that a policy is developed to cover Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue and Northamptonshire Police that articulates the processes for the seeking of developer contributions and the circumstances when this will be undertaken.
• Paul Bullen to ensure that the tracking process relating to developer contributions is effective to allow for the accurate recording of what has been sought, for what purposes and the key trigger points when these contributions will become available for claim, as well as when they are received.
• Chief Fire Officer and Chief Constable to ensure that requirements for future developer contributions are linked to their corporate plans
• Chief Constable to review how the Fire and Rescue Service have linked with planning officers to train them in relation to potential fire risks with developments and identify whether there is learning for Northamptonshire Police to adopt this approach with them.

Assurance Statement
The Commissioner made the point that she was not assured that either the Fire and Rescue Service or Police had what she would consider to be effective processes in place relating to this matter and she needed to see improvements. These related to better applications based on operational and strategic planning considerations, more effective tracking of the progress of matters described in developer contribution applications and whether the thresholds for receipts of these had been met, as well as the recovery of contributions where they were. For this reason, a series of actions were agreed.

5 AOB

No further business was raised.