Information

1 Welcome and introductions.

Attendees:
PFCC Danielle Stone (DS)
DPFCC Marianne Kimani (MK)
Vaughan Ashcroft (VA)
Paul Fell (PF)
Stuart McCartney (SMc)
ACFO Phil Pells (PP)
ACFO Jim Powell (JP)
ACO Paul Bullen (PB)
Nick Alexander (NA)
Sam Ashby-Clarke (SAC)

2 Minutes and decisions of previous meeting

The Commissioner welcomed everyone to the meeting and the minutes of the previous meeting were approved with ACFO Pells agreeing to provide geographical data relating to hoarding to the OPFCC Performance Director. The Action log was updated the OPFCC Performance Director set out the future business of the board. He noted there was space on the workplan for further items of business. The Commissioner suggested the issue of a paper highlighting the risk associated with abandoned buildings which the OPFCC Performance Director agreed to review. ACFO Pells and ACFO Powell provided an update on the ongoing HMICFRS inspection and noted a further update will be provided in August. The Commissioner asked if geographical data could be provided in relation to the issue of hoarding.
ACFO Pells agreed to provide data relating to this issue. The Commissioner expressed her concerns in relation to abandoned and derelict buildings in our communities and the risks that these posed relating to anti-social behaviour, personal safety and fire setting.

ACTION – PF to arrange for a paper to be brought forward to accountability board on this matter and if possible before the next public safety board meeting.

ACTION – ACFO Pells to provide the demographic data relating to known hoarding cases.

3 PART 1

At this meeting there are no matters for discussion in Part 1 of the meeting.

4 PART 2

Budget outturn for 2025/2026 and MTFP review
The joint Head of Finance briefed the meeting on the budget outturn and noted the reported overspends and underspends and the reasons behind. The end of year position was a circa £930k overspend. them.
The Commissioner sought further clarification relating to the issue of the service being over establishment and the cost of overtime. The joint Head of Finance explained this matter was being examined by the Service. ACFO Pells then explained a Gold Group had been established to review the issue in detail and noted the ongoing demand modelling work will help to address this issue. The Commissioner sought further clarification for staff who were not working on the front line. ACFO Pells responded and set out how such staff are supported and how their skills are utilised to support the service frontline delivery as best as is possible. The Chief Finance Officer noted that work on overtime had already made a difference, and the service was recruiting people, so they are available at the right time to meet demand. ACFO also noted the service were looking at best practice across the country to increase the effectiveness of the Service’ workforce.

ACTION – ACFO PELLS to provide details of the scope of the gold groups for overtime management and fleet issues and utilisation.

The Commissioner recognised the work that had been undertaken to better allocate and spend grant monies, which was welcomed. She also noted that some of the increased costs associated with retained firefighters was as a result of increased national pay and conditions terms.

The Commissioner then noted the fact that the European Working Time Directive had been raised by HMICFRS. ACFO Pells responded and explained how the service deals with this issue if the directive is breached. ACFO Powell also explained this was a national issue, where it related to for example staff who were employed on dual contracts but there was some confidence that this was managed well in Northamptonshire.

The Joint Head of Finance then briefed the meeting on the overspend relating to vehicle maintenance. The OPFCC Chief Operating Officer asked if the Service were confident they were managing this issue. Assistant Chief Officer Bullen noted the situation was improving and a Gold Group had been established to manage the issue. The OPFCC Chief Operating Officer then asked if improvements in managing the contract had been delivered. ACFO Pells explained the Service were meeting with the supplier regularly and the challenges faced by some legacy systems. However, the service was addressing these challenges. The Chief Finance Officer also noted that the Service have a greater understanding of seasonal demand to help schedule maintenance to best meet demand.

The OPFCC Performance Director asked if the situation relating to being over establishment was affordable in future years. ACFO Pells explained the work relating to demand modelling will help to manage this issue. The OPFCC Performance Director reflected that the Service were alive to this and were considering a number of issues to meet the challenge of recruitment and overtime overspends.

SAC updated the Commissioner on the MTFP and what changes had been made. She explained that a Savings Working Group had been established to examine how future challenges will be met and factored into the MTFP. The Commissioner set out her concerns relating to higher interest rates and the impact that could have on the delivery of the capital plan. The Commissioner made clear her view that whilst she accepted the current climate created challenges in relation to affordability she wanted to explore all possible ways of delivering what she considered an essential capital plan. The Joint Head of Finance explained that this was factored into the MTFP. The Commissioner then noted the need to increase the amount of S106 money being received by the Service. Assistant Chief Officer Bullen explained that the Service would not receive any S106 money for a few years, this being the nature of developer contributions that they are linked to the build and delivery of those developments. The Commissioner responded and noted the need to help partners taken some responsibility for this area of work. As a part of the discussions there was reference to the review of the medium term financial plan. It was reported to the Commissioner that this has been revised in light of any known changes since the close down of 2025/2026 and since the setting of the 2026/2027 budget.

Assurance Statement
Overall the Commissioner was assured and satisfied that there was some robustness in relation to financial management in NFRS for the budget. She stressed the need to think widely about how we meet the requirements of the adopted capital plan.

She was clear that a further overspend in this year was not an option, as was the need to identify and importantly deliver the required financial savings and this was a clear expectation for the Chief Fire Officer to deliver.

Annual internal audit report update

ACFO Powell provided an update and noted the Service were pleased with the progress being made. He noted there was no significant risk to the Service and work was being undertaken to improve the support available to audit leads within the organisation to improve the process and ensure recommendations are more focussed and deliverable.
The Commissioner queried the status of recommendations, where they were potentially very old and had passed an agreed implementation date and if they were still relevant to the Service. ACFO responded and noted work was ongoing to review such recommendations.
The OPFCC Chief Operating Officer explained he was pleased with the Service’s approach to this issue and the improvements related to workforce planning. The OPFCC Performance Director noted the importance of all three organisations to be more robust on recommendations if there are any areas of disagreement.

Assurance Statement
The Commissioner was satisfied and assured by the processes relating to the activity of and receipt of actions arising from Internal Audits.The governance arrangements are solid and it was acknowledged that improvements had been achieved over recent years. The Commissioner whilst assured, requested that older actions were reviewed for ongoing suitability.

5 AOB

No further business was raised.