Issue - meetings

Purpose of report:

To update the committee on the outcomes of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services 2021 Inspection Report and the service’s response.

Witnesses:

Kevin Deanus, Cabinet Member for Community Protection

Dan Quin, Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Bernadette Beckett, Chief of Staff

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.         The Chairman acknowledged the progress made and appreciated that the Service was on a continued journey of improvement. The Chairman said the Report (page 56) noted that response times up to March 2020 were slower than the average for services, like Surrey, that cover both urban and rural areas’ and queried if response times have improved since and asked whether the ten-minute target set was unambitious. An Officer confirmed that current figures were resting at an average of seven minutes and 12 seconds. Benchmarking takes place among Fire and Rescue services and was a helpful in many ways, albeit it causes challenges in terms of how rural and urban services were differentiated. Surrey was reflected as predominantly urban only at borough and districts level, however if the benchmarking were more exact, Surrey would be reflected as predominantly rural. As part of the Making Surrey Safer plan, the Service aimed to keep the target whilst demonstrating that changes being applied were not having a detrimental effect on services or a negative impact on the ability to perform against that commitment. Reviews of the response standard were continual with the balance of meeting targets whilst ensuring safe and appropriate responses to calls.

2.         A Member asked if there were plans to conclude the ongoing issues concerning relationships with staff and the dispute with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) observing that the media battle between the FBU and the Fire Service had been direct and at times harmful to the reputation of the Service. An Officer confirmed that the trade dispute had continued for a number of years. Work was continuing with colleagues in the FBU and with that agreement on one item had been removed from ongoing discussions recently. Although the Service was meeting the FBU frequently, it was becoming evident that it would be impossible to resolve all matters in the trade disputes and it was time for honest discussions with trade union partners. A Joint Committee for Consultation and Negotiation had been set up to include all locally recognised trade unions, resulting in a significant improvement in engagement between the trade unions. This committee, in addition to ACAS training and conversations, had agreed the implementation of open letters by the Chief Fire Officer and were confident that this would culminate in a final agreed policy on how to work together. 

3.         A member noted the new initiatives to encourage better relationships with staff and the continuing dispute with the trade unions and asked how they reflected on each other.  An officer explained that the Service was actively encouraging an honest dialogue with staff to seek their views, irrespective of representation. Engagement was being expanded by supporting and empowering staff. Station visits were being conducted to encourage face to face conversations although this had been more difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. A newsletter including feedback,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5