Agenda item

Purpose of the Item: The Committee is asked to review and agree the scoping document for the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Transformation Working Group before submission to the Corporate Overview Select Committee for comment and final sign off.

Witnesses:

Denise Turner-Stewart, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Fire and Resilience

Steve Owen-Hughes, Acting Chief Fire Officer

Jason Russell, Executive Director (Highways, Transport and Environment)

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. Before hearing from officers, the Chairman informed the Committee about an error contained in the original Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Transformation Working Group Scoping Document, which had been released to the public. A corrected version was tabled at the meeting and is attached to the minutes as Annex 2.
2. Discussing the scoping document, the Acting Chief Fire Officer explained that it reflected how fast things were moving in the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and welcomed the formation of a Working Group.
3. Responding to a question about SFRS adjusting the delivery of its service to the amount of money available, the Acting Chief Fire Officer discussed the financial budget that they will be working to. He went on to say that he hoped efficiencies and effectiveness would allow further reinvestment in the service and the possibility for the Council to invest in similar services if outstanding funds remained after that. The Executive Director then went on to discuss the extensive nature of the service’s transformation and the need for money to be invested. The Committee was informed that a claim had been put in for transformation funding amounting to approximately £900,000 and that additional claims would be tabled if needed.
4. A Member of the Committee asked the Acting Chief Fire Officer about SFRS now being both a fire and rescue service and the possibility for more information about the rescue side of the operation being included in the scoping document. They then went on to question SFRS’s ability to cooperate with other organisations so that the Member Reference Group were able to better understand the context in which the scoping document had been formulated. In response, the Acting Chief Fire Officer discussed the change in legislation through the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and the work undertaken by SFRS through the coordination of services managed by the local resilience forum. The Executive Director also discussed the relationship between fire and rescue services and told the Committee that the aim was to further the connection between the two so that there was greater integration with wider Surrey services and partners.
5. The Chairman questioned the possibility of emergency planning leaving the scrutiny of the Environment Select Committee and moving to another, and the Executive Director informed Members that no decision had yet been made but that it was a case of which committee it would best work under. A discussion was then had about the potential for a co-opted place to be left on the Environment Select Committee if emergency planning scrutiny was moved from its remit.
6. Returning to the cooperation undertaken between SFRS and its partner organisations, the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Fire and Resilience highlighted the extensive work done by speaking about projects with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the Environment Agency.
7. The Vice-Chairman questioned officers about the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report, which was released after the scoping document, and asked whether all of the issues raised in the former could be adequately addressed in the latter. In response, the Acting Chief Fire Officer told the Committee that the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service had already had a debrief about what the issues were likely to be before the formulation of the scoping document and were working closely with the liaison officers at HMICFRS to make sure that they meet their statutory responsibilities.
8. The Acting Chief Fire Officer then returned to a question a Member put forward about the scrutiny of the SFRS’s budgets and informed the Committee that these would include all financial areas so that all resources are available. The officer also spoke about capital programmes, which run up to the year 2030, and the management of estates, which SFRS ensure was used in an integrated way to provide community-focused projects.
9. Responding to a question about SFRS staff satisfaction levels, which the consultation feedback indicated was at 40%, the Acting Chief Fire Officer told the Committee that the report was around two years old and reflected both where the service was at that point in time and the culture that was still evident. He went on to talk about the relationship between the service and the local unions and the discussions that had been undertaken around the issues of staff morale and welfare.
10. A Member of the Committee spoke about the role that local committees played in scrutinising the performance of fire services and mentioned the yearly presentations that were once undertaken by leading figures from local fire stations. In response, the Cabinet Member informed the Committee that annual reports were produced for each local and joint committee and that officers would be happy to attend and present those reports if asked to do so.

Resolved:

1.    The Committee approved the terms of reference outlined in the scoping document.

2.    A discussion was had about the makeup of the Working Group, and it was agreed that it would comprise of five members – excluding the Chairman, who would attend as an ex-officio when needed. The membership was as follows:

·         Saj Hussain (Chairman)

·         Amanda Boote

·         Tina Mountain

·         Jan Mason

·         Marisa Heath