Agenda and minutes

Venue: Fire Conference Room - Fire Service HQ, Clemonds Hey, Winsford, Cheshire, CW7 2UA. View directions

Contact: Joanne Smith 

Items
No. Item

1.

PROCEDURAL MATTERS

Minutes:

Recording of Meeting

 

Members noted that the meeting would be audio-recorded.

1A

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors E Johnson and M Tarr.

1B

Declaration of Members' Interests

Members are reminded that the Members’ Code of Conduct requires the disclosure of Statutory Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Non-Statutory Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Disclosable Non-Pecuniary Interests.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

1C

Minutes of the last meeting pdf icon PDF 81 KB

To approve the minutes of the Staffing Committee held on 7th March 2018.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That

 

The minutes of the meeting of the Staffing Committee held on 8th May 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

2.

Service Transformation Plan

Minutes:

The Director of Transformation presented the report which provided information on the closedown of the Service Transformation Plan 2017/18 (the 17/18 Plan) and the new Service Transformation Plan for 2018/19 (the 18/19 Plan) for approval.  The 18/19 Plan was attached as an appendix to the report and would be used to monitor a range of actions associated with the Home Office’s Fire Reform Programme and the Service’s people agenda.

 

The 17/18 Plan was developed in 2017 in order to address the fire service reform agenda and captured the actions necessary to respond to and to progress the local agenda.  It highlighted how some of the key priorities identified by the Service would be delivered and also considered the recommendations in the Adrian Thomas report, the outcomes of the staff engagement survey, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) People Strategy and the Service’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy action plan.  An end of year summary against the 17/18 Plan was provided and it was noted that significant amount of progress had been made.

 

When Members approved the 17/18 Plan at the Staffing Committee meeting in October 2017 it was agreed that the Transformation Plan would be updated annually, to ensure that it remained relevant and fit for purpose in responding to national and local developments.  The 18/19 Plan made reference to the LGA Fire Vision 2024 document, the key workstreams associated with the delivery of the NFCC People Strategy, the LGA Equality Framework for Fire and Rescue Services and the most recent recommendations arising from the NJC Inclusive Fire Service Group in Circular NJC/1/18.  The new plan also linked to the outcomes of the staff engagement survey and the Service’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy action plan.

 

Members thanked the Director of Transformation for her comprehensive report and welcomed the welcomed the clear links to national initiatives and the Authority’s key priorities.  They discussed the plans to : improve the recruitment of females; address the agenda pay gap; and the work planned for highlighting the support and training concerned with bullying and harassment.  A Member suggested that it would be useful to align the action plan to the Authority’s core values and the Director of Transformation confirmed that she would review the layout to see if an additional column could be included.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

[1]       the 2018/19 Service Transformation Plan be approved.

 

 

 

 

 

3.

Staff Engagement Corporate Action Plan 2018 pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Transformation introduced the report which presented the draft Staff Engagement Corporate Action Plan 2018 (the Plan), arising out of the results and feedback from the Staff Engagement Survey 2017.

 

She explained that prior to formulating the Plan a lot of time had been spent engaging with staff across the organisation to understand the results and to ensure that the identified actions genuinely represented the views of the staff.  The new approach included headline presentations to staff and representative bodies during Autumn 2017 which were followed by a round of local briefings with teams. These briefings had been well received and added another dimension to the survey in helping to identify local issues and prompting discussions around how staff could take more ownership of local action plans.   

 

The Director of Transformation also commented how the results of the survey would be communicated and that with higher visibility, staff would start to see more meaningful and tangible outputs as a direct result of the survey.

 

Members discussed the Plan and a number of comments were made.  A Member felt that ensuring engagement between staff and senior managers was a high priority.  The Chair informed the Committee that he had requested a series of visits to stations for the Chief and the Chair as part of this engagement.   Members also discussed the plans to revamp the nomination process and format of the STAR awards and a Member highlighted the need to look at reward and recognition for volunteers too.

 

The Director of Transformation concluded by explaining that, once the Plan was approved, it would be re-submitted to JCNP for any final comments from the union representatives.  She explained that the unions had been given opportunities to provide feedback on the plan and although no suggestions had been forthcoming to date, she had met with the local branch secretary and committed to incorporating any additional actions that the Fire Brigades Union wished to include.  Members suggested that a statement from the union representatives endorsing the plan would be helpful to demonstrate their support of the Service’s new approach to staff engagement.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

[1]       the Staff Engagement Corporate Action Plan 2018 (attached as Appendix A to the report) be approved.