Agenda item

The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive introduced the report which allowed Members to consider and approve the scope of the review of the duty system for the second fire engine at Crewe and Ellesmere Port. 

He referred Members to paragraphs 9 to12 of the report which contained details of the review and explained that this report was the first element of that review.    He informed Members that officers believed that the scope of the review should be focused and externally validated.  The following matters were suggested by officers within the report for the focus of the review:

·         An assessment of the current and emerging risks;

·         An analysis of current and anticipated activity levels (broken down into day and night) and set against current performance against the ten-minute response standard for life-risk incidents; and

·         An analysis of the types of incident dealt with.

Appendix 2 to the report contained an extract from the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive’s correspondence to Members outlining details of the review process.  He informed Members that a significant part of the Members’ Planning Day scheduled for 13^th July 2017 would be dedicated to this issue.  Officers would present the outcomes/findings and highlight the implications of any alternative crewing arrangements to those originally envisaged in the Emergency Response Review.

A Member informed the Authority that he, alongside another Member, was in regular contact with the Head of Service Delivery to enable them to feed their expectations into the review.  He queried whether a review into the duty system at Wilmslow, as mentioned at the Authority’s February meeting, had been commissioned.  The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive referred Members to page 23 of the Integrated Risk Management Plan which mentioned that a review would be undertaken and brought back to Members in due course. 

A Member queried what the expected procurement costs of externally validating the scope of the review were estimated to be.  The Director of Governance and Commissioning informed Members that he did not expect the costs to be significant for this process notwithstanding the very limited field of experts able to carry out the review.

A Member queried whether a review would take place over the removal of the appliance at Chester.  The Chair informed Members that the new station at Powey Lane, where the second appliance had been moved to, provided cover to Chester.  He also informed Members that the position of the new station at Powey Lane aided the Service’s ability to respond to rescue and road traffic incidents. The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive referred Members to Item 1E of the agenda containing the minutes of the Fire Authority meeting held on 14^th February 2017.  He referred Members to Section 4 of the minutes – the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-18 (IRMP 14) which indicated that a review of the arrangement would be undertaken by officers throughout the year and reported back to the Performance and Overview Committee.

Members thanked the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive and welcomed the content of the report.  A Member thanked officers for the work that had been achieved since 2013 and was pleased that the changing demographics of Crewe would be factored in to the review.  She also welcomed the opportunity to work alongside the Head of Service Delivery throughout this process.

The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive informed Members that the Authority had a duty to ensure the right level of resource was available throughout the county.  He informed Members that further detail on how the Service ensured this cover could be provided at the July Planning Day.  He explained that the National Framework required the Authority to hold the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive to account for operational arrangements.  He reassured Members that under no circumstances would he put options forward that would jeopardise the safety of members of the public or firefighters.

RESOLVED: That

[1]       the scope of the review concerned with the duty system for the second fire engine at Crewe and Ellesmere Port be approved; and

[2]       officers should arrange for the review to be externally validated.