Agenda item

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services introduced the report to Members and explained that it gave them the opportunity to review the draft Annual Statement of Assurance 2015-16 prior to its presentation to the Fire Authority in September 2016.  He provided Members with a summary of the background to this report and advised that one of the requirements of the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England (2012) was the publication of an Annual Statement of Assurance.  He explained that the Framework specified that the Statement should provide assurance on financial, governance and operational matters.

He advised Members that the Local Code of Corporate Governance Framework already provided the Service with a simple structure for monitoring compliance and provided assurance under the six principles of the Code of Corporate Governance.  It was decided by this Committee in November 2013 that the same process would be adopted for monitoring compliance with the National Framework requirements by adding a principle 7.  He highlighted to Members Appendix 2 of the report which included a full review of evidence for the National Framework, detailed within principle 7 and the Local Code of Corporate Governance framework detailed within principles 1 – 6.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services concluded by confirming that the Service’s internal auditors, Merseyside Internal Audit Agency (MIAA), had confirmed that it considered that the format of the Statement of Assurance remained fit for purpose.

A Member referred the Committee to the draft Statement of Assurance 2015-16 which was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.  He commented that Warrington BC Members had recently received training on the Treasury Management Strategy and queried whether this training could be provided for Fire Authority Members. It was agreed that a training session would be beneficial for members and the Democratic Services Manager advised that this could take place as part of the Members Induction session on Finance and Budget Setting.

A Member queried the meaning of the term ‘partner’ in the context of the document. She asked if there could be further clarification on how the Authority ensured that the roles and responsibilities of partners were defined.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services informed Members that there were agreements between the Authority and partners to protect the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service brand. He drew Members’ attention to key improvement areas that had been identified. One of these referred to the development of a partnership toolkit which would provide descriptions of and resources related to partnerships and collaborations. This would be submitted to the Governance and Constitution Committee for review.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services also referred Members to the section on the Blue Light Collaboration Programme within the draft Statement of Assurance 2015-16.  He explained that this programme was not a partnership and that the Authority would be entering into a number of contracts due to the significant obligations and liabilities that the collaboration entailed.

A member queried the presentation of figures in respect of the carbon reduction target and suggested that it would be useful to have progress on carbon reduction by tonnes measured as a percentage against the 40% reduction target. She also suggested that it would be helpful to have a timescale for elements of the environmental strategy included in the report.

RESOLVED: That

[1]       the draft Annual Statement of Assurance 2015-16 be approved for submission to the Fire Authority in September 2016.