Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chairman until the Annual Meeting of the Authority in 2022.

Councillor Rhydian Vaughan was proposed by Roz Chadd and seconded by Liz Fairhurst. There were no other nominations and Cllr Vaughan was unanimously voted in as the new Chairman of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority for 2021/22.

To appoint a Vice Chairman until the Annual Meeting of the Authority in 2022.

Councillor Roz Chadd was proposed by Rhydian Vaughan and seconded by Liz Fairhurst. There were no other nominations and Cllr Chadd was unanimously voted in as the Vice Chairman of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority for 2021/22.

To receive any apologies for absence.

All Members were present, but apologies were noted from Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner.

To enable Members to disclose to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in the Authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in any such matter that Members may wish to disclose.

To enable Members to disclose to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in the Authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in any such matter that Members may wish to disclose.

To receive and approve the minutes from the Authority meeting that took place on 14 April 2021.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

Pursuant to Standing Order 19, to receive any deputations to this meeting

There were no deputations for the meeting.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman thanked the Authority for his appointment and welcomed new and returning Members to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority.

To receive any updates from Members of the Combined Fire Authority.

Councillor Roger Price confirmed that he had attended a Fire Commissioner meeting, which had been very interesting and included a briefing on a recent fire in London.

Councillor Jonathan Glen thanked the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service for their continuing help and support with the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccinations.

To consider a report from the Monitoring Officer regarding various HIWFRA appointments as well as approval of updates to the constitution.

The Authority considered a report from the Monitoring Officer (item 9 in the minute book), which summarised the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority (HIWFRA) appointments required for the municipal year, as well as some minor updates to the constitution.

It was agreed that to continue to encourage fairness and equality, a seat should be given to the Isle of Wight as an Independent member on the sub-committees of the Authority, despite there being no obligation to do so with how the proportionality was calculated.

In agreeing the minor changes to the constitution, it was also noted that officers would connect with Members and share dates of upcoming local Crime and Disorder network meetings so that Members could attend if they wished to.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed at the meeting that Councillor Ian Stephens from the Isle of Wight had been formally appointed to the HIWFRA and was therefore able to be included as part of the appointments being made at the meeting.

RESOLVED

a)  The Authority approved the current schedule of meetings of the Authority and its committees for the coming year at Appendix 3.

b)  That, for the purposes of Part 1 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, the allocation of seats on the Standards and Governance Committee, and the Stakeholder Committee of the Authority were approved as set out in the Appendix 2 of the report.

c)  The Authority appointed the following members of the Standards and Governance Committee, and the Stakeholder Committee and their respective Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen following the agreed allocation of seats at paragraph 9 (above).

With regards to the Pension Board, the Authority considered the position as set out in paragraph 10 of the report and confirmed the appointments as set out in paragraph 10 of the report.

d)  It was approved that APAG include all appointed HIWFRA Members as set out in paragraph 11a of the report, until the AGM in 2022.

e)  The Authority appointed the following three Members to an informal working group for the review of principal officer pay, as detailed in paragraph 11b of the report, until the HIWFRA AGM in 2022.

L. Fairhurst (Chairman)
G. Hughes
R. Price

f)  The Authority appointed the following three Members to an informal working group for the review of the Member Allowance Scheme, as detailed in paragraph 11g of the report, until the HIWFRA AGM in 2022.

R. Chadd (Chairman)
L. Fairhurst
D. Harrison

g)  The Minority Group Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat Party Group until the inaugural meeting of the Combined Fire Authority in 2022 was confirmed as Roger Price, as set out in paragraph 11c of the report.

h)  Peter Moore and Michael Cronin were appointed as Independent Persons for HIWFRA for a four-year term with an allowance of £100  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

To receive a report from the Chief Fire Officer regarding the work undertaken by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service following the Phase 1 Inquiry and report findings of Grenfell Tower incident.

The Authority received a report from the Chief Fire Officer (item 10 in the minute book) on progress following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and subsequent recommendations.

Members were taken through the report and it was confirmed that high rise buildings were being focussed on, with inspections and any measures required being implemented by the end of 2021. Additional funding had been received but there were strict guidelines as to how this could be spent, and an update would return to the Full Authority in December 2021.

The Chief Fire Officer thanked officers for their work in making the high rise buildings across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as safe as possible.

It was confirmed that known cladding issues were being assisted financially by Central Government, who were also being lobbied by other groups outside of the Fire Service to further help residents with funding for defects in high rise buildings.

It was enforced that buildings ‘failing’ an inspection did not automatically mean that they were dangerous, but the Fire Service did have powers to intervene where a building was felt to be dangerous and the causes were not being addressed by the owners. The Fire Service continued to work with planners and developers to ensure building safety at the earliest opportunity before construction went ahead.

Members agreed to add the topic to a future APAG agenda.

RESOLVED

The contents of the report were noted by the HIWFRA Full Authority.

To receive a report from the Chief Fire Officer, which explores how the Service has performed against a range of measures, including key operational and corporate health measures.

The Authority received the end of year performance and safety plan report from the Chief Fire Officer (item 11 in the minute book), which detailed progress with performance and safety within the Fire and Rescue Service.

It was acknowledged that 2020-2021 had been an anomaly year with the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent challenges, but the Service had lead the resilience forum, as well as managing the set-up of the Combined Fire Authority (CFA) and business as usual work.

It was acknowledged that fire fatalities had increased in the year, but a full review was always undertaken and this had been affected by the amount of time people had been spending at home following local restrictions. Learning that had been captured from fire-related incidents was highlighted in paragraph 8 of the report.

It was confirmed that the 11.4% turnover in staff was not a particularly high amount compared to other Fire Services and was primarily down to retirement of staff.

Learning was still being consolidated following the pandemic and whilst there had been restrictions implemented throughout the year, the Service had continued to work with the most vulnerable and isolated in society to maintain their safety.

Looking at the CFA, it was confirmed that an amalgamation had been done with figures where possible, but there were differences in how things had historically been reported. This would be a focus going forward, particularly looking at rurality and the challenges it posed.

The Chief Fire Officer thanked officers for their work and invited Members to contribute to how they thought performance updates could be monitored going forward.

RESOLVED

a) The 2020/21 End of Year Performance Report was noted by the HIWFRA Full Authority

b) The 2020/21 Safety Plan Year 1 Improvements Report was noted by the HIWFRA Full Authority

To receive a report from the Chief Fire Officer, which summarises the progress of implementation of the new Combined Fire Authority (CFA) for Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton.

The Authority received a report from the Chief Fire Officer (item 12 in the minute book) that updated Members on progress with the formation of the Combined Fire Authority (CFA).

The report provided a summary timeline of work that had been undertaken along with achievements and opportunities utilised over the past year. The transition into a CFA had been smooth with targets achieved ahead of schedule, along with coming in under budget.

An on-call review was still to take place, but this had been moved into business as usual work as part of the CFA along with work on estates. The process had focussed on people, making it an exemplary example of best practice.

The Chief Fire Officer thanked Members for their brave political leadership and collaborative working throughout the CFA transition as well as the Deputy Chief Fire Officer and his officers for their hard work and determination.

RESOLVED

The content of the report was noted by the HIWFRA Full Authority

At the end of the meeting, the Chief Fire Officer paid special thanks to the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO), Steve Apter, ahead of his upcoming retirement. The DCFO had recently been awarded the Queens Fire Service medal and had played an integral role in the Combined Fire Authority project and it’s success. The Full Authority Members wished him all the best for the future.

The Chief Fire Officer also confirmed that since the elections, he had met with Sharon Mintoff from Southampton City Council who had previously sat on the Fire Authority and presented her with a certificate for her dedication to the Fire Authority up until May 2021.