Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor C R Oxby.

Apologies from Councillor C N Worth, Executive Councillor for Culture and Emergency Services were also noted.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

The Chairman, on behalf of the Scrutiny Committee, expressed thanks to Deputy Chief Fire Officer Mick Green who would be retiring at the end of the week following over 30 years' service with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue.  Mick had served in a number of posts around the County during his time, his roles ranged from riding in fire engines in his early days to having strategic responsibility for the Service's response and resources capabilities as the Deputy Chief.  He also spent 2 years in New Zealand working initially with the department of conservation and then with the New Zealand Fire Service.  He had also been part of the County's International Search and Rescue team and had deployed to Macedonia, India and Algeria.  During his career he had made a significant contribution to the safety of communities in Lincolnshire and the Committee wished him all the best in his future endeavours.

(To receive a presentation from Nick Borrill, Chief Fire Officer; Daryl Pearce, County Officer – Public Protection; and Nicole Hilton, Chief Community Engagement Officer on Protecting the Public and Community Resilience and Assets (Public Protection and Communities))

The Committee received a presentation from lead officers which provided an overview of the various challenges and opportunities in the areas that this Committee scrutinised.

The presentation was introduced by Pete Moore, Executive Director Finance and Public Protection, and included contributions from Nicole Hilton for Community Engagement, Daryl Pearce for County Public protection and Nick Borrill and Ian Reed for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and Emergency Planning.

Members received detailed information in relation to the following:

·         Community Resilience and Assets

·         Community Engagement – What we do

·         Community Engagement – Aims

·         Aims and Objectives – Policy Development & Delivery

·         Aims and Objectives Projects

·         Aims and Objectives

·         Library Service – Changes

·         Community Engagement Budget

·         Community Engagement Challenges

·         Opportunities

·         2016/17 Achievements

·         Community Engagement – Priorities

·         Heritage Services – Who We Are

·         What We Do

·         Aims and Objectives

·         Heritage Services – Changes

·         Budget

·         Challenges

·         Opportunities2016/17 Achievements

·         Future Priorities

·         County Public Protection

·         Safer Communities

·         Safer Communities – Priorities and Challenges

·         Lincolnshire Youth Offending

·         Lincolnshire Youth Offending – Challenges and Priorities

·         Registration Celebratory & Coroners

·         Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue – The Management Team

·         FRA Responsibilities

·         Key Legislation

·         Our Approach

·         The Service…

·         Prevention

·         Home Safety and Health and Wellbeing

·         Road safety

·         Arson reduction and Youth Engagement

·         Protection

·         Response

·         Level 1 (Operator) and 2 (Technical) Response

·         Level 3 – Specialist Response

·         Level 4 – National Response

·         Level 5 – International Response

·         The Finances….

·         ….and the changes

·         The In-Tray

·         Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Service

·         Challenges

·         Achievements

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the presentation and some of the points raised included the following:

·         In relation to support to non-parished areas, members were advised that officers had mapped many community groups across the entire county and when there was a specific issue, could go direct to that group.  If there an issue arose in an area where officers did not have a contact they would carry out investigations to establish a contact.

·         It was queried how a decision was made on what consultation to carry out, and members were advised that there was clear legislation on when there was a need to consult and that there were a whole range of different ways in which communities could be targeted to ensure that the maximum feedback was received.

·         A councillor commented that a task and finish group had been carried out in 2012 which had examined the County Council's relationship with the town and parish councils, and it was suggested that it may be interesting to revisit the recommendations from the report.  Officers advised that they would speak to the councillor outside of the meeting in relation to this report.

·         It was commented that aviation heritage was important to Lincolnshire and it was queried what other projects were in progress.  Members were advised that officers were working closely with Bomber Command to provide expertise and support whenever needed.  It was hoped that work would take place with Lincoln BIG on a combined aviation offer.  It was also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

(To receive a report from Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with an opportunity to consider its own work programme for the coming year)

Consideration was given to a report which enabled the Committee to comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity was focused where it could be of greatest benefit. 

During discussion of the work programme, the following was noted:

·         It was requested whether the Committee could sit as the Crime and Disorder at least twice per year and if neighbourhood policing could be included.  It was noted that this subject was already on the work programme as an item to be scheduled.

·         It was requested whether the effects of the street lighting could be added to the agenda.  However, it was reported that this was already scheduled to go to the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee in April 2018.

RESOLVED

1.    That the work programme as set out in Appendix A of this report be noted.

2.    That the additional items highlighted, and the responses given be noted.