Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room One, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

Contact: Emily Wilcox  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

41.

Apologies for Absence/Replacement Members

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

 

42.

Declarations of Members' Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

43.

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 10 December 2019 pdf icon PDF 384 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

          That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 10 December 2019           be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman,       subject           to a number of amendments. 

 

44.

Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillors and Chief Officers

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the newly appointed Assistant Director – Public Protection to the meeting.

 

45.

Revenue and Capital Budget Proposals 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 372 KB

(To receive a report from Keith Noyland, Head of Finance – Communities, which invites the Committee to consider the budget implications for the Council's Public Protection and Communities Services prior to consideration of the final budget proposals by the Executive at its meeting on 7 January 2020)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Finance – Communities, which invited the Committee to consider the budget implications for the Council's public protection and communities services prior to consideration of the council's final budget proposals by the Executive at its meeting on 4 February 2020.

 

Members were advised that the budget proposals reflected the level of funding expected to be available to the Council from central government and an assumed increase in Council Tax in 2020/21 of 1.5% and an Adult Social Care 'precept' assumed to increase by 2% in 2020/21.

 

Members were referred to Table A, which detailed the total proposed revenue budget for the Council's public protection and communities service, at £33.414m.

 

It was noted that there were cost pressures of £1.737m relating to fire pension employer contributions and £0.056m for increased Business rates arising from revaluation of Fire premises.

 

For Cultural Services, a cost pressure of £0.284m in 2020/21 related to ICT provision and inflation on the Libraries contract.

 

Members were informed that the public protection and communities services were proposing to make savings totalling £0.316m in 2020/21, as a result of efficiencies in the Station cover model from reducing attendance to unwanted fire signals to commercial, non-life risk premises and savings in IT maintenance costs and from leasing smaller vehicles.

 

Members were then referred to table B, which set out the capital programme for 2020/21, plus future years. It was explained that the main changes to the capital programme that related to public protection and communities services were an addition of a further £2m in future years for the continuation of a rolling replacement of Fire and Rescue vehicles and associated equipment and £2.5m for the addition of a programme of development for the heritage service in each of 2020/21 and 2021/22..

 

The Committee supported the revenue and capital budget proposals 2020/21.

 

Members were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were noted:

 

·       It was clarified that there had not been a reduction in business rates as a result of the merger of the emergency service premises as there had been a re-valuation on the south park property meaning that the business rates had increased rather than decreased as a result of the merger.

·       Staffing efficiencies for the heritage service were not necessarily due to redundancies but rather efficiencies in how the service uses their existing staff.

·       The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that there were a number of commercial properties which had alarm systems in place which would automatically default to an emergency response by Lincolnshire Fire Rescue (LFR). Many of these properties already had a sufficient fire protection system in place. Officers had engaged with commercial premises that were a non-life risk and extremely well protected with their own fire-precautions and explained that LFR would no longer immediately respond to calls as a default.  Officers provided assurance that fire-fighters would always attend fire incidents when necessary. If there was any uncertainty as to the risk of the fire,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

46.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Integrated Risk Management Plan 2020 - 2023 Consultation pdf icon PDF 707 KB

(To receive a report by Sean Taylor, Area Manager – Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, which invites the Committee to consider Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue's Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for 2020 – 2023)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Chief Fire Officer, which invited the Committee to consider the aspects contained in this report as part of the consultation period for LFR's Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for 2020-2023.

 

Members were advised that the IRMP was a long term plan which outlined LRF assessment of key risks to both our communities and the organisation itself. The IRMP sought to engage with the public about LFR's priorities and achievements, as well as identifying an overview of community risks.

 

Members were referred to Appendix A to the report, which set out LFR's IRMP. The IRMP highlighted the community risks, corporate risks

 

Members were referred to Appendix B to the report, which detailed LFR community risk profile. The Community Risk Profile was a live document and was updated regularly to ensure the public understood the LFR's assessment of risk throughout Lincolnshire.

 

Members were invited to formally comment on the IRMP as part of the consultation process. Members discussed the report and the following points were noted:

 

·       It was explained that the types of incidents that LFR responded to had expanded significantly, particularly with the introduction of the co-responder function. There were now significantly more flooding incidents responded to and an increase in collaboration work with partners which meant responding to events that would not have previously been responded to.

·       It was clarified that the number of fires had reduced nationally which was mainly due to educating people on prevention; campaigns; improvements in home fire safety and changes in materials. 

·       Members were pleased to see that climate change was being acknowledged as it posed a significant amount of future challenges for Lincolnshire.

·       In response to a question, the Chief Fire Officer explained that LFR had spent the last four months of 2019 dealing with flooding incidents in Lincolnshire. Flooding incidents were becoming much more regular and officers were investigating the most appropriate set up of teams to respond to incidents. 

·       It was confirmed that half of domestic fires were a result of cooking, but many of these were not large fires. Officers visited schools to educate children on the safety around smoke alarms.

·       LFR had obtained funding to commission an evaluation study purely to determine the effectiveness of prevention activities.

·       LFR would be consulting with the public on the IRMP via social media and the council's website. Officers would also be visiting communities in an attempt to engage them with the consultation.

·       70 responses had been received during the first week of the consultation, which was higher than usual.

·       It was agreed that the Chief Fire Officer circulate details of the content of the FM Global Heritage Fire white paper.

·       In response to a question, the Head of Emergency Planning and Business Continuity advised that the risk posed by the Coronavirus was being monitored by Local Health Authorities and the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum. Guidance was expected to be received in due course.

·       LFR were working with other agencies to try to reduce the number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

47.

Emergency Planning - Summer 2019 Flooding Response

(To receive a presentation from Ian Reed, Head of Emergency Planning & Business Continuity, which provides an update on the Emergency Planning response to the Summer 2019 Flooding incidents)

 

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a verbal report by the Head of Emergency Planning and Business Continuity which provided an update on the Emergency Planning response to the summer 2019 flooding incidents.

 

The Head of Emergency Planning and Business Continuity echoed comments that extreme rainfall and flooding incidents were becoming more regular and more large scale flooding incidents should be expected in the future. Lincolnshire's Risk Register detailed Coastal River and Flash Flooding as one of the top 10 risks to the county.

 

 A timeline of events relating to the Emergency Planning Response was outlined:

 

·       4 June 2019 – The emergency planning team began responding to sporadic incidents of flooding and the service activated command procedures.

·       12 June 2019 – the Internal Drainage Board reported a breach in the river at Wainfleet. Full command support and command procedures were activated and the county emergency centre was opened. Coronation Hall in Wainfleet was also opened for use by the local community as a place where the public could receive help and information.

·       13 June – parts of Wainfleet began to be evacuated. Military support was requested.

·       15 June – a temporary repair was made to the breach.

·       16 June – water began to be pumped away from the affected areas.

·       24 June – Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) handed over to East Lindsey District Council as the recovery phase started.

 

Overall, the response to the incident had been positive. The Head of Emergency Planning and Business Continuity highlighted the following in relation to the emergency planning response:

 

·       Over 29 different Lincolnshire Resilience Forum organisations had contributed to the response.

·       LCC had a good relationship with the local media. However, the large amount of national media attention created an extra pressure on officers responding to the incidents and lessons had been learned that would now be considered for future incidents.

·       LCC were unable to make claims under the Bellwin Scheme for this incident, which would have provided emergency financial assistant to local authorities.

·       The emergency planning team worked 60-70 hours on top of their usual weekly contracted hours during the incident, which had been resource intensive. Officers acknowledged the importance of the welfare of their staff members. Since the incident, rotas and improvements had been put in place to ensure that all staff members were getting an adequate amount of rest.

·       Officers had recognised the importance of financial records and procurements procedures, especially when there are a large number of people wanting to make cash donations. Since the incident, governance had been put in place to manage these procedures.

·       There were a large number of volunteers willing to help during the incident and it was important that volunteers were aware of the health and safety and response procedures that were in place. A policy and mutual aid agreement had now been agreed to ensure the safety of volunteers during emergencies.

·       The volunteer groups that had already received training from LCC proved invaluable and officers were proud of the resilience programme, which was now being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

48.

Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 397 KB

(To receive a report by Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with the opportunity to consider and comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity is focussed where it can be of greatest benefit)

 

 

 

 

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Scrutiny Officer, which presented the Committee's prospective work programme.

 

Members were advised that at their next meeting the Committee were scheduled to receive reports on the Fire and Rescue Integrated Risk Management Plan Consultation Update; the Heritages Services Update; the Blue Light Programme and a Review of the Safer Lincolnshire Partnership.

 

RESOVLED:

 

          That the work programme be noted.

 

 

 
 
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