Agenda item

(To consider a report from Mark Baxter, Chief Fire Officer, on the Fire and Rescue Statement of Assurance)

Consideration was given to a report from the Chief Fire Officer, on the Fire and Rescue Statement of Assurance. The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England set out the requirement for fire and rescue authorities to provide an annual Statement of Assurance on financial, governance and operational matters. The Statement would be used as a source of information on which to base the Secretary of State’s biennial report under section 25 of the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004.

The report summarised that Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) Authority was satisfied that the systems and measures it had in place with respect of financial, governance and operational matters for the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 were fit for purpose and effective. It was satisfied that its business was conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards and that public money was properly accounted for and used economically, efficiently and effectively. It was also satisfied that, where appropriate, the National Framework requirements had been met.

Members considered the report, and during the discussion the following comments were noted:-

·         The Committee thanked the Chief Fire Officer for a comprehensive and detailed report and presentation.

·         The financial statements were awaited and had been delayed due to the Covid pandemic.

·         CIPFA data was used to compare costs and value for money with other fire departments across the country. In comparison, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) Authority were efficient and effective. It was noted that it was difficult to compare Authorities like for like as crew numbers varied as did fire appliances for example.

·         Flooding wasn’t a statutory responsibility, however Lincolnshire had the skills and equipment to deal with any call outs. Call outs to flooding incidents had an impact on the statistics measuring performance as these incidents often took a long time to resolve and often involved a large number of officers. It was recognised there needed to be common benchmarks across the country.

·         The partnership arrangement with other Authorities was noted. These Authorities provided support if called upon to do so.

·         The Authority had setup a dedicated and trained peer support team which was available 24 hours a day to support officers and signpost services to specialists. There had been a significant uptake in this service and it was suggested that this was due to a number of reasons including normal life stress under the Covid pandemic, work stress and also officers being more comfortable with seeking support and greater awareness of services available. Work was on going into looking at how stress could be reduced and prevented which was seen as a national as well as local priority. From January 2021 more virtual 'touch in times' would be launched for senior managers to meet officers. These would be in addition to face to face meetings but these engagement meetings would be separate from any formal inspection visits.

·         Future plans included promoting wellbeing of the workforce, development of IT capabilities, reviewing prevention and protection capabilities and developing a more robust evaluation framework to look at the impact of the service.

·         There had been minimal impact on crews during the first lockdown asa result of Covid-19. During the second lockdown increased testing had found a small number of cases but the impact on the service had been minimal as crews and resourcing had been redistributed in accordance with an immediate response plan.

RESOLVED: That the report be received, the comments noted and the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Authority’s Statement of Assurance for 2019-20 be supported.