Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Chris Goodwin (Oldham), Kallum Nolan (Rochdale), Teresa Smith (Tameside), Dave Morgan (Trafford), Joanne Marshall (Wigan) and Richard Paver (GMCA Treasurer).

Councillor Stella Smith left the meeting at 6.30pm.

To appoint a Chair for the municipal year.

Nominations were invited for the position of Chair of the GMCA Corporate Issues and Reform Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2019/20 Municipal Year. Councillor Stella Smith proposed Councillor Tim Pickstone and Councillor John McGahan seconded the proposal. The Committee agreed that Councillor Tim Pickstone be appointed.

 RESOLVED:

It was unanimously agreed that Councillor Tim Pickstone be appointed as Chair for the GMCA Corporate Issues and Reform Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2019/20 municipal year.

The Chair extended thanks on behalf of the committee to colleagues from GMFRS for hosting the meeting and providing Members with an insightful tour of the excellent facility. 

No urgent business was raised.

To receive any Member’s declarations of interest in relation to any item on the agenda. A blank form for declaring interests has been circulated with the agenda; please ensure that this is returned to the Governance & Scrutiny Officer at the time of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest received.

The Chair reminded Members to complete their annual GMCA Register of Interest Form and return this to the Governance and Scrutiny Officer.

To consider the approval of the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2019, as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2019 were submitted for approval.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2019 be approved as a correct record.

Report of Joanne Heron, Statutory Scrutiny Officer, GMCA

Joanne Heron, Statutory Scrutiny Officer, introduced the 2019/20 work programme, which had been populated following the discussions at the last meeting.  It was acknowledged that the work programme would need to be updated to include further GMFRS items which would become more apparent after the discussions today.

It was suggested that it would be helpful consider two substantive items per meeting to enable effective scrutiny, albeit some additional items could be included for information. It was agreed that the work programme would be updated to reflect this.

The Committee were reminded that there was no meeting in August, but training had been arranged with Richard Paver, GMCA Treasurer to help Members better scrutinise the budget setting process. The training session was scheduled to take place on Tuesday 13^th August at 6pm, GMCA Offices.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the work programme be updated to include two substantive items per meeting.

2.      That the work programme be updated to include appropriate GMFRS items.  

Report of Tony Hunter, Director of Protection, Service Improvement and Performance, GMFRS

Tony Hunter, Director of Protection, Service Improvement & Performance, presented a report which provided Members with an outline of the Service’s annual performance for 2018/19 against the delivery goals contained within the Corporate and Integrated Risk Management Plan 2016/20.

Key areas highlighted were as follows:

·         It was advised that local level performance was managed by Borough Managers who work with partners locally to address any trends. Borough Managers would be contacting Members to arrange a meeting to discuss the local level performance and associated challenges.

·         During 2018/19 there had been a total of 31,786 incidents (fires, false alarms and special service calls) which was a reduction of 3.61% (1,192 fewer incidents) when compared to 2017/18.

·         The average response time for the 1^st GMFRS appliance to attend an emergency incident this year was 7 minutes 14 seconds and was comparable to the 7 minutes 6 seconds recorded during 2017/18. It was acknowledged that this was the time taken for the 1^st appliance to attend the scene once the alert had been received at the fire station.

·         Accidental dwelling fires (ADF’s) had decreased by 5% when compared to 2017/18.

·         Deliberate fires had decreased by 9%  when compared to 2017/18.

·         During July 2018, GMFRS were in spate conditions due to the moorland incidents, which took place during the period 25 June 2018 and 18 July 2018. This was the busiest recorded period of operational activity in the history of GMFRS.

·         Sadly, during 2018/19, 19 people had died as a result of a fire incident, 16 of which were accidental.

·         There had been a total of 14,083 false alarms attended this year, an increase of 1% when compared to 2017/18, 39% of all false alarms originated from an automatic fire alarm (FADA) in a non-domestic property. Members were advised that they would receive further information at a future meeting regarding a pilot which was seeking to reduce the number of false alarms crews attend.

·         The prolonged moorland incidents had impacted on the ability for both crews and community safety staff to carry out Safe and Well Visits. A total of 27,191 Safe and Well Visits took place, a decrease of 18% when compared to the number delivered in 2017/18.

·         The level of sickness absence had decreased from 4.72% (recorded in 2017/18) to 4.03%.

Members raised the following questions and comments:

·         A Member queried whether the level of sickness absence could be broken down by operational staff aswell as back room staff. It was confirmed that this information was readily available and would be circulated to the Committee.

·         Further clarity was sought in relation to the percentage of female firefighters. GMFRS advised that they were actively continuing to encourage under-represented groups to consider a career in the Fire Service, noting that this had been recognised through Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

·         A Member requested that Borough Managers share local level information with Members, in order to understand the specific issues, as opposed to the global picture presented. The request  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Report of Jim Wallace, Chief Fire Officer, GMFRS

Please access the documents via the following link: https://manchesterfire.gov.uk/programme-for-change/

Kevin Lee, Director of Mayor’s Office, extended apologies on behalf of the Mayor Andy Burnham who was unable to attend the meeting, noting that he had attended the meeting in March 2019 to set out the Outline Business Case (OBC) for the GMFRS Programme for Change.

Supported by Jim Wallace, Chief Fire Officer, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Dawn Docx, and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Leon Parkes, and Tony Hunter, Members were provided with a presentation (available at Appendix 1) which outlined the facts and the latest position following the end of the consultation on the Programme for Change.

The following key points were raised:

·         No final decisions had yet been made and discussions were underway with the trade unions.

·         Firefighter numbers would  be maintained at or above May 2017 levels for this year.

·         The Mayor was determined to avoid compulsory redundancies for support staff.

·         To maintain these commitments beyond 2020, GMCA would lobby the Government and request they meet the pensions shortfall and increase funding for fire and rescue services.

·         Further information on the response to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) would be provided to the Committee at a future meeting.

Members raised the following questions and comments:

·         Members welcomed the presentation.

·         Members raised concerns regarding the timing of the consultation which had impacted on the number of opportunities afforded to the Committee to sufficiently scrutinise the proposals. The approach to scrutiny was also questioned, as the Committee had not had the opportunity to scrutinise the issues in any detail, in particularly the impacts/ effects, and the views of others. Following discussion on how best to appropriately scrutinise the proposals, it was proposed that the September meeting would focus on scrutinising the following issues in a deeper way:

-          The proposal to reduce the number of fire fighters on a pump from 5’s to 4’s (with a focus on the effect)

-          The robustness of the plans, given the expediential rate of growth within the city region in particularly inner city core, and the impact of congestion on response times. 

-          What had changed within the proposals and outline business case following the consultation? 

-          How the new prevention model would be delivered

·         It was agreed that the Statutory Scrutiny Officer would consult with Members over the summer period in order to identify how effective scrutiny could be facilitated, including how the views of others could be captured.

·         Kevin Lee accepted that the timing was not ideal, given the election period, but stressed that the proposals needed to be developed and consulted upon, with a view to addressing the budget deficit and to avoid further consequences for GMFRS.

·         Concerns were raised regarding the level of engagement on the consultation. It was felt that a communication should have been shared with all GM councillors. Kevin Lee apologised if Members felt they had not had adequate time to comment on the proposals, noting that they were provided with the OBC in March 19, and their comments from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Tuesday 17 September 2019 at 6pm

Tuesday 13 August 2019 at 6pm, GMCA Offices – Budget Training Session

Tuesday 17 September 2019 at 6pm, GMCA Offices – Committee meeting

RESOLVED:

That the date of the training session and next meeting be noted.

https://www.gmcameetings.co.uk/downloads/file/1112/regster_of_key_decisions_published_on_1_july_2019

RESOLVED:

That the Register of Key Decisions be noted.