Meeting documents

To consider Item 5

The Vice Chairman introduced the report and advised Members that this report provided a further update regarding the national status of the programme and its impact on regional and local transition. The last briefing was provided to Members in July 2019.

The Vice Chairman read from the Summary of the Committee of Public Accounts Emergency Services Network: further progress review "ESN is now three years late and expected to cost the taxpayer at least £3.1 billion more than planned." "The Committee has seen other examples where the lack of a market in certain technical or IT products and services put the Government in a weak contractual position. This is the eighth occasion that we have examined the programme. We will continue to be concerned about the progress of this programme until the department has a clear plan for delivery and can demonstrate that it has the skills and capacity to meet the substantial challenges ahead."

The Head of Service Development advised that at the last briefing to Members in July, reference to the National Audit Office (NAO) report had been made which highlighted the poor management of the national programme which had, in turn, led to delays and an escalation in costs. Since the NAO report was produced, a further report had been released by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This publication was also less than complimentary of the management of the national programme and had made six recommendations which were highlighted within this report.  The recommendations focused on the production of a detailed, achievable delivery plan; assurances regarding the availability and costs of maintain the current Airwave network; an identification of the skills and tasks that were required to deliver and integrate the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and assurances that these would be addressed when appointing a new delivery partner; and that a revised and approved business case was delivered by the end of 2019. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) had issued a statement responding to the release of the PAC report which could be seen at Appendix A of this report. This highlights NFCC concerns regarding the programme and notes their agreement with the latest report.

Members would recall that officers were continuing to engage with representatives of the national programme regarding the provision of a Direct Network Service Provider or DNSP link.  The Authority had submitted a further letter to the central programme seeking a resolution to this issue and the Senior User (the Head of Service Development) had been invited to take part in discussions with the Programme Director. Members could be assured that officers from this organisation continued to monitor the progress of the national programme and to engage with colleagues at regional and national levels to prepare for ESN.

The Chairman read from the Summary of the Committee of Public Accounts Emergency Services Network: further progress review – Confidence of emergency services in the new approach "The Department did not fully recognise the diversity of the industry users, and feedback from users had not been acted on."

The Chairman advised Members that the members of the Thames Valley Fire Control Service Joint Committee had also written to the Permanent Secretary, Sir Phillip Rutnam setting out their concerns regarding the Programme.

RESOLVED –

That the report be noted.