Agenda item

To consider Item 11

The Corporate Planning Manager advised Members that this was the regular report on the status of corporate risks which was presented to every meeting of the Committee. This report reflected any changes and updates made since the last meeting in November 2021. Since then, the risk register had been subject to regular review by officers at the Performance Monitoring and Strategic Management Boards, and also by Lead Members where individual risks fall within their areas of reference. As Members would see, there had been some changes to the probability and impact scores and also, RAG statuses of some of the risks since the last report.

Firstly, in relation to the staff availability risk, 18 new wholetime firefighter recruits had joined the Service on 1 March 2022 and commenced training at the Fire Service College. However, it was decided to maintain the current risk score and red RAG status for this risk in light of the potential impact of London Fire Brigade’s current firefighter recruitment campaign.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised Members that officers were monitoring the situation very closely around the London Fire Brigade recruitment campaign, as with the London weighting, it was quite an attractive proposition for firefighters to transfer across. The Service was in dialogue with London Fire Brigade to ensure they didn’t take everybody all at once, as there was some anecdotal evidence that a number of people had applied. Officers were also in dialogue with the training provider around additional recruit courses later in the year. There was also a Recruitment Board being set up to maintain the recruitment momentum moving forward to cover any gaps that may appear.

The Corporate Planning Manager advised that in relation to the funding and savings risk, Members would see that the risk score and RAG status had been lowered in light of the Authority’s decision in February to raise the Council Tax Precept by £5. However, it had only been reduced from red to the top end of the amber spectrum, as there were still some uncertainties in relation to central government funding and there was, of course, the impact of growing inflationary pressures to consider which were already manifesting themselves in terms of increasing costs for energy, fuel and other consumables.

In relation to the information security risk, viruses and malware remain a very live and potent risk to information, communication and operating systems, and ever more so, in light of current events. The latest advice from GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre in relation to the potential for Russia to use this medium to hit back at countries that have deployed economic sanctions and other trade related measures in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Officers continued to do everything possible to protect the Authority’s systems and Members would see from the risk update that the Authority was now a subscriber to the South-East Employers (SEE) sub-group South-East Government Warning, Advisory and Reporting Point (SEGWARP), which shared knowledge, resources and benchmarking amongst participating IT Security Specialists and IT Managers.

The Corporate Planning Manager advised Members that regarding the Covid resurgence, the Authority had been progressively restoring services that were paused or restricted due to Covid, subject to maintenance of appropriate controls to avoid risk of transmission to the public or amongst its own staff. Given the government’s relaxation of the various legal control measures and reducing absence levels, the impact score had been lowered for this risk putting it at the lower end of the amber RAG spectrum.

With regard to the impact in changes to the Firefighter Pension Scheme and the latest position in relation to the McCloud Sargeant pensions risk. Here Members would see that the risk score and RAG status had been reduced from red to amber, given a reduced potential for significant, immediate losses of staff compared with when the remedy was introduced. Though obviously the potential for increased financial liabilities remained.

A Member asked that if some firefighters were leaving to join London Fire Brigade, and the Service was currently recruiting trainees, was monitoring in place to ensure that current firefighters were not overburdened with their daily work rate, with what they can physically do, and how many hours they can physically work.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that there were safeguards in place to ensure that all employees comply with working time regulations, and it was monitored very closely. With the additional funding that was being made available this year, the wholetime establishment figures were being increased, which would mean there would be a lesser need to use the bank system.

A Member asked with the additional funding, what was the optimum number of firefighters in order to ensure both the safety of the staff, but also the safety of its residents.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the establishment was increased two years ago with an additional ten firefighters. He also advised that all overtime was voluntary, and the service did not require anybody to do any additional hours, over their contracted hours.

A Member asked what the restriction on recruitment was, was it the number of firefighters that could actually be trained, or a restriction on the budget.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed it was a mixture of both. In the past it was always around budgets, with not having a longer-term financial settlement, it had always been difficult to plan when to recruit. This year, with the additional funding, the Service could plan its recruitment. A new recruitment board had been established to help drive the recruitment forward.

A Member asked if staff should attend work if they had Covid-19 and was advised that the Authority had followed the government guidance from the beginning of the pandemic, and the advice was not to go into work if they had tested positive with Covid-19.

A Member asked if staff were paid sick pay if they were absent with Covid-19 and was advised that yes they were, and also Covid-19 absence would not contribute to their overall absence monitoring.

RESOLVED –

1.                  That the status on identified corporate risks at Annex C be reviewed and approved.

2.                  That comments be provided to officers for consideration and attention in future updates / reports.