Agenda item

To receive the Chairman’s announcements (if any).

The Chairman announced that:

He was very honoured and privileged to become Chairman of this Authority. There were some significant challenges coming over the next 12 months, and he was very much looking forward to the Authority working collectively to address those challenges and focusing on ensuring Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes had the best fire and rescue service it could.

The Chairman paid tribute to Councillor Lesley Clarke OBE who had been the previous Chairman of the Authority and who had steered it through a particularly challenging time during the Covid-19 pandemic. He wanted to put on record his thanks to her and also for the professional and quality handover she had given him. He would also like to register thanks on behalf of all the Authority. The Chairman also thanked the Lead Members who had been in their roles for the past 12 months, for the huge amount of work that had been undertaken. The Chairman particularly thanked Councillor Lambert for his hard work on the equality, diversity and inclusion work that would be discussed later in the meeting.

The Chairman congratulated the Members from Milton Keynes Council on achieving City status.

Last month saw the successful completion of a challenging 12 weeks of acquisition training at the Fire Service College and Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service training sites, for our newest firefighter recruits. To celebrate this significant achievement, we hosted a “passing out” ceremony for the first time at the Blue-Light Hub, West Ashland on Friday 20 May 2022. Friends and family, members of the Authority and members of the Senior Management Team attended the ceremony to congratulate and welcome our new members of staff. Thanks, and recognition of the work put in goes to Course Director, Watch Commander James Tuffley, the Area Trainers and all the Associate Trainers who assisted throughout the initial training. Thanks also to all those who were involved in organising the day and marking the occasion with the celebration it deserved. The firefighters have now taken up operational posts at a variety of stations across the Service and we wish them a long and happy career here in Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Human Resources together with the help of Training School, Marketing and Communications Team, and the Organisational Development Team launched a Wholetime Recruitment campaign in April 2022. The campaign attracted 172 applicants including existing On Call Firefighters. Applicants are undertaking tests to verify their technical and practical competence. Those who are successful will progress to a final interview and medical. The candidates will be joining on 3 October 2022.

The On Call and Wholetime Firefighter transferee campaign is live and closes on 3 July 2022.

Crew, Watch and Station Commander assessment and development centres are planned for the week commencing 17 September 2022 – including an On Call specific weekend. These Development Centres will be for both internal and external candidates and will be for promotional and direct transfer purposes. Engagement sessions/familiarisation events will be held on 18 and 19 July, to provide an opportunity for potential candidates to receive input on the process and have any questions answered. On Call and Support Services recruitment is ongoing throughout the year. Learning from these campaigns will help us to attract a wider range of diverse applicants for future recruitment campaigns. For example, we held a ‘have a go’ day in February 2022 for those who were unsuccessful in the previous Wholetime recruitment campaign and gave them a chance to work on their developmental areas. They also had the opportunity to talk to existing firefighters on how best they could be successful.

A Member reported that he had attended the apprentices Passing Out Parade on 20 May at the Blue Light Hub and wanted to report how impressed he was with the way the day was organised and the way it showcased the effectiveness and competence of the Service and the pride, commitment, and motivation of the firefighters at all levels.