Agenda item

To receive the Chairman’s announcements (if any) and a presentation of the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award

The Chairman announced that:

Wing Commander Jenny Dennis was attending the meeting today to present the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award to the Authority. After the award had been presented to the Chairman, the Chairman extended his thanks, on behalf of the Authority, to all Officers who had worked hard to achieve the award.

Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award Presentation

On 6 October, the Chairman along with Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer Calum Bell and Group Commander Shaun Cunningham attended the prestigious Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award presentation onboard HMS Warrior, Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth. The Chairman received the Gold Award Certificate on behalf of Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority on the Gun Deck of HMS Warrior, which was followed by a sunset ceremony performed by the Band of The Royal Marines.

Chairman’s Activities since the last meeting of the Fire Authority

Further to previously mentioned activities, the Chairman has undertaken additional duties representing the Authority since its last meeting.  These have included visits to Fire Stations across Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes to meet with and hear from firefighters, and further visits are planned.  In July, he met with Matt Parr from HMICFRS, to discuss the most recent inspection report; attended the Long Service Awards ceremony; and attended the firefighter graduation ceremony at the Fire Service College with the Chief Fire Officer.  In August, he met with local and regional representatives of the FBU, along with the Chief Fire Officer.  In September, he represented the Service, along with Area Commander Simon Tuffley and the Ceremonial Team, at the Annual Firefighters Memorial Trust Service in London, and laid a wreath at the Memorial in St Paul’s.

State Funeral

Area Commander Calum Bell was selected to be one of the 16 Fire representatives covering all fire and rescue services across the United Kingdom as part of the Civilian Services Contingent (CSC) who took part in the state funeral for the Queen on Monday 19 September 2022. Calum, along with all the other members of the Contingent, spent four days preparing for the funeral, starting with an all-night rehearsal covering the whole route, followed by three days at Pirbright Barracks being “drilled” by the Army’s finest instructors. On the day itself, Calum marched a total of 3.2 miles during the procession, where he was flanked by members from other services as well as the band of the Royal Marines. The procession route saw him start at Wellington Barracks and head to Westminster Abbey, from where the CSC marched behind the Household Cavalry who were escorting the Gun Carriage all the way to Wellington Arch. This saw the procession head down Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade and The Mall, past Buckingham Palace, before ending at the Arch where the monarch was transported by car to her final burial place at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Calum described it as one of the most intense events and definitely the proudest moment of his 32 year career in the Fire Service.

Workforce Planning

The Service has recently refreshed our Workforce Planning group to oversee both short- and medium-term plans for our workforce which includes the recruitment and retention of staff. Following the increase in funding approved at the February 2022 Fire Authority meeting, the Service increased the Wholetime operational establishment from 280 to 300. The 20 new operational roles will all be based on station supporting appliance availability. Utilising several recruitment routes including apprenticeships and transfers, we are on track to achieve the new establishment by the end of the financial year.

Wholetime Firefighters

Human Resources (HR) launched a Wholetime Recruitment campaign in April 2022, together with the help of Training School, Marketing and Communications and the Organisational Development Team. The campaign attracted 172 applicants including existing On-Call Firefighters. Applicants were required to undertake tests to verify their technical and practical competence. Eighteen successful candidates were invited to the Open day events that took place over the summer months and a ‘Brew with a Crew’ evening, which was arranged by HR Projects Station Commander Montague. This was received extremely well by the candidates and Crew in attendance, so plans are in place to arrange a similar event for the next cohort; due to start in March 2023. The eighteen candidates joined the Service on 3 October 2022,  for their induction and attend their Firefighter Foundation Development Programme (FFDP) course on 10 October 2022.

Within this campaign we received five applications, two internally who were already serving as On-Call Firefighters.  They were successful in the process, and we were able to secure two additional places at the Fire Service College, for them to attend an FFDP commencing on 1 September 2022. The other three applicants were deemed too competent to become an Apprentice and were moved over to the Transferee intake. The latest Wholetime Firefighter recruitment campaign closed on 2 October 2022, for commencement on 1 March 2023. We received 90 applications. Following the previous Cohort recruitment (due to commence on 3 October 2022), we have eleven successful candidates and who have been rolled over to commence in the March 2023 intake, requiring us to only recruit for six places on the next course.

We also continue to recruit across all our On Call stations with five recruits having started on the 1 September 2022.

Transferee Firefighters

HR launched Transferee Opportunities for Competent On-Call Firefighters to apply for the migration to a Wholetime Firefighter in June 2022. This attracted 58 applicants internally and externally. An internal recruitment process was undertaken, and six candidates were successful and commenced their three-week conversion course on 5 September 2022 with the Training team. They were joined with the other three competent On-Call Firefighter candidates who had applied for the Wholetime campaign. The external candidate recruitment process, resulted in offers of employment for six external candidates. The candidates will commence a three-week conversion course with the Training team on 5 December 2022.

The Training team is committed to increasing the Services operational establishment. To achieve this, the team will aim to deliver - 

·         Two FFDP per year using Service instructors at the Fire Service College

·         Two competent Firefighter transfer courses per year. The Service has developed a new three-week conversion course to support internal and external applicants transferring from On-Call to full-time roles. This course could also be utilised to support employees returning to work following long term absences, sabbaticals, or maternity leave.

·         Two On-Call training courses per year, increasing the establishment of our On-Call and providing greater resilience during periods of peak demand as per the Resourcing Model.

Assessment and Development Centres

Crew, Watch and Station Commander assessment and development centres were held week commencing 17 September 2022 and included an On Call specific weekend. Well done to all those who attended, regardless of the result, your commitment to your development and want to progress your career is commendable and we will continue to do all we can to support your career aspirations. On Monday 3 October, we hosted the IFE examinations at West Ashland Fire Station, 55 staff members attended and sat an extraordinary 67 papers on the day – again congratulations to all those that sat exams and we look forward to seeing you attend the next development centre. The next phase (phase 2) of the Leadership and Management Development Programme commenced in September, with cohort 1 completing their 4 day programme on the 29 and 30 September. Phase 2 includes rolling the programme out to all remaining established managers, this includes Support and Operational Mangers. In addition, two senior managers within the service have been successful in securing places on to the sector’s national Executive Leadership Programme and have commenced their attendance on the programme. The Training Needs Analysis (TNA) process assesses the need for staff training at least annually. This TNA is translated into prioritised learning programmes, approved by the Training Strategy Group and scrutinised to ensure alignment with business priorities, business continuity succession plans and approved budgets. In April 2022, the Training Strategy Group met to review the proposal for allocating funding against the 2022/23 TNA and were able to approve £220,000 of investment into staff training.

Financial Position

The Budget Monitoring Report April 2022 – July 2022 was presented to the special meeting of the Executive Committee on 7 October 2022, showing a projected year-end underspend of £134k.  However, at the meeting it was noted there have been subsequent events that have impacted on this forecast:

·         The forecast underspend as at the end of September is now £847k, an increase of £713k

·         The announcement of the energy price cap for non-domestic customers has reduced the forecast spend for the year on gas and electricity by £400k

·         The recent increases in the Bank of England base rate has increased our forecast income from treasury management investments by £170k

·         The remainder of the increase is predominantly due to higher operational leavers than originally forecast, as well as a few new support staff vacancies

In addition, the following will need to be factored into the forecast for future months:

·         On 4 October 2022, the UK National Employers for Fire & Rescue Services have agreed to make an improved pay offer of five per cent on all basic pay rates and continual professional development payments.  It is forecast that this will cost approximately £450k for the remainder of the year (as pay awards are backdated to July) reducing the forecast underspend to circa £400k (about 1.2% variance against the budget)

·         While a 5% pay award can be absorbed this year, it is because of the recent non-domestic energy support announcement and assumes no further financial pressures emerging.  However, without additional funding through either grant funding and/or precept flexibility in the forthcoming Local Government Finance Settlement, the Service would not be on a sustainable footing in future years.