Agenda item

To approve, and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 16 November 2022 (Item 2)

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on Wednesday 16 November 2022, be approved, and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

EARTHQUAKE IN TURKEY AND SYRIA

The Chairman advised that Members were as concerned as he was regarding the events in Turkey and Syria. The United Kingdom had mobilised 77 International Search and Rescue officers but was there anything Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) were doing to support this.

The Chief Fire Officer informed Members there were two schemes in place in the United Kingdom. Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams one of which was here in Aylesbury, and International Search and Rescue (ISAR) which comprised of members of staff of other USAR teams. Currently this Service was not on the register for international deployment. What this Service does was play a pivotal role when events like this happen. it fills the gaps of other USAR teams that had been deployed. The reach of the BFRS USAR team in terms of national deployment would be broader than it would normally be, staff may be mobilised longer distances.

The Chairman advised that following the London Fire Brigade Review of Culture, other issues had come to light in other fire and rescue services, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service being one. He asked the Chief Fire Officer to give a verbal update on this.

The Chief Fire Officer advised Members that the British fire and rescue service had an issue with its culture. The services need to focus and listen to people’s experiences. People were coming forward, mainly after they had left a service, with evidence of abhorrent treatment in the workplace. These people did not feel able to raise these issues with their immediate line managers, middle manager, senior managers, with their union, or with HMICFRS, which showed the scale of the issue.

Following the London Fire Brigade report, there were a number of actions the Service had put in place, but this was not the only answer. There needed to be a broader discussion about how this Authority and the Service move forward to ensure that not one person in the Service should feel as though they can't come forward with these issues.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that the Senior Management Team had spoken about this at every meeting, there had also been meetings with the Leadership Group, as there needed to be a coordinated approach and input was also needed from employees. At the meetings, officers talked about the London report, how it made people feel and what actions should be taken. There were a lot of actions and 33 outcomes from the report. Some of the areas looked at were advertising the Whistleblowing line. The Code of Conduct and the Whistleblowing Procedures were already going through the governance process and would be approved at the Executive Committee on 22 March. These documents had also been sent to the Asian Fire Service Association the South-East Employers and four other fire and rescue services to get outside feedback.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that the Service was reviewing all its old cases and had been asked for information by HMICFRS. There had also been Freedom of Information requests received.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that with regard to the enhanced DBS checks carried out by the Service, some other fire and rescue services do not  do any checks, and as from 3 February, the Authority had 330 members of staff with enhanced DBS.

The Chief Fire Officer asked Members to review the Code of Conduct when it came to the next Committee meeting, as they could provide a different, valuable, outside perspective.

The Chairman welcomed the tone as after reading the LFB report, Members needed to reassure themselves that the culture at this Service was right, and the fact that there was no complacency and indeed no defensiveness was a really important place to start. The Service had the support of Members to do what needed doing.

The Deputy Director of Finance and Assets advised Members that he intended to visit every watch on every station to talk about his experiences, and also show them a video on racial discrimination.