Agenda item

To consider item 14

The Chairman advised Members that this was a review of progress made over the first year of the five-year Corporate Plan that was approved at the Annual Meeting in June last year. In light of the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, officers had also taken the opportunity to refresh and streamline the programme of activities that would be undertaken over the remaining four years of the plan in pursuit of the Strategic Objectives.

The Corporate Planning Manager advised Members that for each item of the original plan approved last year, the report showed what had been completed during the first year of the plan and also provided a status report for the remaining items using the RAG system. Of the 47 projects and workstreams set out in the plan, 12 had been completed or were now embedded as ‘business as usual’, 11 were amber, which meant they were slightly behind but recoverable and in some instances this was due to the impact of Covid-19. 20 were green and 4 were without a RAG status marked N/A as they were not due to commence during the first year of the plan. There was an error at item SE2.1, it was marked green but colour coded amber.

The Corporate Planning Manager advised that the last part of appendix 2 reported on the outcome of the streamlining exercise carried out by the Senior Management Team, consolidating items that were thematically similar and/or had strong interdependencies. The biggest change related to ongoing work on the evaluation of risk in the community, operational resourcing, the people related themes and property had been consolidated into a single item. The document had also been updated to reflect the latest financial projections that were reported to the Authority in February 2021.

In addition, as Members were aware, the Service was currently under inspection by HMICFRS. This was the second full inspection of the Service, the first having been carried out in 2019 and Members would have seen that the Corporate Plan included ‘areas for improvement’ identified by the Inspectorate in their report on their findings. The findings of the current inspection should be available towards the end of the year, and these would be reviewed, and the plan potentially update again.

A Member asked that because of the current financial situation, if it was the plan to bring forward holding a referendum or would the Authority be looking at other means of raising finances. He was advised by the Director of Finance and Assets that although it was a challenging financial outlook since the budget was set in February 2021, the Authority had received some positive financial news around business rates projections. The plan was to bring an update to Members on the annual financial strategy over the coming months to look at potential options for savings, whether the Authority chooses to borrow and other options available. As advised by the Chairman, the Authority continued to lobby Government to increase the referendum limit, but as Members would recall, a referendum reserve was agreed, so there was money set aside if it was needed.

A Member asked if the environmental and global impact could be added to the Corporate Plan and was advised that this area was in the Public Safety Plan and addresses issues around climate under civil contingencies. Although flooding wasn’t specifically referenced in the Corporate Plan, there were regular reviews of the Authority’s capabilities in light of the risks that were faced.

A Member was pleased to see under ‘SE3.1 Civil emergencies’ a mention of electric vehicles and the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that infrastructure for electric vehicle charging was already in place at the Blue Light hub and the service was also looking at other sites. The technology was not there yet for fire appliances, but the Authority was certainly looking at the rest of the fleet.

RESOLVED –

That the 2020-2025 Corporate Plan Progress Review and Update be approved.