Agenda item

To consider item 15

The Lead Member for People, Equality and Diversity and Assurance introduced the report and advised Members that the service took its responsibility for people, equality and diversity and assurance very seriously; and this work had been undertaken over a number of years both internally and collaboratively with other local fire and rescue services and nationally with other fire related organisations. The strategic enablers within the Corporate Plan, show some of the projects and their rag status.

As previously mentioned, the last HMICFRS inspection rating for People was good. The Lead Member thanked the Deputy Chief Fire Officer for his strategic guidance, the Head of Human Resources and the members of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. All members of the EDI group were volunteers from the organisation, who had put thought into how the Service could reflect the needs and wants not only of its own staff, but also that of the communities it served.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that in June 2020 the Authority approved the overarching EDI Objectives 2020 to 2025 and the refreshed six, twelve and eighteen-month tangible objectives which were set out against elements of the Authority’s core values, diversity, service to the community, improvement and people.

Appendix 1 provided an introduction to the statutory duties outlined by the prevailing legislation, the overarching objectives and a summary of EDI headlines. The EDI group were engaged and had taken ownership of actions to ensure that EDI was embedded into the service. In the 2019 HMICFRS report, EDI was assessed under the ‘People’ pillar, and was deemed ‘Good.’ The January 2021 HMICFRS Pandemic report stated, ‘staff wellbeing was a clear priority.’ The People Strategy approved at the October 2020 Authority meeting was refreshed to ensure it was fully reflective of the 2020–2025 Corporate Plan. The strategy detailed the Service’s vision, values, aim and key areas.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that community engagement was progressing through new ways of working including the following - virtual presentations to community groups; a series of talks simultaneously translated into Urdu; engagement through the new Community Boards across Buckinghamshire; delivery of food parcels to families identified by Social Care Welfare visits; virtual school and uniformed group visits; fire and wellness visits to high-risk occupants; virtual on-call awareness evenings and interviews, which moved to socially distanced, covid secure interviews when restrictions allowed; participation in virtual LGBTQ+ Pride webinars on hate crime; trans awareness to trans acceptance and positive action.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that Appendix 2 showed the six, twelve and eighteen-to-twenty-four month objectives, where progress had been made, what has been completed and where objective timescales had been reviewed. The EDI group continued to make strong progress against these objectives. The objectives had been extended to twenty-four months to ensure they reflected the refreshed Corporate Plan and HMICFRS priorities where EDI was a key area.

A Member asked about the disability internship and if it would be funded and was advised that the service was only at the first stage of the process, further information on costs and whether there was any funding available needed to be discussed and a report would come back to the Authority in due course.

A Member asked what it meant by ‘investigate the need for a driving licence’ in Appendix 2 and was advised that this was something discussed by the EDI Group, currently it was a requirement for operational staff to have a driving licence. Looking at the barriers, potentially financially, for people being recruited who could not necessarily afford driving lessons.

A Member asked in Appendix 3 if the numbers could be added, not just percentages, and was advised that they would be added.

RESOLVED –

1.               that the contents of the report, EDI objectives for 2020-2025 in Appendix 1 and EDI workforce data in Appendix 3 be noted;

2.               the revised six, twelve and eighteen to twenty-four month objectives in Appendix 2 be approved.