AWDURDOD TÂN AC ACHUB CANOLBARTH A GORLLEWIN
CYMRU
MID AND WEST WALES FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY
NOTE: THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION BY
THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AT ITS NEXT MEETING
CYFARFOD O’R PWYLLGOR RHEOLI ADNODDAU
MEETING OF THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
DYDD LLUN,13 MAY 2013
MONDAY, 13 MAY 2013
PENCADLYS Y GWASANAETH TÂN AC ACHUB
HEOL LLWYN PISGWYDD, CAERFYRDDIN
FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE HEADQUARTERS,
LIME GROVE AVENUE, CARMARTHEN
11.00 – 12:25
79%PRESENOLDEB/ATTENDANCE
Presennol yn y Cyfarfod/Present at Meeting:
CADEIRYDD/CHAIRPERSON:
IS-GADEIRYDD/VICE CHAIRPERSON:
AELODAU/MEMBERS:
A Lewis
W Evans
Cyng/Cllrs: K Curry, J Curtice, J Dudley,
C Lloyd, K Pearson, G Thomas,
E Williams, A Woolcock
YMDDIHEURIADAU/APOLOGIES:
R Llewellyn, R Rees-Evans, T J Richards
YN BRESENNOL /IN ATTENDANCE:
R Smith, E Aitken, D Daycock, D Masson,
C Davies, J Maunder, K Jones,
Rev. Canon I Prothero, Rev. M Beaton
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R Rees-Evans, R Llewellyn and TJ
Richards.
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DECLARATION BY MEMBERS OF ANY PERSONAL OR PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS
All Members present declared that they had a personal interest in any business relating
to, or affecting their own Constituent Authority.
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CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS / PERSONAL MATTERS
The Chair extended a warm welcome to the Reverend Canon Illtyd Prothero, who was in
attendance to present the Chaplains Annual Report for 2012/13.
The Chair informed Members that the Fire Authority meeting scheduled for 20 May 2013
had been cancelled as only one item of substantive business had been received for the
meeting and therefore it was considered inappropriate to invite Members to attend what
would be a very short meeting.
Committee were reminded that ICT training had been arranged that afternoon in the
Minerva Suite and all Members were encouraged to attend.
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TO CONFIRM AS A CORRECT RECORD THE MINUTES OF THE RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON 14 JANUARY 2013
The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2013 were received and confirmed as a
true record of the proceedings, subject to the following amendment:
Page 7, paragraph 1:- ‘significantly’ be changed to ‘significant’.
Matters Arising
Given that Committee meetings were held on a quarterly basis, Members requested that
a copy of the minutes be circulated electronically in draft format to all committee
members.
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TO RECEIVE THE FIRE SERVICE CHAPLAINS’ ANNUAL REPORT 2012/13
The Reverend Canon Illtyd Prothero, Chaplain to Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and
Pembrokeshire County Command areas, presented the Chaplains Annual Report for
2012/13.
Reverend Canon Prothero reported that 2012 had been a busy year for the Service
Chaplains, and highlighted the significant and varied work undertaken on a voluntary
basis by each of the Chaplains, including station visits and attendance at major incidents.
Members were informed that a very successful Annual Training day had been held in
Carmarthenshire County Command on the 8th February 2013, which had been attended
by the Chaplains.
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Reverend Canon Prothero thanked the Authority on behalf of all the Service Chaplains for
having the opportunity to work with the Fire Service and extended thanks to the Chief Fire
Officer and his staff, in particular Jacqui Maunder, Head of Corporate Communications
and Democratic Services for her support and assistance. The Reverend Mark Beaton,
Chaplain to Powys, also spoke of the work undertaken by him in his role as Chaplain
during the year.
Members extended their appreciation to each of the Service’s Chaplains for their
continued work within the Service and it was agreed that a letter of thanks be circulated in
recognition of the valuable work undertaken by them throughout the year.
RESOLUTION:
It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.
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TO RECEIVE THE BUDGET MONITORING REPORT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR
2012/13
The Director of Resources / Treasurer introduced the budget monitoring report which
compared the estimated revenue and capital net expenditure for the year ended
31 March 2013 and compared those estimated positions with the 2012/13 working
budget. Attention was drawn to the revenue budget monitoring set out in Appendix 1 of
the report, whereby Committee were informed that there was a current under spend of
£658K which represented 1.9% of the profiled budget estimated at
31 January 2013. The Director of Resources explained that the underspend could, in the
main, be attributed to recruitment costs and recruitment courses in terms of not filling
vacancies, pending the crewing changes at Llanelli which had recently been resolved,
reduced costs relating to on-call employees and recent tendering exercises undertaken in
conjunction with South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. Committee noted that the
overspend attributed to Transport was due to a strategic policy change which had been
approved by the Policy Board. On that basis the estimated expenditure for the year
forecasted an underspend of £822k (1.89%) of the profiled budget.
Following a query from Members, the Director of Resources / Treasurer explained that
the Authority’s policy of no redundancies had required a degree of forward planning;
therefore some vacancies would remain unfilled for a period of time until any agreed
changes would be implemented, and that this would consequently result in a temporary
underspend on the budget.
The Director of Resources / Treasurer reported that there continued to be concerns
regarding backdated costs as a result of a court case that gave equal status to on call
employees in terms of pension arrangements. During the year, £558,285 had been paid
to on-call employees, however this figure was only a part settlement with the value of
further payments being uncertain.
The Director of Resources / Treasurer reported that it was also impossible to know how
many on-call staff would decide to take up the option of backdating their contributions. As
a result, these costs were therefore not included within the budget exercise, however an
amount had been set aside within the reserves as a precaution.
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Committee drew attention to the Grant Monitoring Report for 2012/13 which was set out
in Appendix 2 of the report. The Director of Resources / Treasurer informed Committee
that the gross operational cost of grant funded activity for the ten months ended 31
January 2013 was £1,360,223 and it was estimated that this would increase to
£1,558,206 by the end of the year. After netting off income the net remaining estimated
balance of £1,407.805 would be covered by grant approvals from Welsh Government.
Committee were informed that in general, any grants received would be funding
additional expenditure at 100% and would therefore have a net nil effect on the budget
requirement. Following a query from Members it was confirmed that grant funding could
be withdrawn from the Welsh Government at minimum notice, therefore a contingency
had been allocated to the Reserves for such circumstances. Reference was made to the
withdrawal of grant funding during 2012 for the purposes of putting in place initiatives to
reduce road traffic collisions. The Chief Fire Officer confirmed the process involved in
submitting various bids for funding to the Welsh Government each year and explained
that there was a political decision made regarding priorities for the forthcoming year at
Ministerial level and, accordingly, it would be difficult for Fire Authority Members to
influence negotiations at local level. The Chief Fire Officer further reported that the
mechanics surrounding the timing of funding would hopefully be addressed in future.
The Committee also considered the capital monitoring for the period 1st April 2012 – 31
March 2013 set out in appendix 3 of the report which summarised the expenditure on
capital projects to 31 March 2013 and compared the results against the Approved Capital
Programme. The Director of Resources / Treasurer went on to provide an overview of
the Land and Buildings projects and reminded Members that capital for the Aberystwyth
project would be attributed to year two of the three year capital programme. It was also
reported that the software within the capital programme related to the Asset Management
and Fleet Management systems.
RESOLUTION:
It was RESOLVED that the report be noted.
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TO RECEIVE A REPORT ON HEALTH AND WELLBEING
The Corporate Head of People and Organisational Development introduced the quarterly
report on health and wellbeing which centred upon sickness absence performance in line
with the Welsh Government’s aim of enabling people to be healthy citizens.
Reference was made to Appendix 1 of the report which showed that the overall average
sickness absence figure for the Service for the period 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013 was
7.86 shifts lost. The Corporate Head of People and Organisational Development reported
that although the figure was outside the organisation’s target of 5.29 shifts lost, it
nevertheless demonstrated a significant improvement on the 2011/13 figure of 9.98 shifts
lost, which resulted in over 1.500 additional working shifts being available to the Service
which also demonstrated best practice in terms of attendance management policies and
procedures.
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Members noted the improving downward trend in sickness figures and it was explained
by the Corporate Head of People and Organisational Development that this could be
attributed, in some part, to a number of long term sickness absences being resolved, in
conjunction with effective health and wellbeing policies (including training and
assessments), together with early intervention via accident investigation and referral for
Occupational Health services. It was noted that the Service focused its attention on
providing staff with the required assistance for them to remain in the workplace whenever
possible, as opposed to employees incurring sickness absence, by introducing
modifications to working arrangements with the guidance of the Occupational Health
experts. Committee were also interested to note that the Service would consider a costbenefit analysis, on a case by case basis to determine whether it would be appropriate for
the Service to fund employee surgery to address issues of long term sickness.
Committee were provided with an overview of both long and short term sickness within
the Service during 2012/13 reporting period as set out in appendices 2-15 of the report
and consideration was also given to the five year retirement profile on the grounds of illhealth within the Service which remained comparatively low. Members acknowledged the
significantly improvements made by the Service in the area of ill-health retirements.
Members also drew attention to section 2.5 of the report and were interested to note that
in general terms, sickness absence rates for on-call employees were significantly lower
than full time staff.
Following a query from Members the Corporate Head of People and Organisational
Development confirmed that operational Members of staff who had incurred an injury
were referred to Occupational Health prior to being assigned to an appropriate role,
usually within the Community Safety department, until they were able to resume to full
operational duties.
Committee drew attention to the number of days lost due to anxiety / depression whilst off
duty and the Corporate Head of People and Organisational Development explained that a
number of intervention strategies had been implemented to assist employees in returning
to work as part of the Service’s robust support infrastructure. These strategies comprised
of self referrals to Occupational Health, confidential counselling helpline, face to face
counselling and the provision of training to members of staff on stress awareness.
Following a query from Members, the Corporate Head of People and Organisational
Development confirmed that he was not aware of any employees reporting sick with
anxiety / depression due to recent crewing changes within Carmarthenshire Command.
RESOLUTION
It was RESOLVED that Members note the report on Health and Wellbeing.
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TO RECEIVE THE HEALTH AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT UPDATE
The Director of Risk presented Committee with the Health and Safety Performance
Management Update for the reporting period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013. A total of 75
On Duty Injuries had been recorded, which compared favourably against the 85 recorded
injuries during the same period in 2011/2012 and equated to a reduction of 11.7%. The
Director of Risk explained that the reported injuries could mainly be attributed to slips,
trips or falls, and handling, lifting and carrying.
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In response to a query the Chief Fire Officer clarified that appropriate advice would be
given to members of staff engaged in activities, such as sporting events, that may affect
their ability to carry out their main job.
Members were assured by the Director of Risk that the personal safety of Firefighters was
closely monitored and in particular the Service operated a zero tolerance policy on
firefighter attacks. During the reporting period there were 8 reported verbal attacks on
Firefighters which the Service would continue to closely monitor to ensure that such
figures remained low. In response to a query the Director of Risk confirmed that no case
of verbal attack had resulted in a prosecution, however appliances had been fitted with
CCTV cameras which could be used to assist the police with their investigations.
Committee were informed that a robust health and safety inspection regime was in place
which comprised of unannounced audits which provided a true reflection of health and
safety standards within the Service. The Director of Risk reported that all future audits
would include representation from the Command to attend the audit to assist with any
queries; furthermore an invitation would be extended to the Health and Safety Union
Representatives to join the Audit Team to share findings.
Committee noted that the Service was progressing well towards achieving the Gold
Corporate Health Award and a mock assessment would take place in June 2013 which
would measure performance against 10 key areas.
The Director of Risk was pleased to note that the Service had realised a 15.9% reduction
in vehicle accidents reported during 2012/13. This reduction was a positive indicator of
how the Service was striving to reduce damage to fleet vehicles and it was also noted
that the Service had seen an increase in the number of accidents reported during the
reporting period.
In response to a query, the Chair reported that Members could request further information
via email regarding the journey profiling of vehicles in order to undertake a more detailed
analysis of vehicle accidents across the Service. The Director of Risk assured
Committee that Mid and West Wales was one of the best performing fire services in the
area of managing and driving down vehicle accidents involving Service vehicles in the
UK.
RESOLUTION
It was RESOLVED:
That Members note the report and acknowledge the ongoing progress to
improve health and safety performance within the Service.
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TO RECEIVE THE ANNUAL EQUALITY REPORT 2012/2013
The Corporate Head of People and Organisational Development introduced the Annual
Equality Report for the reporting period 2012/13, which was a requirement under
Regulation 14 of the Wales Specific duties under Equality and Diversity legislation.
Members were advised that this was the first report that such a report had been produced
under the legislation and would therefore act as the starting point for future reviews.
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Committee gave consideration to the activities undertaken by the Service during the
reporting period, acknowledging the following noteworthy achievements:
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Commissioning the Welsh Local Government Association to undertake a Training
Needs Analysis in order to shape future training provision;
Expanding the number of Third Sector working partnerships to reach vulnerable
members of society;
The progress made towards obtaining the Gold Level Corporate Health Award;
The introduction of hearing loops within key meeting / conference rooms;
Obtaining the Investors in People certification (Bronze Award) and commenced
work towards re-application for 2014;
Obtaining the National Training Award within the large employer category in
recognition of enhancements made to the Crew Manager Development
Programme.
In response to a query from Members the Corporate Head of People and Organisational
Development clarified that the ‘three aims of the general duty’ related to the Service’s
consultation methodology, the feedback received from stakeholders and the Service’s
data capturing systems and he agreed to make this clearer in the report.
RESOLUTION
It was RESOLVED:
That Members note the report and acknowledge the content of the Service’s
Annual Equality Report for 2012/2013.
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Any other items of business that by reason of special circumstance, the Chair
decides should be considered as a matter of urgency, pursuant to Section
100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.
There were no items of urgent business.
The meeting closed at 12:25.
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