Issue - meetings

RESOLVED that: the Panel notes the report.

The PFCC presented the report, highlighting the following points:

·         Work to develop joint working between Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Service (NFRS) was continuing. Darby House and the new joint garage facility in the county exemplified this approach.

·         Changes to outdated NFRS facilities were also progressing, although this involved some challenges such as issues that had help up plans connected with the disposal of Kettering Police Station.

·         Significant investment was planned in the next year in NFRS’s digital and technology capacity.

·         He was proud of the work done to enable additional investment in NFRS staffing. NFRS had recently welcomed 10 transferees in addition to 20 new recruits taken on earlier in the year.

·         The Arson Task Force had done good work on fire safety assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

·         The Chief Fire Officer had published his annual report in the previous month, which highlighted the good work done by NFRS personnel during the pandemic, including carrying out almost 1,100 shifts with the East Midlands Ambulance Service and almost 3,000 pharmacy deliveries. The PFCC thanked all emergency services personnel for their efforts.

The Panel considered the report and members made the following points during the course of discussion:

·         It was questioned whether NFRS planned to install throwlines at any sites in North Northamptonshire.

·         Throwline boards needed to be protected appropriately from the risk of vandalism.

·         It could be beneficial for officers from NFRS, Northamptonshire Police and local authority licensing functions to carry out joint inspection visits to licensed premises.

·         There was a risk resulting from licensing inspections being put on-hold during lockdown. It was questioned what action could be taken now to address this.

·         Licensees were responsible for ensuring that appropriate fire safety arrangements were in place on their premises.

·         It was questioned how decisions on the procurement of equipment for NFRS were informed by feedback from frontline officers.

·         The PFCC was questioned about how he was supporting NFRS to carry out home fire safety checks, given the added importance of this function when more people were working from home.

·         Reassurance was sought that the PFCC was monitoring NFRS’s performance on response times robustly and that there was sufficient focus on both rural and urban areas.

The PFCC made the following additional points during the course of discussion:

·         Throwlines had been installed at locations where there was the highest risk. He would like to roll out provision further, funded by external grants as far as possible.

·         Throwline installations needed to be easily accessible, which made it more difficult to protect them from vandalism. Appealing to people’s better nature was the way to reduce this risk.

·         Various activity had taken place in Northamptonshire to address fly-tipping. A pilot project had been run in rural areas and opportunities to extend this were now being explored. Covert cameras had also been used to support action by local authorities under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

·         The relevant organisations ideally would co-ordinate inspection visits to licensed premises but this involved various challenges in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17