Agenda item

Guide time: 2.45 – 3.00pm

RESOLVED that: the Panel notes the report.

The PFCC presented the report, highlighting the following points:

·         Darren Dovey was due to retire as Chief Fire Officer in October 2022. The PFCC expressed this thanks to Mr Dovey for all his work in the role, noting that Northamptonshire was a safer place because of him.

·         A new CRMP for the next three years was currently being developed. This set out three major projects intended to help to meet future pressures, which focussed on the green agenda, digital and technology and a review of emergency cover. The PFCC was confident that NFRS would continue to build on Mr Dovey’s legacy into the future.

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

·         Mr Dovey had done an outstanding job in difficult times and it was sad to see him leave. NFRS was in a stronger position than when he had taken the role.

·         Mr Dovey was commended for his contribution to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic as chair of the Local Resilience Forum and to rebuilding NFRS using the resources made available by the PFCC.

·         The PFCC was questioned about whether he was satisfied with the progress being made by NFRS towards having a workforce that reflected the community it served.

·         The PFCC was questioned whether it was planned that Mr Dovey and the candidate appointed as the new Chief Fire Officer would work together during a handover period.

The PFCC made the following additional points during the course of discussion in response to points raised by members:

·         Strengthening NFRS had been a team effort and the Chief Finance Officer had been very successful at securing additional resources from the government.

·         NFRS was in a relatively good position now but would continue to face challenges. This added to the importance of appointing the right person to lead it into the future.

·         He still had some concerns about progress with the development of operational interoperability between the force and NFRS but was more reassured than when this had been discussed at the Fire Accountability Board in February 2022. Significant progress had been made on back-office interoperability. Northamptonshire would learn from good practice elsewhere. He was keen to pilot a community warden project.

·         He was interested to see the Fire Reform White Paper but anticipated that it would not affect Northamptonshire as much as other areas, as it was already ahead on some issues.

·         Consideration of how representative NFRS’s workforce was of the local community needed to take into account that it had not been able to recruit for 10 years prior to the governance transfer. He was committed to making NFRS more representative but this needed to be balanced with keeping the county safe. The new Chief Fire Officer would need to be in-post for several years to take forward current work and achieve a step change in NFRS’ overall position.

·         The process of recruiting the next Chief Fire Officer would start shortly. The PFCC was able to make a good offer but would also have to face challenges, including the situation affecting chief fire officers’ pensions following the McCloud judgement.

·         The increased rate of short term sickness discussed at the Fire Accountability Board in March 2022 reflected that officers were correctly self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. Current recruitment would assist with managing overall capacity once it came on-stream.

·         A chief constable could confer Police Community Supporter Officer (PCSO)-type powers on an appropriate individual. This created the opportunity to have an officer who could be a trained firefighter, a paramedic and equipped with PCSO powers. Cornwall was taking this approach. The PCSO was interested in exploring it but would take care about applying it in Northamptonshire.  

RESOLVED that: the Panel notes the report.