Purpose To seek approval to submit the Fire Authority’s consultation response to the Leeds City Council official consultation on the proposed introduction of a Leeds Clean Air Zone. Recommendations That Members note the report and approve the consultation response to the proposed introduction of a Leeds Clean Air Zone. Summary Leeds City Council have issued a consultation proposal for the introduction of a Clean Air Zone around the existing Leeds Ring Road. The Consultation runs from 2 January 2018 – 2 March 2018. This report updates Members with regard to the Leeds City Council proposals and seeks approval for the submission of a response as detailed in this report. OFFICIAL Leeds Clean Air Zone consultation Executive Committee Date: 21 March 2018 Agenda Item: 5 Submitted By: Director of Service Support Local Government (Access to information) Act 1972 Exemption Category: Nil Contact Officer: Noel Rodriguez, Senior Technical Services Manager T: 01274 655871 E: noel.rodriguez@westyorksfire .gov.uk Background papers open to inspection: None Annexes: Annex : Clean Air Zone map – Leeds City Council consultation 8
Transcript
Purpose To seek approval to submit the Fire Authority’s consultation response to the Leeds City Council official consultation on the proposed introduction of a Leeds Clean Air Zone.
Recommendations That Members note the report and approve the consultation response to theproposed introduction of a Leeds Clean Air Zone.
Summary Leeds City Council have issued a consultation proposal for the introduction of a Clean Air Zone around the existing Leeds Ring Road. The Consultation runs from 2 January 2018 – 2 March 2018. This report updates Members with regard to the Leeds City Council proposals and seeks approval for the submission of a response as detailed in this report.
OFFICIAL
Leeds Clean Air Zone consultation Executive Committee Date: 21 March 2018 Agenda Item: 5Submitted By: Director of Service Support
Annexes: Annex : Clean Air Zone map – Leeds City Council consultation
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1 Introduction 1.1 In line with Government policy to improve air quality, Leeds City Council have commenced a
consultation exercise with regard to the introduction of a Leeds Clean Air Zone (CAZ) around the City Centre.
1.2 This report looks at the consultation questions and seeks approval to submit our response as detailed in this report.
2 Information
2.1 Leeds City Council, in line with Government policy, are proposing to introduce a Clean Air Zone around the City centre. Annex A shows the boundary in red and any HGVs crossing that boundary would be subject to a £100 fee per day.
2.2 The consultation covers three questions which are as follows:
Question 1) Part 1 Proposal for a Charging Clean Air Zone
If Leeds is to meet air quality standards it is likely that a charging clean air zone will need to be introduced. According to Government frameworks this has to happen as soon as possible with the end of 2019 being the absolute deadline.
The proposed clean air zone would charge buses, HGV’s, taxis and private hire vehicles that fail to meet the latest emissions standard for entering the city.
In this section, we want to hear your views on how our proposed Clean Air Zone could affect you and whether some vehicles should receive a discounted charge.
2.3 Our response is as follows: -
“The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (WYFRA) welcome the opportunity to submit our consultation responses in line with your consultation proposal to reduce air pollution and protect the health of the people in the City of Leeds.
Our Ambition is “Making West Yorkshire Safer” and aim “To Provide an excellent fire and rescue service working in partnership to reduce death, injury, economic loss and contribute to community wellbeing”. Therefore, your proposal to reduce air pollution in the City of Leeds are very much in line with both our ambition and aim.
WYFRA has already embarked on a Vehicle Replacement Programme and by 2027 all our frontline Fire Engines will be Euro 6 compliant. Up to date we have 18 fire engines out of a total of 74 which will be Euro 6 fully compliant by the end of 2018. It’s important to note that the average replacement cost as at 2018 for a fire appliance is £245,000 with a 13-year life and our aerial (high reach rescue vehicles) /specialist vehicles can cost up to £750,000 with a 15-year life. Therefore, early replacement is both costly and unaffordable.
Our vehicle replacement strategy has also been recently reviewed covering all our HGV’s and Cars and Vans. The auxiliary fleet has reduced by about 25 cars in the past year and we expect to at least mirror this, given our investment in telematics (in excess of £80,000) across our fleet. The live data collected from the on board devices is helping to deliver better driving techniques, greater fuel economy and is reducing idle time which is a major contributor to CO2 and NOX gases. We have also introduced and continue to evaluate electric vehicles in our fleet with the vast majority of our cars and vans fleet will be Euro 6 compliant prior to the introduction of the proposed Leeds CAZ.
In 2016/17 we attend 2153 incidents on blue lights within the City of Leeds and therefore if that attendance was by none Euro 6 compliant fire Engines on different days this would equate to £215,300 in pollution charges, which is a significant sum. This only covers Fire Engines which are undertaking emergency responses, we also use our fire engines to carry out important community
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engagement programme work including home fire safety visits, high rise inspections and school talks. Therefore, the likely cost in additional charges would be in excess of £300,000 per year, equivalent to ten fire-fighter posts per year.
It is also worth to note that the 2153 incidents above would have seen around 1,364,104kgs of CO2 being released into the atmosphere therefore prompt response is critical to prevent harmful emission polluting the environment.
Out of the 2153 incident detailed above 6 incidents within the Leeds District required the attendance of six pumps and above with one requiring 13 pumps and 9 specials to deal with a major fire. In total across West Yorkshire in 2016/17 we had 34 incidents where six pumps and above were require meaning that fire engines would be crossing in and out of the clean air zone to meet operational demands across the county thus incurring additional pollution charges.
We also have mutual aid agreement with neighbouring fire and rescue services in case we need assistance with a large scale incident and again any of these vehicles being call into the Leeds CAZ for back filling or to provide additional resources would incur a charge of £100 per visit. We also have specialised vehicles for example our foam making vehicle based at Hunslet which provides cover across the region and should a CAZ fee be applied with no exemption we would be forced to review that vehicle base and may have to move it to another district.
The Authority will also committee to the purchase of two new aerial appliances at a cost of £1.5 million in 2018/19 and theses vehicles will be Euro 6 compliant in line with our commitment that any vehicle replacement with be to the latest emission standards applicable at the time of purchase.
For all these reasons we would propose that our fire engines and aerial/ specialist fire-fighting vehicles are given a full exemption very much in line with the exemption already provided to fire-fighting vehicles under the Department of Transport with regards to nil cost road fund licence/plating and testing Operators (O) licence exemption”
2.4 Question 2) Part 2 What else should Leeds City Council do to improve Air Quality?
2.5 Our response. “Hopefully listen and take account of the consultation responses”.
2.6 Question 3) Part 3 What could you do to improve air quality?
A city-wide effort will be needed if Leeds is to clean up our air and comply with national emissions standards as soon as possible.
In this section, we would like to hear what you’re doing and what further action you could take to reduce your personal contribution to air pollution.
2.7 Our response
“The Fire Authority is already committed to an agreed Vehicle Replacement Programme which will see any vehicle replaced with a Euro 6 fully compliant vehicle replacement. As already stated above Fire Engine are costly vehicles to replace at around £245,000 per vehicle with replacement high reach specialist vehicle costing around £750,000. It has also invested in vehicle telematics across it fleet with an aim to increase and promote better driver behaviour contributing to better fuel economy and reduce idle time which is a major contributor to exhaust gases pollution. The Authority continues to look into alternative fuelled vehicles and is also reducing it auxiliary fleet. It will also continue to work with its District Councils to improve air quality and is driving down the numbers of Fires across the districts to reduction pollution in terms of co2 emissions (also covered above in our part 1 response).
2.8 Given the deadline for the consultation and following a meeting with Leeds City Council project officer on 21 February 2018, a draft response as detailed above has been submitted to Leeds with an assurance that any amendments following this Executive Committee meeting would be relayed back to Leeds City Council thereby confirming our official response to the consultation.
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3 Financial Implications 3.1 If we do not get an exemption based on last year’s incident in the Leeds District the introduction of
a Leeds CZA at £100 per day charge could cost the Authority around £300,000 per year. There is currently no provision in the Medium Term Financial Plan for this charge.
4 Human Resources and Diversity Implications
4.1 Human Resources and Diversity issues will be taken into account by Leeds as part of their consultation exercise.
5 Health and Safety Implications 5.1 Health and Safety Implications will be taken into account as part of the Leeds City Council
Consultation exercise.
6 Service Plan Links
6.1 This report is linked to two of our strategic priorities:
• Provide effective and ethical governance and achieve value for money in managing resources
• Provide appropriate and high quality buildings, vehicles and equipment to ensure operational effectiveness and be environmentally sound.
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Appendix A
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Purpose To generate discussion and agreement on the content of future performance reports on Fire and Rescue Service related incident outcomes across West Yorkshire
Recommendations Executive Committee Members consider the content of existing Performance Management Activity Reports and agree on the future content and format of future reports for consistency and relevance.
Summary The existing reporting of performance across a range of incident outcomes has been consistent for a number of years. Members have requested slight amendments to the way we report on performance and to ensure a consistent approach, it is proposed that Members of the Executive Committee engage in a process to determine the information that is presented in future performance management activity reports
OFFICIAL
Performance Management Information Executive Committee Date: 21 March 2018 Agenda Item: 6 Submitted By: Director of Service Delivery
Local Government (Access to information) Act 1972
Exemption Category: None
Contact Officer: Deputy Chief Fire Officer – Director of Service Delivery
1 Introduction 1.1 The current performance reports that are presented at Fire Authority meetings are generated to
highlight the way that performance across a range of incident types is measured, monitored and managed across the service.
1.2 This report gives some background to the way WYFRS has developed its performance reporting system and proposes changes for future reports that will deliver a more timely, up to date picture of performance against the key performance indicators.
2 Information
2.1 The Performance Management Systems extracts information that is added to the Incident Recording System (IRS) following every incident that WYFRS attends. This information is used internally to monitor performance and set strategies for prevention and response activity. It is also returned to the Home Office every month to inform national statistics which are published in the annual Home Office National Statistics documents that detail all incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services across England.
2.2 The key performance indicators that are measured and reported include:
• Arson (deliberate fires) broken down into Primary Fires and Secondary Fires • Actual Rescues (This can include rescues from fires, road traffic collisions or technical rescues
from water, height etc.) • Total Activity (Sum of all incidents attended) • Dwelling Fires • Non-Domestic Building Fires • Prevalence of False Alarms • Fire Related Injuries • Road Traffic Collisions • Malicious False Alarms
2.3 A target setting methodology was agreed at Community Safety Committee in January 2017 where the target for the forthcoming year is set based on the average performance across the previous three years (including the projected performance in the current year). For example, the target for each of the key performance indicators listed in 2.2 for 2018/19 would be the average figure based on the years below:
• 2015/16 • 2016/17 • 2017/18 (projected figures – confirmed once data is verified).
2.4 Previous reports have taken data that has been checked and verified by the WYFRS data and business intelligence team. This process takes some time and as such, members have fed back that the reports are not up to date.
2.5 It is proposed therefore, to begin reporting on live data that exists within the system. This includes all incidents attended that has been checked and verified by the data and intelligence team, but it will also include data on incidents that has still to be checked and verified. As such, the data presented will be provisional until officers can confirm that all the data presented is verified.
2.6 The proposal in 2.5 will allow members to receive more up to date information on performance across the range of incident types.
2.7 Following a request, it is also proposed that the performance management report also allows a comparison to the same period in the previous year.
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3 Financial Implications 3.1 There are no financial implications arising from this report
4 Human Resources and Diversity Implications 4.1 There are no HR or Diversity and Inclusion implications arising from this report.
5 Health and Safety Implications
5.1 There are no Health and Safety Implications arising from the changes that this report proposes.
6 Service Plan Links
6.1 The proposals contained within this report contribute to the following organisational priorities:
• Delivery of a proactive community safety programme • Provision of a skilled workforce that meets the needs of a diverse community
7 Conclusions
7.1 Members of the Fire and Rescue Authority have given constructive feedback on the way that performance reports are presented. This has included the issue of the timeliness of the reports.
7.2 The proposals in this paper will allow more up to date performance to be reported to the various committees.
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Purpose To propose that a workshop style session is held with Members to scope the parameters of IRMP 5.
Recommendations That the Executive Committee note the content of the report and agree that an all-party scoping session is arranged to explore the options available for future efficiency savings and discuss the parameters of IRMP 5.
Summary Since 2010, WYFRA has made extensive savings in expenditure during a sustained period of austerity. In the main, this has been achieved through the continued non-recruitment of wholetime firefighters and the restructuring of fire cover across WY based on a reduced risk profile. Following the Authority’s approval of the budget, medium-term financial plan and IRMP 4 on 16 February 2018, we must now consider the efficiency options available that will enable the Authority to reach a balanced budget position and close the forecasted shortfall of at least £2.1m per year. It is felt that an early scoping session with Authority Members will improve the overall quality of IRMP 5.
OFFICIAL
Scoping Session for IRMP Planning Executive Committee Date: 21 March 2018 Agenda Item: 7 Submitted By: Director of Service Support
1 Introduction 1.1 Since 2010, during a sustained period of austerity, WYFRA has adopted a methodical, risk-based
approach to achieving efficiency savings. This has seen a considerable change to fire cover and ways of working within operations. A fundamental review of support services has also taken place. However, the greatest opportunity for savings has been from within the operational workforce. This has been achieved following a reducing risk profile across the county and a large number of firefighter retirements.
2 Information 2.1 The medium-term financial plan is based on prudential assumptions regarding increases in pay
and prices and reductions in funding. It has identified a shortfall in the Authority’s budget. It is intended to use £5.3m of balances over the next two financial years to bridge this gap, following which efficiency savings of at least £2.1m are required to achieve a balanced budget.
2.2 These efficiency savings can be achieved from within the organisation by working smarter and reviewing how support services are provided. It is also felt that a review of service delivery can achieve savings with minimal community impact.
2.3 The achievement of savings through smarter and leaner business processes will require a concerted effort from all managers and departments within the organisation. We plan to employ experts in this field to facilitate this.
2.4 It is proposed that an all-party scoping session is arranged to explore the options available for future efficiency savings and discuss the parameters of IRMP 5. The outcomes from this workshop would be used to shape the detailed planning of options moving forward. The governance and scrutiny arrangements of the Authority will be maintained throughout. The final proposals and business cases will be subject to full consultation and Full Authority approval as is the case now.
2.5 If approved, the scoping session will take place in May / June this year.
2.6 A workshop will be held with Management Team on 5 March 2018 to help shape the options presented to the Authority scoping session. The outcomes from this meeting will be provided verbally during the Executive Committee meeting.
3 Financial Implications
3.1 There are no financial implications that arise directly from this report. The costs that arise from the workshops will be met from within existing budgets.
4 Human Resources and Diversity Implications
5.1 There are no Human Resources and Diversity Implications arising directly out of this report.
5 Health and Safety Implications
6.1 There are no Health and Safety Implications arising directly from this report.
6 Service Plan Links
6.1 IRMP will be delivered in accordance with the service priorities:
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• Deliver a proactive community safety programme • Deliver a professional and resilient emergency response service • Provide a safe skilled workforce that serves the needs of a diverse community • Provide effective and ethical governance and achieve value for money
7 Conclusions 7.1 WYFRA has made extensive savings in expenditure since 2010. In the main, this has been
achieved through the continued non-recruitment of wholetime firefighters and the restructuring of fire cover across the county based on a reduced risk profile. Following the Authority’s approval of the budget and medium term financial plan consideration must now be given to efficiency options that will enable the Authority to reach a balanced budget position. It is felt that an early scoping session with Authority Members will improve the overall quality of IRMP 5.
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Purpose To update the Committee on proposals to commence consultation with a view to changing some of the ways the Retained Duty System (RDS) service is managed.
Recommendations It is recommended that the report is approved.
Summary This report sets out a number of proposed changes to the way that the RDS Service is currently managed. The changes are designed to better match resource to demand as well as making the RDS Service more flexible and attractive to potential recruits.
OFFICIAL
Retained Duty System (RDS) review Full Authority Date: 21 March 2018 Agenda Item: 8 Submitted By: Chief Employment Services Officer
1 Introduction 1.1 This report sets out a number of proposed changes to the way that the RDS Service is
currently managed. The changes are designed to better match resource to demand as well as making the RDS Service more flexible and attractive to potential recruits.
2 Information 2.1 It is proposed to make a number of changes to the RDS Service to make it both more
responsive to the needs of local communities by improving appliance availability and to make the role of RDS Firefighter more attractive to staff and potential new recruits. Full details of the proposals are set out in the attached document but the main changes are:
1. Paying enhanced rates for cover during the hours that are hardest to fill;
2. Allowing shorter contracts by paying staff pro-rata to the hours of availability offered;
3. Making an advance payment to staff based on average numbers of call outs to allow the
payment to be consolidated in base salary.
3 Financial Implications 3.1 Financial implications are detailed in Annex A. Budgets have been increased as part of the
budget setting process in order to cover the costs arising out of this review.
4 Human Resources and Diversity Implications 4.1 Recruitment of RDS Firefighters and the lack of diversity in that part of the workforce remains
a concern. It is thought that the flexibilities afforded by the proposed working arrangements offer some potential to make the positions more attractive to a more diverse demographic.
4.2 Because the proposals recommend changes to the way people are paid, the proposals will
require negotiation and agreement with the recognised trade unions to effect the changes. It is proposed that those negotiations commence following Executive Board approval.
5 Health and Safety Implications 5.1 None arising from this report.
6 Service Plan Links 7.1 The report aligns to the Service Plan Priority:
• Deliver a professional and resilient emergency response service • Provide a safe skilled workforce that serves the needs of a diverse community
Table of Contents 1 Introduction. .............................................................................................................. 3 2 Approach to the Review ........................................................................................... 4 3 Existing Retained Duty System Scheme ................................................................ 5 3.1 Options for Improvement ............................................................................................ 5 4 Proposal. ................................................................................................................... 6 5 Information. ............................................................................................................... 7 5.1 RDS Appliance Availability April 2016/17 ................................................................... 7 5.2 RDS Revised Payment Proposal ................................................................................ 8 6 Front Loaded Payments. .......................................................................................... 9 7 RDS Training Hours. ............................................................................................... 10 8 Fitness Training. ..................................................................................................... 10 9 Station Budget Scheme ......................................................................................... 11 9.1 LRSO ........................................................................................................................ 12 10 Financial Information ............................................................................................. 14 10.1 New Scheme Cost Breakdown. ................................................................................ 14 10.2 Finance Department Feedback................................................................................. 15 10.3 Costs and Benefits .................................................................................................... 15 12 Health and Safety Implications .............................................................................. 16 13 Equality and Diversity Implications ...................................................................... 16 14 Organisational Dependencies ............................................................................... 16 15 Service Plan Links .................................................................................................. 16 16 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 17 17 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 17
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1 Introduction.
The Retained Duty System review has taken place over the last twelve months. The review studied the existing retained duty system and the working arrangements at retained stations. A series of meetings and discussions with all stakeholders was undertaken to capture subjective feedback and views about the current system. It has been highlighted nationally that the RDS system creates risks through availability, recruitment and retention. The current terms of the RDS system although flexible are difficult to manage as there is a variance in issues which surround different stations. This leads to a system that has the the propensity to fail in delivering operational fire cover. The current system provides excellent flexibility to individuals but restricts the ability of the organisation to maintain appliance availability. There is no method within the current system for matching availability to demand. A Retained Duty Station could have a full establishment of personnel but not deliver acceptable appliance availability cover. This creates a situation where there can be excessive availability during midweek nights with no availability during daytime periods. The present RDS system also presents difficulties in providing resilience to operational activity at wholetime stations or staffing resilience pumps. We have devised a proposal which will address the issues indicated and provide a viable solution which is sustainable and affordable. This proposal will address the identified issues and will result in significant benefits being delivered which are detailed within the business case. Adopting this proposal will demonstrate a commitment from WYFRS in recognising the valuable service delivered by RDS personnel. RDS personnel are a vital part of how we deliver the Fire & Rescue service to the communities of West Yorkshire.
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2 Approach to the Review The approach to the review was simply to achieve an improvement in appliance availability alongside delivering financial benefits to individuals. To achieve this the review was undertaken by the Retained Duty System Liaison Officer who from the outset ensured that the RDS stations, the Representative Bodies, Finance, Human Resources, Data Team and Operational Response were all involved in the process. All these departments or individuals have been constantly consulted throughout the process of developing this proposal. To achieve this initial work focused on examining how other Fire and Rescue Services managed their RDS schemes and feedback received from RDS personnel as to what their expectations were from the review. The station feedback was gathered through a series of station visits alongside some meetings with the RDS Watch Managers. There were a number of FRS’s that had gone through a similar approach to which WYFRS were hoping to achieve and deliver. The project team visited these FRS to determine what learning had been gained during their processes. These visits allowed the project team to narrow down what types of proposals might be attractive to WYFRS. The main principal appeared to be that to improve appliance availability during daytime and at weekend there had to be an enhanced remuneration package available for individuals willing to provide availability during these hours. Therefore the proposal was developed utilising that principal with other options either sourced from FRS’s are through dialogue with RDS personnel.
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3 Existing Retained Duty System Scheme The existing scheme utilised by WYFRS has had no fundamental change or review since its inception in 1974. The scheme follows the traditional system as set out in the National Joint Council Scheme of Conditions of Service 2004. It should be noted that the conditions of service provide little guidance on the types of RDS schemes available but concentrates more on the levels of remuneration available dependent on the hours of availability provided by the individual. These levels are set at: Up to 120 hours – 10% of wholetime equivalent firefighter rate of pay Less than 120 hours – not less than 75% of the above. This illustrates one of the issues with the current system in that there is not sufficient pay differential between the hours of availability provided by individuals. The other major issue is that the current system offers no real ability for the organisation to structure availability around predicted demand.. This leads to distorted availability levels where there are numerous personnel available at night with very limited availability during weekdays. It should also be noted that currently an individual’s availability only has to average out over a three month period thus allowing a large variation across the weeks. In conclusion the project team determined that the current system does not meet the requirements of a modern Fire and Rescue Service. 3.1 Options for Improvement The review clearly indicated an option to increase the remuneration package available for RDS personnel. There is an opportunity to improve the diversity of the Retained workforce through an increased flexibility of contractual arrangements It identified a need to provide a more structured approach to how individual contracts are aligned to station requirements. The opportunity for WYFRS to create a consistent scheme allowing for improved financial planning. The creation of a centralised position to plan and monitor appliance availability in an effective manner. An improved ability to manage individual availability in line with organisational and station requirements,
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4 Proposal.
• The implementation of improved contracts and remuneration that reflects an individual’s availability commitment at key times of the day.
• Introduce a front loaded payments scheme to enable local rostering at a station level and where individual flexibility is achieved.
• Introduce an improved station budget scheme to enable Station & Watch
Commanders the opportunity to locally manage annual costs for station work routines.
• The amendment of the Retained Liaison Officer (RLO) role to include
responsibility for central management of the RDS duty system. Key Points:
1. Improvement in contract management to ensure individuals meets the required standard.
2. Increase the remuneration for the times when availability is low during daytime and weekend hours.
3. The opportunity for specific contracts for daytime cover may improve the recruitment of underrepresented groups.
4. The scheme should provide individuals with a fixed salary for personal finance.
5. A front loaded payment scheme will enable local rostering to be introduced. This will lead to benefits for personnel by enabling the rostering of appliance riders. This will improve operational exposure across the number of incidents attended by RDS personnel. This will improve appliance availability by rostering individual availability more efficiently.
6. Opportunities for improved operational cover through better utilisation of RDS staff for resilience duties.
7. Consistent management of station budget costs for station routines that is open and transparent across all RDS stations.
8. Extension to the role of Retained Liaison Officer role to centrally control / monitor RDS policies, contracts and establishment levels.
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5 Information. The information within this business case is set out in response to the findings of the Retained Duty System Review. The review identified a short fall in appliance availability during prime daytime hours and weekends. The staffing level is currently at 146 RDS personnel across our 10 RDS stations. Availability of appliances currently stands at 76.61% availability. The target for this proposal is to enable West Yorkshire to achieve 95% to 98% Appliance availability by managing individual availability more efficiently within the financial budget of the current scheme. 5.1 RDS Appliance Availability April 2016/17
7 127 69 83 65 109 124 127 69 87 – these figure equate to the total number of days lost to unavailability over the 12 month period.
This evidence suggests that some stations are experiencing a significant problem in ensuring sufficient people are available to provide daytime cover (08:00-17:00).The information analysed focused on when appliances are unavailable.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Current Availability
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5.2 RDS Revised Payment Proposal Purpose To ensure appropriate levels of cover through the week incentivising those periods where cover is typically low. Proposal Working week split into 4 separate time periods: P1 Weekdays from 06:00 - 18:00 Monday to Friday P2 Week nights from 18:00 – 06:00 Sunday to Thursday (finishing 06:00 Friday morning.) P3 Weekend days from 06:00 – 18:00 P4 Weekend Nights from 18:00 – 06:00 (Friday and Saturday) Periods 1 and 4 are seen as periods with least cover so should be incentivised. A minimum of 30% of all hours must be offered in P1 or 4 Recognise all hours in periods 1 and 4 at time and half So someone working 120 hours, with 40 of those hours being in a premium period would have their retainer fee based on 140 hours. Set maximum retainer fee at 18% for 140 hours. Pay everyone as a proportion of 18% based on cover period. Therefore, someone offering 100 hours cover with 30 hours in premium period would accrue 115 hours. 115/140 = 82% Therefore pay = 82% * 18% = 14.8% retainer fee. Someone offering 100 hours with 50 hours in premium period would accrue 125 hours. 125/140 = 89%. Therefore pay = 89% * 18% = 16.1% retainer fee. No contracts will normally be offered if total accrued hours (premium plus standard) are less than 58 hours as this equates to the grey book minimum of 75% of retainer fee. If someone does request a contract below the 58 hour limit, they will be paid on the same pro- rata basis.
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Examples are shown in the table below:
Actual Hours Premium Standard Total Retainer
Maximum 120 40 80 140 18.0% Example 100 50 50 125 16.1% Example 70 25 45 82.5 10.6% Example 70 45 25 92.5 11.9% Example 50 16 34 58 7.5%
Constraints Grey Book Minimum Retainer of 10% of FF salary for 120 hours Minimum retainer of 7.5% of FF Salary for less. Advantages Complies with Grey Book Incentivises hard to fill period Pays people for actual contribution rather than pay in bands.
6 Front Loaded Payments. Front loaded payments have been introduced nationally across a number of services with high levels of RDS personnel. This scheme includes upfront payments for attendance at incidents. Providing upfront payments allows greater acceptance of local rostering across RDS stations reducing the number of attendance fees paid for each incident call out. This will provide WYFRS with greater flexibility to utilise RDS personnel to provide improved availability across all hours of the day, leading to spare capacity for operational activities and resilience duties where required. The provision of this option and the improved retaining fee provides the opportunity for RDS firefighters to have a guaranteed monthly income. This will benefit the individual’s financial position if applying for mortgages or loan requests. Data taken from the past four years indicates that the highest average calls per month were thirteen Incidents. However overall the average is nine incidents per month. Therefore the proposal that includes upfront payment for attendance at incidents will be based on an average of nine incidents per month.
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This payment will be linked to an individuals availability: • 120 hour contract – 9 incidents per month • 90 hour contract – 6.75 incidents per month • 60 hour contract – 4.5 incidents per month
Advantages of offering payment in advance for incident attendance are:
• Personnel more likely to accept rostering for staffing the appliance • Reduces the risk of personnel maintaining excessive availability • Removes attendance payments. • Guaranteed monthly income
The up-front payment scheme would be reviewed on an annual basis. This would be based on a three yearly rolling average at each station for example. A further consideration could be to link the payment to the amount of availability provided by individuals. The maximum annual cost for this scheme would be £177,300 (as Ref 10.1).
7 RDS Training Hours. The review identified the utilisation of the fourth hour training was not compulsory. Recommendation is to increase all training to 4 hours per week to enable personnel the best opportunity to maintain their training E-MOC’s alongside their W/T colleagues.
A review of how this extra hour would be utilised will form part of the working group overseeing its introduction.
The annual cost £382,400 (as Ref 10.1).
8 Fitness Training. A contentious issue identified by RDS personnel is not having the benefit of paid fitness training which is available to their Wholetime colleagues. Savings achieved through the introduction of a station budget scheme would allow the authority the ability to offer one hours pay per week.
Options 1
Provide 1 hour’s pay for all RDS contracts this includes W/T – RDS annual cost £108,753.
Option 2
Restrict the weekly training to solely RDS personnel enables a cost reduction of £43.829 creating an annual cost of £50,800 (as Ref 10.1).
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9 Station Budget Scheme The introduction of a station budget scheme will enable the authority to issue a budget of £24,030.84 to each RDS station to manage daily work routines.
The review highlighted major discrepancies between the costs incurred across the RDS stations. It provided clear evidence that an improved system for the management of RDS station budgets was required.
The station budget scheme has the potential to offer major savings to the authority through greater scrutiny of station budgets.
The system will be audited through the Retained Liaison Officer, District PMV inspections, and the Finance department. Comprehensive auditing will enable Station Commanders the option to utilise any saving towards community engagement and additional Operational visits if required.
Station Budget Scheme Annual Cost £24,030.84 (as Ref 10.1).
Routines
Time Allocation
Individual Allocation
Annual Cost
Comments
CFS
3 Hours Per Week
2
Personnel
£3,126.24
HFSC
Targets Removed
B Routine /
EMS
2 Hours Per Week
5
Personnel
£6,252.48
Station
Cleaning
1 Hour Per Week
1 Person
£781.56
ORV
Inspections
3 Hours per month
4
Personnel
£2,164.32
No longer Target Driven.
OIC Admin
12 Hours Per Week
£11,706.24
Total Cost Per Station
£24,030.84
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9.1 LRSO The concept of LRSO’s being introduced to support appliance availability, risk reduction activity and provide administration support to RDS stations was introduced in 2009. This role was subject to a review in 2012 where modifications to the role were proposed to enhance the position to become more of a district resource rather than purely individual station based. Following the restructure the role has become mainly focused on risk reduction activities within districts. The data below shows RDS stations are able to support themselves around operational officer cover. Due to the fluid movement of RDS availability, LRSO’s often find it difficult to predict short notice falls in availability in advance. This makes it difficult in making other arrangements for their daily workloads. The position of LRSO role has proved to be an increasingly difficult role to fill. The majority of posts requiring the use of temporary promotions to fill. This proposal provides the opportunity for the authority to remove the LRSO role from RDS stations. The introduction of the station budget option allows crews to undertake the work completed by LRSO’s within the cost controls. This offers opportunity to offer extra hours during the daytime incentivising individuals to be available boosting appliance availability. The loss of an LRSO at Silsden provided the opportunity to trial a model similar to proposed station budget scheme. The Watch Commander at Silsden was allocated additional management hours in accordance with the proposal. This has seen no reduction in the management levels of the station or risk reduction activities completed. The opportunity to undertake this type of work is one of the feedbacks requested from stations. They felt it would have a positive impact on daytime cover through individuals being available more throughout the day due to the ability to earn payment for the managed workloads. This would also offer the potential savings of 10 wholetime posts across the establishment with the removal of the LRSO’s.
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LRSO Activity levels 1st April 16 to 1st July 17. The table below provides information about the work completed by LRSO’s and how the new scheme will allow stations to maintain an acceptable level of fire protection and prevention activity. Stations
LRSO ORV’s
Allowance allocated to RV’s on New Scheme *
LRSO Incident Cover
LRSO HFSC
Allowance allocated to HFSC on New Scheme *
Skelmanthorpe
37
26
9
56
156
Holmfirth
15
26
4
59
156
Meltham
21
26
No Data
46
156
Slaithwaite
28
26
7
57
156
Mirfield
20
26
2
56
156
Featherstone
44
26
7
25
156
Ilkley
13
26
2
38
156
Silsden
14
26
No LRSO Working Different
Scheme
19
156
Otley
29
26
No Data
56
156
Mytholmroyd
33
26
No LRSO Working Different
Scheme
36
156
* ORV based on 2 ORV’s every 4 weeks if required. * HFSC based on a 3hrs a week allocation generating 3 HFSC’s per week The introduction of the Safe & Well initiative aims to apply a more targeted approach to the delivery of fire prevention advice to the most vulnerable members of our communities. The time allocated to fire prevention activities within this proposal indicates that there will potentially be an increase in the amount of visits completed should the need be identified. The previous work allocation of ORV visits did not target the priority sites within station boundaries. This created a numbers target based culture rather than a risk based inspection programme. The time allocated in the new scheme will allow RDS stations sufficient time to maintain an efficient risk based approach to ORV’s. The effectiveness of the new scheme would enable the workloads to be safely managed by our RDS personnel within budget.
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10 Financial Information The review has indicated that there is significant fluctuation in the costs associated with the current RDS system. An indication of this is provided in the table below alongside the predicted costs associated with introducing the new scheme. Annual Retained Duty System Salary Costs.
10.1 New Scheme Cost Breakdown. This section breaks down the five strands associated with the new scheme. These figures are based on current estimated establishment of 134 personnel divided across all ten RDS stations. Element Cost WTE Retaining Fee Cost Station £570,500 Budget Scheme Cost £240,300 Front Loaded Payment Scheme £177,300 Drill Fee costs based on 4 hours per week £382,400 Weekly Paid Fitness Training £50,800 Total Salary Cost £1,421,300.
000.000
200.000
400.000
600.000
800.000
1,000.000
1,200.000
1,400.000
1,600.000
1,800.000
2,000.000
2014/ 15 2015/16 New Scheme
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10.2 Finance Department Feedback. The introduction of this scheme has little impact on Finance with regards to the retaining fee payments. The Budget scheme payments would improve on the current system in managing annual costs but a review on the current codes to reduce options available to avoid miss recording. If the front loaded incident payments scheme was to be introduced this would require further development work on how this would be introduced and recorded for individuals payments. 10.3 Costs and Benefits This proposal is designed to provide WYFRS with an RDS scheme that benefits both the organisation and the individual. The scheme provides an improved ability for the organisation to plan and manage the budget allocated to the RDS scheme. The benefits to individuals are achieved through an improvement in remuneration for prime hour’s availability alongside the upfront payment for fire calls. This will generate a guaranteed monthly income. Overall it is anticipated that through the improved management of contracted hours the new scheme can be introduced within the same cost envelope as the previous scheme. 11 Introduce a Retained Liaison Officer (RLO) with responsibility for: During the review it has been highlighted that a number of brigades operate with some form of dedicated retained support role. The increased responsibilities enables RLO provides a direct contact to deal with support issues at all levels helping maintain consistency across the 10 stations with responsibility for.
• Monitoring on a monthly basis individual declared availability performance.
• Follow up on reports of none attendance issues. • Support local manager to overcome anticipated crewing shortfalls. • Support local manager in maintaining station strengths. • Supporting local managers in dealing with poor performance. • Support mechanism for PMV’s / Exercises. • A central contact point for departments and Managers. • Arrange RDS resilience in spate conditions. • Audit of station based budget scheme.
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12 Health and Safety Implications There are no direct health and safety implications associated with this proposal. Although the introduction of the centralised Retained Liaison role will improve the monitoring of individual availability. This will allow the organisation to monitor individual’s welfare should problems be identified in maintaining their availability towards their contracted hours.
13 Equality and Diversity Implications WYFRS’ RDS cohort is less than 7% female and arguably the current RDS contracts are not inclusive. Significant anecdotal feedback indicates that the large amount of availability hours presently required prevents those with caring responsibilities (mostly female) applying for a role. The opportunity for specific contracts for daytime cover may improve the recruitment and retention of female RDS staff.
14 Organisational Dependencies The introduction of this proposal will not be dependent on any other projects. This proposal does have the potential to benefit some other work streams particularly the introduction of Resilience contracts. Through the introduction of a more specified hours contract RDS personnel could be available to sign up to provide Resilience arrangements outside of their contracted hours. 15 Service Plan Links This proposal meets the following organisations objectives: Deliver a Professional and Resilient Emergency Response Service
• Ensure emergency response is dynamic and resilient reflecting changes to the level of risk and demand
• Continuously improve our emergency response by learning from ours and others experience.
Provide a safe skilled workforce that serves the needs of a diverse community
• Promote the health, safety and well-being of all employees.
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16 Conclusion The introduction of a more consistent and effective system for managing contracts and station work across the ten RDS station. In conjunction with updating the handbook will provide the authority a modern Retained Duty System with the ability to improve the monitoring of annual costs. Benefits :
• The new scheme offers the opportunity to reward a wider range of availability hours with the introduction of the WTE % retaining fee.
• This rewards the individuals for the commitment whilst on call with incentive for prime daytime and weekend cover.
• Front loaded payment scheme enables station to manage a fairer system for turn-outs and ability to reduce the number of attendances.
• Opportunity for a fixed salary to utilise individual’s financial commitments. • Opportunity to increase operational exposure for all personnel on station through
local Rota systems. • Still maintains flexibility with a more effective management of contracts. • Introduce a consistent station approach a costs across all RDS stations. • Investment in training hours enabling RDS to meet E-MOC requirements and
competencies. • Opportunity to introduce paid fitness training bring RDS in line with their wholetime
collogues. • Authority able to forecast a year on year budget for the retained duty system.
Disadvantages:
• Changes towards RDS contracts with some individuals comfortable in their current situations.
This review identifies a firm investment within its RDS front line personnel through reward for the commitment provided through training, availability, and attending incidents. This along with improvements to the RDS handbook will see West Yorkshire providing on of the most effective Retained Duty Systems within the UK. 17 Recommendations On recommendations of this business case would enable Ops Policy to implement a twelve month trial on all RDS stations with the projected trial starting 1st April 2018. This trial period enables any outlining issues from stations or Rep bodies to be negotiated before a target date of 1st April 2019 for full implementation.
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Purpose To inform Members of our current position and expectations as a pilot Fire and Rescue Service (FRS).
Recommendations That the Executive Committee notes the content of the report.
Summary WYFRS has been chosen as a pilot FRS by HMICFRS. Since being chosen we have returned two data requests, a host of specific documents and completed a self-assessment based on the 11 diagnostic questions which underpin the 3 key pillars of effectiveness, efficiency and people. WYFRS is due to receive its pilot inspection in May 2018. We will then undergo the genuine inspection in Autumn 2019. Both processes will involve data gathering, document requests, a strategic briefing, meetings with the Chair and Representative Bodies and direct engagement with focus groups and frontline staff.
OFFICIAL
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) - Pilot Inspection Update Executive Committee Date: 21 March 2018 Agenda Item: 9 Submitted By: Director of Service Support Ian Bitcon
Local Government (Access to information) Act 1972
Exemption Category: None
Contact Officer: GM Steve Fealy, AM Nick Smith
Background papers open to inspection: Item 7. Consultation regarding the HMICFRS process 6 Feb 2018
Annexes: None
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1 Introduction 1.1 In December 2017, we were informed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire &
Rescue Services (HMICFRS) that we had been chosen to be one of three pilot FRS’ to help shape the new national inspection process for FRS in England. The other FRS’ are Suffolk, as a county service, and Staffordshire as a combined service.
2 Information
2.1 The three pilot FRS’ and the HMICFRS communicate regularly as a ‘community of practice’ to discuss methodology, lessons learned and continue to meet in Staffordshire during this development phase.
2.2 Each FRS has appointed a Service Liaison Officer (SLO) who acts as the single point of contact between WYFRS and HMICFRS. Group Manager Steve Fealy is our SLO. Relationships are strong and productive and it is clear that HMICFRS are listening to feedback. We also sit on the HMICFRS Technical Advisory Group, where we discuss a number of evidence gathering activities that will inform the FRS inspections, including plans for a survey of FRS staff, a public perceptions survey and the self-assessment. Exact details of these specific elements have yet to be decided.
2.3 HMICFRS have recently appointed 15 Service Liaison Lead (SLL) officers to act as the point of contact to their allocated FRS. Ryan Stacey (seconded from Cambridgeshire FRS) is our SLL. He is also the contact for Cheshire and Greater Manchester FRS.
2.4 As can be seen from the figure below, the 45 FRS have been divided into five regions;
• Northern • Southern • Eastern • Western • London & South Central
Figure 1: Map of HMICFRS regions
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2.5 The northern region is made up of 13 FRS’. Following the departure of Mike Cunningham to the College of Policing, Matt Parr is the temporary HMI for the Northern region until a new, permanent appointment is made.
2.7 As part of the pilot inspection, we have already provided data to HMICFRS, together with over 50 documents and a position statement and self-assessment. The self-assessment is based on 11 diagnostic questions, which underpin the 3 key pillars of the inspection process;
1. How effective is the FRS at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks? 2. How efficient is the FRS at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks? 3. How well does the FRS look after its people?
2.8 The focus of attention is now on the fieldwork inspections that will take place. Table 1 below shows pilot inspection activity and dates.
2.9 From the data, documents and self-assessment we submitted, HMICFRS will develop key lines of enquiry (KLOE). These will be used to focus the strategic briefing and fieldwork in May. The KLOE meeting may be a teleconference or a face to face meeting between our SLL and Management Board (including the SLO). The SLL will also come into West Yorkshire to carry out ‘discovery work’ prior to the strategic briefing, the date of this is yet to be confirmed. The detail of the ‘discovery work’ has also yet to be confirmed, but it is highly likely to involve time spent in Control. Staff in Control have already been briefed and will receive further information from our SLO when it is known.
2.10 The strategic briefing will last for around two hours. This is where Chief will present what makes West Yorkshire unique; our diverse communities, resources, people, incident range, our successes and our challenges. The strategic briefing will include the following;
• Management Board • Authority Chair • Head of Communications • AM Service Support • WYFRS Service Liaison Officer • Key members of the inspectorate team
2.11 After the strategic briefing, the lead inspector intends to meet with Chair for about an hour. Members of the inspectorate team will also speak with the leaders of the three main representative bodies, FBU, FOA and UNISON.
2.12 The ‘fieldwork’ week will involve the inspectorate team working from a base at our headquarters site. They will be speaking with focus groups, visiting front line staff (operational and support functions), and carrying out what is termed ‘reality checks’; this is where they compare the data, documents, self-assessment and strategic briefing with what people say, think and feel. We cannot, and will not influence, what is said to the Inspectorate and will not debrief staff afterwards on what was discussed. We are permitted, however, to select members of focus groups. These are likely to be made up of our partners and other agencies as well as our own staff.
Suffolk Staffordshire West Yorkshire
KLOE meeting 7 March 2018
4 April 2018
2 May 2018
Strategic Briefing 12 March 2018 9 April 2018 8 May 2018
Fieldwork 19 – 23 March 2018 16 – 20 April 2018 14 – 18 May 2018 Table 1 - Timetable of activity for inspections
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2.13 HMICFRS currently do not intend to speak with Fire Authority Members or Committees as part of the inspection process. HMICFRS are not inspecting the governance arrangements of FRS unless evidence suggests that the governance arrangements are inhibiting the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery. HMICFRS may well be basing this decision on their experience with the inspection of constabularies and this may change as they recognise the difference in governance structures between the two types of organisation.
2.14 At the end of the fieldwork week, the lead inspector will present a hot debrief to the strategic briefing party. This will be followed by a formal report, where the Chief Fire Officer will have the opportunity to comment and challenge findings captured within the report. Once HMICFRS have received feedback, they will complete the final report and make it available to the public.
2.15 Following the process, HMICFRS will present a non-public facing report on their findings, and will grade WYFRS against the three key pillars highlighted in 2.7. The grades will be:
• Outstanding • Good (HMICFRS External Reference Group is still considering on what ‘good’ looks like) • Requires improvement, or • Inadequate,
The exact definitions of these grades are yet to be determined but we expect to have them in draft form before our inspection in May. The pilot process will also enable HMICFRS to develop the style and content of their report. Hence, it will not be public facing but will provide evidence of what we do well and where we can improve. This will form part an action plan to prepare for our formal inspection. If approved by the HMICFRS and the Authority, it may be appropriate to share the report with the public.
2.16 The full, formal inspection process is due to commence in early summer 2018. All 45 FRS’ will be inspected in 3 tranches over an 18-month period. WYFRS will have its first formal inspection in Autumn 2019.
2.17 HMICFRS plan to write a report on the state of the English FRS on conclusion of the national inspection process. This is expected around 2020.
3 Implications
3.1 The Service Improvement & Assurance Team have picked up the reference for HMICFRS workloads as there are clear links with providing assurance under the National Framework document and facilitating the HMICFRS process.
3.2 FRS from a number of regions are contacting our SLO to learn from experience, and the impact of this is being monitored.
4 Financial Implications
4.1 There are no financial implications that arise directly out of this report. Any costs that arise from the actual inspection itself will be met from existing budgets.
5 Human Resources and Diversity Implications
5.1 There are no direct Human Resources and Diversity Implications arising from this report.
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6 Health and Safety Implications 6.1 There are no direct Health and Safety Implications arising from this report.
7 Service Plan Links 7.1 The inspection programme will assess the effectiveness and efficiency of each FRS and how well
it looks after its people. It is therefore applicable to the four pillars within our current Service Plan.
• Deliver a proactive community safety programme • Deliver a professional and resilient emergency response service • Provide a safe skilled workforce that serves the needs of a diverse community • Provide effective and ethical governance and achieve value for money
8 Conclusions
8.1 Since being chosen to be one of three pilot FRS by HMICFRS, we have returned two data requests, a host of specific documents and completed a self-assessment based on the 11 diagnostic questions which underpin the 3 key pillars of effectiveness, efficiency and people. WYFRS is due to receive its pilot inspection in May 2018.
8.2 The inspection involves:
• data gathering • document requests • a strategic briefing, and • meetings with the Chair and three main representative bodies • direct engagement with focus groups and frontline staff.
The pilot inspection will result in HMICFRS providing us with a non-public facing report. We will receive our first formal inspection in Autumn 2019.
