Supplementary memorandum by the Chief
Fire Officer's Association (CFOA) (FRS 27(a))
THE CHIEF
FIRE OFFICER'S
ASSOCIATION (CFOA)
CFOA is the professional organisation for principal
fire officers in the UK. The Association was formed in 1974 following
local government re-organisation to allow principal fire officers
the ability to meet and discuss fire related or government influenced
matters. Membership of the Association comprises almost all the
senior management of fire and rescue services in the United Kingdom.
It is important for the Select Committee to
understand that CFOA acts as an independent association and not
as an extension of government. We are in fact a registered charity
and our funding comes from the subscriptions of our members an
other income generation as well as some grant from ODPM to undertake
project work on behalf of the service.
Although CFOA provides technical, professional
advice and support to a wide range of stakeholders, including
ODPM, it does not directly manage key technical projects such
as FireControl. CFOA works to ensure that the right level of technical
expertise is available to any of the FRS stakeholders who request—or
need—assistance and professional advice. This would also
include other government departments given the cross cutting nature
of the work of modern Fire and Rescue Services. It is not CFOA's
remit to take the lead in acting as unequivocal advocates of an
ODPM project, although we will obviously intrude our views at
the appropriate time during any relevant formative and consultation
period, and we will also provide officers to support projects
on an ongoing basis. Essentially, we are seeking to ensure complex
change issues—and the projects that support them—are
well managed in an inclusive manner, but in doing so, seeking
to retain our independence and objectivity.
Following the Independent review of the Service
(subject to the last Committee Enquiry) the opportunity existed
to change the structure of the Service and to give CFOA the authoritative
and determining role—in a governance sense—the Select
Committee seemed to believe we already hold—certainly that
was the view seemingly portrayed during questioning of the CFOA
Presidential team. The opportunity to reform the structure more
fundamentally was not taken. Instead, Government elected to retain
the structure of fire authorities and the multiple governance
arrangements that prevail, but also to create a new level of regional
co-ordination (Regional Management Boards) and maintain a strong
sense of central direction and control through the Service Improvement
Team of the ODPM and publication of the National Frameworks.
During the hearing we repeatedly emphasised
we were supportive of the principle of Regional Control Centres
from a number of perspectives; notably the national and regional
resilience and regional co-operation and efficiency perspectives.
We also emphasised, however, that there remain a number of questions
that need to be answered before CFOA could fully endorse this
important project. Not least of this apprehension is the absence
of a comprehensive and transparent Business Case. Our assumption
and position here, though, is that the parameters of the Business
Case have fundamentally shifted. This is not now a project designed
to deliver savings, per se, although we still consider savings
are almost certain, rather it is a project to secure national
resilience in light of the changed risks faced by our communities.
Accordingly, Government has accepted its responsibility to fund
that dimension, and the evidence provided to the Committee by
the relevant ODPM officials underlines this planning assumption.
RETAINED REVIEW
The subject of retained firefighters was raised
during the course of a number of the hearings and CFOA wishes
to update the Committee on how we see the current status of the
Retained Review work being carried out as part of the Practitioners
Forum activities. CFOA see staff conditioned to the Retained Duty
system as a vital part of the FRS and we are working hard to progress
the key issues to enable greater integration. However, CFOA is
not the employer, nor is it the Employers Organisation, and so
the practical ability to implement many of the recommendations
lies with other stakeholders—not least individual fire and
rescue authorities.
During early 2005 a Practitioners Forum, Task
& Finish Group led by the CFO from South Wales, produced a
report and an action plan proposing the establishment of a small
management team to drive the recommendations forward. The Task
and Finish Group report was first presented to the Practitioners
Forum in March 2005, with the resolution that CFOA would discuss
with ODPM the possibility of CFOA employing a project manager
to oversee the process of implementation. This discussion was
initiated by CFOA in May 2005 and an indication of the costs was
provided. The position was again discussed in September 2005 and
has been the subject of further discussion in recent months.
The most recent Practitioners Forum held on
24 January 2006 was given an update on the Task and Finish Group
report. This highlighted that the key to realising a meaningful
way forward is to understand that the 51 recommendations of the
ODPM Retained Review (February 2005) are not the exclusive domain
of any one stakeholder, and that a properly resourced project
management team was still the best solution to take the work forward.
The Forum decided that the recommendations from the original ODPM
report should be prioritised into a smaller number of critical
issues (probably a "top 10") having also taken into
account recent developments with the Retained Duty System. A robust
business case is now to be produced to establish the resources
required to move this important matter forwards.
ODPM, CFOA, the RFU and other key stakeholders
have all agreed to develop the business case as a Practitioners
Forum activity and report progress at the next Forum to be held
on 7 March 2006. Even when this achieved though, it will still
be a matter for local employers to implement and for Government
to determine public policy in consultation with stakeholders.
CO -RESPONDING
CFOA recognises the enormous benefit to the
public of the introduction of co-responder schemes and the associated
use of defibrillators and oxygen therapy units. It is clear that
that there is a willingness within the FRS to extend these schemes
beyond the current limited-coverage that is mainly supported through
the retained duty system. CFOA carried out a survey of the FRS
in August 2005 indicating that only 37% of the FRS has so far
initiated co-responder schemes and only 48% have either procured
or issued defibrillators. The stumbling block would appear to
be resistance from the FBU to accept that the operation of this
equipment is part and parcel of their existing role as a firefighter.
Indeed two FRAs (Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire) are now taking
High Court action against the FBU to gain a ruling on co-responding
as part of the firefighter role map and contained within the parameters
of the June 2003 pay agreement.
There is a distinct feeling of frustration within
the FRS. The great results achieved from such a limited deployment,
with 18 lives saved (at the FRS point of intervention) during
the course of one year; contrasts starkly with the fact that the
scheme is still resisted by the FBU.
HMFSI
The Committee were advised of the transition
of HMFSI to a smaller advisory group which is scheduled to deliver
by April 2007. CFOA wish to ensure that in any revised structure
to make available professional advice to both ministers and within
the ODPM, that, this advice is provided by either a senior serving
officer or one who has recently retired.
EQUALITY AND
DIVERSITY
Although we were not asked specifically about
equality and diversity, we note that others such as CRE (FRS 60),
Anglia Ruskin University (FRS 65) and Jagtar Singh (FRS 49) had
provided evidence to the Select Committee. All of these submissions
freely referenced the work carried out by CFOA in the dissertation
by Stephen McGuirk, "Are We Serious"—A Strategic
Approach to Long term Equality and Diversity in the UK Fire Service
(2002).
Colleagues in the FBU also referenced this work
in their submission (Annex 8).
It is important to recognise that this work
underpins the commitment within CFOA to promote equality and diversity,
both in service delivery and within fire authorities and fire
and rescue services. It is also important to illustrate that CFOA
has a good understanding of the challenges faced in advancing
this issue—many of which continue to stem from the need
to change culture, which of itself is very much shaped by the
outdated working practices we are working hard to change.
It is also worth commenting that the key stakeholders
including the CRE have been established as founding members of
the Practitioners Forum, through which they could reasonably be
expected to contribute to these important issues within the FRS.
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