Arrogance, denial & hypocrisy will perpetuate failure

The report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) made grim reading. I feel especially sad for the hundreds of fire & rescue service staff who will understandably, but wrongly, see this as a reflection on them. I also feel very sad for the residents of West Sussex who have, once again, been let down by the County Council.

It is the County Council's leadership that is responsible for this shocking report.

Thursday was rather hectic with the HMICFRS report to read, media coverage to monitor, and the County Council’s Environment, Communities and Fire Select Committee meeting to watch. That is the Select Committee responsible for scrutiny and oversight of the Fire & Rescue Service and for holding the Cabinet Member and Chief Fire Officer to account.

I have now had some time to reflect on Thursday’s sad revelations. I am no less disappointed by the Inspector’s findings, but I am appalled by the arrogance, denial & hypocrisy displayed by Councillors at the Select Committee meeting. When Children’s Services were rated inadequate, the chairman of the Children and Young People’s Select Committee resigned, the Chief Executive gave interviews and even Council Leader Louise Goldsmith was quick to publicly apologise.

Yet when the Fire & Rescue Service received the worst report of the latest batch of reports, there were no apologies from the Council Leader or Cabinet Member Debbie Kennard, and no resignations. Instead, Louise Goldsmith and Debbie Kennard hid from the media and made the Acting Chief Fire Officer face the cameras.

No Apology

We had to listen to Debbie Kennard trotting out how they had spent money on equipment, and how they had found a bit of money to try and fix some of the failures identified by the Inspector. Struggling to find some positives in the report, she even had the nerve to mention road safety work, something she planned to cut! Debbie Kennard completely ignored her predecessor’s failures, which created those problems, and her failure to address problems before the inspection.

With her denial and lack of contrition, there is little hope that

Debbie Kennard can lead the service back to an acceptable grading.

Ignore the message and shoot the messenger

Unlike his colleague, who resigned as chairman of the Children and Young People’s Select Committee, this committee’s chairman, Andrew Barrett-Miles, tried to shoot the messenger. Quite irresponsibly he accused her of “hugely damaging morale” and undermining public confidence.  

What damages morale and undermines public confidence is cutting resources and staff to such an extent that the service faces an impossible task. Councillors failing to scrutinise effectively also damages morale and undermines public confidence. To make matters worse, just ahead of the report’s disclosure, three members of this committee, who were not afraid to ask challenging questions, were removed from the Select Committee. 

Their replacements are:

Lionel Barnard, the former Cabinet Member who approved the last round of major cuts to fire & rescue, despite clear evidence of risks to public safety. Cuts that their own modelling indicated could result in an extra death every two years and over £80,000 extra property damage each year.

David Barling, the former Cabinet Member who implemented those cuts and dismissed concerns about increased response times as “scaremongering”. He called on Councillors to ignore the Council's extra death and property damage figures and angrily attacked anyone, including residents, who voiced concerns. Concerns that have since proved well founded.

Roger Oakley, former Vice Chair of the Governance and Standards Committees who refused to investigate the dubious deal that saw an extra senior post created by Council officers for the benefit of a senior Council officer. He also refused to do anything about the Council’s inadequate record keeping after a Judge led tribunal criticised the County Council’s “surprisingly poor record keeping practice.”

The timing of these changes suggest they have less to do with
ensuring proper scrutiny and more to do with damage control.

The truth about failed response times

As if to confirm those concerns, David Barling tried to play down the Inspector’s comment that the service hasn’t met their own standard for response times since 2014/15, by saying it was just one percent below last year. What he did not say was that the West Sussex standard is lower than most fire & rescue services.

Unfortunately, the Inspector’s report only quoted the West Sussex standard for very high-risk areas (first fire engine in 8 minutes and the second in 11 minutes). Yet the service says they no longer have any areas requiring that standard. I don’t know if the Inspector made an error or was misled, but I intend to ask the question.

The actual standard they are failing to achieve for response to life threatening incidents is:

Risk grading	Area covered by this grading	To arrive within (minutes)
		First fire engine	Second fire engine
High	2%	10	13
Medium	37%	12	15
Low	61%	14	17

Compared to Hampshire’s 8 minute target and Surrey’s 10 minute target for all areas, 

West Sussex’s failure to meet their generous targets is nothing to be proud of.

 Funding cuts are directly responsible for poor response times.
"Long travel distances have increased as a reason for failure, as we have four less operational fire stations in West Sussex." "The performance on the second pump is weaker than the first due to recent changes within WSFRS. This includes the removal of the second fire engine from three stations."

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service 2018-19 Quarter 3 Operational Performance Report

Heads in the sand over bullying

David Barling also questioned the Inspector’s comments on bullying, because no one had complained to him about bullying when he was Cabinet Member! I am afraid his comments demonstrate a complete lack of understanding about harassment and bullying. My WSCC training on the subject made it very clear that victims tend to withdraw into themselves and often won't talk about it.  If Mr Barling genuinely believes that firefighters would open up about such things to a Cabinet Member, then he is really naïve.

I have some sympathy for Neil Stocker, as he has been left holding the baby, and a sickly baby it is. However, his optimism on morale is misplaced. It is at an 'all time low', and just because he and a FBU official were unaware of harassment and bullying, is not evidence that things are OK. I accept that it is difficult to detect, but trying to downplay the report's findings is not going to improve anything.

The Chief Inspector pointed out that West Sussex had evidence of bullying 
at least two years before the inspection, but had failed to take action.

I welcome that they now say they are taking steps to address the problem with new policies and a new officer post, but will that be enough? The County Council has had policies, training and staff responsible for diversity and inclusion for many years, and that includes Fire & Rescue. I first attended WSCC/WSFRS diversity training, delivered by external specialists, over 20 years ago.

If Councillors and managers can't grasp the fundamentals of bullying and harassment,
I have serious doubts they can improve the situation.

WSCC policy in 2010

A few Councillors do support the fire & rescue service

Thankfully there were two County Councillors at the meeting who do recognise the County Council's failings and voiced their genuine support for fire & rescue service staff. Michael Jones and James Walsh have long campaigned to prevent the Council's reckless cuts and they continue to try and hold the Council to account. 

Councillor Michael Jones said that he thought the problem was not just confined to fire & rescue. He saw the link between less staff trying to cope with an impossible workload leading to stress and that sometimes resulting in bullying. A problem I witnessed when I was working with different departments at County Hall as cuts and poorly planned reorganisation took place. I raised my concerns with the then Chief Executive and my comments included:

“With less staff, people are under greater pressure, so have less time to help colleagues, and managers have less time to support staff. Training is either not given, or people do not have time to attend it. Many experienced staff have left, so we have managers who are not only less experienced, they are also less well trained. Lack of time is also stopping effective consultation.

Standards of behaviour are dropping, and people do not treat others with respect. Now some of that may be a social problem, but pressure of work and stress will also be a factor.”

The Chief Executive accepted there were problems and was clearly trying to address them, but unfortunately Louise Goldsmith decided she no longer needed a Chief Executive. When he left, things went from bad to worse.

County Council may make things worse

Councillor James Walsh also pointed out that these problems were not new and that he had spoken to staff who had told him about low morale in the service. He identified the direct link between funding cuts and failed response times, especially in rural areas.

He correctly identified that the Council is in danger of making things worse by advertising for a Chief Fire Officer who doesn't need to have fire service experience. He said, "The idea of the army being led by an accountant, or the police led by a business manager would be an anathema in those services. It is the same in terms of respect and leadership in the fire service."

He said that the message in the report is that the problems start at the top, with the political leadership of the Council, where the cost of everything is known, but the value of the service to the public is not understood.

Debbie Kennard's silence after the concerns voiced by Michael Jones and James Walsh spoke volumes. 

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service does not need an enthusiastic cheerleader, 

it needs a Cabinet Member with a grip on the problems and a determination to improve. 

Residents and firefighters need an experienced fire service professional as Chief Fire Officer. 

The County Council needs a leader who puts the safety of residents before party political ideology.

West Sussex deserves better

County Council Hypocrisy and Cabinet Member Misinformation

Hypocrisy

The answer to a written question from County Councillor Chris Oxlade exposes shocking hypocrisy regarding the issue of On Call Firefighters. As the Fire & Rescue Authority, the County Council regularly calls on employers to release staff from their jobs to respond to emergencies as On Call Firefighters.

Yet the County Council does nothing to ensure that their own staff are able to respond to emergencies as On Call Firefighters. Astonishingly, there is no policy on the matter and they only support staff doing so, “as long as it does not conflict with their main employment”. You must be pretty dim to think that leaving their main employment to respond to emergencies is not going to conflict, so instead of supporting On Call Firefighters, they immediately put a great big obstacle in the way.

They go on to admit that they have no policy to ensure On Call Firefighters working for the County Council are not penalised financially, or in terms of career progression. The Council also admits they put no requirement in contracts with companies, providing contracted out services to the Council, to ensure they also encourage and support On Call Firefighters.

Asked if the Council ensures that managers actively encourage employees to become On Call Firefighters, it appears they don’t. All they say is that internal communication campaigns have “generated little interest to date either from managers or employees”. Hardly surprising when there is no support or encouragement.

This is yet another example of inept leadership from the County Council. 

Expecting other employers to help them out by releasing staff to respond as On Call Firefighters, whilst restricting and even preventing County Council staff from doing the same. With such hypocrisy it is no wonder there is such a shortage of On Call Firefighters in West Sussex. Shortages that are resulting in increased response times, which put the public in greater danger.

Cabinet Member Misinformation (again)

At the last County Council meeting, Councillor Dan Purchese asked Cabinet Member Debbie Kennard to agree that the next Chief Fire Officer needed to have experience of the fire service. Not only did she fail to agree, she falsely said "we have other fire officers who did not come up through the ranks". That is not true, all the officers in West Sussex came up through the ranks.

She also said that they will appoint the best person for the job. Well if she means that, then it can only be someone who has came up through the ranks. A career's worth of in depth knowledge and experience are vital for any Chief Fire Officer.

What will tomorrow bring?

The report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services is due to be published tomorrow. The signs are not good, as the County Council has already transferred £365,000 from reserves to begin addressing areas identified in the report as needing improvement. 

HMICFRS say they expect fire & rescue services to achieve a rating of 'good'. Sadly, with such severe cuts to the service I am not optimistic that West Sussex will achieve that as an overall grade, so the question is will it achieve a 'good' rating in any of the key areas:

• How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
• How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
• How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

The categories of graded judgement are:

• outstanding;
• good;
• requires improvement; and
• inadequate.

Whatever the outcome, we must remember that primary responsibility for any inadequacies rests with the County Council. Staff must not be blamed in the way the Council shamefully tried to do for their failings in Children's Services.

Critical decision making and public safety

With the County Council meeting taking place on Friday, I thought it an appropriate time to write to County Council Leader Louise Goldsmith about my concerns regarding the possible appointment of a Chief Fire Officer with no fire service experience. The email, copied to all County Councillors is reproduced below:

"Dear Councillor Goldsmith,

 

Whenever I have spoken to Cabinet Members about their fire service decisions, I am invariably told, “I am not a firefighter, it is the Chief Fire Officer who is the expert on the fire service, so I must follow his professional advice.” Leaving aside the constraints that Cabinet Members impose on the Chief Fire Officer, that statement seems reasonable.

 

I am therefore at a loss to understand why the County Council would now consider being advised on fire & rescue service matters by someone who is not an experienced and professional Chief Fire Officer.

 

Critical decision making

 

During 15 years in the County Council’s Emergency Planning Unit, I witnessed several competent WSCC managers struggle to make decisions during emergencies. This was at all levels up to Chief Executive level and ranged from poor decisions to flat refusals to make an urgent decision when it mattered. This was not because they were poor managers, but because there is a stark difference between making day to day decisions and making critical emergency decisions. When making day to day decisions in a calm office environment, others can be consulted, research carried out, advice sought, reports reviewed, and option papers considered. All of which will help a competent manager to reach a sensible decision.

 

However, that is a World away from having to make a critical decision at 3 am, in an unfamiliar location, with limited and sometimes confused information, with no one available to consult and everyone around you expecting an immediate decision. Even the best managers, who are not used to such decision making, can fail under such pressure. Yet no one can predict who will, and who won’t fail, until the situation arises.

 

Whilst none of those decisions were life and death decisions, the failures did undermine the effectiveness of the emergency response. Put a Chief Fire Officer, without experience, in those situations and lives could well be lost. For the County Council to even consider appointing a Chief Fire Officer, who might fail when life critical decisions are required, seems to be a serious folly.

 

Throughout their service firefighters are trained to quickly make critical decisions when they only have limited and confused information. By the time a firefighter has reached higher management levels, they will have honed those skills and gained invaluable practical experience over many years. They will also have developed, through training and practice, the broader management and financial skills necessary for the role of Chief Fire Officer.

 

To be effective a Chief Fire Officer must also understand the roles, responsibilities and methods of operation of all the emergency services, and of the many other organisations that are involved in complex emergencies. Effective joint working, especially at major incidents, also depends on an in-depth knowledge of inter-agency plans and procedures, reinforced with extensive inter-agency training and practical experience.

 

Such knowledge, skills and experience can only be acquired by serving in the fire & rescue service for many years.

 

Non-critical decision making

 

Management consultants may claim this is where fire service knowledge, training and experience is not necessary. The fundamental flaw in that thinking is that all non-critical decisions ultimately have an impact on the effectiveness of the service’s prevention and response activities. Understanding how decisions will affect the service’s ability to prevent and respond to emergencies is vital in ensuring the right decisions are made. There is no better way of understanding the hazards and challenges facing firefighters, than having been in that situation yourself. That experience also makes day to day decisions on procedures, resources, staffing, training etc fully informed. 

 

It may be suggested that a Chief Fire Officer, without fire service experience, can rely on a Deputy Chief who has that experience. Not only does that result in the Deputy Chief being the de facto Chief Fire Officer, whilst being paid less, it also results in the Chief Fire Officer being no more than a rubber stamp for the Deputy's decisions. An added danger is that, if a Deputy Chief in that position provides poor advice, either deliberately or inadvertently, the Chief Fire Officer will not have the knowledge, training or experience to recognise it. There is also the danger that a Chief Fire Officer without fire service experience may not wish to be seen to always follow a Deputy’s advice and, in an effort to assert their authority, may ignore it. Failing to listen to professional advice could then have serious consequences.

 

Confidence

 

It is essential that staff in the fire & rescue service, WSCC Directors, heads of partner agencies, and the public have confidence that the Chief Fire Officer has the necessary fire & rescue service knowledge, training and experience. Without that confidence the opinions and decisions of the Chief Fire Officer will not be trusted and that will quickly undermine respect for the service and the Council.

 

The few fire authorities that have been foolish enough to experiment with a head of service shipped in from outside the fire & rescue service have seen confidence decline. None of those experiments has proven successful, with only those who took the decision to appoint such a person, and the person themselves, claiming otherwise.

 

There are enough challenges in running a modern fire & rescue service without adding the challenge of having no fire & rescue service experience. Residents and firefighters deserve a Chief Fire Officer who has had a career’s worth of training, knowledge and experience in the fire & rescue service.

 

I trust that you will ensure that a Chief Fire Officer with considerable experience of the fire & rescue service is appointed to protect West Sussex residents.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Morris"