This is the motion, from County Councillor Michael Jones:
‘This Council notes with dismay the findings of the recently
published Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue
Services (HMICFRS) Inspection report on the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service
(WSFRS) with a rating of “needs improvement’ for Efficiency, a rating of ‘needs
improvement’ for Effectiveness and a rating of ‘inadequate’ for People. It is
also the only service in the country not to get a ‘good’ rating in any
category.
This Council recognises that staff in WSFRS do an excellent
job in protecting people in West Sussex but that they have been let down by a
failure of political leadership at the County Council, which has allowed
cost-cutting and budget pressures to take priority over the maintenance of what
HMICFS considers acceptable standards.
This has been exacerbated by decisions from the Cabinet that
have seen fire stations closed, and second and third fire engines being removed
from some remaining stations. Reports from the former Chief Fire Officer
confirm they were major reasons for increased response times. Despite the
Council’s extended response standard for most of the county of 14 minutes, the
service has been unable to meet it, as the inspectorate notes, since 2014.
This Council also recognises that this is the second
inspection in recent months that has seen a vital service, important to the
welfare and safety of all West Sussex residents, being judged as insufficient
to meet the required standard and it has become unsustainable for this council
to have confidence in a Leader and Cabinet who have presided over such an
outcome. This Council therefore expresses that it has no confidence in the
Leader and Cabinet.
This Council therefore calls on the Leader and the Cabinet
Member for Safer, Stronger Communities (or their successors, if and when they
are appointed) to:
(1) Completely withdraw the cuts to WSFRS proposed for
2019/20 that were put on hold for one year, and prioritise the recruitment of
additional firefighters to replace those cut since 2010.
(2) Stop prevaricating on the clearly unfair funding that
WSFRS is receiving compared to other surrounding fire authorities and to
finally press the Government for urgent additional funding to properly resource
the very stretched service, something which the Leader and the Cabinet Member
have failed to do, despite being mandated over six months ago by a full meeting
of this council dated 14 December 2018.
(3) Urgently progress the updating of outdated software and
communication equipment in the Fire and Rescue Service to ensure that there is
a clearer picture of operational staffing levels and gaps.
(4) Ensure as soon as possible that the Fire and Rescue
Service launches an anti-bullying campaign to stamp out any instances of
bullying and harassment, which will finally carry out advice that was given to
WSFRS following the results of a staff stress survey as long ago as 2017.
(5) Take steps to increase the diversity of the workforce,
particularly in respect of more female firefighters and more from the BAME
communities, and to work with councillors and other bodies across the county to
reach out to local people from these minority groups to encourage them to
consider becoming both wholetime and on-call firefighters.
(6) Do more to tackle shortages of on-call firefighters and
the need to finally accept some of the deep rooted problems with recruitment
and retention of on-call firefighters will need more than marginal changes, but
a whole new approach that recognises that:
(a)
more wholetime firefighters are needed to
guarantee availability in certain areas of the county; and
(b) recruiting and retaining On
Call Firefighters crews can be easier in larger settlements within West Sussex,
and the first step should be restoring the third fire engine and oncall
firefighter crew at Crawley Fire Station.
(7) Launch a review, led by an independent person external
to this Council, to determine whether alternative governance arrangements for
WSFRS may be necessary, given the findings of the inspection report. The review
would investigate whether it is still in the best interests of the service for
current governance to continue if the County Council, squeezed by continuing
Conservative national government cuts, concludes that it cannot afford to meet
its duty to resource the service to the level required to protect the residents
of West Sussex with acceptable levels of service and performance. The terms of
reference for this review to be drawn up with all relevant parties in WSFRS,
and to include their employees’ trade union representatives.’
County Councillor James Walsh proposed an amendment that added the following to the motion, which Michael Jones accepted:
'This Council also asks the Leader to publicly apologise to both the staff of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and to the people of West Sussex, for the failures of this Council that have resulted in this poor inspection being received.'
'This Council also asks the Leader to publicly apologise to both the staff of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and to the people of West Sussex, for the failures of this Council that have resulted in this poor inspection being received.'
That motion was perfectly reasonable and clearly intended to help improve our fire & rescue service. However, Jacquie Russell, new Cabinet Member for Safer, Stronger Communities, was the first to accuse others of being 'political', whilst forgetting that she is a politician and was appointed to a political position in a political Cabinet.
She then falsely claimed the service’s
budget had been increased by 6.4% since 2016/17. I don't know if she was simply inept, or was deliberately intending to deceive, but a simple check of the County
Council’s annual reports on the fire & rescue service would have shown her that funding was cut from £25.9 million to £25.5 million.
West Sussex Fire
and Rescue Authority Annual Report and Statement of Assurance 2016-17
West Sussex Fire
and Rescue Authority Annual Statement of Assurance 2018-19
The Cabinet Member then went on to claim that the cost of
providing the service in West Sussex was £21.98 per person, which is again wrong, it is £29.92 per person. Later Councillor Steve
Waight said that this was not about money, as Kent got a ‘good’ rating by spending just £20.57, which is also wrong, it is £38.61.
The figures they quoted were not how much
was spent on the fire & rescue service, it was the Inspectorate’s calculation
of firefighter cost per person. The Inspectorate clearly state those figures cannot
be used for comparison on performance, as wholetime and on call firefighter
numbers, and costs, differ significantly.
Fire & Rescue Service
|
Total spent
|
Population
|
Cost per head
|
Kent
|
£70.75 million
|
1,832,300
|
£38.61
|
West
Sussex
|
£25.5 million
|
852,400
|
£29.92
|
The FBU highlighted it last year, I notified Louise Goldsmith of the Government's unequal treatment of West Sussex in September of last year and Michael Jones raised it at a County Council meeting last December. His proposal that the Leader and the Cabinet Member for Safer, Stronger Communities should jointly write to the relevant Government Minister was passed by 48 votes to 6. Louise Goldsmith was even one of those who voted to do that, but inexplicably delayed for over six months.
More worrying perhaps was that the six votes against included the Cabinet Member at the time, Debbie Kennard, and the new Cabinet Member Jacquie Russell. With that sort of failure to support the service, Mrs Russell's appointment does not bode well for the future of our fire & rescue service.
David Barling used to be the Cabinet Member responsible for the fire & rescue service and frequently claims to understand the service better than many of his Council colleagues. So it was surprising to hear him criticise others for inaccuracies, but then use a string of
fake facts himself. Presumably, because if he had used the truth there could have been no criticism of others or the motion.
David Barling claimed that the fire station closures were not to save cash and that the “the fireground had moved"! When they closed the stations they made much of the money they would save and made no mention at all of the fireground moving! They didn't of course because it would be bonkers to say “the fireground had moved". Had everyone living on Bosham's fireground magically moved closer to Chichester? Of course not.
He also said that "the stations were badly served" because not enough people came forward to be "retained firemen" and that meant the fire engines "very rarely went out.” He said that he knew that because he "listened at the time". Clearly he didn't listen very well and failed to read the reports proposing the closures.
If he had he would have seen that one of the
stations they closed, Horley, was "going out" over 1,000 times a year. The station was also crewed by wholetime firefighters, not retained.
He was also wrong about the three
retained (on call) stations they closed, Bosham, Findon and Keymer. Before they closed them the three stations had enough retained
firefighters to ‘go out’ on average 500 times a year. That cannot be claimed to be "very rarely went out.”
Considering Mr Barling's frequent claims to know the fire service well, his reference to ‘firemen’ further confirms how out of touch he really is.
West Sussex has been employing firefighters, not ‘firemen’, for over 20 years.
Failing to meet the worst response targets in the southeast
Mr Barling claimed that they were coming "within
a hair's breadth of the target", but failed to mention that the West Sussex response time targets mean West Sussex residents are expected to wait longer for help to arrive than residents in neighbouring counties. He also seems content that they fail to meet the generous targets for over 20% of incidents where people need help.
He also falsely claimed that other fire & rescue service’s times didn’t start until the fire engine left
the station, whilst West Sussex response times are measured from when the call was received.
Government figures clearly show that not only do all the response times start from when the call is received, they even break them down in to call handing time, time for the appliance to respond, and travel time.
To be fair to David Barling, one of his statements was correct, “we
take the longest time". Perhaps that Freudian slip shows that he does know the truth, but just doesn't want to admit it.
Council Leader shoots herself in the foot
Council Leader Louise Goldsmith, apparently
desperate to find something positive, referred to figures in the Chief Fire
Officer’s briefing note that showed West Sussex had less fires than many other
fire & rescue services. With weather, chance, social deprivation and many other factors influencing the number of fires, how many fires a fire & rescue service receives in any one year is hardly an indicator of performance.
The day's prize for hypocrisy must got to Councillor David Edwards. After complaining about a "tirade from a political opportunist", he launched in to his own political tirade. Why he thought an attack on Jeremy Corbyn had any relevance to the debate, or would help fix the Council's failure to run the fire and rescue service properly, escapes me. Unless of course it was intended to divert attention from those failings.
I have no problem with him criticising Jeremy Corbyn, but it has nothing to do with the Council's failings. I am though concerned, when there are issues around bullying, about the example set by his vitriolic rant, which verged on hate speech. Sadly, if all David Edwards and his colleagues can do is sound off and politicise the fire & rescue service, I see little hope that they will be able to fix the service.
His comment about ensuring "that we continue to provide the best possible service for the residents of West Sussex and the best possible conditions for our firefighters" was little more than deluded grandstanding. Mr Edwards, you have not been providing the best possible service, you are providing an inadequate one. You are not providing the best possible conditions for our firefighters, you have made the job of firefighters much more difficult, more dangerous and morale is now at an all time low.
Independent, Labour and Liberal Democrat Councillors once again did their best for firefighters and the public but sadly the Conservatives on the Council put their Party first and defeated the motion.
What Louise Goldsmith effectively told the Council was that many other fire
& rescue services have to cope with more fires, but are rated adequate, whilst West Sussex, which has to deal with less fires, is not considered adequate.
Hypocrisy & Political Opportunism
The day's prize for hypocrisy must got to Councillor David Edwards. After complaining about a "tirade from a political opportunist", he launched in to his own political tirade. Why he thought an attack on Jeremy Corbyn had any relevance to the debate, or would help fix the Council's failure to run the fire and rescue service properly, escapes me. Unless of course it was intended to divert attention from those failings.
I have no problem with him criticising Jeremy Corbyn, but it has nothing to do with the Council's failings. I am though concerned, when there are issues around bullying, about the example set by his vitriolic rant, which verged on hate speech. Sadly, if all David Edwards and his colleagues can do is sound off and politicise the fire & rescue service, I see little hope that they will be able to fix the service.
His comment about ensuring "that we continue to provide the best possible service for the residents of West Sussex and the best possible conditions for our firefighters" was little more than deluded grandstanding. Mr Edwards, you have not been providing the best possible service, you are providing an inadequate one. You are not providing the best possible conditions for our firefighters, you have made the job of firefighters much more difficult, more dangerous and morale is now at an all time low.
Independent, Labour and Liberal Democrat Councillors once again did their best for firefighters and the public but sadly the Conservatives on the Council put their Party first and defeated the motion.
Despite all their claims, it seems they aren't really concerned
with firefighter conditions or public safety.
If the
County Council is going to fix the fire & rescue service, Councillors need
to stop bullying their critics, making excuses, and using hopelessly inaccurate
information.