County Councillors blocked from discussing Government plans for fire & rescue
In May, the Government launched a consultation on changes to the fire & rescue service. They include proposals that could see West Sussex County Council no longer being the fire & rescue authority, with the service handed over to the Police & Crime Commissioner.
Previously, the Council unanimously opposed any such change and agreed to fight any proposals. Yet, not only have County Councillors not seen the Council's response to the consultation, the Fire & Rescue Service Scrutiny Committee is today being blocked from scrutinising that response.
When I raised my concerns with the Chairman of the committee, Kevin Boram, he told me that they can't scrutinise this important matter, because it "is for the Governance Committee and the Cabinet to lead and scrutiny to contribute in due course".
With the consultation closing on 26 July, it is patently obvious that there will be no scrutiny, as the committee won't meet again until it is too late. The Governance Committee met in June but did not consider the Government White Paper and won't meet again until after the closing date. The Cabinet has also failed to consider the White Paper and even cancelled their June meeting, because "there is no substantive business or decisions required".
The whole point of having a Fire & Rescue Service Scrutiny Committee is to scrutinise all actions and decisions that affect the delivery of the fire & rescue service. That must include the actions and decisions of the Cabinet Member and the Cabinet, as they materially affect the ability of the fire & rescue service to deliver an effective service.
It seems that Councillor Boram has been fobbed off and that Cabinet Member Duncan Crow does not want any Councillors to comment on the Council's response. The question is why, is he reneging on the Council's previous assurances and supporting the Government's plans?
Councillors should demand answers and insist on the Council's consultation response being published in full.
Performance still inadequate
The reports for today's meeting continue to show that West Sussex residents are being failed by the fire & rescue service. That is not the fault of staff in the service, but the failure of West Sussex County Council to properly resource the service.
Surrey County Council still failing to meet their commitment
Despite all the previous assurances that steps are being taken to improve the time it takes the Surrey County Council run joint fire control to answer emergency calls, performance has dropped by 6.4% this quarter to just 91.1% of them answered in time. After they lowered the performance standard to make it easier to achieve the target, this is especially concerning. Staff in fire control always do their best, so this is either a problem of inadequate numbers of staff, poor technology, or inadequate procedures.
Response times continue to disappoint
It is disturbing to see slight response time improvements in quarter four of 2021/22, compared to last quarter, hailed as a 'particular success'. Failing to meet the response target for the arrival of the first fire engine, of 12 to 14 minutes, at 11% of critical fires can hardly be called a success. Especially when compared to neighbouring services with a target of 8 to 10 minutes.
Failing to meet targets for the the arrival of the second fire engine at critical fires, and the first fire engine at critical special services (e.g., road traffic collisions with people trapped) at one in five incidents is again not a 'particular success'.
I have no doubt that everyone in the service is doing their best, but they cannot achieve an acceptable performance if they are not given the right resources. You can't expect a motor sport team to win Formula One races, if management only provides them with Go Karts. West Sussex County Council continue to ignore the reality that removing a quarter of frontline fire engines and crews is the principal reason why residents are not getting a proper service.
Crucial retained firefighter availability still in decline
The report also shows that the Council is still failing to reliably crew the remaining frontline fire engines. During the day, two thirds of frontline fire engines depend on retained (on call) firefighters. At night, three quarters of frontline fire engines depend on them. Looking at the figures for previous years, it is clear that the improvement in the availability during the last two years was purely the effect of the pandemic. With many retained firefighters furloughed from their fulltime jobs, or working from home, they were available more often for response to emergencies.
The chart shows that the general trend for availability is continuing to deteriorate.
Although Councillors have been reviewing this problem, the solutions they have come up with are unlikely to halt this decline. Radical measures are required, more funding allocated, and Government must be persuaded to improve pay and conditions for firefighters, both retained and wholetime.
Councillors must stop excusing these failures as 'national problems' and act to properly protect West Sussex residents
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