Agenda item

Council Plan 2020-2025 Quarterly Progress Report (April 2020 to September 2020)

The report is attached.

Minutes:

Kieran Amos (Chief Fire Officer) introduced the report, stating that Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS) had maintained a focus on improving performance levels during the period with an emphasis on attendance times, improved availability of on-call and retained firefighters, and commissioned work to examine the County’s risk profile.

 

In response to Councillor Redford, Barnaby Briggs (Assistant Chief Fire Officer) advised that a centralised database of local employers was not held by WFRS for the purpose of recruiting retained firefighters. Contact with local businesses for this purpose was delegated to local station managers and on-call watch managers. He added that, where a local station had a strong on-call unit, recruitment tended to thrive. However, in instances where fewer retained firefighters were available, WFRS would intervene.

 

Councillor Crump stated that in fatality cases, in many instances response time targets had been met, however, WFRS had sadly been unable to save the individuals concerned. This underlined the importance of the prevention agenda.

 

In response to Councillor Boad, Barnaby Briggs advised that WFRS experienced a reduction in the number of staff absences during the period of the pandemic with improved availability of on-call firefighters who were furloughed from their regular employment. He reported that incidences of COVID-19 within the Service had been limited, and the risk of transmission of the virus had been acted upon promptly.

 

In response to Councillor Boad, Barnaby Briggs reported that response times had increased during the period of the report. He stated that a reduction in the number of serious incidents had been observed during the pandemic, however, a disproportionate number of serious incidents had occurred outside of the areas of the County which WFRS was capable of reaching within a ten-minute period.

 

Sarah Duxbury (Assistant Director, Governance & Policy) advised that a decrease in sickness and absence levels had been observed across the wider organisation during the period of the report. She stated that the introduction of agile working had helped to facilitate this improvement, with a greater likelihood that staff would work from home in circumstances when they felt unwell but well enough to work. Additionally, agile working had enabled staff who were obliged to self-isolate to continue working during the pandemic. She stated that a good level of support for mental health and wellbeing had been provided by managers during a difficult period, improving the resilience of the organisation.

 

In response to Councillor Boad, Rich Thomas (Strategy and Commissioning Manager, HROD) reported that, in 2019, around half of WCC employees had not taken any time off for sickness; the average number of days taken as sick leave was estimated to be 11 days per person. Since then, the number had significantly reduced. He advised that, on average, two-thirds of absences pertained to longer-term sickness (for a duration of a month or longer). 

 

In response to Councillor Reilly, Rob Powell (Strategic Director, Resources) advised that the variation in levels of reported performance was attributable to the unique circumstances brought about by the pandemic. He advised that the narrative statements within the report provided contextual information for targets which had not been reached in areas such as debt collection, where the Authority had sought to recognise the financial pressure on providers as a result of COVID-19.

 

Rob Powell stated that a refreshed performance framework was being developed which would adopt a slimmed down, tiered approach to bring greater clarity to reporting.

 

Resolved:

 

That the Committee notes the progress of the delivery of the Council Plan 2020 – 2025 for the period as contained in the report.

 

Supporting documents: