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Meeting Details

Police and Fire and Rescue Scrutiny Sub-Committee
22 May 2018 - 15:00 to 16:00
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Agenda
Notification
Standard Items
Further Information
This is a meeting which is open to members of the public. 

A copy of the agenda and reports for this meeting will be available for inspection prior to the meeting at the Customer Service Centre, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley and online at www.renfrewshire.cmis.uk.com/renfrewshire/CouncilandBoards.aspx

For further information, please either email
democratic-services@renfrewshire.gov.uk or telephone 0141 618 7112.
Members of the Press and Public
Members of the press and public wishing to attend the meeting should report to the customer service centre where they will be met and directed to the meeting.
Chair

Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided.

In Attendance

O Reid, Head of Public Protection and C Dalrymple, Regulatory & Enforcement Manager (both Environment & Communities); and R Devine, Senior Committee Services Officer (Finance & Resources).

Also in Attendance

Chief Superintendent G Crossan, Superintendent S Wright and Chief Inspector L Harvie, (all Police Scotland); and G Binning, Local Senior Officer and J Paul, Community Safety Local Authority Liaison Officer (both Scottish Fire and Rescue Service).

Items Of Business
Apologies
Apologies from members.
Declarations of Interest
Members are asked to declare an interest in any item(s) on the agenda and to provide a brief explanation of the nature of the interest.
There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
Report by Director of Environment & Communities.
1
There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment & Communities relative to the consultation undertaken by the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) on its Transformation Strategy entitled “Your Service… Your Voice”.
 
The report stated that SFRS was keen to engage with partners and stakeholders with an interest in the future of fire & rescue services.  The Strategy set out the vision for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service Transformational programme, looking at efficiencies and ensuring that SFRS could respond to current issues facing communities and future issues that it anticipated would arise as communities developed and changed. The Strategy also proposed that the future role of firefighters be more extensive and formally include a number of areas of activity that were currently being developed across fire and rescue services such as emergency medical response; multi-agency response (terrorism); response to environmental events; wider youth and social prevention work; and inspection and enforcement responsibilities.  The deadline for submissions to the consultation was 14 May 2018, however, following agreement with the Local Senior Officer, the deadline had been extended  to enable Renfrewshire Council's proposed response to be considered and, if appropriate, approved at this meeting of the Sub-committee.

The Council’s proposed response, a copy of which was appended to the report, welcomed the opportunity to review and respond to the Transformation Strategy, the focus contained within the Strategy regarding emerging risks and partnership working. 

DECIDED:

(a) That the consultation on the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service Transformation entitled “Your Service….Your Voice” be noted; and 

(b) That the Council’s response to the consultation, as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report, be approved.
Report by Director of Environment & Communities.
2

There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment & Communities relative to the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) annual report.

 

The report intimated that the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 stated that the SPA required to prepare an annual report as soon as practicable after the end of each reporting year. The most recent report, relating to financial year 2016/17, had been presented to the Scottish Parliament during June 2017.

 

The Chair of SPA had thereafter contacted the Conveners of all scrutiny committees seeking their assistance f in informing the development of the Annual Review of Policing 2017/18.  The deadline for submissions was 29 June 2018.  A copy of the proposed response, prepared on behalf of the Council, was appended to the report.  Following consideration, it was noted that the answer to question 9 of the proposed response required to be amended to reflect that membership of the Renfrewshire Police and Fire & Rescue Scrutiny Sub-committee comprised of five elected members, on a rolling basis, who were members of the Council’s Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board.

 

DECIDED:

 

(a) That the consultation on the Annual Review of Policing 2017/18 and the request for responses by 29 June 2018 be noted; and

 

(b) That the Council’s draft response to the consultation, as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report, amended to reflect that membership of the Renfrewshire Police and Fire & Rescue Scrutiny Sub-Committee comprised of five elected members, on a rolling basis, who were members of the Council’s Communities, Housing and Planning Policy Board, be approved.

Verbal Report by Police Scotland.
3

Superintendent S Wright (Police Scotland) advised that, as previously indicated to the Sub-committee, armed response vehicles and officers were being deployed locally on ‘routine’ calls. A summary of the perceived benefits, from the perspectives of both Police Scotland and the general public, arising from this change in arrangements was provided.

 

DECIDED:     That the information provided be noted.

Verbal Report by Scottish Fire & Rescue Services.
4

The Local Senior Officer (Scottish Fire and Rescue Service) outlined the local Fire and Rescue Service staffing structures in place and the roles of specific individuals.

 

There followed discussion regarding the current reporting format where historical data was submitted to the Sub-committee for scrutiny.  It was agreed that a review be undertaken by Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue Services and the Council to develop proposals for the future reporting format to the Scrutiny Sub-committee (e.g. to identify trends, emerging issues, challenges and/or support available to assist with future service provision).  The use of the spotlight feature during meetings to raise awareness would also be reviewed.

 

In addition, it was agreed that arrangements be made to circulate to elected members the names, contact details and roles of senior employees within the Renfrewshire Fire and Rescue Service staffing cluster.

 

DECIDED:    

 

(a) That a review be undertaken by Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue Services and the Council to develop proposals for the future reporting format to the Scrutiny Sub-committee (e.g. to identify trends, emerging issues, challenges and/or support available to assist with future service provision);  

 

(b) That the use of the spotlight feature during meetings to raise awareness also be reviewed;

 

(c) That arrangements be made to circulate to elected members the names, contact details and roles of senior employees within the Renfrewshire Fire and Rescue Service staffing cluster; and

 

(d) That otherwise the information provided be noted.

Report by Chief Superintendent, Police Scotland.
5

There was submitted a report by the Chief Superintendent, Police Scotland, relative to service performance and activities in the Renfrewshire area.

 

The report summarised the key performance indicators and the appendix to the report provided statistics for the period April 2017 to February 2018, relating to the specific key objectives detailed in the Renfrewshire Local Policing Plan 2017/21, together with comparative data.  The report also provided local updates in relation to the Police Scotland priorities of violence, disorder and anti-social behaviour; serious and organised crime; counter terrorism and domestic extremism; protecting people at risk of harm; road policing; and acquisitive crime. The report reaffirmed Police Scotland’s commitment to work with Community Planning partners in all sectors to keep the people of Scotland and its communities safe and that partnership working was a critical element of the strategy.

 

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

Report by Local Senior Officer, Scottish Fire & Rescue Services.
6

There was submitted a report by the Local Senior Officer, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) relative to SFRS performance and activities in the Renfrewshire area during the period February to March 2018.  

 

The report highlighted improvements across a range of performance indicators and identified areas where further interventions were required. Over the period there had been a reduction in the number of accidental dwelling fires from 51 in the same period in 2016/17 to 50 in the current reporting period; the total number of all non-fatal fire casualties had increased from 4 to 6; the total number of incidents involving deliberate fire raising had decreased from 56 to 45 during the comparative periods; the total number of fires in non-domestic premises had decreased from 12 to 7 in the current reporting period; the number of unwanted fire alarm signal incidents had increased from 128 to 146; and the total number of non-fatal road traffic collisions attended by the Service had increased from 3 to 5. The appendix to the report provided an analysis of performance and activities.  

 

The report also detailed a number of priorities and interventions, specifically highlighting the Local Area Liaison Officer’s attendance at the daily tasking meeting within Renfrewshire Community Safety Hub; the Community Action Team (CAT) engagement with a number of key partners to promote fire safety in preparation for this year’s Safe Kids event; a number of information/awareness events that had been conducted by the CAT to support the work of the SFRS Winter Thematic Action Plan which included talks on deliberate fires; and the number of Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) carried out in Renfrewshire during the reporting period. 

 

DECIDED:     That the report be noted.

Attendance

Name
No other member attendance information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for Sending Apology
No apology information has been recorded for the meeting.

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

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