Executive Board Minutes – 24 October 2023

Lisa Winward (LW)          – Chief Constable, NYP

Mabs Hussain (MH)         – Deputy Chief Constable, NYP

Simon Dennis (SD)           – Chief Executive & Monitoring Officer, OPFCC

Tamara Pattinson (TP)    – Director of Delivery & Assurance, OPFCC

Amanda Wilkinson (AW) – Director of Public Confidence, OPFCC

Jonathan Dyson (JD)       – Chief Fire Officer, NYFRS

Maeve Chappell (MCh)  – Corporate Communications Lead, enableNY

Xanthe Tait (XT)               – Director Evolve Legal Services, ELS

Sarah Davies                    – Executive Assistant, OPFCC (minutes)

Claire Godfrey (CG)         – Chief Accountant, NYP

Jenni Newberry (JN)        – Director of Commissioning & Partnerships, OPFCC

Mat Walker (MW)           – Deputy Chief Fire Officer, NYFRS

LW and MH updated the meeting with current local and national issues emerging. ZM and LW to meet outside of the Board to discuss potential topics for a future meeting with Home Office colleagues.

 b.      For Information and Discussion

LW updated members on topics discussed at the 2^nd and 9^th October Chief Officer Team meetings. It was agreed that an update on the Force DEI strategy will be brought to the next meeting of Executive Board.

 Action: DEI Strategy update for November meeting – MH

 c.       Decisions Required

 No items for this section

 d.      Third party reports including update on HMICFRS progress against actions

 LW and MH provided an update on the expected timeline of the report from HMICFRS.

JD provided an update to members of national and local issues and themes emerging. Members were informed of a successful recruitment campaign for trainee Wholetime firefighters.

Members discussed climate change and the impact this is having for the fire service both locally and nationally.

b.      For Information and Discussion

An overview of the minutes from the Senior Leadership Team meeting in September were provided to members.

c.       Decisions required

No items

d.      Third party reports including update on HMICFRS progress against actions

JD informed the meeting that the Cause of Concern being removed has been a great morale boost for the service and is a testament to the hard work that has been done.

No items

b.  For Information and Discussion

Updates were provided to the Board regarding the Budget Monitoring and Capital Budget Monitoring reports which were circulated to members in advance of the meeting. The Board discussed the financial situation for NYP and ZM asked for further reports to elaborate on highlighted areas.

Action – LS to provide further detail in relation to Energy cost and usage and Pool Cars.

c.   Decisions required

LS updated the Board with the plans for the Ripon Estates project. ZM requested to see all of the information and plans before any decisions are made about progression and sharing of space. XT asked that Evolve Legal Services are to be kept informed of plans going forward. LS agreed to update all with the plans and ZM approved the progression of the works on that basis.

LS presented the business case for the replacement of Cell Vans. A rationale was provided to the Board as to why this was needed and ZM approved the Business case.

ZM agreed to the Business Case for the replacement Cell vans

XT updated the Board with the internal management structure changes in Evolve Legal Services and the progression of the new Case Management Systems.

 b.      Collaboration agreement

The final version of the Minera Agreement has been signed. This item is for members to be aware of.

MP has been invited to attend COT meetings.

In the absence of JN, SD spoke briefly to the papers circulated in advance of the meeting. An update on the SARC was provided.

 b.      OPFCC updates

The key point of the Monitoring Officer Protocol paper was highlighted to members by SD. The paper was presented to members prior to being sent for formal adoption.  ZM was happy to endorse this if required.

SD informed the Board that a recommendation from the Police, Fire and Crime Panel was made to the Commissioner in relation to the timing of the Mayoral Election and the recruitment of a Chief Constable to replace Chief Constable Winward. The recommendation was not to proceed with the recruitment. SD informed members that a formal response has been sent in relation to this recommendation and that the recruitment of a new Chief Constable will go ahead.

It was noted by SD that he and ZM have been briefed on the Organisational Design work for NYP. There are issues with the current proposals as they stand and the OPFCC will have further briefing sessions this week on this. The planning day is on the 7 November.

c.       Devolution

SD updated members on the current delays with the Statutory Instrument (SI) being laid in Parliament. The SI has been shared with the OPFCC but the delay of this has caused challenges for the MCA Programme Team and the draft constitution which is due to be presented to the Joint Committee in December. The OPFCC have instructed an independent legal professional to work on the Constitution due to these reduced timescales and the work involved. The Organisational Design work for the OPFCC is being worked on by JN and colleagues from the Local Authority who have the MCA within their remit.

The SI states that there will be changes to the Statutory Officers for the OPFCC. The SI also demonstrates that there may be new arrangements to NYFRS governance. Further updates on this will be provided once more is known.

JD asked that the slides in the Programme Board pack are updated to include the correct workstream leads. SD explained that they were circulated prior to these changes but we would ensure they are updated.

Members discussed the elections and the dates for this.

MH provided an update on the current NYP risk register. The Risk and Assurance Board has moved to bi-monthly and updates to Executive Board will follow this pattern.

b.      NYFRS

 JD informed members that were no updates this month and that NYFRS will also follow the pattern of bi-monthly updates in line with the changes to the Risk and Assurance Board.

c.       OPFCC

No changes to the OPFCC Register.

Members discussed regional procurement and XT and LS agreed to meet outside of the meeting to discuss further.

The EnableNY review was discussed and an update provided by LS. A paper will come to the next Executive Board in relation to the progress of this. SD asked that the review captures the continued need of People’s Services to provide support to the OPFCC when the MCA is in place.