Meeting Details

The public minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Resolved:

That, as it is unlikely that there will be any further meetings of the Committee due to the forthcoming governance changes for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, authority be delegated to the Chairman to confirm as a correct record and sign the minutes of this meeting.

The Chairman reminded Member to declare any interests now or at the point during the meeting at which they arose.

With regard to agenda item 8 (Pay Review 2017), it was noted that the Officers affected by the outcome would leave the meeting either during its consideration (Chief Fire Officer) or following presentation of the report, while Members were reaching their decision (Director of Transformation and Finance Director and Treasurer).

Resolved:

That having reached the view that, in each case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption (and discussing the matter in private) outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, the public (including the press) be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as specified in paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

(Press and public excluded)

The confidential appendix to the minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2016 was approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(Press and public excluded)

The confidential appendix to the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2017 was approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

In response to a question by Councillor Aspinell, the Clerk and Monitoring Officer advised that  agendas, minutes and other records pertaining to Essex Fire Authority would be passed to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner as part of the implementation of the revised governance arrangements for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.  The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that plans were in place to ensure continuity.

(Press and public excluded)

The Chief Fire Officer left the meeting during consideration of this item, and the Director of Transformation and the Finance Director and Treasurer left following presentation of the report, while Members reached their decision on the outcome.

The Committee considered the current position in relation to pay for Essex Fire Authority Principal Officers, as set out in report EFA/099/17 by the Assistant Director of HR, and considered a pay agreement for that group for 2017.  A record of the matters discussed appears in the confidential appendix to these minutes.

Resolved:

That the proposal set out within Option One, as detailed in report EFA/099/17, be approved as the pay award for Essex Fire Authority Principal Officers for 2017.

(Press and public excluded)

The Committee considered report EFA/100/17 by the Finance Director and Treasurer concerning changes to the scheme for provision of cars and emergency vehicles to eligible staff.  A record of the matters discussed appears in the confidential appendix to these minutes.

Resolved:

1. That the changes made to the arrangements for the provision of cars and emergency vehicles be noted.
2. That the vehicle retail price limit for the scheme should reflect an inflationary increase since the last review of the Authority's contribution in 2009.
3. That the increase in the Authority's contribution be applied to existing lease car agreements with effect from 1 April 2017.

The meeting closed at 2.00pm