The Mayor introduced to the meeting, C Barton, Treasurer and H Jakeway, Chief Fire Officer from the South Wales Fire Authority to the meeting to give a joint presentation.

It was confirmed that there were 47 Fire Stations comprising the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) covering the following areas:-

·         Bridgend CBC

·         Blaenau Gwent

·         Rhondda Cynon Taf

·         Vale of Glamorgan

·         Caerphilly

·         Merthyr Tydfil

·         Torfaen

·         Monmouthshire

·         Newport, and

·         Cardiff

Each of the above Unitary Authorities committed the following towards the SWFRS, with the population of each County Borough area shown in brackets thereafter:-

1.    Merthyr Tydfil - £2,790,365 (59,254)

2.    Rhondda Cynon Taf - £11,252,298 (238,945)

3.    Bridgend - £6,746,905 (143,272)

4.    Vale of Glamorgan - £6,047,690 (128,424)

5.    Cardiff £17,437,965 (370,299)

6.    Torfaen £4,336,523 (92,087)

7.    Newport £7,028,029 (149,243)

8.    Monmouthshire £4,382,814 (93,070)

9.    Blaenau Gwent £3,266,932 (69,374)

10.  Caerphilly £8,537,563 (181,297)

The 2019/20 Revenue Budget of the SWFRS was just over £70m of which 75% was spent on staff costs. A considerable amount of this was spent on operational personnel, with some services being external but most being internal expenditure.

The Officer then gave a resume of what the SWFRS budget covered, which included:-

·         Transport

·         Supplies

·         Training

·         Premises

·         Capital Financing Income

·         Other

The budget for employees was split into Control, Support, Operational and other costs.

Officers confirmed that the SWFRS had to use around 7% of its budget to finance borrowing for its Capital programme, in order to fully discharge its functions. In real terms however, since the inception of austerity and the resulting recession, there had been a change in the Net Revenue Budget equating to a reduction of approximately 17% in real terms.

Council were then informed that there were three Fire Authorities in Wales, covering the areas of South Wales, Mid and West Wales and North Wales. The SWFRS also received towards its overall income, Welsh Government grants and funding for pension costs. It was estimated that funding from Welsh Government for pension costs would be cut by £200k next financial year.

There were financial pressures with regards to premises costs and the requirement to renew some equipment, i.e. fire engines and other fire-fighting equipment.

The SWFRS also had to maintain a level of funding as reserves to cover unforeseen expenditure, for example industrial action costs, where emergency services would still be required.

In terms of budget pressures, the SWFRS budget assumed a £0.4m efficiency saving on staffing each year. All other inflation factors were absorbed within existing budgets. A current projected overspend of £0.9m had been absorbed through other methods of expenditure savings.

With regards to the risks within the area of South Wales, Officers explained that these related to the Fire Authority playing its part in looking after the infrastructure in the form of the highway network and other structures such bridges, as well as those that related to large sports and other events (music) that attracted a considerable amount of the public in one place at any given time.

The Service was also looking at Fire Cadet programmes, with 13 taking place across local authority areas, with the programmes catering for ages 13 – 18 to encourage young people (including through pursuing an appropriate BTEC qualification).

The SWFRS also deliver at home safety initiatives, issuing in at risk homes free smoke and heat detectors, ie particularly in homes where there were the elderly/vulnerable. The Service were also looking at safety levels and requirements at commercial and industrial premises too.

The SWFRS were also looking at safety levels at any high rise buildings, looking in particular, for any possible inflammable risks comprising the structure of the building, particularly after tragedies such as the Grenfell towers. It was imperative that that building construction conformed with fire regulation safety standards.

The Fire Authority since 2017, also now had a statutory duty to respond to incidents of flooding.

The Service has a joint control room function with Mid and West wales FRS and South Wales Police. This collaborative arrangement had resulted in a saving exceeding £1m per annum.

The Officers then referred to emergency call-outs carried out by the SWFRS in 2018 compared to 2003, in 16 different categories and this made for positive reading, as there had been a reduction in the number of these 14 of the 16 categories, with just an increase of 3% in Special Service calls and an increase of 8% in Other Special Service calls, which was as a result of a national trial of fire crews assisting the ambulance service with certain life critical calls .

The final slides of the power point presentation gave information from the period of 2009/10 to 2018/19, on the following:-

1.    Bridgend Operational incidents

2.    Bridgend Fires attended

3.    Bridgend Fatalities from fires

4.    Bridgend Injuries from fires, and

5.    Bridgend Accidental Dwelling fires

The Mayor, following questions from Members which the Fire Officers responded to, thanked them for attending and sharing key information with Council which was echoed by the Leader, following which they retired from the meeting.

RESOLVED:                    That Council noted the covering report and accompanying presentation given by Officers of the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, on some of the key services it delivers in the County Borough.