Strategic Assessment of Legal Factors

Situation

Amendments to primary legislation bring significant change for the sector and for the way we deliver our services. Following the Grenfell Tower fire there is also key legislation that will impact our service delivery of fire protection and business support. Failure to comply with legislation could lead to financial, reputational, workforce or productivity implications. Serious failure could lead to criminal investigations.

The strategic assessment considered the following factors in this section.

Direction

We will ensure our ways of working meet our statutory obligations and make amendments to incorporate the changes required with new legislation. In preparing for changes in relation to fire safety, we are linked into national and regional working groups and continue to deliver protection activity in line with the current legislation.

The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework for England requires us to produce an integrated risk management plan to take account of formal priorities. These include:

Make appropriate provision for fire prevention and protection activities and response to fire and rescue related incidents
Identify and assess the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks we face
Collaborate with emergency services and other local and national partners to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the service we provide
Be accountable to communities for the service we provide
Develop and maintain a workforce that is professional, resilient, skilled, flexible, and diverse

Under the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004, we must:

Make provisions for the purpose of extinguishing fires and protecting life and property in the event of fires
Make provisions for the purpose of rescuing people in the event of road traffic collisions and protect people from serious harm to the extent that is reasonable to do so
Secure provision of personnel, services, and equipment as necessary to meet all normal requirements and training of that personnel
Make arrangements for dealing with calls for help and for summoning personnel.
Take reasonable steps to prevent or limit damage to property resulting from actions taken for extinguishing the fire, protecting life or property

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 is the framework for emergency power and response in the UK. It distinguishes responders into categories 1 and 2, with Category 1 responders having a greater set of duties. As an emergency service we are Category 1. We are proactive with our responsibilities and are active members of the Local Resilience Forum, which was established through the Act. We engage with local partners and exercise response plans to risks in the county, training with other responding organisations.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is the current legislation enforcing fire safety standards in England and Wales. It applies to virtually all premises and covers nearly every type of building, structure, and open space, excluding single private domestic dwellings. We are an enforcing authority of the Order, with fire protection a core service. To support this, we have a risk-based inspection programme covering high-risk sites, delivered by trained inspectors and we provide a business education service to support our communities. This engagement enables the business community to create an environment within which people can live and work safely. To discharge our responsibilities, we work collaboratively with partners in licensing, building regulations and housing. This consultative process will ensure that we meet statutory responsibilities for engagement with local authority departments.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a duty on employers "to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work" of all their employees and other people. The Health & Safety Executive recognises that firefighters “face difficult moral dilemmas and have to make decisions in what are sometimes extremely hazardous, emotionally charged and fast-moving situations”. As a result, we ensure safe ways of working are embedded across all our activities, developed with health and safety, and risk and assurance colleagues. This is maintained through staff training, provision of personal protective equipment and the maintenance of equipment.

General Data Protection Regulations 2018 modernised data protection laws in the UK to make them fit-for-purpose for the increasingly digital economy and society. The Act allows for the continued modern and innovative use of data whilst at the same time strengthening the control and protection individuals have over their personal data. We have developed data security policies and procedures that ensure only those needing access have the right to access personal data. Our compliance with regulations is overseen by our Information Governance officer.

The Emergency Workers Obstruction Act 2006 makes it an offence “to obstruct or hinder persons who provide emergency services, and for connected purposes”. Whilst such instances are rare, we will prosecute whenever possible offenders verbally or physically abusing our staff. We have processes in place with Police colleagues to investigate and follow-up occurrences.

The Equalities Act 2010 brought together previously separate pieces of legislation into one single legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. The Act protects everyone against discrimination; direct, indirect, harassment and victimisation. The Act also sets out a Public-Sector Equality Duty requiring public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities. The implications of the Equalities Act affect the ways of working across our organisation. We undertake Equality Impact Assessments to ensure what we do and how we do it provides equality of access and is non-discriminatory. We have also recruited individuals to specifically look at how to improve our workforce diversity and community engagement, along with seeking external consultation for ways to improve our equality, diversity, and inclusion.

The Gender Pay Gap Regulations 2017 requires all employers with 250 or more employees to publish data on their gender pay gap. Employers that fail to report, or report inaccurate data, will be in breach of the regulations and risk facing enforcement action. We report in line with statutory requirements each year, which provides retrospective data, and we have identified there are fewer women in senior and on-call roles. We are focussing our actions to reduce the gender pay gap through: positive action encouraging female applicants, and engagement with the NFCC direct entry workstream; understanding why more female fire-fighters do not apply for promotion, along with identifying individuals with the potential to progress to more senior roles, and address any barriers by providing development and support; developing a mentoring scheme to enable female leaders to provide advice to women considering future development.

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 requires public services to notify local authorities if they encounter someone that they believe may be homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. We may encounter such individuals through our incident response and community engagement. Where this is the case, we signpost individuals, refer to our District Prevention Officers, or immediately escalate through safeguarding procedures.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 amends the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 to enable Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on governance of their local fire and rescue service through the creation of new PCC-style Fire & Rescue Authorities. The Act also defines a liability for closer working across emergency services through a new statutory duty for blue light service collaboration. Following the amendments to the Police and Crime Act 2017, the current PCC sits, as a voting member, on the Combined Fire Authority for Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham but has not assumed exclusive governance.

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 places a statutory duty on responsible authorities (including Fire and Rescue Authorities) to formulate and implement strategies for the reduction of crime and disorder (including anti-social behaviour), for combating the misuse of drugs, alcohol, and other substances and for the reduction of reoffending. We employ an Arson Reduction and Investigation Team to respond to fire investigations, but also to engage in preventative work to avert instances of arson. This includes interrogating incident statistics to highlight trends and patterns to advise colleagues and partner agencies, informing targeted prevention activities.

The Building Regulations 2010 are standards that apply to all buildings to make sure they are safe for people who are in or around them. They are supported with a series of approved documents that give practical guidance on the technical elements of the regulations, one of which relates to fire safety. As the enforcing authority for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, we must be consulted on planning applications relating to premises that are, or will be, covered by the Order. We have a statutory duty to respond to consultations within fifteen working days, which may be extended by mutual agreement. The consultations are undertaken by qualified Fire Safety Inspectors within our Protection teams.

The Fire Safety Bill 2020 is part of a series of changes to fire safety and building safety the Government is taking following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 brought together different pieces of fire legislation, applying to non-domestic premises and the communal areas of residential buildings with multiple homes. This Bill clarifies that for any building containing two or more sets of domestic premises the Order applies to the building’s structure and external walls and any common parts, including the front doors of residential areas. The amendments to the Order aim to increase enforcement action, particularly where remediation of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding is not taking place. We expect to undertake more business engagement and enforcement action resulting from the Bill’s clarifications.

The Children Acts of 1989 and 2004 place duties on the local authority. These can only be discharged with the support of other partners, many of whom have duties when carrying out their functions under the Children Act 2004. The Care Act 2014 introduced new duties and responsibilities on local authority adult social services as the lead agencies in protecting adults at risk. We work together with partners locally to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and adults in our area. Everyone who encounters children and families has a role to play. This gives us a clear responsibility to ensure that the adults and children we interact with are safe from harm. To ensure this, all our staff receive mandatory safeguarding training routinely, at a level appropriate to their role. We have a designated safeguarding team of officers to support referrals, along with supporting policies and procedures to provide guidance to staff.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was developed as part of the commitment to “Open Government”. The intent is to make it easier for the public to see what public services are doing, and if they are delivering good “value for money”. We have a freedom of information policy, overseen by our Information Governance officer.

The Human Rights Act 2004 defines the fundamental rights and freedoms of everyone in the UK. A key consideration linked to our operational risk management process relates to Article 2 of the act, which places a responsibility on public bodies to consider an individual’s right to life when making decisions that might put them in danger or affect their life expectancy. This directly influences our training, incident resourcing and risk management.