Executive board

1.    Board Composition

1.1.    The Board shall comprise the Chief Fire Officers and the Directors who, collectively, are responsible for the effective and efficient operation of the Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service (the Service) in discharging, on behalf of the Fire & Rescue Authority, statutory responsibilities as contained in the Fire & Rescue Act 2004 and other legislation.

1.2.    The current composition of the Board is:
The Chief Fire Officer;
The Director of Service Delivery;
The Director of Service Delivery Support;
The Director of Finance and Corporate Services; and
The Assistant Director – Corporate Services

1.3.    The Democratic Services Manager (Monitoring Officer) to join meetings of the Board as she deems appropriate.

2.    Board Remit

2.1.    The primary focus of the Board will be, collectively, to secure delivery of the overall strategic direction for the organisation in line with its purpose and vision to make the communities of Devon and Somerset a safe place to live, work and visit. In doing this, the Board will:

1. be accountable for setting the overall direction of organisational travel by developing a vision, mission and strategic priorities. Approve the organisational Corporate Annual Plans (directorate) identifying those risks faced by the Service and measures required to address the risks;
2. oversee, prior to submission to the Authority for approval:
   a.    production of annual Strategic Policy Objectives; and
   b.    agreeing the recommended Community Risk Management Plan for submission to the Fire Authority, and approval of action plans to mitigate both present and future risks and issues. act as sponsor for any change and improvement programme designed to deliver actions required by both the Fire and Rescue and Community Risk Management Plans;
3. be collectively responsible for leading, developing and ensuring effective relationship building with key partners at a strategic level to promote collaboration and innovation that improves community outcomes;
4. be collective responsibility for leading, developing and ensuring the effective working of the wider Service Leadership Team (SLT);
5. be accountable for all areas of performance of directorates with reports to be submitted to the Board by SLT on an exception basis;
6. act as Senior Responsible Officer for any strategic business change and improvement programme designed to deliver strategic business change projects required to deliver the target operating model and Community Risk Management Plans; ensuring benefits realisation aligns with desired organisational outcomes;
7. set the Service Values and promote, with diversity and equality being fully embedded in every aspect of organisational activity;
8. consider annual revenue and capital requirements prior to their submission to the Authority for approval;
9. be responsible for setting the organisational appetite and tolerance levels for risk and performance and reviewing formally on a quarterly basis or by exception as required due to escalation (as per 5. above);
10. consider the Medium-Term Financial Plan prior to submission to the Authority for approval and monitor SLT performance against delivery on this;
11. consider Corporate Risks and approve the Corporate Risk Register (CRR) and any new risks identified or those requiring de-escalation;
12. consider any requests for additional funding for the Change & Improvement Programme, Health, safety and training issues;
13. consider any inspection reports received from HMICFRS and monitor progress against any action plan implemented;
14. consider any request for retirement/re-employment at Station Manager to Area Manager level and make a recommendation thereon to the People Committee; and
15. consider any matter elevated to Executive Board by SLT on an exception basis.

2.2.    The Board will also consider and determine other issues as may be referred from time to time by individual Directors (e.g. requests for voluntary redundancy; departmental reorganisations etc.)

2.3.    The Board will ensure that effective, clear and meaningful communication channels are in place to provide relevant information to the wider organisation and communities served and to secure, where required, feedback on service delivery or other organisational issues.

3.    Board Operating Principles

3.1.    The Board will – collectively and individually – “horizon scan” and share context, knowledge and intelligence to deliver its remit effectively. 

3.2.    The Board will – collectively and individually – ensure that relevant knowledge, context and intelligence is shared with the Service Leadership Team to promote and ensure effective and efficient delivery of shared objectives.

3.3.    The quorum for Board meetings will be three Board members.

3.4.    Substitutes at meetings will not generally be allowed although, in the event that a Board member is unable to attend a meeting, then that Board member may nominate an appropriate individual to attend and address the meeting on any specific issue(s) which the Board member has asked to have raised. The substitute will not contribute to the quorum.

3.5.    Board members may invite subject matter experts to attend meetings to support any issue the Board member has asked to have raised.

3.6.    The Chief Fire Officer will usually Chair Board meetings but has discretion to invite another Board member to chair any meeting.

3.7.    In the absence of the Chief Fire Officer, the other Board members present will decide who amongst them will chair the meeting.

3.8.    The Board will determine issues on the basis of consensus rather than voting.

3.9.    Board meetings will operate using the Lencioni Four Meetings model. This involves:
(a).    a daily, stand-up check in to discuss activities for that day. This is intended to aid clarity in translating priorities into action on a regular basis;
(b).    a weekly tactical meeting. These will usually be held on a Tuesday morning and will focus primarily on tactical issues of immediate concern. Items for discussion may be pre-emptively determined dependant on urgency. These meetings will be noted (primarily to capture any decisions taken or actions agreed) but the notes will not be published;
(c).    a monthly strategic meeting. This will usually focus on one or two topics that will affect the Service in fundamental ways. The purpose of this meeting is to provide sufficient time for in-depth analysis and debate;
(d).    a quarterly meeting to review over-arching strategy, analyse trends, consider board dynamics to enable organisational issues to be reviewed in a more holistic, long-term manner. This meeting will be held off-site where possible.

3.10.    The SLT will meet on a similar cycle as the Board as set out in paragraph 3.9 above taking collective responsibility for contributing to the delivery of the overall strategic direction for the organisation in line with the purpose and vision set by the Board to make the communities of Devon and Somerset a safe place to live, work and visit.  In doing this, SLT will:

• implement the strategic intent of the Executive Board by managing the tactical operations of the organisation;
• review and make recommendations on strategic proposals commissioned by Executive Board and developed by the respective Service Leadership Team lead;
• propose strategic recommendations to improve performance and deliver the organisation’s purpose;
• review, approve and prioritise strategic and stand-alone projects and business as usual initiatives in line with the ‘Improvement Framework’; and
• submit exception reports to EB on performance issues as and when required.

3.11.    Agenda and accompanying reports will not be published either on the Service Intranet or website. Notes recording matters raised and any decision taken at strategic meetings (excluding any items that could otherwise be omitted under provisions such as the Freedom of Information Act exemptions) will be published on the Service intranet once such Notes have been agreed at the next meeting.

3.12.    Only Board members may raise items at any Board meeting.

3.13.    Items requiring decision by the Board should, wherever practicable, be accompanied by a written paper setting out the issue, the desired outcome and the rationale for this.

3.14.    Matters escalated to the Board by the Service Leadership Team should be accompanied by a written report.

3.15.    Decisions may be made at any of the meetings, or via email and verbally outside of meetings. Decisions made outside of meetings will be recorded in a Decisions Log.

4.    Conflicts of Interest

4.1.    Individual Board members are required to keep under constant review whether or not they have any personal interests in areas for which they may exercise delegated authority. Any such interests must be declared at a meeting as soon as practicable after the Board member becomes aware of the interest. The Monitoring Officer will determine whether or not the interest is a prejudicial personal interest. In the event it is determined that the interest is a prejudicial personal interest, then the Board will put in place any mitigating actions considered necessary to manage this.

4.2.    In the event of an individual Board member, during their day-to-day activities, becoming aware of a personal interest in a matter requiring action before the next practicable formal Executive Board meeting, that Board member must immediately raise this with either the Chief Fire Officer or Monitoring Officer who, after consultation with other non-conflicted Board members as appropriate, will determine whether or not the interest is a prejudicial personal interest and in the event that it is will put in place any mitigating actions considered necessary to manage this.

4.3.    Individual Board members are required to consider whether they have any personal interests in all matters coming to the Board for determination and declare all such interests either at the commencement of discussions on the matter(s) or – if later - as soon as they become aware of the personal interest. The Board will then determine whether or not the personal interest declared is a prejudicial personal interest.

4.4.    Where a Board member has a prejudicial personal interest in any matter coming before the Board for determination, then that Board member must not participate in any decision making on the matter. In these circumstances, the Board member will not count against the quorum requirement for that item and the Board will need to determine whether it remains quorate.

4.5.    Section 5 below defines both “personal interest” and “prejudicial personal interest”.

4.6.    All personal interests declared at meetings, together with the decision of the Board on participation by the Board member(s) with the interest, will be recorded in the Notes of the relevant meeting.

5.    Definition of “Interest”

Personal Interest
5.1.    A Board member has a personal interest in a matter where the interest is such that it might reasonably be regarded as affecting the Board member more than it might affect any other Board member. Such a personal interest might arise from a close personal association.

Prejudicial Personal Interest
5.2.    A prejudicial personal interest in a matter is one which a reasonable person, with knowledge of all the facts, would consider to be so significant as to prejudice the ability of the Board member concerned to make an objective and impartial decision on the matter.