Chief's Blog

201210_Awards_Event_at_Armed_Services

CFO Steve McGuirk — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I hadn't planned to - but I ended up watching the awards event for the armed services on Friday evening. At first I found myself puzzled - really I wasn't sure how some of the awards, which were quite esoteric, would translate to a mass public audience. I do not mean this in any way to be critical of the Services who do an absolutely brilliant job - but I did think it had the potential to appear a bit to be exploiting some very deep human stories - and wondering how they would handle the 'dark' side of the issue.

In the event I found myself not only enjoying the show but really quite inspired by some of the stories, and I thought any sensitivities were handled really well. It was also clear that this was an event to be seen at - as it was 'wall to wall' celebrity mingling and mixing with the military personnel.

But more than anything it came over that the military personnel felt truly appreciated, and were great ambassadors for their respective service and each of their respective 'teams' - actually every single winner mentioned the team they worked with.

It did get me thinking, though, about the value of awards and ceremonies like this - and indeed the value of opening them up to the public. We are a pretty private lot in the fire service (our xmas carol service just the other night for example wasn't open to the public) and we remain quite bashful about our achievements.

This weekend we have had a tragic incident - a fatal incident - and coming the day after the military awards it did cause me to reflect on how we share 'what we really do' with the public.

I would stress that this is not to diminish the importance of celebrating the heroes in our armed services at all - but as we all face a challenging future we maybe ought to think a little more about the value of our civil emergency services - and maybe celebrate them a little more?

17Dec10_Local_Gov_Financial_Settlement

CFO Steve McGuirk — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

People will have seen all the media stuff in recent days about what the local government financial settlement announced last Monday means for their local council. Across Greater Manchester it has been particularly bad with local MP's demanding a meeting with the Chancellor to express their anger.

Of course the media is dominated by the 'big numbers' - how many job losses there will be and which services will be cut - but rarely mentions the fire and rescue service.

But we are part of that settlement and for us it hasn't been very good news at all.

(I have been accused of being a bit gloomy with my blog - actually I am not at all gloomy - on the contrary - but I am afraid the issues consuming most of my time at the moment are the most challenging ones - and inevitably can sound a bit 'gloomy')

But it's important to set out what was said before our settlement and - importantly - what's happened?

What was said?

It was said that fire and rescue cuts would be backloaded to allow the preparation for the big changes that will be necessary; so years 3 and 4 would be when the big changes happened.

What's happened?

Well, instead of the 4 year settlement promised the government has in fact given us figures for just 2 years so we still don't really yet know whether it has been backloaded. However, given that the overall cut for fire is 7%, it appears the government have been true to their word at a national level and if the maths stack up - then there is another big cut to come in a year or two. There are a couple of very big 'buts' though.

One is - but at the same time they have changed the funding formula and the new (reduced) pot of money available is being 'divvied' up in very different ways. For GMFRS the cut in the first two years is in fact over 12% - nearer 9 million - which is worse than we expected. What is also concerning is the other 'but' - the backloading question.

Because it would appear from this that instead of the overall 25% cut we had anticipated in GMFRS, over that 4 year period it will likely be over 30%.

What else was said?

There has been considerable talk that all of this should be possible without affecting 'frontline services'.

So what's happened?

Of course we have and will do all we can to protect the 'front line', though in our case it's really quite impossible to differentiate between front line and 'something else'. The term 'back office' is now common parlance to describe everything other than the front line - but means all things to all people; and is presented almost as a pot of gold at the end of a magical rainbow we can somehow dip in to when times get hard.

We have done an enormous amount of work here, though, and we believe we will be able to save around 5% of our budget over the 4 year period. But this isn't easy money - there will be big changes - and it will also mean job losses of course - and we have been doing this for years. The soon to be abolished Audit Commission did a report a couple of years ago on efficiency in the fire service and identified that Greater Manchester had saved more than any other service over the last few years.

But back office efficiencies don't find even half of the money we have to find.

And it's worth making this point from the outset because somewhere down the line we will inevitably be faced with the accusation that if we can't find all the money through 'efficiencies' and back office - then it must be down to incompetent management.

So it is inevitable now that there must be changes at 'the front line' - and possibly some very significant changes.

This isn't being alarmist at all - quite the reverse. In fact many of the changes possible are only possible because of the excellent safety and prevention work we have done over the last few years. So we have an excellent track record of making changes that work. And I am confident we can also reorganise the front line to be more efficient through different rostering arrangements and so on.

But the changed picture does require us to reflect on our desire to retain all our appliances and stations. I must stress it's far too early to say what exactly this means and raise concerns that it requires a wholesale re-think. It doesn't - and our plans are pretty much absolutely where they need to be - which in many ways is very reassuring (rather than gloomy - I think we have been realistic rather than hopefully optimistic).

But we undoubtedly face some tough times ahead and it would be foolhardy to allow the changed - and worse - situation unfolding pass as if it will have no impact.

08Dec2010_A_Night_to_Remember

CFO Steve McGuirk — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

'I had a fascinating evening last night. We had our annual Carol Service - following which I checked my phone/email only to find a number of indignant and angry emails/messages from colleagues. They were unanimously outraged not only at the length of time 'we' took to attend one of the most serious incidents in a number of years, but also the poor quality of our response. I am, of course, talking about 'Corrie'.

I was at a function last week chatting to the producer who had reassured me the Fire Service didn't come out too badly from the big event - the tram crash (though he did hint I may not be happy with our response time) - well let's see how the week unfolds.

A couple of observations I would make though.

Firstly, considering how many people deny they watch Corrie its remarkable how quick they emailed and text - and how many of them are senior fire officers. Secondly - ITS NOT REAL.

Talking of what is real though - we had a really nice evening at a beautiful church - St Anns - in the centre of Manchester. A great way to start Christmas but also a good chance to just stop for a short while and reflect - to remember what Christmas is about - and also to give 'thanks' for the contribution firefighters and our Service makes to making our communities safer and better. I am not particularly spiritual to be honest - and I don't want to appear artificially 'schmaltzy' - but by the same token I don't want to gloss over important issues either.

The Rector's address was really thought provoking in this regard and he did bring me up short to think about some of this.

We all know we face a challenging future but the Rector's words about the values of the Service and the sense of humanity shared by most firefighters did 'humble' me a bit and took me by surprise also. As part of the point he was making he had a short video produced - I think it made the point well.

Back to Corrie though - the question on all our lips now is 'who's a gonner' - Rita? Sinita? Molly?

Phew - exciting stuff!

The great thing about Corrie is it doesn't take itself too seriously - even in the midst of the devastation there were a couple of funny 'one-liners' thrown in for good measure.

At the moment life feels very serious - and without wishing to make light of anything - last night in different and surprising ways has reminded me to keep a sense of proportion - not to mention a (balanced) sense of humour.

03Dec10_Uplifting_Frustrating_end_to_week (1)

CFO Steve McGuirk — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"It's been both an uplifting and frustrating end to the week. The frustrating bit first. We have been informed that it's unlikely we will now get our financial settlement figures from Government until December 15 - and possibly even later. This is a real issue for us as we remain in a bit of limbo in terms of being able to plan precisely what we need to do. And it nudges a lot of work to the other side of Christmas and really does cause problems with our planning. But there is nothing we can do.

It also means our hopes of being able to give people a clearer idea of how we will achieve any staff reductions before Christmas to try to reduce anxieties as far as possible now appear unlikely to be realised.

Nevertheless the work continues to develop the best solutions possible and I can confirm the desire of elected members of the fire authority to do the best they possibly can. In this context we also continue to talk to staff representatives and, in fact, the elected members and I meet them together after the Authority meeting next week. We would hope to be able to continue what is helpful, pragmatic and constructive discussion and indeed to try to get as much clarity as possible between us notwithstanding the problem with awaiting national outcomes.

It's a bit trite for me to say it's very frustrating because I recognise fully some folk would just say back to me - "its okay for you - you don't think your job is at risk". And to be honest this is a fair point. Really all I can do is my best to try to recognise the challenge, be as reassuring as possible without being patronising and work as hard as possible behind the scenes to get the best possible result. And be reassured that is what we are doing.

Now the uplifting bit - we have had a some real success this week in operational terms - in amongst coping with the weather. Crews at Bury did a great job and according to the Bury Times "saved the town's leisure centre" - a great headline. But the same station also undertook an excellent rescue, reviving a casualty who had "technically" died, but who now remains in a stable condition in hospital. By coincidence one of the firefighters who undertook the rescue from Bury received his long service medal from the Lord Lieutenant last night and I was able to use this excellent example to illustrate that for all our success with safety, we still fight fires and we do so very well. The FF concerned looked embarrassed at the attention but nicely so - though he may well have a few words with the person who dobbed him in to me.

We also opened a young people's café at Bury fire station last night. This is a real good initiative and lots of people have worked to make it a success. But again we must also give real credit to the people on the station. In this day and age it could be all too easy to find reasons to prevent or try to stop things like this happening - but to the credit of the people here they took the other view to make it happen. And having done so will make a real difference to people in that community.

Some personal stuff? (not said much about this recently - too consumed with all the big "stuff" going on around us).

A big weekend in the McGuirk household - "big birthdays" (best not say which and who) - the Christmas Tree is going and I'm looking forward to seeing my youngest daughter who has been ensconced in London with her new job for the last few weeks. And also a bit of xmas shopping I suspect (Chris Rainford's book for one thing). It's also the panto at the Training Centre this weekend - which unfortunately I can't make - but have a great time if you're going.

181110_Chiefs_Blog

CFO Steve McGuirk — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"In the Manchester Evening News today you will see a "story" criticising us for wasting "thousands of pounds" on management training at a "luxury hotel". The story has been passed by a member of staff, though the original "leak" suggested it wasn't training, rather a case of senior managers locking themselves away dreaming up ways to make cuts.

To be fair to the MEN, it's entirely appropriate they investigate the suggestion here and - probably - to be critical as I suspect some members of the public would be critical. To be honest I have also received some negative comments from staff based around similar "rumours". So let me just be upfront about the issue and offer a comment.

When we proposed the major restructure of senior management, last year, part of the planning recognised a need to train these managers not only in the "technical" facets of managing a public organisation - finance governance etc - but also to get them prepared to deal with the transformational change that was always going to be required following the General Election. Accordingly, we ring fenced some of the £2 million savings from the restructure to support and provide training for the new tiers of officers. In the "old days" we would, in fact, have sent these officers on extended residential courses at the Fire Service College in Gloucestershire - the "Divisional Command Course" for example was an eight week course. Having selected the officers for the new jobs, and having gone through a difficult transition process, where some colleagues applied for "their own jobs" and were unsuccessful, we undertook the training and development. This started in June, though it had been programmed and developed some months before that as part of the "plan" and over the last few months has rolled down each of the new - fewer - tiers of management.

Since June, just over 100 managers have taken part in six separate, intensive residential training and development courses at the Last Drop Village Hotel in Bolton, and the courses were held at the Last Drop because we do not have the facilities to provide them in-house. The obvious location is the Training Centre but this is focused on delivering day to day operational training. The courses are residential not to give the officers a "junket" or to wine and dine them at the tax payer's expense. These are intensive programmes with people starting very early and working well past the usual 9 to 5 hours well into the evening. Believe me at the end of the training the officers were shattered - and the feedback on the course content has been largely very positive. In the spirit of truthfulness, it's only fair to report that some officers themselves did ask whether the course could have been delivered differently - recognising that all management training can be portrayed as "spin" or "faddy" - but it's also true to say that these colleagues were a very small minority - the majority feedback was excellent. Of course the proof will be in the pudding and really it's about how we actually handle the changes we face.

The total cost of all of this was £82,500, which includes accommodation, trainer fees and other charges, and to put this in context we spend about £1.6million per year on training and developing all staff, with the vast bulk of this spent on operational firefighters - and to stress again the funding for this was ring fenced from the first year's savings arising from the reduction in senior managers, not eating in to mainstream training budgets.

Despite all the above - which I genuinely feel most people will see as a reasonable and honest explanation - I do also recognise that because of the times we are in, some of this still appear unreasonable and a waste of money to some people. Indeed, if people look at the web site for the hotel we used, the front page has a picture of a lovely swimming pool which doesn't help - and reinforces the idea of managers "living it up". That said, a look at the website for the Fire Service College or the Police College or the Military colleges will show similar positive images of the facilities - gyms, swimming pools and so on. Nevertheless, it remains important to acknowledge the legitimacy of criticism and to reflect on that.

It doesn't mean to say that because we face financial challenges we will "cut" everything - I have gone on record a number of times to say that in a few years time we will still be spending around £100 million of tax payer's money, we will have dozens of fire appliances and stations and hundreds of personnel and managers. So we still need to invest in facilities, training and development. And yes, even senior managers (including me) still need training and development and that can sometimes look both expensive and not "like proper training" where we wear breathing apparatus and so on. But we also need to sow value for money. We are currently reviewing our approach to training - how we need to do things differently in future. Whilst we cannot manage on the basis of how the media could run a negative story - we would end up almost paranoid and never do anything - but we should keep giving everything we do the simple "media test" - how will this look on the front page of the Evening News?"

16Nov10_Chiefs_Commendation_Awards

CFO Steve McGuirk — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"It was a real privilege last night to be able to present commendations for two acts of incredible bravery and courage. In July 2009 there was a very serious incident in Beswick, Manchester in which three people lost their lives. Notwithstanding the self evident tragedy here, a number of people were saved. There was a working smoke alarm in the property which undoubtedly bought precious time, and was a major factor, but equally important were the selfless acts of courage of members of the family and friends. Indeed, one of the people who perished - Carly Swift - lost her life battling to save her younger brothers. So my commendations were to recognise Carly's courage and also that of Danielle Beale who similarly acted incredibly bravely and selflessly saving the lives of her friend's family - Sue, Carly's mum, accepted the award on behalf of Carly.

The commendation event took place in the fire station engine house and it was truly poignant and actually quite moving to be able to re-unite the people who suffered this tragic event with the operational crews who attended.

Speaking to the crews they described this incident as one of the most difficult many of them had dealt with. Notwithstanding the professional challenge, we can also easily forget the emotional aspect for the firefighters who deal with incidents as difficult as this one. They literally battled (a bit of an overused media phrase but appropriate here) to bring the fire under control, and to rescue and revive the children involved. So, it was also a good opportunity for me - and the family of course - to say thank you to them for their efforts and professionalism. Speaking to the crews it was a helpful way of providing "closure" for them.

I really wish we didn't have evenings like last night and the work we are doing fitting smoke alarms will continue to ensure these become even more infrequent. But fires will still happen and "some" tragedies will still occur - that is why we will always need a highly professional fire and rescue service. But when these events do occur we should also ensure that we take the time to pause, reflect and show appreciation, for even in the midst of the most horrendous situations the humanity and courage of both professional firefighters and "ordinary" people like Carly and Danielle is really quite inspirational and leaves one reassured that we are all capable of so much more than we believe we are.

11Nov10_Corporate_Plan_Agreed_for_Consultation

CFO Steve McGuirk — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"The Fire Authority has today agreed its three year Corporate Plan and Integrated Risk Management Plan for consultation. It is now available on the web site and we will be sending out copies and embarking on an engagement/consultation exercise over the next 12 weeks culminating in February when the Fire Authority will decide what it adopts and what changes to its plan it may wish to make in light of the response to consultation.

Please feel free to respond.

We stress that this is not a "plan for cuts". On the contrary, in four/ five years time, after the dust has settled on the reduction in our budget, we will still be spending around £100 million each year of tax payers money on fire and rescue services, we will still have dozens of fire engines and hundreds of firefighters. We will have built new fire stations and provided better fire appliances and equipment as well as new and better training facilities. That said tax payers will almost certainly be paying more (they certainly won't be paying less) either through their Council Tax which will inevitably have risen (as much as we will try to keep increases to a minimum) or through other direct/ indirect taxation. We will get little sympathy from the public, therefore, rather than merely lamenting how hard it is going to be to make changes, we now need to get on with it (though we must continue to apply the health warning that we still don't know the detail of the cuts to our grant from government).

On other matters I spent the day yesterday on our Bolton Borough meeting the leadership team as well as fire authority members, then all the operational personnel for Bolton, Farnworth, Horwich and Bolton North stations , as well our central crewing unit, our computer drawing team and our children and young people's unit/team. A busy day but thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. We had lots of full, frank and constructive discussion about change and staff - understandably - were really nervous about what changes are coming. As ever, people speculate and, in talking to each other, a momentum builds that portrays what's possible, as being far worse than what is likely.

This isn't to underestimate the challenges we face or artificially disguise the fact that we will be reducing our headcount and cutting budgets over the next few years. I did not and really could not completely rule out some of people's worst fears - which really is the spectre of compulsory redundancy but I could offer a much more optimistic view that I felt that the Authority would wish to bring forward many better approaches to downsizing first (and they have expressed that wish at this morning's meeting) and there are a number of options around redeployment, voluntary redundancies and so on. And I could also put a better sense of perspective that any changes need to be developed over the next few weeks and months - many people seem to be fearing that something dreadful will happen in the next few days almost.

I did get the sense coming away - and I hope this was accurate - that people were very realistic if not a little fearful and of course the realism is helpful because it can lead to equally realistic discussion. But having people anxious isn't helpful so hopefully I could at least ease the fear and indeed in some cases even describe the opportunities as much as the threats.

Can I once again urge people to look at the corporate plan and respond.

09Nov10_Pride_of_Briatain_Awards_2010

CFO Steve McGuirk — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"What a great night for our Search and Rescue team last night. They were the winners of the Pride of Britain award for 2010 for their work in Haiti just after the New Year started. I have said a few things over the last few days about the negative coverage we have had in the media as a consequence of the London Dispute and so it's a real joy to be able to talk about a celebration of what the Service does best.

It was also interesting in the sense that whilst it was a recognition of the work they did on the other side of the world a few months ago - just a week earlier many of them were undertaking similar work just round the corner on the streets of Irlam - following a huge gas explosion.

"I guess all of this illustrates extremely well that the days of firefighters being "water squirters" - a particularly negative term used by newspapers just a few years ago - are well and truly gone. Today's firefighters must be flexible and adaptable - indeed prepared to work almost anywhere in the world. They must possess an enormous range of skills and expertise but, crucially, be able to use their initiative and take action in truly difficult situations - and they really don't come more difficult than Haiti.

"The awards ceremony will be on TV on Wednesday evening - please tune in to see the team receive their awards. All our firefighters are the Pride of Greater Manchester - its really great to see them honoured as the Pride of Britain."

02Oct2010_Dealing_with_Serious_Incident_in_Irlam

CFO Steve McGuirk — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

"Most people will have seen the news today about the serious incident we dealt with in Irlam. There was a major explosion (we are currently working on the assumption of some form of gas explosion - though investigations continue and because of the level of devastation will take some time) and it occurred around 07:15 this morning.

At that time, virtually everyone was either still in bed or just getting up to go to work/school so it's a miracle (sounds a bit of a cliché but its really appropriate here) that no-one was killed - though one person has been seriously burned, and a number of others injured - including some young children - but thankfully not too seriously.

This was a truly challenging incident.

The first crews were confronted with a "pile of rubble" in a space where 3/4 houses previously stood, and, as they arrived, what they thought was "debris" started moving, and so they immediately realised there were a number of people trapped/ injured and initiated/ commenced a major rescue operation. At its peak, this involved over 40 firefighters as well as our own Search and Rescue team and Search and Rescue Dog but also specialist rescue colleagues from Lancashire as well.

This was a great example of what the Service does well - marking a refreshing departure from some of the negative headlines of the last few days.

Our control staff handled a large number of calls and did a great job co-ordinating the deployment of resources, not just from Greater Manchester but also regionally and indeed we even had "national" resources standing by if they were needed.

The operational crews did a great job bringing a sense of calm and professionalism to a chaotic situation (over 200 houses had to be evacuated) - and they worked closely with colleagues from the Police as well as the local authority and the utility companies. The Search and Rescue specialists for a time were working against the clock as they believed there were still two children and a parent trapped in the rubble - and also did a great job working "seamlessly" with other colleagues from Lancs. And "behind the scenes" a group of people - our Comms department for example - worked incredibly hard to support the end to end operation. At one stage there were two helicopters and over 15 "satellite vans" from various media companies covering the story - it was on the BBC web site, Sky and a host of other media outlets and illustrated very well some of the logistics challenges nowadays of not just dealing with the incident itself, but also managing the massive - and insatiable thirst - for a "story" to feed 24/7 demand.

I attended the scene this afternoon, and there is no doubt that this has been a major catastrophe for that part of Irlam. Not only have the four houses been destroyed completely, but over 200 homes have been affected by the blast and some - even many - of these may also have to be demolished. Certainly, many people will be unable to inhabit their houses for weeks , even months.

Could I say a public thank you to everyone for the "team effort" today - of course all our best wishes go out to people who have been injured or lost their homes/ properties but I can also say but for the professionalism of our people and our close work with partners, it could actually have been a lot worse.

011110_Media Activity

CFO Steve McGuirk — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

There was a lot of media activity last week about the Fire and Rescue Service - much of it negative and much of it continuing in the Sunday newspapers - and all of it driven by the strikes taking place in London; and most especially the announcement to take strike action over the bonfire period. Understandably, this has incensed many commentators and the public.

Let me summarise the "negative" issues that came up and then say a few things;

The decision to strike over an innocuous change to start/ finish time
The ( "cynical") decision to strike over the bonfire weekend
The bullying and harassment by firefighters of the people ( the Company) working to provide cover during the strikes
The reports of the 7/7 Inquest portraying firefighters "standing by" because of fears of a second terrorist device - leading to real criticism about health and safety
The reports of another inquest in to a drowning, where again, it was suggested firefighters stood by because of "health and safety"
Finally, the reports in the Sunday newspapers that the "real" reason for such a fuss being made by London firefighters, was because so many of them had second jobs

The first three points about the London dispute - well there is another strike today and, as "last ditch" talks failed to find a resolution, it appears the strikes will still take place at the weekend. I must add my voice to those of many others that I think this is the wrong decision and - quite rightly - has incensed the general public. The public has the highest regard and respect for firefighters, but this must have boundaries. Everyone is facing massive change issues and the public must be genuinely puzzled why changing start and finish times is such a big deal. The trade union - of course - suggest it's not about that, its all about them being "sacked" which they portray as a massive over reaction.

Well, I really cannot comment on what "negotiation" has taken place, though I do also understand the attraction of portraying "management" as this callous, uncaring entity - merely hell bent on attacking "the workers" terms and conditions. But, the truth is, virtually every Fire Chief has been an operational firefighters, they are not at all remote or disconnected, and understand fully the implications of changes they propose. Further, they work very hard to find that "middle ground" in negotiation (London Fire Brigade have in fact already made alternative proposals that have been rejected) - but if the other party just keeps saying "no" then there is little option but to dismiss and re-engage on new contracts. Indeed, it is done pretty regularly in every sector - public, private and even voluntary/ third sector. So it's difficult to justify why firefighters should have some immunity from normal employment law.

I would also not wish to comment further on the second jobs thing (the last point above) - save to make a couple of observations.

People in every walk of life have other jobs - my dad was a self employed butcher but, at nights (and in to the early hours), was also a drummer in a dance band. It's what he needed to do to make ends meet - he was shattered most of the time but "times were hard".

The issue I recognise, of course, is a bit different here, and arises from the idea that firefighters have so much time off (unlike others) - and they still have beds - and its this that gives them so much opportunity to have second jobs. I can't really comment for London but in Greater Manchester - it's not like that. We got rid of beds years ago, we have very few people indeed undertaking secondary employment (they must ask permission and we have very stringent rules); and most firefighters are child carers for partners who also work. Further, we also "re-cycle" our firefighters within an annualised hours rostering pattern, and use their "off duty" time for training and covering for others for sickness - at no extra cost to the tax payer.

Actually - it's a very effective system and has enabled us to shrink the number of operational firefighters by 25% over the last few years, whilst still retaining our front line resources. The staffing numbers of other public sector services has doubled or more during that same period. The portrayal of firefighters as just "out for themselves" really does need correcting - and notwithstanding there are some relevant points being made - the vast majority of personnel are dedicated, hard working people only too well aware that they have more change to deal with.

On the health and safety "stuff" - you will not find me supporting the skewed view of health and safety management outlined in the examples illustrated above and talked about in the media. But, then again - it wasn't the Fire Service that did this to itself!

If we just take the example of the tragic "drowning" - ten years ago a similar incident happened here; a firefighter entered water to enact what he believed to be a rescue, but perished in his attempts to save the person who had fallen in. The response of the "regulatory agencies" to this tragedy? The Chief Officer was "pursued" (certainly it felt that way) with a view to being prosecuted with corporate manslaughter of the firefighter. And, whilst thankfully it failed, it nevertheless started a pattern of pursuing the emergency services with major investigations after any "tragedy" where a member of staff gets seriously injured or killed.

The inevitable outcome of this view/approach to health and safety that almost anything is foreseeable and it's possible to protect everyone from everything; was always going to lead to the kind of events reported last week. This is not to suggest we should be gung-ho or irresponsible, but Senior Fire Officers and Police Officers have consistently argued for some common sense over the last few years.

There is some good news - and the recent review of health and safety has supported a need for a return to some sense of reality for people working in hazardous settings and emergency services. On the other hand - it hasn't happened yet and I still harbour concerns that every time something tragic occurs, there will not be a reasoned and sensible - and grounded - consideration. It will be more the "some-one must be held to account" idea that still dominates. But if we cannot come back to a sense of perspective, then I am afraid the losers will be the public. And it is not "lazy" firefighters who want to stand by - on the contrary, we have a major challenge holding them back.

22.10.10

CFO Steve McGuirk — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:00:00 GMT

"People would be very surprised for me to say nothing about the Spending Review - but I have resisted the urge to put finger to keyboard for a couple of days to reflect a little, and to try to get to the bottom of what it means - and the truth is in Fire and Rescue we still don't quite know.

What we understand - and seems quite clear - is that the cuts in our grant are "back loaded" in to the last two years of the Spending Review period and in the first couple - i.e. the next two financial years the cuts will be in "single digits" - though we still don't know whether that is one point something or nine point something - and of course it makes a difference. But, overall, in four years time our grant will be at least 25 per cent less than it is today and for us that figure means "around" £17-18 million.

However, we are not clear what the expectations for us raising council tax levels are? And these are government expectations which are one thing - but - equally (actually more importantly) - we must consider the public's expectations.

We must recognise that this review will impact on families at all levels - and as important as we believe our Fire and Rescue Service is - and indeed the public supports us - that does not give us carte blanche to fill a difficult funding gap from local council tax payers. We must be realistic and we must recognise the difficulties faced by everyone and not impose unnecessary burdens - and avoid trying to "scare" the public in to funding us.

We are therefore assuming the same figures that appear to be presented in the Treasury documents - which suggest that government expects us to have a zero per cent council tax increase for 2011/12 and then is realistic in that council tax levels will need to rise, but again by relatively small figures certainly less than 5 per cent.

Further, there are hints about pensions changes across the public sector - though as firefighters already pay 11 percent of their salary, when compared to "single digits" for most other public schemes, one would imagine that there will be some sense of equity brought to bear - but the Hutton Enquiry is signalled as the basis for providing answers to this.

Other issues that affect our planning are pay issues (80 per cent of our budget is pay). The Government has continually made calls for pay restraint - which in fairness to firefighters and our support staff, they have demonstrated. The pay deal in 2009 was 1.5 per cent, in 2010 it is zero and it is likely to be zero in 2011. The reality is, though, firefighters will look to comparable occupations - police officers, nurses etc - to think about what "feels fair," and those other sectors have continued to honour multi-year pay agreements. So, by 2012, I would expect there to be some sense of frustration and some pressure building to think about pay issues.

All of this means - clearly - that there is still a huge amount we don't know, and we have great difficulty planning with any certainty, and we are some weeks away from that. What it also means, though, is that, broadly speaking, the figures are what we thought they would be - and so all the work we have done to prepare has been time well spent.

We face very big changes ahead - of that there is no doubt now - but the thoughts and views expressed in our recent Strategic Intent Document - and the work flowing from this to prepare for our Integrated Risk Management Plan - which we will publish in a few weeks time - has been a valuable investment in time and energy.

The final thought for me is that we have to really address and understand the size of the challenge here - "tinkering" with double sided photocopying or stopping tea/ coffee/ biscuits at meetings - as sensible as all these are - won't even touch the sides.

Transformation (an overused term) is what is necessary.

I have just heard on the radio that three big London councils are "merging" their operations to save a huge amount of money - by consolidating "back office", systems, management teams/structures and so on; and without affecting the quality of public service. I and other fire colleagues and elected politicians have been saying for the last few months now, that the time has really come to look seriously at how we retain the capacity to deal with major incidents and events that only a fire and rescue service can deal with, but at the same time address the insatiable demand for "emergency" provision in other sectors - especially medical emergencies. And the demand here can only grow and grow. If Wednesday's announcements don't provide the springboard for some form of combined/consolidated "fire/rescue/emergency medical" (in other words "blue light emergencies) provision - then we will have wasted, what I consider to be a (very rare) but golden opportunity actually to improve public service rather than "cut" it.

In all the spending review melee - I have neglected to offer public congratulations to one of our most distinguished colleagues - and it is nice to be able to say some upbeat good news.

Echo - one of our fire dogs - won the "Animal of the Year " award and was presented with this the other day in the House of Lords. In one sense this is one of those "Awww" type of stories and quite rightly so. On the other hand - Echo is a highly skilled, working animal - and though loved deeply by his handler and the family - he is not a pet.

Echo's award was for the fantastic work in Haiti at the start of the year - and for which he has not long been out of quarantine.

Congratulations to Echo - a real honour."

19Oct2010_Prepare_for_Spending_Reviews

CFO Steve McGuirk — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:00:00 GMT

"There will undoubtedly be frantic activity this evening in the corridors of Whitehall to prepare for the Spending Review tomorrow. We are already receiving media enquiries about what the impact will be on us and what cuts will be made. Amazing really.

At the moment - and as I understand it - tomorrow for us is likely to be a bit of a damp squib (though I am sure it will be anything but for others). All we will understand is the "aggregate" cut for our Department of State (CLG). What we won't know for some time, however, is how CLG have translated that departmental cut (across a massive budget including local government and so on) to the Fire and Rescue Service grant.

And in truth - given the relative size of the various budgets that together make up CLG it is impossible for that to be a simple percentage cut for each element. Our budget is only around £2 billion for the country - about half the overspend on defence projects last year.

We have done an enormous amount of work preparing for this review - including our own "star chamber" of scrutinising "corporate" budgets and spend and identified big savings over the next four years that, although painful (and please don't underestimate this) shouldn't dramatically affect the front line fire and rescue service.

Any gap, though, will need then to come from changes to operational resources. But here too as we have set out in our Strategic Intent Document - the goal is to keep all our stations open and all our appliances available 24/7 .

If the "cut" is what we anticipate we believe this is an achievable goal - but let's see what tomorrow brings."

240910_Article_in_the_MEN

CFO Steve McGuirk — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:00:00 GMT

"A fantastic story in today's Manchester Evening News that has really lifted the "gloom" everyone seems to be under waiting for what seems daily announcements about the "cuts" that are imminent.

The truth is none of us know until 20th October and until then all we can do is plan/ model and think and try to keep everyone with their feet on the ground. In my head quarters I get daily comments from people usually starting with, "I've heard that…." or "is it true that…..? Rarely, to never, is there any substance or truth in what people have heard or believe to be true.

Back to the good news story - it starts with a down side in that a few weeks ago an elderly man was assaulted/mugged near to one of our fire stations - Manchester Central. One of the crews there - Blue Watch (I will embarrass them) heard of the mugging and promptly dug in to their own pockets, invited the gentlemen to the station and gave him a cup of tea/bite to eat and presented him with his "gift" to replace the money stolen and a bit more besides. To be fair to the crews concerned they didn't do this for publicity (actually they kept quiet about it) - they just did it because they thought is a good thing to do.

The comments of people on the MEN web site are really uplifting and should - deservedly - make the firefighters and their families feel proud. There is a lot of talk about "localism" or the "Big Society" and many are struggling to get any traction on "the idea" or what does it look like "on the ground". Well for me this (true) story illustrates how the Fire and Rescue Service has a major role to play at the heart of our communities and our society and firefighters - often without meaning to - set wonderful examples not just of bravery and selflessness - but of real community spirit and true citizenship. So why can't fire stations be at the centre of whatever we do to breathe life in to these strap lines?

Don't get me wrong - firefighters are not saints - they're just "ordinary people" in many ways - and like every organisation we have the odd "challenging" individual; and unfortunately it is too often the challenges that grab the attention of people like me and the media. But stories like this remind me that although I do try I really don't spend enough time celebrating what's great and the people that are great. I would also like to commend the Manchester Evening News for taking so many column inches on good news because they too get criticised for only reporting the bad. I have gone on record saying that although from time to time stories appear that I would rather didn't - they do try to be fair and report good as well as not so good.

Finally a sincere - and a wee bit humbling - thanks to Blue Watch at Manchester Central for reminding us all what community service really looks like.

190910_BBC_News

CFO Steve McGuirk — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 23:00:00 GMT

"I have just been watching a really good feature on the BBC news about calls from the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) for new regulations around timber framed buildings - especially when under construction. It is still available to watch on the BBC web site.

This is a really big issue - the most recent fire being in Basingstoke last week - but there has been a significant number across the country including in Greater Manchester. They had representatives from the "Timber Associations" expressing 100% confidence that these buildings are safe.

In many ways, of course, they are safe when constructed; and people shouldn't be alarmed, as long as the buildings are managed in accordance with good practice. In these scenarios its only when buildings are changed or adapted that there may be a problem.

But when they are under construction - and because of cost and speed of construction there are a large number of these under development - then there are potentially major problems if they catch fire. The speed of fire spread and the ferocity of the blaze makes this a very dangerous fire, and firefighters have little option but to adopt defensive firefighting (in simple terms remain outside). These partly constructed buildings are also prone to sudden collapse.

The Chief Fire Officers are calling for better research and new regulation around this form of construction.

We appreciate the desire for as little regulation as possible around citizens, but an overly zealous pursuit of this idea misses the reality that some things simply won't happen if there is no "requirement" for them - and builders and construction companies follow building regulations. Self regulation is a laudable goal and one definitely worth pursuing in many areas but as we saw from the banking crisis sometimes "real people" are driven by other more human factors like profit; and so it is a matter for "the Authorities" to put in place the right level of regulation. Let's hope it doesn't take a tragedy - as it so often has in the fire world - to learn."

170910_media_controversy

CFO Steve McGuirk — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:00:00 GMT

"I met with my daughter last weekend who has recently moved in to a flat in London and has started a new job with a big marketing/ PR Company. Part of her job (which of course she loves) is scanning the web and using every form of media as part of her "tools of her trade". She has an "update" link to "Dad's Blog" - which of course she reads with the critical eye only one's family can, and so she delivered her devastating verdict over dinner (which I had just paid for of course).

"It's a bit boring dad, very informative about "stuff" in the fire service - but that's not really what the most exciting blogs are about. People want to know your real opinion, point of view - hey be controversial sometimes".

I was reminded of her comment about controversy as my phone went red hot the other day, responding to comments made by my twin brother, Tony, who is also a Chief Fire Officer in a neighbouring organisation. For some reason being a twin seemed to lead some in the media to conclude that because we share a similar appearance voice and demeanour - we share the same brain and act as the same person.

I won't re-ignite the debate here about what Tony said - or what he meant or the context he said it - have a look at other web sites for more on this. (Today's Telegraph for example)

Tony has in fact apologised for the specific term that invoked such a reaction. That said, a number have continued to suggest (and been supported from some of the most interesting quarters) that the debate he was engaged in - the value and culture of the public sector - is a legitimate debate that needs to be had. And everyone pretending everything in the garden is rosy is a sure-fire way to disaster - the banking Crisis must have taught us that surely?

I guess we all have occasions where we wished we had chosen a different word or expression - it's a risk everyone in public life runs when they engage in free flowing discussions with people on a day to day basis and do not stick to a script of any description. To be honest, I think it still preferable we have authentic and honest conversations and just deal maturely with occasions when any issues arise, rather than script - dare I say spin" - everything.

But it did serve to remind me of the challenges for senior people in public sector positions - in other words public servants - especially when trying to do interesting blogs.

So I am not declaring an intention here to mirror my brother's fifteen minutes of fame (believe me there is no sibling rivalry), nor am I declaring any intention to court controversy by using expressions or comments that can make an easy headline (though I think in truth it can happen to anyone in public life). I do think that an important element of the blog is to inform - but maybe a few more opinions (without stepping over political boundaries) won't be a bad thing.

140910_Annual_FFs_Memorial

CFO Steve McGuirk — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 23:00:00 GMT

On Sunday I attended the annual firefighters memorial service in London which is always a moving occasion. We have had a national firefighters memorial just by St Pauls Cathedral (it's worth a look for visitors to London) for a number of years, but it was the events of 9/11 that stimulated a coming together of firefighters to reflect, remember and honour "fallen colleagues" - including those overseas - and make this an annual event. There really is a strong bond and relationship between firefighters that transcends even international boundaries. I did personally know some of the firefighters killed at 9/11 for example.

It was a real honour this year to be asked to do a reading at the church service, and it was a real privilege and pretty moving to be there to see a wreath laying ceremony - including one laid on behalf of a former GMFRS firefighter - Graham Hughes. There is always the opportunity for families of any firefighters who have lost their lives in the preceeding year also to lay wreaths, and this really is a time when even the most hardened of people need to choke back tears. This year - tragically - the families of the firefighters who lost their lives in Hampshire were there.

It's always a really poignant reminder of the fact that whilst we do fantastic work in reducing fires and whilst we will always do our best in terms of health and safety - being a firefighter has always had an element of risk and danger - and really despite everything we can do - always will have.

I must thank our colleagues who attended with me - our "Standard Bearers" go along to these events time after time and represent us superbly well (I won't embarrass them by naming here) but I can assure everyone that all those who attended were real ambassadors for all of us.

I am not one for hanging on to "tradition" for the sake of it. But, by the same token these occasions always also remind me that there is real value and important in ceremonies and occasions for organisations like ours to come together in a public setting to "honour" the work and bravery of people who are prepared- and in some cases have - placed their lives on the line for their community. This isn't just firefighters of course, as we see too tragically almost every day with the military for example. So as we rush to "modernise" and change things that rightly should be changed - we should also be careful not to throw "babies out with the bathwater."

It is also important, though, that these events are done well so I would also like to thank and commend the work of the National Firefighters Memorial Trust and the London Fire Brigade who organise the event.

020910_MEN_Scoop

CFO Steve McGuirk — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Date: 02 September 2010 | Author: Steve McGuirk | Give me your Feedback

'For external readers of the blog it's worth mentioning the 'front page scoop' of the Manchester Evening News (MEN) on Tuesday; that the Fire Service in Greater Manchester was facing major cuts in funding - and contemplating issues not considered before. The spectre of station closures, fewer firefighters and even compulsory redundancies which then elicited the (almost inevitable) speculation about strikes or industrial action.

The story was very overstated and extremely speculative, not to say very premature - and, to be honest, not that much of a scoop as all the matters have been considered/debated across the Service and indeed the whole of the public sector is grappling with the self same issues. And whilst I would not wish to trivialise the seriousness of the matters outlined - nor would I wish to overstate and blow them out of perspective. Sometimes on a quiet news day - the commonplace can sound extraordinary.

But I think it is worth people (and colleagues in the Service) looking at the (surprisingly few) comments/responses to the article on the MEN web site as I think they offer a really interesting commentary on some of the key issues we face.

We have a very good public image - there is no doubt about that - but I also think there is a real danger of either taking that for granted or being complacent that we can maintain public confidence simply by carrying on as we are.

September 1st marks the day I joined the Service in 1976 so it's a day that always makes me reflective and I guess it was in this frame of mind I scanned to comments the other day.

Firstly, there were the perennial stereotype 'grumbles' we hoped or thought had gone away - firefighters getting paid to go to bed, all of 'them' having second jobs etc etc.

This isn't me saying these things by the way - they remain images/notions in the minds of the public as illustrated just yesterday. (To be truthful these were exactly the same kind of comments when I joined all those years ago - so we might say what's changed and have we failed).

Secondly, though, (and this is a massive step and a really encouraging signal things have changed) there is a recognition that we have (almost) become victims of our own success and got fires etc down dramatically over the last few years.

Crucially, we have also got the tragedy of deaths and injuries down to levels not seen even prior to me joining the Service in the 70s.

And this really is something we should be proud of and not be at all bashful about.

When I joined all those years ago, everyone just seemed to accept that people would die and fires would happen - and there was little we could all do about that.

Even our early attempts at recruiting with equality of opportunity in mind used the slogan 'fire doesn't discriminate and nor do we'.

Well, of course we now understand that fire does discriminate on the basis of a whole range of socio-economic issues. So much so, we can use our resources a lot differently and target quite precisely where we should concentrate our safety work but also the type of emergency response we need to provide - and it isn't a universal problem with a one size fits all solution.

In a sense, this may be frustrating though as our falling activity levels will undoubtedly raise questions about the level of resources.

But this is what's called being in the horns of a (moral) dilemma.

I don't think we had, or still have, a great deal of choice morally or ethically.

We know that fitting smoke alarms and educating people about safety in their homes saves lives, and we do have the resources to do it - so it's absolutely something we should continue to do.

A firefighter I was talking to recently put it far more eloquently than I could because of course firefighters recognise the 'risk' of reducing fires.

He said, 'one of our difficulties is that because we know this stuff works - we can't unlearn what we know and so we have to do it - it would be like having the cure for cancer and not sharing it if we didn't'.

So in truth its obvious safety work will continue to be central to our role - even in the face of budget cuts.

But I do also think part of our challenge remains one of changing the impressions the public still has of us and ensuring we portray our Service and its role way beyond the day to day emergencies (that's partly why being at events like Manchester Pride last week or the various 'Melas' taking place this year are so important).

Not only will deaths, injuries and fire loss rise again if we take our eye off the ball, because its a lot of our work that has got fires down, but we must also talk more about our bigger operational role as the 'last defence' in the event of terrorist attacks, and the increasingly important role we play to deal with the impact of climate change.

And as we approach the anniversary of 9/11 its always a good time to remind ourselves what remains possible; and just how crucial the Fire and Rescue Service's role 'might' become (hopefully one never played out though).

It also remains obvious, that we still have some public relations/engagement challenges ahead of us and equally obvious that there are real expectations the public places on us to continue to change and reflect the times we all live in.

290810_Negative_Press

CFO Steve McGuirk — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:00:00 GMT

'There has been a lot of media coverage over the last few days about the Fire and Rescue Service - most of it negative and about the suggested 'wastefulness' of 'the Service'.

One of the problems with using the 'Service' as a term, though, is that it creates the idea in the minds of the public that such a thing exists.

It's like talking about 'the retail sector' and using isolated examples of one part, to make sweeping statements/assumptions about the rest. There is a big difference between Lidl, Aldi, Marks and Spencers or John Lewis and I am sure none of the companies would mind me stating the obvious.

Returning to 'the Service' - the reality is that there isn't one Service, rather there are individual Fire and Rescue Services each with their own challenges and issues and each with their own character. That said, though, we do all collaborate and work together to ensure we can deal with emergency incidents that transcend local boundaries. And actually the evidence of how different Services have come together to manage major emergencies suggests we do this pretty well. I believe we have also demonstrated a willingness to change and transform from the top to bottom of each Fire and Rescue Service (though some start at different points from others and some inevitably see things differently).

In the last few years we have dealt with major incidents such as the floods across the country and the Buncefield fire, as well as a myriad of other day to day small medium and large incidents. We have also lost and seen injured a number of colleagues who, like everyone in the Service, have more than ably demonstrated their commitment to their community (in the most tragic of ways). But we have also dramatically reduced the tragedy and incidence of fire for our communities - fire deaths are at their lowest levels since the 50s and the number of incidents that we attend have been dramatically reduced. Indeed there is a certain irony I guess in that our success potentially opens us up to major questions about our activity levels.

None of this is to pretend we are perfect by the way, or to imply mistakes are not made or we should in any way be above public scrutiny. Nor does it imply that we won't take our share of the 'pain' facing all the public sector. But it is to inject a note of caution that our assets and resources are not all there because we need them all the time - indeed we all hope we don't. They are there because if we do need them - we really need them; and the Service is so often the service of last resort dealing with emergencies and catastrophes we all wish didn't happen.

Yesterday, I walked with over 70 colleagues from every part of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service in the 'Pride' procession. Indeed, other colleagues from Services across the North West also participated.

The word 'pride' struck me as really appropriate because it was the quality/characteristic most visible on my colleague's faces (not to mention ear to ear grins) as the thousands of people lining the streets of Manchester burst in to impromptu applause as their Fire and Rescue Service walked past.

As I say - we really are not above either scrutiny or challenge, and of course from time to time we may well make mistakes but you know what - the public isn't fooled and still recognise something of value when they see it - and maybe they take stuff said in the media in a much more balanced way than we might credit and dare I say sometimes with a pinch of salt?

280810_Manchester_Pride

CFO Steve McGuirk — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:00:00 GMT

'What a great honour and privilege to be part of the Pride Parade in Manchester today - and what a distance we have come.

We had three fire appliances and over 70 personnel from all parts and every corner of the Service - operational staff' support staff and volunteers - and everyone had a great time (even the weather smiled kindly on us for the parade itself).

As we walked round Manchester we were getting impromptu rounds of applause from the public and I know it brought a smile to my face but as I looked round our contingent the sense of pride and appreciation from everyone was equally obvious.

Whilst it's a real celebration we shouldn't glibly pass over the underlying reasons why it happens which is really about not allowing ignorance and intolerance of difference to prevail and prevent people living their lives to the full.

220810_High_Profile_Visits

CFO Steve McGuirk — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 23:00:00 GMT

On Thursday 19 August 2010 we had the Director of Fire and Resilience - Shona Dunn - spend the day with us.

Shona is the most senior civil servant responsible for Fire and Rescue (and Resilience ) matters.

During the morning she met senior officers and elected members and learned a little about 'who we are' and 'what we are about' - this was her first visit to Greater Manchester. She was also able to discuss and understand not only some of our concerns about future challenges - not least financial - but also talk to us about her thoughts and ideas about the future direction of the Service through the 'Fire Future Strategic Review' now starting to take shape.

In the afternoon she went to Whitehill to see some of the work we are doing with the young people on the Firefly programme as well as the borough staff and search and rescue team.

She then went to see the work of the team at the Moss Side Boxing Gym and Manchester Borough staff.

She took away an impression of an organisation that is now accustomed to dealing with change and realistic that more is to come but not complacent and also prepared to put a strong point of view forward. But also a hugely impressive organisation doing some great things in the community with a lot of talented and passionate people.

I am not going to pretend Shona or anyone else can wave a magic wand and make all our problems go away - and even though we put forward credible and powerful arguments and cases that funding cuts will be painful and difficult - and even if senior officials like Shona can 'intellectually agree' - it doesn't mean they can materially affect Treasury views. To be fair I suspect even Treasury would prefer not to have to think about how to save millions - but we are where we are. Nevertheless I still feel it far better to have people think highly of us.

On Friday we hosted a visit from the Chief Executive of the Fire Service College.

For those not aware the College is a unique facility in the Cotswolds, with a replica or in some cases the real thing - of virtually every disaster or catastrophe you could imagine. It's got a concrete ship (you can't sink no matter how much water you fill it up with), train crashes, plane crashes, collapsed buildings - it's where we go to to 'practice' managing emergencies.

It's a fantastic facility and well worth a look at their web site - but the CEO was here to talk about its development and - yet again - its challenges.

I really do view the College as part of the country's infrastructure for coping with disasters and really is unique and it would equally be a disaster (a big word I know - but appropriate I feel) if we were to lose such a facility as part of a 'cost cutting' exercise. Few things are irreplaceable but for our sector this is one of those things.

We are some way off that yet but it's clear we can't take the College for granted or ignore a need here too to think innovatively about how we secure this national asset on a sustainable basis.