DMFD3 Fire Engineering Qualifications

It has been agreed that the London Fire Brigade (LFB) will be removing Fire Safety and Health and Safety qualifications from the existing training contract with its provider, Babcock. To enable the Fire Safety department to continue providing the Fire Engineering degree to the staff who have started the degree course and provide succession planning, new contractual arrangements are required.

As a number of Fire Safety staff are already part-way through their training, and the units are not transferable, Glasgow Caledonian University are the only viable suppler. They are also the only provider who offers the following core subjects:

• Fire Engineering Analysis and Available Safe Egress time (ASET)
• Required Safe Egress Time (RESET)
• Introduction to Fire Mathematics and Structures
• Fire Engineering Design and Risk Management (FEDRM)
• Introduction to CAD and CFD
• Fire Dynamics
• Structural Fire Protection
• Project and Programme Management principles
• Fire Safety Design & Regulation (FSDR)
• Dynamic Systems Design 2
• Fire Engineering Design (FED) & Risk Management 2 (RM2)
• Fire Investigation
• Evacuation Systems Design
• Dissertation

This Decision enables the Commissioner to procure this course, which is required to enable the London Fire Brigade to have appropriately qualified staff to consider complex building control consultations and represent the service and sector on national bodies.

The Public Sector Equality Duty – and the potential impacts of this decision on those with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation) – has been considered by the London Fire Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience. The significant commitment in terms of personal study hours (25 – 30 hours per week) may necessitate support arrangements for candidates with disabilities, carers or lone parenting responsibilities. The appropriate assessments will be made.

The course contributes to the Commissioner’s response to requirements arising from Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of building regulations, London Safety Plan 2017 commitments and the draft London Plan December 2017 requirements (sections D10 and D11). As the Glasgow Caledonian University is the only viable course provider, which the London Fire Commissioner has been receiving services from within the auspices of the Babcock training contract, no risks are foreseen by enabling a direct relationship between the Commissioner and the university.

The expenditure is to be funded through sums available to the Commissioner. There are no direct financial implications for the GLA.

Under section 9 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the London Fire Commissioner (the “Commissioner”) is established as a corporation sole with the mayor appointing the occupant of that office. Under section 327D of the GLA Act 1999, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the mayor may issue to the Commissioner specific or general directions as to the manner in which the holder of that office is to exercise his or her functions.

By direction dated 1 April 2018, the mayor set out those matters, for which the Commissioner would require the prior approval of either the mayor or the deputy mayor for fire and resilience (the “Deputy Mayor”).

Paragraph b of Part 2 of the said direction requires the Commissioner to seek the prior approval of the Deputy Mayor for commitments of capital or revenue expenditure of £150,000 or above.

This decision seeks the Deputy Mayor’s approval for the Commissioner’s revenue expenditure with Glasgow Caledonian University (the “University”). As noted in the attached report to the Commissioner dated 21 May 2018, the London Fire Brigade has decided to remove the following areas of training from its existing contract with Babcock: fire safety and health and safety qualifications. That report provides further that Babcock currently sub-contracts certain educational provision to the University.

As noted at paragraph 1.2 of this decision form, part of the London Fire Brigade’s staff is part of the way through their degrees at the University and the units, which they are studying, are not transferrable to another tertiary education institution. Finally, the authors of this decision form have explained that the University is the only provider of the core subjects set out at paragraph 1.2 above. To this end, the Deputy Mayor may approve the requested expenditure if she be so minded.