DMFD265 Portable hygiene units

1.1.    Report LFC-25-021x to the London Fire Commissioner (LFC) explains that London Fire Brigade (LFB) owns two portable hygiene units (PHUs). These are trailer-mounted welfare facilities that provide:
•    male and female toilets
•    sinks for hand washing that provide hot and cold running water, soap, and hand-drying facilities
•    access to women’s sanitary products (with dispensing and disposal facilities)
•    a small changing area.
1.2.    The current 12-month extension to LFB’s contract with the previous maintenance and transport service provider will expire in April 2025. It is therefore proposed that LFB procures a five-year maintenance and transportation solution with a suitable supplier, via the open-tender process. 
1.3.    The new contract will maintain the current requirement that PHUs are delivered within three hours of mobilisation across London, enhancing operational efficiency and supporting a more inclusive workforce. Sustainability requirements, including ULEZ compliance, will also be incorporated into the supplier agreement.
1.4.    Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience Decision DMFD21 authorised the LFC to incur expenditure of up to £470,321 on services from Site-Equip Limited, to provide two PHUs.
 

2.1.    The new contract will secure the provision of PHUs until April 2030, for use by operational staff attending protracted incidents.
2.2.    The LFC is committed to providing suitable welfare and toilet facilities at operational incidents, ensuring a more dignified and inclusive environment for all personnel. 
 

3.1    The LFC and the Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and the Fire Service (Deputy Mayor) are required to have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) when taking decisions. This in broad terms involves understanding the potential impact of policy and decisions on different people, taking this into account and then evidencing how decisions were reached.
3.2    It is important to note that consideration of the Public Sector Equality Duty is not a one-off task. The duty must be fulfilled before taking a decision, at the time of taking a decision, and after the decision has been taken.
3.3    The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy, and maternity, marriage, and civil partnership (but only in respect of the requirements to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination), race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, and sexual orientation.
3.4    The Public Sector Equality Duty requires decision-takers in the exercise of all their functions, to have due regard to the need to:
•    eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other prohibited conduct
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
3.5    Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to:
•    remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic where those disadvantages are connected to that characteristic
•    take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it
•    encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low.
3.6    The steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the  needs of persons who are not disabled include, in particular, steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities.
3.7    Having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to:
•    tackle prejudice 
•    promote understanding
3.8.    As these PHUs are already owned by LFB, and are in operational use, no Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out for the original procurement of these units, nor for the contract that was awarded. The Central Operations Team has now submitted an EIA for review, and this will be available once finalised. A draft is included in Appendix One for information. The EIA will likely have a positive outcome for operational staff; however, further work will be needed when the PHUs reach the end of their working life, to address any negative impact on transgender staff and staff managing disabilities.
 

Workforce comments
4.1.    Due to the timescales for delivery at operational incidents (three hours or less), it was deemed necessary to update the policy on welfare at incidents. This would enable Station Commanders to bring operational staff back to stations for ‘welfare reasons’, should the need be more urgent than the required three-hour delivery timescales.
Sustainability comments
4.2.    As per the current contract, the supplier would be required to meet the Mayor’s ULEZ-compliance requirements for their delivery vehicles.
Procurement comments
4.3.    This procurement is being run under the open procedure. This is a formal bidding procedure, under which the agreement is advertised, and all interested organisations/consortia (tenderers) can bid.
4.4.    The procurement exercise is seeking to award a five-year contract, with a value as set out in Part Two of the report.
4.5.    Bidders are required to complete and submit the selection questionnaire (SQ) by the tender submission deadline. SQ submissions will be evaluated before the evaluation of the tender response documents.
 

5.1.    Detailed financial comments are set out in Part Two of this report.
5.2.    A full cost appraisal will be done upon agreement of this report. This expenditure will be closely monitored, and any savings identified will be considered as part of future budget processes.
 

6.1.    Under section 9 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the LFC 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 LFC specific or general directions as to the manner in which the holder of that office is to exercise his or her functions.
6.2.    By direction dated 1 April 2018, the Mayor set out those matters, for which the LFC would require the prior approval of either the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor.
6.3.    Paragraph (b) of Part 2 of that direction requires the LFC to seek the prior approval of the Deputy Mayor before “[a] commitment to expenditure (capital or revenue) of £150,000 or above as identified in accordance with normal accounting practices”. 
6.4.    The Deputy Mayor’s approval is accordingly required for the LFC to commit revenue expenditure of up to the amount set out in Part Two of this report, for 2025-30, to procure a new contract to maintain and transport LFB’s PHUs to and from protracted operational incidents, for use by LFB crews where alternative arrangements are not available.
6.5.    The statutory basis for the actions proposed in this report is provided by section 7 (2)(a) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, under which the LFC must secure the provision of personnel, services and equipment necessary to efficiently meet all normal requirements for firefighting.
6.6.    Furthermore, under section 20 (1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 the Commissioner, being an employer, is required to provide suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences at readily accessible places.
6.7.    The proposed procurement of the goods and service provider is in compliance with the applicable public procurement legislation, and in accordance with the LFC’s scheme of governance.