London Fire Brigade’s budget

Dany Cotton QFSM (London Fire Commissioner):  Looking at London Fire Brigade’s future priorities, I touched on some of these in my opening remarks.  I want to highlight that one of the main priorities for next year will be continued support of the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry and the police investigation.  We learn from every incident we attend and immediately after the Grenfell Tower fire, I committed the resources so that we could learn everything possible from the fire and improve the safety of London in the future.  My officers continue to work on the internal safety and learning review and acting on that will be my top priority.

As I said in my evidence to the inquiry, one example is the quality of the operational risk information recorded for Grenfell Tower and, at the time of the fire, that fell below the standards expected of the Fire Brigade.  We have a project in place to improve this and upskill our fire station staff with increased fire safety regulation knowledge.  They can use this to carry out fire safety checks while also carrying our other visits such as our premises risk assessments and 7(2)(d)s [checks under section 7(2)(d) of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004] and operational risk database visits.  Not only will this aim to improve the quality of risk information we hold, but it will in turn free up the time of our fire safety regulation team.

We will also continue to roll out new equipment.  An example we have recently had is the fire hoods, which offer members of the public up to 15 minutes protection from toxic smoke while being rescued from buildings.  We can offer people the hoods to be rescued and it can be specific and really beneficial, especially the elderly or people who are in wheelchairs whom it might take longer to rescue.  If the time duration of one hood elapses, we can then just replace them with another hood and so we can continue to protect the people.  They are carried on all our frontline appliances.

Another thing we have started to see real benefits from is our drone trial, which has been taking place since September [2018].  We mobilise the drone team on every available opportunity.  We have two different drones in place at the moment.  Not only do they give the incident commander far better situational awareness of the incident, but they can be used across a wide-scale range of opportunities, not just fires; for instance, urban search-and-rescue situations, maybe collapsed buildings, where we can get an overview or where we have things like water rescue where we cannot have an immediate overview of it.  We can get the drones up and get them over the water to have a look.  They have thermal imaging capability to be able to identify people in water.

We can also use the thermal imaging capability for fires.  They were used very successfully recently to reduce risk and also to reduce congestion and problems with the local community when we thought there was a cylinder involved in a fire in a school that was under refurbishment.  We had had reports that the cylinder was on fire on top of the building and we put the necessary exclusion zone in.  By launching the drone and being able to look at the aerial footage, we soon identified that in fact it was not a cylinder; it was a water extinguisher of very similar shape and size.  We could reduce the restriction zone and put in more proactive firefighting measures.  Not only does that enable us to fight fires earlier and to protect buildings, but it also means it minimises disruption from things like 200-metre exclusion zones had it been a cylinder on the roof.

Another aspect that we are dealing with of course is looking into the situation in control [rooms], specifically around training and around how we handle the volume of calls in control when we have situations where we have large numbers of calls coming in.  We have a new training package that has been launched for our control staff, which we are going through at the moment.  We are also trialling various different options to ensure that exchanging information not only between control and the fire ground but between our control room and other control rooms around the country should there be the situation where controls are being taken by the rooms so that we can be sure that information is being exchanged, particularly in situations where we have large numbers of fire survival guidance calls.

A lot more of this evidence will be available in detail in the closing statement to phase one of the Inquiry, which would be in the very early part of next week.

Our thoughts, especially of the hundreds of staff who were part of the response on the night of [Grenfell] Tower fire, will always remain with those who died and their families and those people who lost their homes.  I cannot stress enough my personal commitment and that of the London Fire Brigade to continuous improvement and learning from major incidents such as the fire at Grenfell Tower, and of course we will continue to work with building owners and local authorities across London to make sure the right interim measures are in place where cladding is on buildings to keep people safe.  As I said in February [2018], what remains of crucial importance is that we grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve building regulation and fire safety.  My teams are working closely with Dame Judith Hackitt [author, Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, May 2018] on the fundamental changes to building regulation, especially improving skill in the sector.  We continue to call for life-saving sprinklers, including retrofitting residential blocks.

I am pleased to say we have carried out a successful recruitment campaign this year, but we need to do more to reflect London’s communities amongst my firefighters.  One of the things that definitely helps with that is opening the big red doors of London fire stations and inviting the community in.  We had a very successful series of open days last year and I am really pleased to report on the open days I attended where we had outreach occasions occurring as well where volunteer firefighters and members of our under-represented groups were there actively talking to the community about being a firefighter.  We had a really positive uptake from local people wanting to be local firefighters.  Also, we are holding 18 community Christmas events this week and next week across London fire stations to bring in socially isolated and vulnerable people, inviting them into the fire stations to eat with us so that we can identify them and help protect them and keep them safe.

A lot of this work we are doing with our existing resources and teams.  Others inevitably might bring new financial pressures.  Even without these resourcing pressures, the Brigade incurs significant cost in maintaining its current capabilities.  Our total spend on fleet is forecast to be £57 million over the next four years.  We have £14 million earmarked for training centres and £5 million for the new Plumstead Fire Station development.  The Mayor’s budget provides an increase of £20 million in funding for the Brigade over the next four years.  In addition, we are using our budget flexibility reserve to manage those priorities with a total draw of £19.6 million by 2021.  In the years after, there are more potential pressures such as pension contributions and these are subject to major uncertainties.  We have a Government spending review next year as well.

The short answer is that we have the budget we need now for our priorities, but in the future we do have some gaps to make up with some questions about how we will be able to do that.

Andrew Dismore AM:  Thanks for that comprehensive answer, Commissioner.  The consequences of Grenfell led to your submission to the Mayor seeking an additional £6.2 million in capital and £5.8 million in revenue funding, which the Mayor agreed to fund as the Conservative Government refused to help.  How much of that is featured in next year’s budget and how much has been pushed forward to future years?  Some of the equipment - for example, the extended-duration breathing apparatus and the taller turntable ladders - will take some time to procure and the fire safety inspection officers need to be recruited and trained.  Bearing in mind your extra funding bid was in the immediate aftermath of the [Grenfell] fire, what additional funding demands has experience in your high-rise taskforce shown to be necessary since then; for example, in greater numbers of inspections and fire safety visits, public reassurance, advice and guidance, and operational training?  I understand, for example, that the Grenfell Tower investigation and review team of 30 personnel is currently funded from reserves.

Dany Cotton QFSM (London Fire Commissioner):  Yes.  You have given a comprehensive list there.  There are a number of factors involved in the money we asked for.  A lot of the equipment is subject to procurement processes and not just the procurement but the actual development and building.  For example, the extended height aerial ladders take a very long time to design and build.  We are hoping to see the first one of those appear before the end of next year [2019].

What we have now is that the budget will reflect the actual pattern of our spending.  Some of that will be subject to moving, depending on things like procurement of items of equipment.  The fire safety inspecting officers you made reference to.  Obviously we cannot buy those off the shelf.  I am very pleased to say that we are introducing a new apprenticeship scheme for fire safety officers, which will allow us to make use of apprentices as well.  What we are also trying to do is look at how we work differently in fire safety amongst our teams and recognise the work that we can devolve to fire stations to free up the subject-matter experts to be doing the specific fire safety work.

It will be a changing pattern.  We have an amount of it set aside for next year.  Some of it will roll forward into future years as and when we recognise the spending.  Also, unfortunately, the cost of the Grenfell Tower internal team - and there is a very big team - is a massive request.  The amount of work we are already having to do for phase two, the amount of information we are providing, the amount of Rule 9 [of the Inquiry Rules 2006] statements we are currently completing and all that additional work does mean that not only is the team focusing on the internal inquiry itself but is servicing the needs of the investigation and of course the police inquiry.

Andrew Dismore AM:  The London Plan, if approved in its present form, includes a number of fire safety requirements for the construction of new developments in light of [the] Grenfell [Tower fire].  This will create extra demands on the Brigade, for example, for fire safety inspections and advice.  What extra resources will you need to cope with this and from when will it be reflected in the budget?

Dany Cotton QFSM (London Fire Commissioner):  I am really hoping that - as you know, we work with the London Plan - it should not mean that we all require extra fire safety resources because we are sincerely hoping that will mean the new buildings in London are built to much higher standards of fire safety in the first place.  The teams will be working at the initial stages, but we are hoping that with the buildings themselves being safer, it will hopefully reduce the pressure on our fire safety team.

One of the things that we are concerned about of course is competencies and skills levels of professional people involved not only in the design and the development but the build of those buildings to ensure that they are safe in the first place.  We are working with the planning team on the implementation of the London Plan and looking at how we can provide support, written guidance and programmes and share our own best practice.

Andrew Dismore AM:  This year’s budget submissions to the Mayor, before any application of new savings proposals, indicated the various budget gaps leading up to £24.5 million in 2022/23.  The flexibility reserve enables the gap to be bridged for the next couple of years, but after that from 2020/21 onwards there is a significant and growing black hole.  How do you see that being filled?  That is probably a question for Fiona, actually.

Dr Fiona Twycross AM (Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience):  Thank you.  One of the problems we faced after the fire at Grenfell Tower was that quite a lot of the big-ticket items we thought we might be able to pilot in order to help meet the budget gap are not really palatable anymore; the day-crewing in central London, for example, and the alternate crewing.  We are working on trying to identify different ways of meeting the budget gap, but it is proving quite challenging to work out how we can do that and maintain frontline services at the level they are.

We are putting in submissions to the Comprehensive Spending Review.  The Mayor has done what he can in terms of increasing the council tax precept to support the work of the Brigade and to support our future flexibility reserve, but at the moment it is fair to say that we do not have a definitive answer about how we can meet that gap.

Andrew Dismore AM:  Thanks.  Coming back to you, Commissioner, in light of Grenfell, how are you reviewing and amending command-and-control procedures to avoid confusion at major incidents, as well as addressing the information technology (IT) inadequacies and failures on control units?  These failures predated Grenfell, according to evidence to the inquiry.

Dany Cotton QFSM (London Fire Commissioner):  Yes.  There are number of strands to the work we are doing at the moment.  One of those is reviewing our operational policy and procedures to ensure they are fit for purpose and to ensure they comply with the national guidance and looking at how we match international operational guidance.  We work very closely with the team and it is embedded in the London Fire Brigade but do the national work.  Part of it is about establishing those to begin with.

Then there is a range of other opportunities.  Some of those are about looking at our new command unit replacement project and ensuring that we have the right IT in place to provide the support on the fire ground.  Part of that also is about communications on the fire ground and the communications from the fire ground back into control.  The programme of replacement breathing apparatus equipment at the moment includes the communication interface.  We are hoping to look towards new technology that will involve Bluetooth communication, which will be much better for our firefighters.  We are also making sure that we are keeping close monitoring on the replacement of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and Airwave to ensure that that will also assist because it is all part of that package of command-and-control.  Also, we are undertaking a review of training, which will of course include incident command training for all of our officers, from junior officer level right up, including me.

Andrew Dismore AM:  Thanks for that.  That was the next point I was going to come on to about communication.  What changes are you making to procedures for handling fire survival guidance calls and for better communication between control and fire ground commanders during major incidents?

Dany Cotton QFSM (London Fire Commissioner):  We are looking at various different options about the exchange protocol of information between fire survival guidance people and us, and the fire survival guidance people in control, and those on the fire ground at the moment and reviewing the fire survival guidance policy as part of that procedure as well.  I expect that changes will occur.

We also want to look at having a scalable approach to managing fire survivor guidance calls, whether it is one, two, three or four, or the very large unprecedented volumes we saw on the night of the Grenfell Tower fire.  We want to also test through our own policies and procedures.  We are doing some very realistic testing using our own control units, taking them down to Merton and having a testing situation with our control officers there, doing real-life trialling of it.

A lot of it is about making sure that we have the right training in place not only for our control staff but for our officers on the incident ground and those who are managing the command units.

Andrew Dismore AM:  Lastly, following on from that, in what circumstances and how would that “stay-put” advice be changed?  Who makes the decision and when?  How is that communicated to and by control and then to residents?

Dany Cotton QFSM (London Fire Commissioner):  The stay-put advice is for a building structure.  It is predicated on the fact that buildings should maintain structural integrity for 60 minutes to allow us to go into the building and to extinguish a fire and for people to remain safe in places that are not the original compartment of fire.  There are situations that we know about where buildings still have flammable cladding applied to them and where a temporary situation is in place where the stay-put advice is no longer, we believe, fit for purpose. Those already got underwrites on those buildings.  We are aware of where those buildings are and we are also working very closely with the owners of those buildings to ensure they have the right people in situations and have wakeful watches and means of alerting residents in the event of a fire.  Any incident commander on the fire ground is within their own judgement call to make any risk assessment based on a fire they are attending and decide whether or not the situation they see in front of them is something that would require people to be able to leave the building.

We are still faced with the problem that the majority of our residential properties inside London have a single staircase and so, should we wish to evacuate people from those buildings, there is still a risk that if we try to evacuate people down a single staircase route that we are trying to come up through and are trying to use for our firefighting equipment.  All those factors in place - the means of alerting people in the event of a fire in a building where there is no central means, no alarm and no current way of contacting all those people - will be subject of course to the ongoing review that we are taking part in, but we are looking at all those factors now.

We have the enhanced high-rise attendance that we have put in place now.  Any building that we believe has cladding on it we respond differently.  We have enhanced our high-rise attendance.  To any building where the callers state that there is fire on the outside of the building, we are now automatically dispatching 10 pumping appliances, plus an aerial appliance, plus the relevant officers, to get the crews there at very early stages should we need to evacuate.

Andrew Dismore AM:  Thank you.