Avon 2.0 by Elginfire Consulting

Government & Politics

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Avon 2.0

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In the wake of the highly critical inspection of Avon Fire and Rescue Service, FIRE Correspondent Catherine Levin speaks to interim Chief Fire Officer Mick Crennel about the future

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t is a big deal when the Secretary of State decides to use the powers of the Local Government Act 1999 to send in the inspectors to look at any public sector organisation. Independent inspection is intended to better understand whether an organisation is complying with its ‘best value’ duty – a legal requirement to ensure good governance and effective management of resources. It is happening now in Northamptonshire County Council, which provides Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service. Sajid Javid said of the process in January 2018: “My decision to appoint an inspector is not taken lightly.” Avon Fire and Rescue Service’s interim CFO Mick Crennell is at the other end of this process and is clear about the direction he wants to go in. “I want to stop everyone talking about Avon in negative terms.”

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‘A number of allegations have been made against Avon Fire and Rescue Authority (the “Authority”). The extent, seriousness and persistence of the allegations made, together with the alleged failures to properly deal with complaints, if well-founded, would indicate that the Authority is failing to comply with its duty to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement. Such allegations would suggest that the Authority is unable to deliver economically, efficiently and effectively now or in the future’. Terms of reference set out by the Secretary of State for the statutory inspection of Avon Fire and Rescue Authority.

So, how do you get to that point? It has been six months since Mick Crennell moved to Avon on an initial six month secondment to become interim Chief Fire Officer. This has now been extended to the end of August. Coming into an organisation that has seen its Chief Fire Officer and Deputy Chief Fire Officer suspended as a result of a hyper critical report is tough. Then, within three months of Mick joining Avon FRS, CFO Kevin Pearson died. “Kevin’s passing was a huge shock to the organisation,” said Mick. “Shortly after his suspension he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and then no more than ten weeks later he sadly passed away.” The inspection started in February 2017 and the report was published in July 2017. Avon Fire and Rescue Authority sought assistance from the NFCC to secure interim leadership. Mick saw the role of Interim Chief as an opportunity. “It was clearly an organisation in a lot of turmoil and needed some strategic leadership at that time.” After many discussions with Roy Wilsher, Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, and support from the NFCC more broadly, the NFCC nominated Mick for the role and he accepted it after a grilling from Avon Fire and Rescue Authority. He has no previous relationship with Avon; he spent 23 years with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, then moved on promotion to Deputy Chief for Mid and West Wales in 2015. “My priority was to provide strategic leadership for the organisation,” he said. “I put a new interim management structure in place. I put in an improvement team to run an improvement programme with its own governance.”

“It was clearly an organisation in a lot of turmoil and needed some strategic leadership at that time” www.fire–magazine.com | March 2018 | 25

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Within the programme there are areas that Mick focuses on in particular. He has set up a new Inclusion and Diversity Board with an independent chair, comprising members from the unitary authorities, representative bodies and other staff groups. “I want it to be inclusive and innovative, challenging our current paradigms around inclusion and diversity. “I’ve also put a staff engagement network in place because I want to ensure that there is a way for staff and the senior management team to engage. I want that to be creative and innovative; I want this network to challenge our current thinking. I want them to have a voice in where we are going as an organisation. The chair of the network has a place on my senior management team and I think that’s the right approach.” Mick has visited every staff group across the entire organisation. “It’s for me to put my finger on the pulse of the organisation,” he said. He has done a lot of this engagement jointly with the Chair of the FRA. He has been impressed by the dedication of the staff in Avon and their attitude and approach to dealing with the Baker Report. Testing whether this is working will be borne out by

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Improvement Programme Mick chairs the internal improvement programme board and then he reports to an external scrutiny panel called the Independent Programme Board. CFO Huw Jakeway from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service chairs this. Members include: CFO Stewart Edgar from neighbouring Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service; the leaders of the four constituent unitary authorities on the FRA; the LGA, the PCC and a local charity called SARI (the Stand Against Racism and Inequality). The improvement programme is dealing with the 62 recommendations in the inspection report (Mick refers to it as the Baker Report, named after its author Dr Craig Baker) that was accepted by the FRA. These are broadly organised under four themes: governance, leadership, culture, change and change leadership. In addition there was a focus on inclusion and diversity as well as a look at procurement. “I’ve taken those 62 recommendations and turned them into an improvement plan with 112 deliverables and as many work packages, all organised into seven individual projects.” This is a massive undertaking and requires a lot of resources to deliver. Interestingly, Mick took the view that he did not want to turn to external consultants to assist this process; rather he wanted to build capacity and skills using his own staff. “I was keen not to get consultants in to solve our problems. It’s up to us to solve our problems. What we’ve done is invested in the staff. The leadership picture painted in the Baker Report wasn’t just about the political angle, but leadership within the organisation. Identifying the right people and investing in them, I think that’s really important.” This investment will of course reap rewards in the long term, but does require a lot of training and learning on the job to get things done.

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Leadership Restructure To assist this process, Mick has restructured his leadership team on an interim basis, retaining the two assistant chief officer roles and instead of recruiting an interim DCFO, created an interim post of Director of Corporate Services to complete the team. “It’s working for now. I think it is appropriate organisation for this size of organisation. I am hugely grateful to my two ACOs who have done an incredible job in supporting me since I joined.” Mick expects the improvement programme to take around two years to deliver the products from the 112 work packages. He and the Chair of Avon FRA report on a monthly basis to the Minister for Policing and Fire, Nick Hurd. “We met with him in September and we’re due to meet at the end of February. He’s been very supportive, very engaged, but has made it very clear that change needs to happen.”

“I’ve taken those 62 recommendations and turned them into an improvement plan with 112 deliverables and as many work packages all organised into seven individual projects” 26 | March 2018 | www.fire–magazine.com

Government & Politics

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“I’ve also put a staff engagement network in place because I want to ensure that there is a way for staff and the senior management team to engage”

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the results of a cultural survey that will be sent to all staff. “The Baker Report alludes to certain things and I want to get to the bottom of it. It was carried out over a short period of time; it was a limited lens through which to look. What I want to do is look at the entire organisation to get a real sense of what it is like to work here.” The cultural survey is being carried out by an independent organisation called The Glass Lift. “It will be completely independent. It will be completely nonattributable. It will be published to staff before I see it. It is something for all of us to look at to improve our service. Whatever we do find, we’ll deal with it together.” That is a brave move. “I don’t know whether it’s brave,” he replied. “I just think it’s the right thing to do.” Independence is a theme running through everything that Mick describes. He truly believes that it is the only way to take Avon forward. Against a backdrop of continuing investigations into Avon staff, it is an approach that will serve him well as he seeks to deal with the past and starts looking at the new face of the organisation. “It gives everyone the confidence that we are facing up to the allegations and what’s more we are dealing with everything in a transparent way.”

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it recommended such an approach as it ‘should ensure a steady flow of new ideas’. The Combination Order determines the size of the FRA and for Avon it is set at 25 members. The Baker Report suggests it should be half that size. It argues: ‘It will be more focused, better informed, more nimble and more decisive, as long as its members take their responsibilities seriously’. With four unitary authorities supplying members to the FRA, it will take time for local elections to refresh membership overall, but the direction of travel is certainly positive. In addition to these governance improvements, in October 2017 Avon FRS moved to a new headquarters co-located with Avon and Somerset Police. Mick said: “It’s been great. It’s a completely new environment. I did have the opportunity to delay but I said no, it’s time for a fresh start. It’s had a significant impact on staff and it’s a springboard for the future. There was an immediate uplift in the organisation. We’re in a better environment now.” He will need this better environment to deal with all the challenges that he now faces. With that huge programme of work, the results of the cultural survey, dealing with the ongoing investigations as well as preparing for HMICFRS inspection later this year, he has decided to bring forward the refresh of Avon’s IRMP. “Oh, and we’ve got to provide a fire and rescue service as well.” He said this with humour, but it is easy to forget the fundamental business of the organisation while examining the wider issues about how it is run. He is robust about Avon’s capabilities. “I’d put this organisation up against any others in terms of operational delivery to the public.” Mick’s good humour and solid, sensible approach will do him well as he continues on the path to improve Avon FRS. There is no doubt that going into an organisation that has had such a damning review is high risk but the rewards for getting it right are enormous. Those rewards are not necessarily for Mick – although surely being made substantive Chief should not be impossible – but for the staff of Avon itself. All that negative exposure cannot be good for staff morale, but with strong leadership and good independent advice and help, Avon will get there and be in a better place in the long run. Focusing so much on culture, as the Lucas Report did for Essex FRS only a few years ago, is the right approach and this is echoed in the findings of the Baker Report. ‘Ultimately it is the culture change which will embed new ways of working throughout the organisation; and thereby make the change sustainable’.

Governance Restructure In terms of governance, there are changes to the way that Avon FRA is run. The FRA has already made a change to its constitution so that there are eight-year term limits on members and six-year limits on committee members and for the chair. This is in line with the Baker Report;