Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority

The Fire & Rescue Authority is a separate entity from the Fire & Rescue Service and operates within a legal framework, which is heavily influenced by Central Government.

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service is accountable to the Fire & Rescue Authority, which sets out rigorous guidelines and is responsible for setting the level of revenue funding and the costs incurred in running a front line service.

How we make decisions

The Service's strategic decisions are driven by the Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority in conjunction with the Strategic Leadership Team. Details of meetings of the Fire & Rescue Authority open to the public can be found in our Meetings section.

FRA Members

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority consists of 16 councillors; 12 are from Derbyshire County Council and 4 are from Derby City Council.

Members are able to claim various allowances in connection with carrying out their duties as a councillor. Details of these allowances, reference documents for the members and the annual governance statements can be accessed through the documents section.

The Chair of the Fire & Rescue Authority is Cllr Trevor Ainsworth and the Vice Chair is Cllr Evonne Williams. The Independent Person s are Mr Graham Knight and Mr Mervyn Busby-Jeavons.

Basic information about the members of the Fire & Rescue Authority are listed below, where available electronic versions of each members declaration of interest form will be provided and links to more information about the member included. Some links may take you to external websites.

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service cannot be held responsible for the content of external sites.

FRA Annual Work Programme

The Fire Authority's Work Programme which contains a break down of the terms of reference by meeting.

FRA Committee Annual Work Programme 2023-24.pdf (pdf 205.00 KB)

Meetings

The Fire & Rescue Authority holds a number of meetings throughout the year, one of which is the annual general meeting (AGM) during which a Chair and Vice Chair for the following year are elected. A further five meetings a year are held, one of which includes the Annual Budget.

Terms of Reference

The Fire Authority meetings deal with the following issues which are known as its terms of reference:

• Statutory / Regulatory
• Reviews / Approvals
• Financial

Public attendance at meetings

• All meetings are open to the public and media.
• All meetings take place at 10:00 am at the Fire Service JTC in Ripley unless otherwise stated below.
• From 6 May 2021, all public meetings will take place physically, while following social distancing guidelines. Members of the public wishing to attend a full Fire & Rescue Authority Meeting are encouraged to contact the Fire Authority’s Monitoring Officer as capacity will be very limited.
• Directions to the JTC (Joint Training Centre)

Details of public meetings will be published in advance

• Agendas and Reports for full Fire Authority meetings are published and available online seven working days before each meeting.
• The dates and times for full Fire Authority meetings are detailed below.

Filming by members of the public and press

• Members of the public and press are permitted to film or record Councillors (Members) and officers at full Fire Authority meetings that are open to the public and press.

Tweeting or blogging by members of the public and press

• The Fire Authority permits social media reporting of all its public meetings.

Photography

• The Fire Authority permits photography at all of its public meetings
   

FRA Meeting dates

Papers from meetings prior to those shown here are available on request by submitting a Freedom of Information request. 

Meeting papers will be available here 5 clear days ahead of the meeting.

Please note that PDF versions may not be fully accessible

Draft timetable of future meetings

• 7 December 2023

• 8 February 2024

• 28 March 2024

• 27 June 2024 (AGM)

FRA Meeting - 21 September 2023

• FRA Agenda and Papers - 21 September 2023 (Accessible HTML version)
• FRA Agenda and Papers - 21 September 2023 (PDF version)

FRA Meeting - 29 June 2023 (AGM)

• FRA Agenda and Papers - 29 June 2023 (Accessible HTML version)
• FRA Agenda and Papers - 29 June 2023 (PDF version)

FRA Meeting - 30 March 2023

• FRA Agenda and Papers - 30 March 2023 (Accessible HTML version)
• FRA Agenda and Papers - 30 March 2023 (PDF version)

FRA Meeting - 9 February 2023

• FRA Agenda and Papers - 9 February 2023 (Accessible HTML version)
• FRA Agenda and Papers - 9 February 2023 (PDF version)

FRA Meeting - 1 December 2022

Fire & Rescue Authority Meeting Papers 22-12-01 Open (pdf 7,234.82 KB)

FRA Meeting - 22 September 2022

FRA Meeting 22 September 2022 (pdf 824.11 KB)

FRA Meeting - 28 July 2022

Fire Rescue Authority Meeting Papers 2022-07-28 OPEN.pdf (pdf 4,063.36 KB)

FRA Meeting - 30 June 2022 (AGM)

Fire Rescue Authority Meeting Papers 2022-06-30 OPEN.pdf (pdf 15,321.24 KB)

FRA Meeting - 24 March 2022

Fire & Rescue Authority Meeting Papers 2022-03-24 - OPEN (pdf 3,694.44 KB)

FRA Meeting - 10 February 2022

Fire & Rescue Authority Meeting Papers 2022-02-10 - OPEN (pdf 1,953.34 KB)

Committee structure

The Fire & Rescue Authority members are involved in a number of working groups and forums that interact with each other and that cover a range of issues. The inter-relating structure of these committees is shown in the image below.

Fire Authority Members Handbook

The Local Government Act 2000 requires the Authority to have a written constitution that acts as its rule book. This Handbook includes key documents such as the:

These form part of the Authority’s Constitution which sets out the Authority’s powers and the procedures to be followed to ensure that decisions made by the Authority are transparent and properly accounted for.

Fire Authority Member Resources

Documents that provide information and advice for the members of the Fire & Rescue Authority are available below to view or download.

Annual Governance Statement

The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England states that fire and rescue authorities and their services remain free to operate in a way that enables the most efficient and effective delivery of their services. However, this freedom and flexibility means that fire and rescue services need to demonstrate that they are accountable to their communities and transparent and states that each Fire and Rescue authority must provide annual assurance by producing a Statement of Assurance on the following key areas:

• financial information
• governance
• operational matters
• framework requirements
• future improvements

Annual Governance Statement 2020-21 (pdf 300.99 KB)

Feedback and questions

Do you have a question you would like to ask at a Fire & Rescue Authority, would you like to submit a petition to support your viewpoint, do you have a complaint you would like to make about the Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority or the conduct of its members?

This page contains specific information for submitting feedback and questions regarding the Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority. If you wish to view the feedback and complaints information for the wider Fire & Rescue Service please visit the general feedback and complaints page.

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority is keen to receive feedback from all residents, visitors and from people working or studying in Derbyshire.

Please read the following information that is relevant to how you would like to submit your question or feedback.

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority is keen to receive feedback from all residents, visitors and from people working or studying in Derbyshire.

Please read the following information that is relevant to how you would like to submit your question or feedback.

Public Question Time

Subject to the time limit for Public Question time, members of the public can ask up to three questions at the meetings of the full Fire and Rescue Authority. Any question you wish to ask needs to be put down in writing and sent to the Service Solicitor no later than 12 noon eight working days before the full Fire and Rescue Authority meeting on the Thursday (for example, the questions must be received by 12 noon on Monday 19 June for a Fire Authority meeting on Thursday 29 June). These may be submitted by either of the following methods:

E-mail

Send an e-mail to mailto:ltaylor@derbys-fire.gov.uk

In Writing

Send the details to:

Solicitor / Monitoring Officer
Louise Taylor
DFRS Headquarters
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derby
DE5 3RS

 

• There is a limit of 15 minutes upon the duration of the Public Question time at any one meeting.
• Subject to the time limit for Public Question time, a member of the public may only ask up to three questions per meeting.
• Subject to the time limit for Public Question time, a member of the public may ask one supplementary question, arising from the answer to the original question, at the meeting, with no more than three minutes being allocated to each question.
• Any question not considered at the meeting shall receive a written response.
• Rejected questions will include reasons for rejection.

Petitions

We recognise that petitions are a useful way to let us know about your concerns.
Any petition must contain the following information:

• A clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition, the area to which the petition relates and what action the petitioners want the Authority to take.
• The contact details for the petition organiser (lead petitioner) so the Authority knows who to contact.
• The name, address, postcode and signature of any person supporting the petition.
• Date the petition is submitted.

A minimum of 10 signatories from 5 separate households is required in order for a response to be made.

Guidance on how to submit a petition and the actions the Authority will take is provided in the Petitions Protocol which can be downloaded below.

Protocol for Submission of Petitions (pdf 201.30 KB)

Concerns and complaints

If you have any concerns about the way in which the Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority, or its Members conduct themselves, please contact the Monitoring Officer in confidence in either of the following ways:

• E-mail
  Send an e-mail to ltaylor@derbys-fire.gov.uk
• Phone
  On 01773 305 305
• In Writing
  Send the details to:

  Solicitor / Monitoring Officer
  Louise Taylor
  DFRS Headquarters
  Butterley Hall
  Ripley
  Derby
  DE5 3RS

Your enquiry will be treated confidentially and a response made following investigation of the facts in each case.