Apologies were received from Councillor John Thomas (Vice Chair of the Panel).

Notes of meeting held by the panel on 25 November 2020 were agreed as a correct record.

To question Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service representatives on the key question.

The key responses from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) representatives are detailed below:

• That DSFRS had undertaken work with the Eastern European community and found that a significant issue was the language barrier for this community to engage and understand key messages from the Fire Service such as what to do in a fire and who to call (it was stated that only one third of the Polish population knew to phone 999 in case of fire). DSFRS found that the best way to engage and communicate with this community was to do it via ‘community gatekeepers’ who the community trusted
• DSFRS are now very aware of the issue of language and that many in their community do not have English as their first language or have little or no English language skills and the Fire Service now they are working on a multi-language website
• DSFRS stated that they had no evidence of racial abuse of their staff but that they did have a recording process in place to capture this data if it took place
• DSFRS explained that in terms of recruiting for staff they previously just used local postcodes as a restriction but now they have removed this restriction to encourage staff recruitment from as wide a range of areas as possible
• DSFRS also explained that they had dropped the need for formal qualifications from their recruitment process and that instead they tested candidates to see if they met their thresholds – the reason for doing this was that they wanted to encourage candidates who may have qualifications from other countries who would find it problematic to apply with qualifications from their country of origin
• DSFRS uses relocation packages for some jobs to attract candidates from outside Devon and Somerset
• DSFRS explained that they were aware that the BAME community were under-represented in their workforce and that there were a number of barriers to recruiting BAME staff and these were:

o   Because of austerity and cuts their recruitment has been piecemeal and this has made it difficult to mount a high profile campaign to attract BAME candidates

o   In relation to firefighters the need for some to live 5 minutes from their fire station was a challenge as many of the stations are in rural locations where the BAME community is poorly represented

o   There is a lack of BAME role models in the Fire Service both locally and nationally

o   Perception in community that only role in Fire Service is being a firefighter and therefore more needs to be done to promote the wider set of roles in the service and the career progression within the service to the BAME community

·         DSFRS recognised that they need to do more to engage with the BAME community in Devon and Somerset but that previous attempts had been difficult and disappointing as it was really hard to reach and speak to many sections of the BAME community. However, DSFRS is establishing a project with some of their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.