Agenda item

A verbal update on the on the Fire Services work safeguarding adults and working in partnership with Brent Council.

Terry Harrington, Borough Commander Brent, London Fire Brigade gave a presentation on how the fire brigade in Brent were currently safeguarding adults in the borough. Members were informed that the key performance indicators (KPIs) on the monthly statistical bulletin were colour coded green, amber and red depending on how well the fire brigade were achieving each indicator. Terry Harrington highlighted to members that there were four indicators that were red.

Members were informed that based on the number of dwelling fires that had already occurred, the brigade were on target to meet there end of year targets for dwelling fires. It was explained that a number of the fires had occurred in multiple occupancy, rented properties due to a number of reasons including substandard conditions and overuse of the property. In light of this, the Fire Brigade, were in support of Brent Council’s potential initiative to ensure that all private landlords were licensed. 

It was explained that the reason they had not met their KPI for outdoor rubbish fires was due to an on-going issue regarding the amount of rubbish on the streets in Brent. It was hoped that having a more effective reporting mechanism between the fire brigade and the council would help ensure that rubbish was being dealt with promptly. Once this mechanism was put in place, Terry Harrington hoped to roll out a volunteer cycle scheme which had proved successful in other boroughs. They had also not met their KPI for outbreaks of fires in residential homes and sheltered housing. It was explained that this was primarily due to people who had been assessed to be able to live independently having some difficulties with certain tasks. Terry Harrington stated that he believed that because of this it would be a good idea for the fire brigade to be involved in the case management of these vulnerable adults to ensure that fire safety risk assessments were conducted. Phil Porter, Head of Adult Social Care stated that he would be happy to work with the fire brigade on this. Terry Harrington stated that they had already exceeded their KPI target for all non-domestic fires in PRO properties. He added that this was due to Brent having the largest industrial estate in Europe as well as a high density of industrial units elsewhere. Therefore they were seeking an evaluation of this KPI target in Brent. It was added that a number of these industrial units had been converted illegally to domestic dwellings and that more was needed to deter people from doing this.

In regards to people being stuck in lifts in Brent, it was explained that London Fire Brigade had developed a strategy with Brent Housing Partnership (BHP) to ensure that if people called 999 the control room would divert the calls to Brent lift engineers as opposed to the fire brigade. This was because a lot of the calls that the Fire Brigade were responding too were non-emergency calls. It was concluded that this arrangement was working well but that there were a number of lifts outside of this agreement that still meant the fire brigade were responding to non-emergency calls. 

Members questioned whether the fire brigade had been able to prosecute any offending landlords. They also questioned whether the Fire Brigade passed on the information when they discovered an illegal over development of a property. Members also sought clarification as to whether the fire brigade and the Council could protect people being exploited by landlords through adult safeguarding.

In response to the questions raised Terry Harrington explained that when the fire brigade were able to prosecute landlords and that they were currently prosecuting some landlords. However these prosecutions could take years. He added that they did liaise with the planning department at the council but that currently there were strict guidelines for properties that actually needed a license and most private rented properties did not fall within these guidelines. It was explained that there was an information sharing protocol but that the fire brigade were not eligible to view some of the information.

Phil Porter explained that there was a nationally agreed definition of what constituted a vulnerable adult and if an adult fell within this definition then the Safeguarding Adults Team could act. However, it was agreed that there were a number adults who would not fit into these categories but who may be at high risk of being exploited by their landlords. Terry Harrington stated that in Camden they were developing a strategy to protect vulnerable adults who were deemed to be at risk for different reasons. DCI Tariq informed the committee that a similar meeting was taking place at Brent Civic Centre on 26 February and invited the fire brigade to that meeting. Phil Porter highlighted that adult social care also provided support to people where self-neglect was putting their health at risk.

Members noted the presentation and thanked Terry Harrington for his time and commented that they also had similar evidence of over loading of private rented accommodation and welcomed the suggestion to license private landlords.