00:00Can you give me your name and your rank please?
00:05Neil Odin, I'm the Chief Fire Officer for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Farm Rescue Service.
00:09Neil, what's the decision here today? What are the implications?
00:13What is the decision and what are the implications moving forward?
00:16So the Fire and Rescue Service here in Hampshire and Isle of Wight faces some really difficult choices.
00:20So we have a deficit in the funding we receive from not only government,
00:24but also in terms of what we can gather in capital tax.
00:27And so we have to make some difficult operational choices about how we spend that money.
00:31And so we've looked very carefully over the last 18 months about what we can change.
00:35And so we've decided to essentially combine some vehicles to make sure all the equipment is still carried,
00:40but on one vehicle instead of two, that saves us 16 firefighter posts.
00:44We've also decided to not use some of the stations that aren't used across the Isle of Wight,
00:48taking away some, on a temporary basis, some second appliances across the county
00:53and some quieter, low risk areas.
00:55And we'll be testing that over the next year.
00:57And a number of other measures that just allow us to bring our spend,
01:00operational spend, into line with our budget.
01:03I would say this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to challenging times in the future.
01:07And I know, looking at the government's plans for funding for fire services,
01:11this is going to get a lot worse.
01:13And so this year is about trying to make do, but the coming years are going to be much harder.
01:17And certainly we hope that politicians can step in and make a difference for us
01:21in terms of the funding available for chief officers in the future to make decisions which are safe.
01:26So the reassurances that you have been asked to look at after this meeting,
01:33that is for making 16 redundancies and losing eight managers at fire stations in Hampshire.
01:43What's going to happen there?
01:46So we'll look carefully at one of the findings of the emergency inspectorate in terms of our workforce planning.
01:52And so we plan currently to have 16 firefighters less.
01:56And that's behind the scenes.
01:57So the number of fire engines available is no less.
01:59There's no change there.
02:00It's how we resource those fire engines from behind the scenes.
02:03So that will change.
02:04But in particular, we'll be looking at managers, management costs and support staff costs in headquarters
02:11and other places to make sure the balance of costs aren't always on the front line.
02:14And we're really careful to protect our front line.
02:17So today's decision is to make sure that nothing's changed since our inspectorate report.
02:21Nothing's changed since the mayoral announcement about future governance of fire rescue,
02:27which will change my current position on the recommendations.
02:30So is this the least worst of a difficult decision?
02:35Yeah, I mean, these are untenable decisions we're making now.
02:38Deciding whether to spend money to protect firefighters against dangerous contamination,
02:41against how do we keep the numbers of firefighters available to us to protect our communities.
02:47So these are impossible decisions to make.
02:49And we're balancing as best we can, given the funding that we've got.
02:52Thank you, Neil.
02:54Can I ask you now about this is your this is your last meeting as chief fire officer.
03:01So how long have you been in the service chief fire officer?
03:05And how do you feel now that you're departing?
03:09Gosh, so I'm a firefighter of 34 years experience.
03:12And it's been my life of fire rescue service both here and the neighbouring county of West Sussex.
03:17So for me to be the chief for the last seven years here in Hampshire has been a privilege of my life.
03:22It's been a tough seven years.
03:24And the years before that, as a principal officer, always trying to make sure we spend money well.
03:29And we need a fantastic organisation to do things they do.
03:32I couldn't be more proud of this organisation and the people in it and the work we do to protect our public every day.
03:37And to say that I move on with a smile on my face is important.
03:42But actually, I recognise the challenges this organisation and the fire sector has right now.
03:47And part of me wants to stay and help resolve.
03:50But it's time for me to move on and others to take their chance to fight that fight
03:54and ensure that our frontline heroes are protected in the current climate.
03:58And will you be volunteering at your local fire station as a returned firefighter?
04:03Oh, I'd love to, I'm sure. My wife will have a few words to say about that.
04:06But I'll continue to, I'll keep an eye on the fire service from afar and I'll continue to support them wherever I can.
04:11It's a fantastic institution and Ernie has been a fantastic employer for me over those 34 years.
04:16I know the good it's done in society and I'm very proud of that.
04:20You're very welcome.
04:22Cheers.
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