Protected Disclosure - is it time for somebody to blow the whistle ?

Most people we have met who work in the fire service 
(and that number increases on a daily basis)

 agree that 

FIRE CUTS COST LIVES. 

So as in our previous post Employee Consultation    ......... we discuss the lack of transparency and consultation with "coal face" firefighters.


Very few people disagree with us - of course the Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling does, he seems to view these proposed cuts in provision as positive - all we can think is that in the confines of his private office he wears rose tinted glasses + a pair of blinkers!  (which may be the reason he puts his assistants in the fire line instead of facing the public himself.) click HERE to read what Ed Balls MP said about him. 


Even one of his Assistant Chief Fire Officers agrees with us (or perhaps quite simply refused to lie to a parliamentary select committee). Martyn Redfearns appearance reported by the BBC is available HERE  and our article about the cuts is HERE - and aptly named If there are cuts - will people DIE


So how come ACO Redfearn told the truth - well in reality we will never know?  But lets make an educated guess...........

31st December 2012  its bye bye Martyn --- after 30 years service he will retire. So even if he was to be hauled over the coals it would in reality make no difference to him. And  in reality he is also covered by the

THE LAW

There is a law which allows an employee to "blow the whistle"

Whistleblowing is when a worker reports suspected wrongdoing at work. Officially this is called ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’.

A worker can report things that aren’t right, are illegal or if anyone at work is neglecting their duties, including:

• someone’s health and safety is in danger
• damage to the environment
• a criminal offence
• the company isn’t obeying the law (like not having the right insurance)
• covering up wrongdoing

So how do you blow the whistle .........?

The way a worker can ‘blow the whistle’ on wrongdoing depends on whether they feel they can tell their employer.

The worker should check their employment contract or ask human resources/personnel if their company has a whistleblowing procedure.

If they feel they can, they should contact their employer about the issue they want to report

If they can’t tell their employer, they should contact a ‘prescribed person or body’.

A list of prescribed bodies is available HERE   

OR

there is also a charity called Public Concern at Work who can advise you. Their website is available HERE  

PCAW can advise you and also have trained legal advisors who can help and guide you through the process (and will also talk through your concerns confidentially).

So if your head is telling you something is wrong, and as we strongly suspect WYFRS are manipulating their figures - 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE  

use your head, put your hand on your heart

and  do something about it.

IF YOU ARE TELLING THE TRUTH 

THE LAW WILL PROTECT YOU !

(and just in case you are interested IF you are proved by an employment tribunal to have been dismissed because  of a protected disclosure the compensation has no limit) 

We here at FCCL have personal experience of WYFRS trying to silence us and we can only imagine what an ethical dilemma it will be for the fire fighter or other employee who is brave enough to  do this, but surely nobody reading this blog would disagree it is the responsible thing to do. 

Fire fighters are brave people who do a dirty, dangerous job, but if these cuts go through it will get even more dangerous and WYFRS senior officers do most certainly know how to play dirty .................may be its time for a change.............................. 

And of course as we at FCCL believe in transparency at some point when we are able we will tell you how WYFRS tried to 

SHUT US UP 

Anyway as usual if you would like to take part in the process of consultation  please see the details below. And if you would like to read what constitutes a "stakeholder" in the engagement process click HERE 

TO send YOUR VIEWS on the proposed cuts in West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Provision 

Click HERE  to view the consultation documents.

You can also send your comments via snail mail to 

Hannah Stoneman   or email her HERE

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY

Employee Consultation

 (Taken from article dated 21^st Sept 2004 – Yorkshire Evening Post)

We saw on a previous post that one particular group of Stakeholders are:-

THE EMPLOYEES!

Whilst senior management are also classed as Stakeholders, they are only a small minority, However it seems that whilst the cuts to front line services are acceptable, there is a definite lack of reduction in the posts of senior managers.

The two examples shown on the Stakeholder blog give these as the reasons as to why Directors (Senior Managers) as classed as such!

Directors and managers - Salary, share options, job satisfaction, status!

And

Managers who are concerned about their salary!

Therefore would it seem unreasonable to suggest that they, whilst they are the ones who are planning the cuts, they are not happy about cutting their own positions?

LOOKING AFTER NUMBER 1!

The Employees are made up of frontline firefighters and support staff.

There has been a drastic reduction in support staff already, Staff such as Station Clerks, Cooks, Fire safety, and others have gone over the last years.

But the proposals recommend a significant reduction both this year and next, of Firefighters.

But who better to give an honest opinion of what the cuts really mean to the public.

The Fire Service managers don’t want The Employees to comment; instead they would like them to keep their mouths shut, and follow the (Bad) Shepherd –Simon, and his Flock of Mis-Managers!

We at FIRECUTSCOSTLIVES Say;-

llocks

Employees are Stakeholders and are entitled to their opinions! 

They are Council Tax Payers too!

We at FCCL encourage them to make their objections known

Email Hannah Stoneman (HERE) 

(And don’t forget to copy in your MP, 

Local Councillor, 

Fire authority members, 

see the Contacts list for their E-mail addresses HERE

Or Write to her Here:-

Hannah Stoneman

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY


And if you live in KEIGHLEY -- after the sham of the last consultation meeting there have been TWO arranged and the details  are HERE

Contact List

Apart from Hannah Stoneman there are others that you should contact to show that you object to the cuts:-

They are 

YOUR LOCAL MP's

Stuart Andrew

Constituency

Pudsey

Party

Conservative

Address as

Mr Andrew

stuart.andrew.mp@parliament.uk

Rt Hon Ed Balls

Constituency

Morley and Outwood

Party

Labour/Co-operative

Address as

Mr Balls

ballse@parliament.uk

Rt Hon Hilary Benn

Constituency

Leeds Central

Party

Labour

Address as

Mr Benn

hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper

Constituency

Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford

Party

Labour

Address as

Ms Cooper

coopery@parliament.uk

Mary Creagh

Constituency

Wakefield

Party

Labour

Address as

Ms Creagh

mary@marycreagh.co.uk

Philip Davies

Constituency

Shipley

Party

Conservative

Address as Mr Davies

philipdavies@shipleyconservatives.fsnet.co.uk

George Galloway

Constituency

Bradford West

Party

Respect - The Unity Coalition

Address as

Mr Galloway

ggoffice2012@gmail.com

Fabian Hamilton

Constituency

Leeds North East

Party

Labour

Address as

Mr Hamilton

fabian@leedsne.co.uk

George Mudie

Constituency

Leeds East

Party

Labour

Address as

Mr Mudie

george@gmudie.fsnet.co.uk

Greg Mulholland

Constituency

Leeds North West

Party

Liberal Democrat

Address as

Mr Mulholland

info@gregmulholland.org

Simon Reevell

Constituency

Dewsbury

Party

Conservative

Address as

Mr Reevell

simon.reevell.mp@parliament.uk

Rachel Reeves

Constituency

Leeds West

Party

Labour

Address as

Ms Reeves

rreevesmp@gmail.com

Linda Riordan

Constituency

Halifax

Party

Labour/Co-operative

Address as

Mrs Riordan

riordanl@parliament.uk

Barry Sheerman

Constituency

Huddersfield

Party

Labour/Co-operative

Address as

Mr Sheerman

sheermanb@parliament.uk

Alec Shelbrooke

Constituency

Elmet and Rothwell

Party

Conservative

Address as

Mr Shelbrooke

alec.shelbrooke.mp@parliament.uk

Gerry Sutcliffe

Constituency

Bradford South

Party

Labour

Address as

Mr Sutcliffe

sutcliffeg@parliament.uk

David Ward

Constituency

Bradford East

Party

Liberal Democrat

Address as

Mr Ward

david@davidward.org.uk

Mike Wood

Constituency

Batley and Spen

Party

Labour

Address as

Mr Wood

woodm@parliament.uk

MEMBERS OF THE FIRE AUTHORITY

Councillor Mehboob Khan Labour Group - Kirklees District mehboob.khan@kirklees.gov.uk

Councillor Judith Hughes Labour Group - Kirklees District judith.hughes@kirklees.gov.uk

Councillor Tracey Austin Labour Group - Wakefield District taustin@wakefield.gov.uk

Councillor Cahal Burke Liberal Democrat Group - Kirklees District cahal.burke@kirklees.gov.uk

Councillor Debbie Davies Conservative Group  - Bradford District debbie.davies@bradford.gov.uk

Councillor Joanne Dodds Labour Group - Bradford District  joanne.dodds@bradford.gov.uk

Councillor Ronald Grahame Labour Group - Leeds District Ronald.Grahame@Leeds.gov.uk

Councillor David Gray Liberal Democrat Group - Bradord District david.gray@bradford.gov.uk

Councillor Sharon Hamilton Labour Group - Leeds District sharon.hamilton@leeds.gov.uk

Councillor Peter Harrand Conservative Group - Leeds District peter.harrand@leeds.gov.uk

Councillor Lisa Holmes Conservative Group - Kirklees District lisa.holmes@kirklees.gov.uk

Councillor Arif Hussain Labour Group - Leeds District arif.hussain@leeds.gov.uk

Councillor Karen Renshaw Labour Group - Leeds District karen.renshaw@leeds.gov.uk

Councillor Brian Selby Labour Group - Leeds District  brian.selby@leeds.gov.uk

Councillor Bryan Smith Labour Group - Calderdale District  councillor.bsmith@calderdale.gov.uk

Councillor Angela Taylor Conservative Group - Wakefield District actaylor@wakefield.gov.uk

Councillor Gill Thornton Labour Group - Bradford District gill.thornton@bradford.gov.uk

Councillor Chris Townsley Liberal Democrat Group - Leeds District christopher.townsley@leeds.gov.uk

Councillor Alan Wainwright Labour Group - Bradford District alan.wainwright@bradford.gov.uk

Councillor Anthony Wallis Labour Group - Wakefield District awallis@wakefield.gov.uk

Councillor Peter Wardhaugh Liberal Democrat Group - Calerdale District councillor.pwardhaugh@calderdale.gov.uk

Councillor Gerald Wilkinson Conservative Group - Leeds District gerald.wilkinson@leeds.gov.uk And Don't forget YOUR Local Councillor Their E mail Addresses can be found here Leeds City Council Bradford City Council Wakefield City Council Calderdale Council Kirklees Council

Just a Quickie !!!!!!!

To let you know we have today asked for an update of the WYFRS incident log for the period between 

 2nd  - 9th November 2012.

This is allegedly WYFRS busiest time of the year ................. BUT some newspaper reports say its been very quiet and others that it was  busy on bonfire night. So we here at FCCL intend to find out the truth................. as we can compare it with last years data.

Sadly we can only assume that as nothing was posted for an entire week the news is not as rosy as they would wish the public to believe.

We sincerely look forward to being

WRONG

BUT

This morning  we read of a fire fatality and as yet no mention of it has appeared on incident log.  Sadly a woman died in a flat fire in West Park in the early hours of this morning. Tenders from Moortown and Cookridge attended. (both closing incidentally)

We offer our sincere condolences to her family. The article in the Yorkshire Evening Post is available HERE

BUT

We cant help but wonder how the incident will be logged  as we are hearing stories of fires being misrecorded,  as  now to record a fire as "deliberate"  a fire investigation officer has to attend to confirm it. 

When did this happen as normally it is left to the PROFESSIONAL discretion of the officer in charge ?

What a brilliant way to massage figures!!!!!!!


Anyway as usual if you would like to take part in the process of consultation  please see the details below. And if you would like to read what constitutes a "stakeholder" in the engagement process click HERE 

TO send YOUR VIEWS on the proposed cuts in West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Provision 

Click HERE  to view the consultation documents.

You can also send your comments via snail mail to 

Hannah Stoneman   or email her HERE

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY

What are Stakeholders?

What are Stakeholders?

That is a question that we here at FCCL Have been asking for sometime!

We would like to know how 

WEST YORKSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE Determine who are their 

STAKEHOLDERS!

We have already mentioned that in last years "Cuts" Proposals, They consulted with 80 Stakeholders regionally. 

So we at FFCL Thought we would try to find out what is meant by the term

Stakeholder

Accounting - Introduction to Stakeholders

Author: Jim Riley  Last updated: Wednesday 24 October, 2012

Introduction to stakeholders

Let’s start with a definition of stakeholders, which are:

Groups / individuals that are affected by and/or have an interest in the operations and objectives of the business

Most businesses have a variety of stakeholder groups which can be broadly categorised as follows:

Stakeholder groups vary both in terms of their interest in the business activities and also their power to influence business decisions.  Here is a useful summary:

Stakeholder	Main Interests	Power and influence
Shareholders	Profit growth, Share price growth, dividends	Election of directors
Banks & other Lenders	Interest and principal to be repaid, maintain credit rating	Can enforce loan covenants Can withdraw banking facilities
Directors and managers	Salary ,share options, job satisfaction, status	Make decisions, have detailed information
Employees	Salaries & wages, job security, job satisfaction & motivation	Staff turnover, industrial action, service quality
Suppliers	Long term contracts, prompt payment, growth of purchasing	Pricing, quality, product availability
Customers	Reliable quality, value for money, product availability, customer service	Revenue / repeat business Word of mouth recommendation
Community	Environment, local jobs, local impact	Indirect via local planning and opinion leaders
Government	Operate legally, tax receipts, jobs	Regulation, subsidies, taxation, planning

View the full page here

The BBC GCSE Bitesize Website for School Children gives this example

This Link can be found here!

Businesses have different types of internal and external stakeholders, with different interests and priorities. Sometimes these interests can conflict.

What are stakeholders?

A stakeholder is anyone with an interest in a business. Stakeholders are individuals, groups or organisations that are affected by the activity of the business. They include:

Owners who are interested in how much profit the business makes.

Managers who are concerned about their salary.
Workers who want to earn high wages and keep their jobs.

Customers who want the business to produce quality products at reasonable prices.
Suppliers who want the business to continue to buy their products.
Lenders who want to be repaid on time and in full.

The community which has a stake in the business as employers of local people. Business activity also affects the local environment. For example, noisy night-time deliveries or a smelly factory would be unpopular with local residents.

Internal stakeholders are groups within a business - eg owners and workers.External stakeholders are groups outside a business - eg the community.

 SO Here at FCCL, we would consider that WYFRS's STAKEHOLDERS would be:-

1. Owners/Shareholders - They would be the Tax Payers of West Yorkshire
2. Directors/Managers - Self explanatory 
3. Customers - The Public of West Yorkshire 
4. Suppliers - A difficult one to define! but Probably anyone who has an Interest in ARSON
5. Workers - The Employees (an ever decreasing Number!)
6. Lenders/Banks - HM Treasury
7. Community - Same as Owner/Shareholder & Customers

WYFRS , in the -

FORMAL CONSULTATION PROCESS IN

RELATION TO THE SEVEN IRMP

PROPOSALS SUBMITTED TO WYFRA ON

9 SEPTEMBER 2011,

listed share holders as 

1. Members of Parliament; 
2. district, town and parish councils; 
3. neighbouring fire authorities and emergency services; 
4. local representative bodies; 
5. external employer and employee organisations
6. Voluntary bodies

 REMEMBER-80!

Now considering that there are

1. 17 MP's
2. Approximately 370 Local Councillors
3. Population approx 2.5 million

REMEMBER-80!

We can certainly see how well WYFRS carry out their consultation! or NOT as the case may be!!

PLEASE REMEMBER TUESDAY 13th November is consultation time in Marsden near Huddersfield

for further details click HERE

Business down the Pan!

A Lot has been made about House Fires, but what about your business? Most Businesses have Fire Alarms - 

Business Fires

Whilst numerically domestic fires dominate, the higher cost is carried by the commercial sector. The average cost of a commercial fire is £44,000; a figure that is often not covered completely by insurance. A sobering thought is that up to 80% of those businesses that experience a serious fire go out of business within 3 years of the fire.

And CFOA  the 

Chief Fire Officers Association

Said in 2006

Click HERE to access the CFOA website

"60% of private businesses affected by fire never recover"

But one of the ways that the Fire Brigade has reduced its calls is by not responding straight away to the Alarm. They await until a fire is confirmed or send an Officer in a car to investigate first! 

So Your Livelihood is up in Flames, your employees out of work.

Photo courtesy of the "Guardian" Newspaper

Have you been consulted about the cuts?

AS Part of the Consultation they are required to consult with Stakeholders within the County

Last year According to the Fire Authority Meeting Minutes

 "Approximately    80     stakeholders    were    identified   for   direct      contact,"

YES 

80 !!!!!!!! 

Only 80!!!!!!!

(and 2.2 million people live in West Yorkshire) 

Out of all the businesses within West Yorkshire!

FCCL would suggest that is not very many!

In a Report from 2009  

The

Association of Business Insurers  (ABI)

claimed

Record rise in the costs of fire damage
The cost of fire damage now stands at a record level according to research published today by the ABI. In the first half of 2009, insurers paid out £639 million - £3.6 million every day - for damage caused by fires. This is the highest half yearly figure ever, and follows on from last year’s record high level of fire claim costs.

HOW MUCH MORE WILL IT CONTINUE TO INCREASE?

 Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance and Health, said:

“The challenging economic climate is having a significant impact on the fire danger. While the numbers of fires may have been falling, the increase in large-scale fires is increasingly putting lives at risk, and puts more pressure on businesses in these already difficult trading times.”

This disturbing picture emerges from the ABI’s analysis of fire trends launched [sic] today (10 December) at a reception at the House of Commons. ‘Tackling Fire: A call for Action’ highlights that:

·         Fire damage claims in the first half of 2009 cost £639 million - £3.6 million each day. This follows on from the £1.3 billion fire losses in 2008, a 16% rise on 2007 and the most expensive year ever.
·         Between 2002 and 2008 the cost of the average fire claim for both commercial and domestic fires doubled, to £21,000 and £8,000 respectively.
·          Arson, which tends to increase during a recession, accounts for half of all commercial fires.

Socially deprived areas and schools are especially vulnerable  (Like most of the Inner city areas of West Yorkshire - FCCL Team): arson rates are 30 times higher in poorer areas.Twenty schools a week suffer an arson attack, disrupting the education of 90,000 schoolchildren, causing damage costing £65 million.
·          More open plan buildings, which allow more rapid spread of fire, and the increase in out of town developments, where fires can go for longer unnoticed, are among factors contributing to the doubling of fire costs since 2002."

Nick Starling added:

“Our analysis shows grounds for concern over fire trends. The continued recession is likely to have a significant impact on the number and cost of fires, and potentially on the number of fire-related deaths and injuries. That is why we urge the Government, working with other stakeholders including the fire service the police and insurers, to adopt our proposals to reduce the impact of fire.”

SO

Demand That You Are Consulted! 

If you are also confused by the Gobbledygook
 Contact the West Yorkshire FBU Officials on
 07967105224
for a clearer explanation!


Then once you have heard 

THE FACTS 
FROM OPERATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS 
(not management sat in their ivory tower) 

send YOUR VIEWS on the proposed cuts in West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Provision 

 send your comments via snail mail to 

Hannah Stoneman   or email her HERE

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY

Click HERE  to view the consultation documents. 



Remember