"The Practitioners Forum is the body through which practitioners and stakeholders in the fire industry will work together to provide advice to Government on policy development. It will be the driving force in managing change and implementing reforms in the fire and rescue service. CFOA has a pivotal role in this Forum, providing the chair and secretariat, thus ensuring that the strategic direction for the service is developed in the light of practical considerations, and that specific policy initiatives are consistent with working practices on the ground and are deliverable"

Our Fire and Rescue Service White Paper - Page 38, Paragraph 5.17

PF website

The Practitioners Forum expectations exercise and subsequent paper clearly identified the Forum's contribution to the safety agenda as a priority over the short and medium term. In order to assist in progressing this issue the task group will:

• Undertake an examination of the existing arrangements for development and maintenance of safety policy.
• Examine the effectiveness and capacity for the current arrangements to engage with and connect to the Practitioners Forum' as a National Institution that advises Government.
• Provide recommendations on how the existing arrangements can be rationalised and strengthened in order for the Forum to achieve its aim of contributing to the safety agenda.

• Promote and enable user and stakeholder input to raise, or obtain clarity on, issues as regards ND and/or Civil Resilience.
• Act as a conduit for communication to and from stakeholder groups, and to promote issues, through the Chair, to ODPM and the service.
• Report to the Practitioners Forum at least on a bi-meeting basis and agenda any item it deems appropriate for the full Forum to consider.

Minutes of meetings

Terms of Reference

The Role of the EDSG

i) The Equality and Diversity Stakeholder Group (EDSG) will provide a forum for a wide range of internal and external fire and rescue service stakeholders to consider and advise on issues affecting equality and organisational diversity in the service.

ii) The EDSG will be a prime source of advice support and information on equality and diversity issues for the Equality and Diversity Project Board (EDPB) and through the Board to the Practitioners’ Forum.

iii) The deliberations and discussions of the EDSG, by representing robustly the views of all stakeholders and, in particular, opinions of the minority and under-represented groups, will inform the formulation and development of the policies and work programme of the EDPB, and ultimately inform the strategic and policy determinations of the Practitioners’ Forum.

iv) As appropriate, the EDSG may endorse relevant equality and diversity improvement initiatives and agreed good practice, arising from the work of the Fire Service, Government Department, Practitioners’ Forum and other partner/stakeholder organisations.

The Aims of the EDSG

• To ensure that the group itself is fully representative of minority and under represented groups, and provides a forum for their views to be presented and discussed.
• To ensure that the views and opinions of minority and under represented stakeholders are accurately and regularly presented to the EDPB and reflected in the discussions and decisions affecting the F&RS and its institutions.
• To establish firm and ongoing relationships with the EDPB to fully inform their debates, decisions and work programme.

The Membership of the EDSG

Membership of the EDSG will consist of:

• Representative bodies/trade unions (FBU, UNISON, RFU, CFOA, ACFO, FOA)
• Representatives from the lead government department ie CLG
• Organisations representing minority and under represented groups within the service i.e. Networking Women in the Fire Service (NWFS), FBU committees such as black and ethnic minority members i.e. B&EMM), Gay and Lesbian National Committee and the National Women’s Committee, National Disabled Fire Service Employees’ Association and Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA).
• External stakeholders (e.g. CRE, EOC, DRC)
• Professional associations within the service, e.g. CFOA.

In addition, the EDSG will invite:

• Representatives of equalities and diversity professionals in the F&RS.
• Individuals leading particular work streams or initiatives.

to attend its meetings as and when deemed appropriate, to provide the EDSG with advice and guidance which will help to inform its deliberations.

Chair and Vice Chair

Elections for each post will take place every two years. The Vice Chair will be automatically elected to Chair having served as Vice Chair for two years.

The Chair will become ex officio, a member of the Equality and Diversity Project Board and the National Practitioners’ Forum

Minutes of meetings

Terms of Reference

1. Work with those compiling the next iteration of the National Framework with specific remit to influence content on RDS issues.
2. Seek to achieve clear linkage between National Framework document and measurement of progress, as they relate to RDS issues, via Operational assurance / CPA process.
3. Identify key strategic priorities stemming from the full RRT report for proposal to Practitioners forum, as a matter of priority (sub group activity)
4. Scope out and establish sustainable mechanisms to capture and share good practice and innovative solutions.
5. Consider research options to assess and inform what could be a sustainable RDS/alternative duty system for the future.