Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We can confirm that Essex County Fire & Rescue Service does hold the information you have requested.
Questions and final response:
Question 1 - Please advise how many personnel are employed within ECFRS on Grey Book T&Cs and not deemed operational, i.e. have not successfully fully passed a Fitech. and / or do not have any operational commitment. and / or are not deemed operationally competent to undertake DDORs?
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS) can confirm, on the 15ᵗʰ ᵒᶠ November 2024 – nineteen Grey Book personnel had been taken "off the run" as a result of not passing a Fitech.
This is a combination of Wholetime and On Call personnel and includes employees at Firefighter, Crew Manager, Watch Manager B and Station Manager B role levels.
Question 2 - How many Grey Book wholetime personnel at Watch Manager and below have not successfully passed their Fitech and been redeployed within the Service on Grey Book / Green Book respectively broken down by years the redeployment occurred?
I can confirm that we do hold this information, but it is exempt from disclosure.
The exemption applicable to the information is Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Personal Information.
The information you seek contains personal data of identifiable individuals, and its disclosure would be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles, particularly the principles of fairness and transparency.
Releasing this information could violate the privacy rights of individuals involved.
This is our refusal notice in respect of your request.
Question 3 - How many Grey Book wholetime personnel at Station Manager and above have not successfully passed their Fitech and been redeployed within the Service on Grey Book / Green Book roles / T&Cs respectively broken down by years the redeployment occurred?
I can confirm that we do hold this information, but it is exempt from disclosure. The exemption applicable to the information is Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Personal Information.
The information you seek contains personal data of identifiable individuals, and its disclosure would be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles, particularly the principles of fairness and transparency.
Releasing this information could violate the privacy rights of individuals involved.
This is our refusal notice in respect of your request.
Question 4 - How many wholetime personnel are currently off the run due to failing a Fitech and have been for the periods below respectively? 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-24 months 24 months or longer
I can confirm that we do hold this information, but it is exempt from disclosure.The exemption applicable to the information is Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Personal Information.
The information you seek contains personal data of identifiable individuals, and its disclosure would be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles, particularly the principles of fairness and transparency.
Releasing this information could violate the privacy rights of individuals involved.
This is our refusal notice in respect of your request.
Question 5 - Have any personnel been redeployed on Grey Book T&Cs from Control into other departments within the Service and if so, how many and in what years?
Personnel have moved from Control into other departments; however, these were not redeployments but rather individuals who applied for roles elsewhere in ECFRS.
Question 6 - Also confirm whether any personnel who have been redeployed from Control into other departments have been requested to undertake fitness testing.?
Please see answer to question 5
Question 7 - Confirm how many personnel have been redeployed from Grey Book T&Cs into Green Book and have continued on their original pension under any of the Firefighter Pension Schemes.?
I can confirm that we do hold this information, but it is exempt from disclosure. The exemption applicable to the information is Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Personal Information.
The information you seek contains personal data of identifiable individuals, and its disclosure would be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles, particularly the principles of fairness and transparency.
Releasing this information could violate the privacy rights of individuals involved.
This is our refusal notice in respect of your request.
Question 8 - Has The Service has sought legal advice with regards to redeployments.?
ECFRS can confirm that legal advice was sought.
Question 9 - What is the legal advice?
I can confirm that we do hold this information, but it is exempt from disclosure. The exemption applicable to the information is Section 42 - Legal Professional Privilege.
This exemption applies to information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege to confidentiality of communications could be maintained in legal proceedings.
As the legal advice is ongoing, we are unable to release any further details.
The exemption is intended to protect the confidentiality of legal advice, allowing individuals and organisations to seek legal counsel without impediment.
This exemption is subject to a Public Interest assessment.
Factors in favour of disclosure
The efficiency and effectiveness of the Public Authority Transparency over decision making Informing public debate
In favour of non-disclosure Safeguarding openness in all communications between client and lawyer to ensure access to full and frank legal advice, which in turn is fundamental to the administration of justice.
Protects the rights of individuals.
Balancing Test
Whilst there is public interest in this issue, it is essential that the legal advice ECFRS have received and continue to receive is confidential and should remain so and not hindered by disclosure of information via a Freedom of Information request.
It is our opinion that the balance of the public interest test favours maintaining the exemption and this information should not be disclosed.
Therefore, we will not be complying with your request, and this is our refusal notice in respect of your request.
Question 10 - What were the specific questions asked, to whom, and what were the full answers received?
Please see our response to Question 9.
Question 11 - I was advised that there had been a legal ruling on redeployments within the Service relating to a previous case. Confirm if there has been a previous court case on which a judge has ruled or not?
ECFRS can confirm that a legal ruling has not been issued relating to the aspects of this question.
Question 12 - If there has, please provide details of this case.?
Not applicable.
We hope you find this information useful.
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Incident and other data is published on our transparency site. Incident Data (essex- fire.gov.uk).
Please note that the response and data released to you as part of this request will be published on our website http://transparency.essex-fire.gov.uk/.
All requests will be anonymised and no personal information including contact details will be disclosed as part of this process.
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Thank you for your interest in Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, we hope this satisfies your request.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to apply for an internal review.
Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of your original email and should be sent to informationgovernance@essex-fire.gov.uk or sent to our postal address: Internal Review, Information Governance Team, Kelvedon Park, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex CM8 3HB.
Please ensure you quote the above reference number in all future communications.