Agenda item

Report by the Chief Fire Officer.

The report provides a context to the Performance and Assurance Framework for the purpose of future scrutiny of the executive’s approach to performance.

4.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Fire Officer (copy appended to the signed minutes) which was introduced by Cllr Crow, Cabinet Member for Fire & Rescue and Communities who told the Committee the Performance & Assurance Framework (PAF) was a useful tool for the service and councillors that identified issues so there were no surprises and fed information throughout the organisation.

4.2     Dave Etheridge, Director - Greston Associates Ltd, told the Committee: -

·       The PAF enabled the West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (WSFRS) to get timely information and make decisions so that councillors could be assured of the Service’s direction of travel

·       The PAF reported on the four key areas of service provision, corporate health, priority programmes and risk (including corporate risk) and was supported currently by 29 core measures reflecting the strategic direction set by the Cabinet – further measures were being worked on

·       The core measures tied in with statutory functions and some were heavily linked to fire prevention and would capture any impact of Covid-19

·       The core measures also covered protection, operational response, the joint control centre with Surrey and feedback from Human Resources Learning & Development (staff accounted for 80% of the WSFRS budget)

·       The PAF captured priority programmes and risk, including to the delivery of the strategic directive

·       The PAF was supported by monthly meetings and the quarterly Strategic Performance Board (SPB)

·       The SPB produced a quarterly report on the 29 core measures which was sent to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee to determine whether any issues needed to be looked at by the Committee

4.3     Summary of responses to members’ questions and comments: -

·       There were separate measures for fatalities and casualties. If casualties died of injuries, figures were moved from the casualties’ measure to the fatalities measure so there is no ‘double counting’

·       The target of zero fatalities was aspirational

·       The number of fatalities could be used as a guide as to whether or not fire prevention work needed examining to ensure continued organisational improvement

·       The Service was working on more core measures to capture information on all deaths including non-accidental deaths

·       Any impact on the Service of the Hackett report, including financial, would not be known until the report was published

·       The Fire Safety Team received a small amount of funding from national government and was flexible enough to respond to any changes as a result of the Hackett report – extra resources would be considered if appropriate

·       Target setting was based on risk as set out in the Integrated Risk Management Plan which sets the strategic direction and objectives that had been approved by councillors and would be reviewed in 2021 (at which time crewing levels could be scrutinised)

·       Targets were measured against a variance of 10% as a starting position to steer initial thoughts. Some targets had no variation, such as the performance of the joint control room

·       Information on deliberate fires would be captured outside of targets and reported to the Committee

·       Staffing levels at the Surrey/West Sussex Joint Fire Control Room were as a result of an agreement with Surrey Fire & Rescue Service which had consulted with unions – levels would be revisited if East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service also shared the control room

·       Response times of second appliances were not included in the current measures as not prioritised by HMICFRS but were recorded elsewhere. Members of the committee felt it was important to include these for scrutiny and the Cabinet Member/CFO agreed the time for the first and second pump would be presented for all incidents to ensure a complete picture. 

·       Secondary fires could be very small incidents hence the high number in the target which was based on the previous year’s figures

·       Fire safety audits were inspections of premises the frequency of which was decided by the services risk-based audit program and focusses on high risk premises

·       Adequate crewing on retained frontline pumping appliances was based on the average for all stations, but individual station figures were available as service measures

·       Information and recording on eligible operational staff successfully completing fitness tests would be available in time for the next meeting of the Committee

4.4     Resolved – that the Committee: -

1. Supports the adoption of the Performance & Assurance Framework for the West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service for Scrutiny Committee purposes
2. Agrees the core measures/indicators designed to provide assurance concerning the delivery of the statutory functions of the Fire Authority including response times for second appliance
3. Supports the adoption of quarterly reporting of the core measures to the Committee via a quarterly strategic performance report