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.

20.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Fire Officer (copy appended to the signed minutes) which was introduced by Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, Chief Fire Officer and Mark Andrews, Deputy Chief Fire Officer who told the Committee: -

·         The Service had been operating in unprecedented circumstances and although some areas still needed improvement the direction of travel was good

·         Core Measure 1 (Total number of Fire Deaths) – the Service had set-up a Panel to review every fatal fire to inform future strategy

·         Core Measure 6 (Number of Safe and Well Visits Delivered) – significant progress had been made against this target which should be green by the end of the year

·         Core Measure 18 (Critical Fires – 2nd Appliance (Fire Engine) attendance), Core Measure 19 (Critical Special Service - 1st Appliance (Fire Engine) attendance), Core Measure 21 (Adequate Crewing on all retained Fire Engines) - crewing optimisation allows the Service to make sure it has the right resources in the right places. The county crewing pilot allows the Service to make the best use of its on call or retained duty staff to ensure they are in the right places - this continues to improve cover and whilst it is disappointing to see that these measures are red the Service is focussing on them to ensure they improve over the coming quarters. The Service has employed additional retained liaison officers.

·         Core Measure 10 (Proportion of Unsatisfactory Fire Safety Inspections) – the Service had prioritised quality over quantity

·         Core Measure 12 (Building Regulation Consultations) – target achieved

·         Core Measure 17 (Critical Fires – 1st Appliance (Fire Engine) Attendance) – there had been slight improvement

20.2     Summary of responses to committee members’ questions and comments: -

·         Officers will review all fatal fires through a Panel of fire officers

·         Physical Safe and Well visits had been hampered by the pandemic, but some had been done by phone – the target for these visits would not be met this year due to a lack of referrals rather than a backlog

·         Although the target for Core Measure 18 had not been met, compliance was 4% up on the same quarter last year and there were no areas of very high risk in the county

·         Key to improving performance against Core Measure 18 was availability of appliances and retained fire fighters

·         Retained Liaison Officers were helping with the recruitment of retained fire fighters and were able to act as incident commanders as they were based in stations staffed with retained fire fighters

·         Appliance driving instructors were being recruited to increase the number of drivers

·         Between last January and November, appliance availability increased by 21,000 hours enabling 1,498 occasions where retained appliances were first on the scene at 878 incidents

·         There was a concern raised over Core Measure 19, but the Committee was assured that there were no very high-risk areas in the county and that the latest performance figures were 4% up and the same time last year

·         The number of people furloughed and working from home during lockdown 1 had a positive effect on Core Measure 21 as had other measures such as increased availability of appliances

·         Under the new Building Safety Act, management companies will be required to take additional responsibility to ensure the safety of the residents of the flats they manage

20.3     Resolved – that the Committee: -

                     i.        notes the actions taken by the Fire and Rescue Service and welcomes the progress made, but notes that there are still significant challenges to be met

                    ii.        notes that the Safe and Well visit deficit is due to lack of referrals rather than a backlog of visits

                   iii.        notes the work that is continuing on improving second appliance attendance

                  iv.        notes the improved availability of retained firefighters, but recognises that further improvement is needed

                    v.        congratulates the Fire and Rescue Service on the improvement of the first appliance attendance record