fire futures draft background work stream pack fire futures background evidence pack 2 nd september...

FIRE FUTURES Draft Background Work Stream Pack

FIRE FUTURESBackground Evidence Pack

2nd September 2010

DISCLAIMERProvided for information and background only. It should be considered to be a draft and maychange with subsequent iterations. This document does not represent the views of Communities and Local Government.

2

Contents

Purpose of this pack

FRS Facts and Figures

Work stream: Role of the FRS –Delivery Models

Work stream: Localism and Accountability

Work stream: Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity

Work stream: National Interests

3

This evidence pack is intended to add background context to Fire Futures.

Fire Futures is a strategic review of the FRS led by the sector and supported by CLG

It is an opportunity for the sector to present options to Ministers on the future shape and direction of the service.

Ministers have set a broad terms of reference for the review which the sector has shaped through the Ministerial Workshop on 28 July and a short consultation.

The Fire Futures Steering Group is dominated by the sector - four sector workstream chairs along with CFOA, LGA, FBU and the FPA representing industry – and will mould the issues and options pursued by the work streams.

The structure of this evidence pack mirrors the work streams and includes the types of issues they might consider.

Please forward any comments to [email protected]


This slide pack is intended to support the review by supplying background information to the various work streams to help them consider the questions assigned to them

It is a public document and and will be used in the forthcoming workshops and work streams

The slide pack is designed for use by all FRS partners not just those professionals who are familiar with the FRS

The slide pack itself does not provide any answers to the questions that will be posed by Fire Futures, it simply offers some of the background evidence that will feed in to discussions

The pack itself is not intended to be a fully comprehensive list of all the possible evidence and data sources that may prove useful throughout the review. It does however provide a useful starting point.

It is intended that this slide pack is a living document, being added to by the work streams as Fire Futures moves forward

Purpose of this slide pack

4

Fire Futures will build on the work of previous reviews

The Value Added by Fire Futures

• Map out the strategic options that the FRS could take in light of continuing challenges (outlined by Bain and others) as well as current and future challenges such as the tight fiscal conditions, demands of public service reform and emerging social trends

Holroyd Review• In 1970 Holroyd under took a review of the Fire Service. • Its review focused on the efficiency and performance of the Fire service • The out come was: “Many fire authorities areas are too small to support viable brigade units…[and]

should be based on…smaller number of units … and they should be more uniform in size”. • The optimum size of a brigade would comprise about thirty stations, corresponding to a range of about

1,100 to 1,300 men.

Bain Review• Bain was commissioned to undertake a three month review of the FRS which reported in 2002. Its aim

was to decide how the service should meet the demands of the twenty-first century.• It reported back on a range of issues comprising of: risk and community fire safety, role of central and local

government, implementation and management policy, pay, pensions, conditions of service, retained fire-fighters and implementing reform.

• Bain’s review was a base for the 2004 White paper reforming the Fire and Rescue Service • This review led to the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and an increase in a local decision-making

environment introducing elements such as IRMP.

History of fire service reviews

1970 Holroyd Review

1971 Cunningham Inquiryinto the Work of the Fire Service.

1980 Home Office review of fire policy.

1985 Report of the Joint Committeeon Standards of Fire Cover.

1995 Audit Commission Report In the Line of Fire. Value for Money in the

Fire Service.

2002 Independent Review of the FireService (Professor Sir George Bain).


5

Contents



Work stream: Role of the FRS –Delivery Models




6

The Fire and Rescue Service in England employs 51,000 staff and costs around £2.2bn a year to run

Map of Fire Authorities

• There are 46 different Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs)

• The most densely populated FRAs are the Metropolitans, of which there are 7 (including London)

• There are also 24 Combined/Unitary and 15 County/Unitary FRAs

• The FRS employs over 51,000 staff and has around 1,500 fire stations

• There are 30,088 whole time and 11,867 retained (on-call) firefighters

• There are 1,543 control room staff and a further 8,224 other non-uniformed personnel in support roles

• In its front line fleet the FRS has over 2,800 vehicles of various types

• Over 400 other vehicles are available in the reserve fleet

• The FRS in England costs about £2.2 billion per year to run, around 80% of which is staffing

The FRS at a glance (1,2,3)

1: CLG, Fire Statistics UK 2007 (2009) 2: CLG, Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics Bulletin for England 2008-09 (2009). 3: CIPFA, Fire and Rescue Statistics (2009)

FRS facts and figures

7

Why do we have a Fire and Rescue Service? The Fire and Rescue Service is a crucial frontline service

• The Fire and Rescue Service is the key emergency service for fire and other specialised rescue services, as well as providing an increasingly important role in responding to incidents such flooding and terrorism

• The main activities of the FRS can be separated into prevention, protection and response

• Prevention activities include aspects such as community fire safety, which aims to change people’s perception and behaviour towards fire

• Protection includes fire safety enforcement activity, which aims to mitigate the effects of fire should one start, and can take the form of measures in buildings such as fire doors, through to fire breaks in forests

• Response is the operational response of the fire and rescue service to incidents

• All Fire & Rescue Authorities (FRAs) also undertake additional roles, providing response to incidents other than fires, road traffic collisions and major emergencies

• Each FRA is accountable to local councillors. In county FRAs this will normally be to a lead member within a cabinet structure. For combined and metropolitan FRAs elected members serve on the FRA as an outside body The London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) is accountable to the GLA

The role of the FRS

4: CLG, The economic cost of fire: estimates for 2004 (2006)

The cost of fire4

• Fire continues to impose significant costs on the economy

• In 2004, the total cost of fire to the economy was estimated at just over £7bn, equivalent to approximately 0.7% of the gross value added of the economy (a measure of total national output)

• £2.8bn of these costs were incurred in anticipation of the risk of fire

• The cost of the FRS responding to fires was estimated in 2004 at £1.7bn

• The remaining £2.5bn attributable to the consequences of fire, consisting of property damage, lost business, the economic cost of injuries and fatalities and the criminal justice service costs associated with prosecuting deliberate fire starters.

• The cost of crime and antisocial behaviour is significant for the FRS. The cost of FRS response to malicious false alarms is estimated at £81m

• The total cost of arson in 2004 is estimated at £2.4bn, which includes an allocation for the total costs incurred in anticipation of fire


8

What's the difference between a Fire and Rescue Authority and a Fire and Rescue Service?

Different types of Fire and Rescue Authorities

• There are 46 Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) in England, of widely differing sizes:

• 15 are county councils/unitaries providing fire and rescue services in addition to the normal range of public services

• 31 are provided by separate statutory bodies, comprising:

• 24 combined fire authorities• 6 metropolitan fire authorities• the London Fire and Emergency Planning

Authority• Combined and metropolitan FRAs are precepting bodies

in their own right for council tax purposes and cover a number of local authority areas

• Each Fire & Rescue Authority (FRA) is made up of to local councillors who are democratically elected through the normal process and then appointed, on a party basis, to the fire authority

• In county FRAs this will normally be to a lead member within a cabinet structure.

• For combined and metropolitan FRAs elected members serve on the FRA as an outside body

• The London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) is accountable to the GLA

Who are FRAs accountable to?

• In England a fire authority or Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) is a statutory body made up of a committee of local councillors which oversees the policy and service delivery of an individual Fire and Rescue Service (FRS)

• In simple terms a local FRA is the supervisory body which ensures that a local FRS performs efficiently and in the best interest of the public and community it serves

• FRS are therefore answerable for its actions and performance to the general public via its FRA

• Each FRA receives funding from each local council via a precept (a portion of council tax allocated to the FRS)

• A Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) is the operational fire fighting body, as distinct from the fire and rescue authority which is the legislative, public and administrative body made up of civilians and councillors that runs the FRS

• The FRS is directly governed and funded by a fire authority. Many FRS were previously known as brigades, or county fire services, but legislative and administrative changes and alterations to boundaries has led to the almost universal incorporation of FRS into the name.

What is a Fire and Rescue Service?

What is a Fire and Rescue Authority?


9

The responsibilities of the Fire and Rescue Service are defined by legislation

The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 was the first significant change in the law on the operation of the Fire and Rescue Service in over 50 years. When the previous Act was introduced, in 1947, the Service was expected to focus on fighting fires, and the law constrained what they could do.

Since then the role of the Service has changed a great deal. As a result, under the new Act fire and rescue authorities now have a range of statutory duties to:

• promote fire safety; and

• to prepare for:• fighting fires and protecting people and property

from fires;• rescuing people from road traffic accidents; and• dealing with other specific emergencies, such as

terrorist attack, which are set out by Statutory Order and can be amended in line with how the role of the Service may change in the future.

The main piece of legislation is the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004

Following the fuel crisis and the severe flooding in the autumn and winter of 2000 and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001, a review of emergency planning arrangements. was undertaken.

The outcome of the review was the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 which introduced a single framework for civilprotection. The Act established a clear set of roles and responsibilities for those involved in emergency preparation and response at the local level. The Act divided local responders into two categories, imposing a different set of duties on each.

Those in Category 1, which includes the Fire and Rescue Service are organisations at the core of the response to most emergencies (e.g. emergency services, local authorities, NHS bodies).

There are some other important pieces of legislation: The Civil Contingencies Act 2004


10

The last decade has seen substantial efforts to modernise the Service

Devolving Decision Making

Recent reforms to the FRS role

Improving Work Place

Performance

Increasing the role of Prevention

Post April 2003 Integrated Risk Management Planning (IRMP) devolved decision making to local FRS level using a risk based situational approach rather than having National Standards of fire cover, which were not always relevant to the situation or area. Therefore, increasing efficiency and fire safety at the local level.

The Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS) was established June 2003. IPDS introduced a competency-based approach with development specifically targeting the needs of individuals. This was a move away from examinations and appointments and promotions regulations aiming to make individual development a continuous process and to fill the specific needs of the individual FRS.

The Fire and Rescue Services Act (2004) put fire prevention at the heart of legislation rather than reaction. The 1947 legislation focused on the functioning of the Fire service mainly as an instrument to extinguish fire, although it did require provision to be made for fire safety advice to be given. The 2004 Act specifically outlines in its core functions ‘A fire and rescue authority must make provision for the purpose of promoting fire safety in its area.’


11

The Service has a mixture of wholetime and Retained Duty System (RDS) firefighters

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

Wholetime Retained duty system Fire control Non-uniformed

Men Women

46,000

48,000

50,000

52,000

54,000

56,000

58,000

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

White Minority ethnic Not stated

Less than five percent of firefighters are womenDiversity statistics: Gender (March 2009)5

The percentage of ethnic minority staff is growing, but overall numbers remain lowDiversity statistics: Ethnic background (March 2009)5

Nu

mb

er

5: CLG, Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics Bulletin for England 2008-09 (2009).

Table 3: Number of staff in post on 31 March 2004-20095

Number of staff in post (FTE)

WholetimeRetained

duty systemFire

controlNon-

uniformedTotal

2004 31,826 10,853 1,435 6,220 50,334

2005 31,097 11,037 1,448 6,762 50,344

2006 30,596 11,321 1,470 7,231 50,618

2007 30,558 11,860 1,491 7,390 51,299

2008 30,580 11,744 1,522 7,800 51,646

2009 30,088 11,867 1,543 8,224 51,722

Change 2004 to 2009

-1,738 +1,014 +108 +2,004 +1,388

Percentage change 2004

to 2009-5.5 +9.3 +7.5 +32.2 +2.8

• RDS are as known as “on call” firefighters • Other staff groups employed by the Service include:

Fire control staff who take calls and mobilise resources in emergencies and non uniformed support staff


12

The activities of the FRS reflect its multiple responsibilities: its emergency work is divided between fire-related activities, false alarms and special services

• Only 36% of FRS activity is tackling fires• False alarms are a significant problem• Special services (which include road traffic collisions

and other forms of rescue) make up around a fifth of FRS activity

FRS activity: Its more than just putting out fires6

6: CLG, Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics Bulletin for England 2008-09 (2009). Special Services refer to non-fire related services.

Types of special services (2009/10)6

• A quarter of special services are rescues from road traffic incidents

• Next largest categories are lift releases and water removal

Non-road Incidents 76%

Services by Type (2009/10)

Fires36%

False alarms43%

Special Services

21%


13

The Service also works to prevent emergencies happening in the first place

Community fire safety has become and increasingly important part of FRS work

• Prevention measures are known to be highly cost effective:• Smoke alarms contributed greatly to a fall in accidental

fire deaths, accounting for 57 per cent of the fall in accidental fire deaths between 2000-02 and 2005-07; and

• Smoke alarm testing adverts were estimated to save approximately 4.1 to 10.4 lives per campaign.8

7: FRS Annual Returns; 8: Quantitative Exploration of the Impact of the Fire Kills Media Campaign, CLG (2009); 9: Final Evaluation of the Home Fire Risk Check Grant and Fire Prevention Grant Programmes – CLG Fire Research 2/2009

Community Fire Safety Personnel hours, (‘000s)7

An example of the Service promoting fire safety

• The Home Fire Risk Check (HFRC) capital fund and Fire Prevention Grant (FPG) revenue funding were provided to help the FRS meet the reduction in the fire deaths in the home target

• A HFRC is a home visit from a FRS representative which provides advice on potential fire risks and how to prevent fire, tailored to the circumstances of the household. In most cases, this is combined with the installation of free smoke alarms.

• An independent evaluation of the HFRC and FPG initiatives showed that the 2.5 million smoke alarms installed as part of the HFRC initiative contributed significantly to the fall in accidental fire deaths, accounting for 57 per cent of the fall in accidental fire deaths between 2000-02 and 2005-07.

• It also showed that it was associated with 13,670 fewer fires and 888 fewer non-fatal fire casualties per year. Considering this and the reduction in deaths, the valuation of benefit of the HFRCs totals £926m to £1,943m assuming a five to ten year alarm life. This is far greater than the capital cost (£25m) and estimated revenue cost (about £62.5m) of the HFRC initiative9

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

Year

Pe

rso

ne

l Ho

urs


14

The balance between the different types of activities carried out by the FRS is changing

Fires and Special Services by Year

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10

Special Services Fires

10. CLG, Fire Statistics UK forthcoming. 11: CLG, Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics Bulletin for England 2008-09 (2009). Special Services refer to non-fire related services

• The number of all types of fire has been declining steadily over the last few years: there were 366,000 fires in 1997 and less than 300,000 now

• The number of fires in England is decreasing and has reduced by about 20% over the last decade

• In England in 2007 the FRS attended over 296,000 primary and secondary fires

• Primary fires – which are the most serious - account for some 40% of all fires

• 43% of primary fires are deliberate arson• Road vehicle fires account for around 36% of

primary fires

Incidence of fire in England is decreasingFires: number and type, ‘000s 10

• The number of non-fire related “special services” is increasing as a proportion of FRS activity although the number of incidents remains constant

• About 25% of these special services are road traffic collisions, but lift releases, attending chemical spills and leaks and other rescues are also important

• The FRS has also been an important player in responding to emergencies such as the 2007 flooding, 7/ 7 and the Buncefield fire

• FRAs are also involved in tackling wider local priorities e.g. young arsonists, through partnerships and other activities

Non-fire related activities are a growing share of the FRS’s workload11

Non-fire related incidents compared to total fires Fires by Type (000's)

050

100150200250300350400450500

1999

/00

2000

/01

2001

/02

2002

/03

2003

/04

2004

/05

2005

/06

2006

/07

2007

/08

2008

/09

2009

/10(

p)

Primary Deliberate Primary Accidental Secondary Fires Chimney Fires


15

There has also been a fall in the number of fire related deaths and non-fatal casualties

12: CLG, Fire Statistics UK forthcoming.

Fire related deaths and non-fatal casualties have also been in decline over the last decade

Fire related deaths and non-fatal casualties12

• The reduction in fire deaths is a clear indication of success for the FRS. whilst we know the impact of media campaigns and HFRCs, we do not understand

as well the relative contribution of other factors such

as:• Changes in building standards• Changes in production standards e.g. furniture regs s• Community Fire Safety education

Total DwellingsOther

BuildingsRoad

VehiclesOther

Deaths in accidental

fires256 209 14 21 12

Deaths in Deliberate

fires72 38 8 19 7

Total deaths

328 247 22 40 19

Deliberate as %

22 15 36 48 37

Although accidental deaths are the majority of deaths in fires, deaths from fires started deliberately make up about a quarter of all deaths. Location of fire deaths (2009/10)12

• Deaths in fires can be separated in to those in accidental and deliberate fires.

• Deaths in deliberate fires presently account for around a quarter of fire deaths

• Accidental fire deaths have fallen at a greater rate than deaths in deliberate fires

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1999

/00

2000

/01

2001

/02

2002

/03

2003

/04

2004

/05

2005

/06

2006

/07

2007

/08

2008

/09

2009

/10(

p)

Dea

ths

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

Cas

ual

ties

Total Deaths Total Non-fatal Casualties


16

Total economic cost of fire is approximately £7 billion a year

Breakdown of economic cost of fire over time

• In 2004 the cost of fire to the economy was estimated to be approximately £7.03 billion

• The average cost per fire in 2004 was £3,268• These figures are for England and Wales• The economic cost of fire represented 0.78% of Gross Value

Added (GVA)

13. CLG, The economic cost of fire: estimates for 2004 (2006)

Total economic cost of fire (England and

Wales 2000-04)

Total cost (million)

(incl. cost of anticipation

Total cost (million)

(excl. cost of

anticipation

Total (incl. cost of

anticipation as % of

GVA

2000 £6,300m £4,072m 0.86

2001 £6,868m £4,481m 0.89

2002 £7,191m £4,668m 0.89

2003 £7,538m £4,799m 0.88

2004 £7,030m £4,263m 0.78

% change 2000-2004 +12% +5%

% change 2003-2004 -7% -11%

Component Description of costs

Anticipation Fire protection in buildings, fire safety equipment, fire safety activity by FRS, insurance administration

Consequence Property losses, lost output, emotion and physical suffering related to injuries and death, loss of business

Response Mainly FRS response costs

Costs of fire can be understood in terms of anticipation, consequence and responseEstimating the economic cost of fire13

• The economic costs of fire are split between anticipation, consequence and response

• The various elements of the economic costs of fire are shown in the table above

• Not all elements of the costs of fire can be monetised and are therefore not included in the estimates, e.g. environmental costs and costs to the community, fire protection in consumer items, etc.


17

However the economic cost of fire is a burden affecting all countries

Great care should be used when comparing international data Fire and Rescue Services are organised in many different ways and comparable data is often unobtainable making direct comparisons difficult

14: World Fire Statistics, Information Bulletin of the World Fire Statistics Centre (2009).

International Fire Costs as Percentage of GDP14

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

Spain

Germ

any

Poland

Czech

Rep

ublic

Finlan

d

Austra

lia

Sloven

ia

Franc

e

Singap

ore

Austri

a

Sweden

Hunga

ryIta

ly

Switzer

land

United

King

dom

New Z

ealan

d

Japa

n

Nethe

rland

s

Norway

Canad

a

Denm

ark

Belgium

United

Sta

tes

Country

% o

f G

DP

Fire protection in buildings

Fire insurance administration

Cost of fire service

Indirect fire losses

Direct fire lossesThere is no data for some aspects of costs in the countries at this end of the chart, so care

should be taken when comparing these with others

The UK seems to spend a little more than most on the FRS and less on fire protection in buildings and

fire insurance administration


18

The downward trend in fires, fire deaths and casualties is not necessarily going to continue, it depends upon those factors that influence the fire risk

15: CLG Analysis of fire and rescue service performance and outcomes with reference to population socio-demographics Fire Research Series 9/2008. 16: CLG, Learning Lessons from Real Fires: Findings from Fatal Fire Investigation Reports (2006). 17: DSO 6.1, 6.2 and PSA 3 fire trajectories to March 2011, CLG (2010)

• A lot is known about fire incidents and what drives the risk of fire. CLG uses an extensive data collection system recording details of every fire (and other) incident that attended by the FRS

• Using these and other data specialist software (FSEC) can be used by many FRSs to model fire (and other) incidents. This is used for planning and resource allocation. This type of work is a feature of a FRSs IRMP (Integrated Risk Management Plan) process.

• The presence of industry or particular economic activity in an area are potential drivers of fire risk, however depending upon the type of building/activity they are not always the main drivers. They may however represent a wider risk to the community eg if a big local employer or community resource

• While the size of the population is the biggest driver of dwelling fire risk other social and economic factors such as the prevalence of: lone parent with dependent child(ren); those who have never worked; single adult households; multiple deprivation; all affect the risk of fire in an area15

• The characteristics of those most likely to die in an accidental fire include: limited mobility, being very young or very old, those persons who smoke and or use substance legal or otherwise16

The main driver of fire risk is population size but social and economic factors are also important

Work on the trajectory of some of the known risk factors associated with the demand on the FRS overall, indicates a number of possible trends for example:

• Adverse economic trends such as rising unemployment, falling scrap metal prices leading to more primary fires

• Climate change and falling scrap metal prices leading

to more deliberate secondary fires

• CFS work targeted onto Dwellings helping to further reduce the number of accidental dwelling fire deaths and inequality between FRSs in the rate of accidental dwelling fire deaths

• The magnitude of these trends is uncertain and may differ from the predictions dependent on the actual change in factors such as unemployment.

Fire risk trajectories and the impact on the FRS17


19

Contents



Work stream: Role of the FRS – Delivery Models




20

We know that there are trends that point to changes in the British economy and society which could create new challenges for the Service

ECONOMIC SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL

What changes will drive future challenges? Some examples are included below:

•Unemployment is correlated with increases in fire risk

• Addressing the economic issues may demand cuts in the FRS as well as increased efficiency.

• Economic tension may increase likelihood of arson

• Increased response times because of rising traffic volumes

• Ageing population as baby boomers move into retirement. Issues with mobility for the aged is likely to lead to increased fire risks

• Increasing numbers of single males living alone can lead to increased fire risk – possibly due to smoking in the home

• Increased areas of social deprivation could lead to greater fire risk

•There is now a drive for “localism”

•FRAs expected to provide the same quality of service notwithstanding fewer resources

• The FRS is now expected to undertake community fire safety work as part of its core functions

•The risk of terrorist incidents in the future is uncertain, but the need and expectation to be prepared remains high

• Increased CO2 emissions and global warming may increase level of extreme weather for the FRS to deal with

• Increase in long hot summers may lead to increased potential of wild fires

Role of the FRS

21

With respect to its role, the challenges and pressures faced by the Service raise a number of important questions

External challenges and pressures

Some questions raised about the role of the FRS include

The fiscal outlook

Public service reform

Economic and social trends

How will/should the FRS respond to the substantial fiscal deficit and expected reductions in public spending?

How does the service respond to the drive for increased localism?

How will the FRS be affected by future challenges such as an ageing population, climate change, and other economic and social changes?

•Should the current statutory duties be reviewed and if so what are the drivers for this?

•Should the core roles of the FRS stay the same? •Can delivery models used by other emergency services or for

FRS in other countries provide better alternatives?

•Are the prevention and partnership activities undertaken by the Service successful and appropriate? Do they represent the best value for public money?

•Should the commissioning of services play a greater part? What evidence is there from other public services about costs/benefits of commissioning?

•Does the service need to change its relationships?•What differences are there in the way other public services

function and the FRS? Eg on what basis are other no strike agreements in place?

Role

Remit

Relations

Role of the FRS

22

What funding and delivery models are used by other emergency services or other countries?

International approaches• Internationally fire and rescue services are organised

in many different ways with different mixes of full, part time, retained and volunteer firefighters and a variety of both public and private sector providers

• International data particularly on outcomes is very poor and makes direct comparisons very difficult

• Some countries combine fire services with other emergency service provision eg ambulance

Role of the FRS

Some aspects of the FRS role are already carried out by others

• A number of FRAs already work in partnership with local organisations to undertake community fire safety messages particularly groups who are hard to reach groups

• Under the provisions of the Fire Services Act (2004) Fire and Rescue Authorities employ organisations (usually the local existing Fire and Rescue Service) to undertake fire and rescue duties

• Organisations undertaking prevention work do not need to employ firefighters

• Potentially any aspect of the fire service, except perhaps enforcement, has the potential to be contracted out to private or other companies

What’s possible in England? The Fire Services Act (2004)

• Around the world, typically fire services are provided through public sector funding, although there are occasional exceptions for example in the United States, where some fire services may be funded through fees for services, fundraising or charitable contributions

• The public funding of fire services is due to the nature of fire, which imposes costs on communities other than those in which fires start, and where it is typically considered unacceptable to extend protection and response services only to those who can pay

• Public funding does not mean that the service itself is delivered by the public sector. Some operational fire services in Denmark for example have been contracted out for some years

• Examples do exist of the private provision of fire services in the UK but these tend to be industry specific eg airports and high risk industries such as oil and chemical plants often have their own operational response units.

Fire services tend to be publicly funded

23

What partnership activities are the Fire and Rescue Service engaged in?

Role of the FRS

The Local Area Agreements2

• Research revealed an encouraging level of FRA involvement in LAAs

• There was a strong sense that the LAA process had acted as a useful catalyst in terms of embedding partnership working, and promoting the FRAs role within Local Strategic partnerships

• Several FRAs had successfully accessed funding streams as a result of working in partnership in their local area. Area-based grants were a common source of funding, and FRAs had secured this in a number of ways – for example, by working with the local authority social care team on improving home safety for vulnerable adults

Partnership working and ‘place’

• There has been a considerable shift in how local government and its local partners work together to deliver better, more responsive services to local people

• As part of this shift has been the creation of statutory Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs), the umbrella body which brings together the range of local public sector organisations in an area, plus members of the private and voluntary sectors

• LSPs are responsible for the delivery of the local Sustainable Community Strategy, a long-term plan for the local area, which reflects the priorities and perspectives of local authorities and all their delivery partners

• Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are the main way that the long term plans of the LSPs are delivered.

• Along with other local partners, FRAs are subject to a duty to co-operate to determine LAA targets, and a duty to have regard for them in the course of their business

Other ways in which the FRS works with partners

• As well as working with local partners on LAAs there are lots of other examples whereby different FRSs have worked with local partners to deliver improved outcomes.

• See for example: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/doc/homefireriskcheckstudies.doc

Co-responding with other emergency services1

• A co-responder scheme is a formal agreement between an FRA and an ambulance service under which suitably trained firefighters attend medical emergencies when they can get there more quickly

• In 2007 there were 99 fire stations operating co-responding schemes in 18 FRSs in England

• There are different ways of running co-responder schemes, and that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach would be neither desirable nor workable.

1: Current Practice and Prospects for FRS Co-responding – CLG Fire Research Series 14/2008. 2: The experience of Fire and Rescue Services in negotiating Local Area Agreements - Fire Research 2/2010

24

PLACEHOLDERWhat is the evidence that prevention and partnership activities are successful and represent value for money, either nationally or locally?

There is limited published information on the effectiveness of local initiatives and partnerships such as road safety campaigns, youth engagement etc. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.

Role of the FRS

25

What are the duties/functions of the Fire and Rescue Service? Are there any drivers for reviewing them?

Role of the FRS

The functions of the FRS are set out in the FRS National Framework3

• The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework is a statutory document under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (FRS Act 2004).

• Sets out the Government's expectations for the Service and what is required of Fire and Rescue Authorities to meet those expectations

• The National Framework describes the role played by the Fire and Rescue Service in resilience issues. This includes terrorist attacks, CBRN incidents, natural disasters such as flooding, industrial accidents and major outbreaks of disease

• Under the Act, the Secretary of State must keep the terms of the Framework under review and may from time to time make revisions to it

• Significant revisions to the Framework are subject to statutory consultation and are to be laid before Parliament

• The existing Framework can remain in force until the end of 2011

There is debate about the future of the Framework

•Previous editions of the national framework have included:

Prevention, Protection and response – covers the core business of Fire and Rescue Authorities in analysing risks and taking actionResilience – covers the delivery of the key resilience programmes and the actions authorities need to take to ensure they are fully equipped to meet the demands of the resilience agendaDiversity and workforce – covers mainstreaming of diversity in all levels of the Fire and Rescue Service and workforce developmentGovernance and Improvement – covers institutions in place to support the delivery of Fire and Rescue Authority business

•There are a some arguments for retaining the Framework for example:

It is a useful statutory vehicle to set out Government’s expectations The Government is assured that the Fire and Rescue Authorities are able and equipped to work together on national resilience activities such as the floods in 2007

•But there are also some arguments against for example:National Framework does not fit in with the localism agenda. That a framework from the centre is directive rather than participative: not consistent with the goal of empowering local organisations and people

3. The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008-11 - http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/nationalframework200811

26

How are industrial relations regulated in other public services?

Role of the FRS

• Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, made it unlawful for essential workers to withdraw their services. This Act was repealed and voluntary no-strike agreements introduced

• A no-strike agreement is part of a collective agreement between a trade union and an employer. It is a voluntary, private contract, which says 'in principle' that unions will not stage industrial action

• The agreement is not legally binding unless the employer writes a clause into the document to make it so

• The Prison Service has such a voluntary no-strike agreement

• However some workforces are banned by law from striking

• Police officers across the UK are currently banned from taking strike action under the Police Act 1996

• There are some forms of Industrial action police officers can legally take including a work-to-rule, they can also withdraw from voluntary posts, such as policing football matches

How do other public services manage industrial relations?

There are a number of Unions that represent the FRS workforce

Union What they do

Fire Brigades Union (FBU)

Represent Firefighters across the UK

The FBU are the main union for firefighters. Also represents a number of retained personnel.

Retained Firefighters Union (RFU)

Represent the Retained Firefighters

The Retained Firefighters Union represents retained fire-fighters.

Fire Officers Association (FOA)

Represent middle-ranking officers within the FRS

Unison Represent the back-office staff within the FRS

Unison represent non-uniformed staff.

27

Contents







28

The Coalition Government is paving the way for citizens to take greater responsibility for local services

Localism1

There are 5 priorities in CLG’s Structural Reform Plan, the 3 with the most direct impact on the FRS are:

• Make localism and the Big Society part of everyday life – by decentralising power as far as possible

• Make localism and the Big Society part of everyday life – by increasing accountability

• Make localism and the Big Society part of everyday life – by letting people see how their money is being spent

Decentralisation1

Power will be devolved to:

• Individuals

• Local Communities and Neighbourhoods

• Front Line Professionals

• Local Institutions

• Local Government

Big SocietyStructural Reform Plans (SRP) mark a radical shift of power from Whitehall to local councils and communities that will make the “Big Society” part of every day life.

Each Central Government Department’s SRP sets out how power will moved from Whitehall and given to people and communities through the mechanisms of local democratic accountability, competition, choice, and social action.

Localism and accountability

1. CLG, Structural Reform Plan (2010): http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/16359212.pdf

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/16359212.pdf

29

Local accountability and involvement: current position Localism ad accountability

Some of the policy and practice drivers of citizen participation4

•Democratic deficit•Participatory democracy and localism•Voice and choice in service delivery•Individualism, consumerism and self-expression•Global consciousness and world Views•Changing technologies

• The Lyons Review of local government 20062 helped to build the momentum for empowerment and devolving centralised powers to local government and local government powers to local communities.

• Strong and Prosperous Communities – the Local Government White Paper 20063 incentivised and presented local government with opportunities to increase local participation. The emerging policies included:

• A duty to inform, consult and involve citizens;• Accountability via information to citizens;• Local public ownership of assets;• More citizen and user choices;• Citizen involvement in debates on local priorities, services and

budgets;• Public engagement to be a bottom up rather than a top down

process.

Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007Key elements include:•Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP)•Local area agreements•Duty to InvolveWhere a best value authority considers it appropriate for representatives of local persons (or local persons) to be involved in the exercise of any of its functions, it must do so by:•Providing information about the exercise of the function, or •Consulting about the exercise of the function, or•Involved in another way

Communities in Control (White Paper) 2008 – passing power to communities and giving real control and influence to more people.

Policing (Green Paper) 2008 - commitment to empowerment through the use of participatory budgeting to allocate budgets.

2. http://www.lyonsinquiry.org.uk/index8a20.html. 3: CLG, Strong and Prosperous Communities (White Paper) (2006). 4: Involve, Understanding Participation. A literature review (2009).

30

At present only a minority of citizens get actively involved in shaping local services

A key form of involving communities is ‘civic engagement’, which refers to participation focused on the relationship between citizens and the state and between public services and their users. This participation could take place in, for example, a Local Strategic Partnership or in a council committee.

So how involved are citizens at present?

In 2009-105: • 37% of people felt they could influence decisions

in their local area

• 10% of people had participated in civic activism in the last year

• 34% of people engaged in some form of civic participation in the last year

• 18% of people actively engaged in consultation about local services or issues

5. CLG, Citizenship Survey: 2009-10, England (2010)

The Citizenship Survey5 divides civic engagement into three broad categories:

•Civic Activism: Covers involvement in decision-making about local services or in the provision of these services (for example being a school governor or a magistrate).

•Civic Participation: Covers engagement in democratic processes, such as contacting an elected representative or attending a public demonstration.

•Civic Consultation: Covers taking part in consultations about local services such as completing questionnaires, attending public meetings or being involved in discussion groups.


31

Public participation in influencing decisions about local services is limited to informing and consulting, but there are ways in which local people can be more involved

The International Association for Public Participation spectrum of public participation provides an understanding of the differing levels of participation and how much influence the public are given in decision making6.

There is an opportunity to provide the public with greater powers to improve service delivery.

6: Involve, Understanding participation: A literature review. Pathways through participation (2009); 7: http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/about

Community participation example of participatory budgeting7

“Participatory budgeting directly involves local people in making decisions on the spending and priorities for a defined public budget. PB processes can be defined by geographical area (e.g. neighbourhood) or by theme. This means engaging residents and community groups representative of all parts of the community to discuss and vote on spending priorities, make spending proposals, and vote on them, as well giving local people a role in the scrutiny and monitoring of the process and results to inform subsequent PB decisions.”

Harrow Open Budget:The Harrow Open Budget initiative was initiated by key officials in the London Borough of Harrow to open up the process of developing the 2006/7 Council budget.


32

An emphasis on localism and accountability raises a number of important questions

Reforms affecting Fire and Rescue Services

Some questions raised about the localism and accountability

Decentralising Power

Increasing accountability

How will the Fire and Rescue Service be affected by the radical shift of power to local councils and communities?

How can the Fire and Rescue Service ensure it is responsive to the needs and wishes of citizens/local public service providers?

• How much interest in and influence on shaping local fire and rescue services do local citizens currently have?

• How directly accountable are FRAs?• What are local authorities doing to engage citizens? • What are other public services doing to engage citizens? • How do other services overseas engage citizens?

• Is having a National Framework consistent with localism? If so in what form?

• Can and should IRMP be developed further to better support localism and performance of the Service?

Influence of citizens

IRMP and National

Framework


33

How do Fire and Rescue Services currently engage communities?

Partnerships

Consultations on IRMPs

Attendance at Fire Authority meetings

IRMPs are subject to a 12 week consultation period. FRAs decide who they will consult and how they will consult, following good practice guidance issued by Communities and Local Government8. FRAs use a variety of methods including partner forums, meetings with community groups, online questionnaires, scrutiny panels, etc.

Local Strategic Partnerships provide a forum for setting the strategic vision for a local area. Local communities are consulted by statutory partners (of which the FRA is one) about the priorities identified.

People are able to voice their opinion about decisions taken at a public meeting.

We don’t know how much interest local people have in shaping their local FRSs.

At present local people have limited opportunities to influence decision making. For example, unlike some other public services there are no direct appointments to FRA boards or citizen role in governance. The main ways in which local citizens are included in decision making by fire and rescue authorities are as follows:


8. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/developingfuture/integratedriskmanagement/guidancenote2/

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.communities.gov.uk/fire/developingfuture/integratedriskmanagement/guidancenote2/

34

What is the current governance model of the Fire and Rescue Service?

• Each FRA is accountable to local councillors. In county FRAs this will normally be to a lead member within a cabinet structure. For combined and metropolitan FRAs elected members serve on the FRA as a separate outside body.

• The London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) is accountable to the GLA.

• FRAs are made up of elected councillors from each upper tier local authority in the FRA area. The authority members work closely with the Chief Fire Officer to ensure the FRA provides appropriate services for the local community. The FRA is the ultimate decision making body, but day-to-day management functions are undertaken by the CFO and senior officers.

The LFEPA9 states that it is committed to engaging with local people/stakeholders to ensure robust public accountability through: •A community safety strategy and action plan (IRMP)•Partnerships with agencies (e.g. CDRPs)•Consultations on plans, policies and proposals•Conducting formal business in public, which allows members of the public to raise concerns at Members meetings•Acknowledging the scrutiny role of the London Assembly.

East Sussex FRA state10: •Good corporate governance principles require FRAs to undertake their functions in a way that is open and inclusive of all sectors of the community and to be fully accountable to the public.


9. http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/HowWeMakeDecisions.asp; 10. http://www.esfrs.org/fa/governance.shtml

35

Some Local Authorities have been proactive to encourage community engagement

The Local Government Information Unit and Involve suggest11:

•Devolving control over decisions down to citizens and communities can make local labour markets more resilient and local people more able to meet the challenges of recession. Giving power to citizens can also build the ‘internal’ capacity of councils to work more effectively.

•Empowerment should not be a bundle of new measures and initiatives or something additional to the work councils already do. Good public engagement can be part of a way of working that helps councils to take tough decisions, find efficiency savings, and innovate through the economic down turn.

11: Citizen power in recession? The case for public engagement in local government. LGiU and Involve (2009)

There are some examples where Local Authorities have been proactive to encourage community engagement and accountability11.

•Devon County Council illustrates how service cuts in Post Offices can stimulate citizen action and how this can be harnessed for greater collaboration between citizens and the local authority

•Essex County Council show how innovative local approaches to finance could be used to benefit local people

•Salford District Council established ways o working like Neighbourhood Management are already effective in connecting with local people and are complementary to new processes like participatory budgeting

•The States of Jersey show how involving local people at an early stage can bring difficult long term problems to life and help build support for difficult decisions


36

What are other public services doing to engage citizens?

The Police12

•The Home Office recently announced that Police Authorities would be replaced by elected Police and Crime Commissioners, to ensure the police respond to local priorities and are directly accountable to the public for delivering safer communities and cutting crime and ASB. In the future the public will vote for an individual to represent their communities policing needs. •This individual has several responsibilities including:

•Setting priorities which meet locally identified needs;•Holding the Chief Constable to account for achieving priorities;•Setting the force budget and setting the precept.

•In addition there will be a new Police and Crime Panel, drawn from locally elected councillors from constituent wards and independent lay members.

Ambulance Service13

Governance is through:

• Council of Governors – 13 public governors elected from public constituencies, 3 elected staff governors and 7 nominated partner governors from voluntary organisations;

• Board of Directors – made up of non-executive and executive directors – they exercise all the powers of the Service as an NHS Foundation Trust;

• Members – able to elect people within their constituencies to represent them as governors on the Council of Governors. Can be anybody over 16 in the local area and anybody who has worked for the ambulance service for a year.

12. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/ 13. http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/getting_involved/our_plans_to_become_a_foundati/frequently_asked_questions/ governors_and_governance_arran.aspx

The police and ambulance service provide examples of how to involve local people in decision making – their governance arrangements are outlined below.


37

PLACEHOLDERWhat are other public services doing to engage citizens?

There is limited published information on the ways in which other services are engaging their citizens and what success they have. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


38

Strategic Review of the ambulance service – seeking to involve the public and patients more

In 2005 the Department of Health published a report called Taking Healthcare to the patient – transforming NHS Ambulance Services14. This outlined the national strategic vision for the ambulance service based on a strategic review. The aims were to make the service more proactive, efficient and dynamic and to deliver high quality care to meet patients needs by involving the public and patients more and working more closely with partners.

The focus of the transformation of the ambulance service was on five key areas: •Improving leadership to deliver cultural and clinical change, •improving the quality and consistency of care for patients, •improving efficiency and effectiveness of the organisations and systems, •supporting performance improvement, and •developing an empowered professional workforce.

They reduced the number of ambulance services from 31 to 12 (in line with Strategic Health Authority boundaries) to reduce duplication of resources and increase management capacity.

The introduction of payment by results and contracted services would mean services having to achieve greater value for money and cost efficiencies. The DH report stated ‘There should be further work to ensure that the financial incentives introduced by Payment by Results help as far as possible to support the improvements recommended by this review and to appropriately incentivise the development of integrated urgent care provision.’

In addition the DH was keen to develop further the National workforce competency framework to ensure consistency of care/treatment, to increase the range of competencies/skills of clinicians and to make them more consistent with colleagues in the wider NHS.


14: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20061023110946/dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4114269

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20061023110946/dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4114269

39

How do services overseas involve citizens in governance?

The New York City Fire Commissioner model looks similar to the Police Commissioner model recently announced by the Home Office

The New York City Fire Department has a responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City from fire and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response to biological, chemical and radioactive hazards. The FDNY has approximately 11,600 uniformed officers and firefighters and over 3,200 uniformed EMTs and paramedics.

The Department’s executive staff is divided into two areas including a civilian fire commissioner who is in charge of the department and a fire chief who is the operational lead. The executive staff includes the civilian fire commissioners who are responsible for the bureaus within the Department, along with the Chief of Department, Chief of Fire Operations, Chief of EMS, the Chief Fire Marshal and the staff chiefs. Staff Chiefs include the seven citywide tour commanders, the Chief of Safety, the Chief of Fire Prevention and the Chief of Training.

The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department, appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York15.

15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Fire_Department 16. information provided by countries via personal correspondence

Czech Republic – in addition to the regional professional units they have voluntary squads at a local level which local citizens can join. Citizens are also entitled to influence planning of Fire and Rescue Services by means of local elected bodies, either in positions of local elected representatives or as “ordinary” municipal inhabitants – by taking part in sessions of local councils or public meetings, expressing their opinions, submitting proposals of solutions and specific suggestions, organising public initiatives etc.

In Finland citizens contribute to governance indirectly on a regional basis. Decisions about regional services are made by a political board or committee, appointed by the municipalities of each region. This political board/committee approves the proposals made by the rescue services. The political body also prepares and approves the budget and other major administrative decisions.


Other European countries have similar engagement systems to England16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Fire_Department

40

PLACEHOLDERWhat do services overseas do to engage citizens and what models of governance do

they use? What are the benefits or disadvantages of other systems of governance?

There is limited published information on what services overseas do to engage citizens and what models of governance they use, as well as the benefits or disadvantages of other systems of governance. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


41

What is the current experience of the FRS of joint service delivery?

• Some FRAs are most commonly already involved in co-response activity, but there have been some examples of sharing premises

• A co-responder scheme is a formal agreement between an FRA and an ambulance service under which suitably trained firefighters attend medical emergencies when they can get there more quickly.

• In 2007 there were 99 fire stations (out of approximately 1700) operating co-responding schemes in 18 (out of 46) FRSs in England.

• Co-responding activities tend to be used most in rural areas where FRAs are often able to respond more quickly than the ambulance service

• Research in 2009 concluded that a co-responding protocol may be useful but the decision to introduce a scheme should be for individual FRAs and Ambulance Trusts17.

Hampshire FRS co-responding scheme19

• Hampshire FRS started a co-responding scheme with South Central Ambulance Service in 2004 and have since established 18 so-responder schemes.

• The scheme provides more than 6% of SCAS performance in Hampshire.

• It uses volunteer retained Firefighters (FFs) who respond from home/work in small vehicles supplied by SCAS (with a defibrillator).

• Co-responders are mobilised by SCAS and backed up by ambulance staff.

• The scheme uses retained FFs, and as such all costs are recovered from SCAS, including contribution towards their retaining fee.

• Adequate support was needed for the new schemes – personnel needed time to become used to extended duties and organisations needed to put in place logistical support.

Staffordshire FRS shared services18

The West Midlands Ambulance Service signed a joint partnership agreement with Staffordshire FRS in 2009 to be based at Leek Fire Station including having access to all their facilities. The rationale was to speed up response times to incidents in the town, by enabling the paramedics and fire service to respond at the same time to emergencies and to train together (first aid and road traffic collision.

17: Current Practice and Prospects for FRS Co-responding – CLG Fire Research Series 14/2008; 18: http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/article-945041-detail/article.html

19: Information provided by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service


42

PLACEHOLDERWhat evidence is there on the scope for joint service delivery, management or commissioning with other emergency services? What would the costs and benefits be?

There is limited published information on what scope there may be for joint service delivery, management or commissioning with other emergency services, as well as what would the costs and benefits would be. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


43

What evidence is there on improved efficiency and effectiveness from re-structuring, e.g. voluntary mergers?

• There is the a potential for voluntary mergers at the operational level.

• Mergers would take time to instigate and the research below suggests the savings would only be realised in the medium term with significant up-front costs.

• The level of saving would also be impacted by the type of authority which chose to merge – the merger of two combined FRAs (each with a full range of support services) would offer greater potential for cashable savings than if a county and combined authority merged (given that county and unitary FRAs often rely on local authority corporate support services).

• A significant potential barrier to mergers is

council tax harmonisation.

Potential efficiencies which might be achievable through voluntary mergers, using the Devon and Somerset merger as a case study20.

The results of assessing CIPFA data indicated potential efficiencies for example in areas such as senior staff rationalisation. The data suggests a common position for County and Combined FRAs: •1 Chief Officer; 3 to 4 brigade commanders; 6 or 7 area commanders; 10 to 20 group commanders•The average budget per county or combined FRS was £40m in 2007/08. Therefore if 2 FRAs combine and maintain the common level of staffing (a 50% reduction in senior management of the 2 FRAs) the savings could be as shown in the table on the right.•An additional 30% was included for National Insurance, pension and other direct costs. •This equated to an efficiency of £1.7m per combination, equivalent to 2.1% of a combined £80m budget.

•The analysis ignores the possibility of reducing administration staff due to the reduction in senior management. •It is uncertain whether the efficiency would remain the same regardless of the number of FRSs that merge. •Other areas for potential efficiency savings include administration, IT and back room support as well as rationalisation of accommodation, front line and support services, e.g. fire investigation.

20: A study of Fire and Rescue Authority Mergers: Scale of potential efficiencies. Briefing note for CLG. GSB Ref: CL2123-8


44

PLACEHOLDER Are there any national performance expectations frameworks for other decentralised public services, e.g. schools, social services?

There is limited published information on what national performance expectation frameworks there are in other sectors or how they have been agreed. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.

21. Lord Laming report, March 2009: The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report


45

Are IRMPs currently devised in a way that is accountable to citizens? Are they consistent across FRSs?

•Post April 2003 Integrated Risk Management Planning (IRMP) devolved decision making to local (individual) FRSs.

•IRMPs employ a risk based situational approach instead of National Standards of fire cover.

•IRMP is an area where localism is the key consideration, by requiring the identification, assessment and mitigation of risks to be determined and decided upon at the local level by local practitioners and elected members, in consultation with the local community.

•There may be scope for further development of IRMP to better support localism objectives and the performance of the service locally.

•Proper engagement with local communities in preparing IRMPs may result in better decision making by the FRS. •It could also result in less resistance to changes in fire cover if the case is truly explained and the communities are fully engaged in the decision making process.

•This would in turn strengthen the IRMP process driving service improvement and provide the possibility to drive out more efficiencies.

22: Review of the Adequacy and Impact of IRMP in the Fire and Rescue Service. Mott MacDonald 2009.

A Review of the Adequacy and Impact of IRMP22 in the FRS identified some gaps in the risk-based framework as originally envisaged. The authors suggested: •A Tolerability of Risk approach, to set national benchmark for boundaries of risk to reduce inequality of service provision; and •Better use of evidence at a national level for the ‘weight of attack’ for Worst Case Planning Scenario ,rather than professional judgement and local knowledge.

Other suggestions included: •Regional/national level IRMPs to help improve efficiency and effectiveness, through the realisation of economies of scale and effective risk management. •A single body at a national or regional level for sharing good practice. •Greater consistency in the presentation and naming of published IRMPs to make them more accessible to the public and for comparing service level commitments. This could be achieved through producing:

• an internal document for detailed management planning and accountability; and• an external facing document presented as a local service level agreement to the public and other beneficiaries.


46

Conceptualising IRMP: being clear about who is responsible for what (1)

RESPONSE

PREVENTIONPROTECTION

LifeRisk

2ndary Risk

2ndary Risk

2ndary Risk

LifeRisk

LifeRisk

Contribution of the FRS

Enforcement of RRO 2005

Home Fire Safety Risk

Checks

Community Fire Safety Campaigns

Risk-based Fire & Rescue

Emergency Cover

Installation of smoke alarms and sprinklers

One of the key FRS management challenges of implementing Integrated Risk Management Planning (IRMP) effectively is deciding how to balance the investment in resources, capability and activities across prevention, protection and response.

The aim of reaching the correct balance is to increase the chances of achieving the best possible improvement to community outcome whilst delivering value-for-money within economic, social, and physical constraints (budget, scale, crime and deprivation, geographical topology, and transport infrastructure).

The conceptual model on the left developed by Mott McDonald21

illustrates the balancing act of the three pillars of the IRMP framework: prevention, protection and response and how they are used to mitigate risk to life and secondary risk.

Review of the Adequacy and Impact of IRMP in the Fire and Rescue Service. Mott McDonald (2009).


Mott McDonald Model

47


RESPONSE


LifeRisk

2ndary Risk

2ndary Risk

2ndary Risk

LifeRisk

LifeRisk

New Dimension capability

Local Strategic

Partnerships for IRMP and resilience


Compliance with Civil Contingencies

Act 2004

Contribution of Strategic Partnerships and ICS

Regional

LeadershipFiReControl

In view of the current economic climate, it is foreseeable that the FRS will be expected to ‘achieve more with less’ through more effective partnership working and local innovation.

The term ‘strategic partnerships and the Incident Command System (ICS)’ has been added to the conceptual model, suggesting their notional contributions in addition to the FRS’s exclusive contribution, towards achieving better community outcomes.

The ICS for national resilience is supported by New Dimension and FiReControl and provides the capability and preparedness for responding to and recovering from major incidents on all possible scales of complexity and risk.

Hence, IRMP’s role should not be seen as being separate to these elements, but fully integrated with strategic risk-based planning at local, regional, and national levels.



Mott McDonald Model

48


RESPONSE


LifeRisk

2ndary Risk

2ndary Risk

2ndary Risk

LifeRisk

LifeRisk


Private Sector Installation of Sprinkler Systems

Contribution of Strategic Partnerships and ICS

Contribution of Private Sector & Individuals

Individual Actions for Managing Risk

Manufacturer compliance with Furniture Regs

Insurance Industry?

Contractor compliance with Building Regs

The burden of better managing risks to achieve improved outcomes for communities should not be born by public service providers alone. The Regulatory Reform Order 2005 makes all ‘responsible persons’ accountable for assessing risks and taking actions to reduce their likelihood and impact where reasonably practical.

The conceptual model demonstrates that to fully mitigate risk a variety of agencies, partnerships and the citizenry all have their part to play to different degrees across the three pillars of prevention, protection and response.



IRMP as it currently stands is a mechanism for the FRS itself to decide where its balance lies.

IRMP in the future could be used to make explicit the responsibility of others and to highlight those areas whereby localism could take root and or be promoted.

Mott McDonald Model

49

Contents







50

FRS expenditure has risen in the last decade

Fire and Rescue Service expenditure has risen from £1.5 billion to £2.2 billion in the last decade1. This is a combination of council tax (49%), and Government grant funding and specific grants for a variety of functions and purposes (51%).

1. Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Fire and Rescue Service Statistics 2008-09

Net expenditure excluding capital charges (£m) in England 1999/00 to 2008/9

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

1999/00 00/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09

Over the past decades, the nature of the service has changed. Whilst the focus of the service remains on firefighting, its other traditional roles such as responding to 'humanitarian' rescues are increasing and it has new responsibilities around fire prevention, road traffic collisions and the response to terrorism and flooding, where it provides a crucial frontline response. These trends look set to continue.

To respond to these new challenges, the FRS in England has seen its expenditure rise

Efficiency, Effectiveness

and Productivity

51

Annual efficiency savings vary widely between FRAs

Annual efficiency savings for 2008-9 and estimates for 2009-10 suggest that the largest proportion of efficiencies will be found through:

• changing shift patterns (34%),

• followed by corporate services (18%) and

• other HR (13%),

There are wide variations in the efficiencies that FRAs have reported:Efficiency savings as a proportion of net expenditure2, 3

2. Audit Commission, Rising to the challenge (2009) 3. http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/xls/1469651.xls

• Fire and Rescue services have achieved £291 million in annual efficiency savings since 2005.

• Most of the savings have come from making changes to crewing and shift arrangements.

• These efficiencies are not evenly spread across all FRSs however.

• For example, in 2008/09 three fire services accounted for nearly two fifths (39%) of all the efficiency savings achieved.


and Productivity

52

Current fiscal pressures raise some important questions for the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the service

Key question

Are there changes in the delivery model which would provide improvements in cost effectiveness in the provision of Fire and Rescue Services in England?


and Productivity

• How does the FRS currently use its resources?

• What do we know about different staff structures?

• What do we know about working patterns? • How could working patterns be made more

efficient?

Resources and staff

• What alternative models are used to provide FRS in other countries – and what lessons might these have for the UK?

• Is it possible to expand the share of the RDS and maintain current effectiveness?

• What information do we have on part-time and other alternative models?

• What impact would alternative funding systems have, e.g. payment by results?

• What are the alternative means of raising funds and what are the potential outcomes?

• Incentives for change – examples and possible applications

Alternative models

Funding

53

How does the FRS currently use its resources?

Costs from CIPFA4 Fire and Rescue Service Statistics 2008-09

CIPFA produces a report showing details of authorities expenditure. This is based on returns from all FRAs in England, Scotland and Wales.

4. Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Fire and Rescue Service Statistics 2008-09

Staff costs are 80% of the total (£2.2bn) – see chart 1 for breakdown

Non-staff costs 20% of the total (£2.2bn) – see chart 2 for breakdown


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What do we know about different FRA staff structures?

5. CLG, Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics Bulletin for England 2008-09 (2009).

From the Operational Statistics for England5 on 31 March 2009 :

Role Wholetime Retained duty System

Total

Brigade Manager

162 162

Area Manager

208 208

Group Manager

673 1 674

Station Manager

1,577 71 1,648

Watch Manager

4,604 1,002 5,606

Crew Manager

4,012 2,077 6,089

Firefighter 18,852 8,716 27,568

All Firefighters

30,088 11,867 41,955

Fire and Rescue Service operational statistics.

This annual bulletin contains statistics relating to the operational issues affecting fire and rescue services in England and Wales. It includes information on personnel, equality and diversity, health and safety, and operational activities.


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What do we know about working patterns?

Wholetime Firefighters: • increasing variations in the working patterns of

wholetime personnel. • standard shift pattern 2 day shifts, 2 night shifts and

have 4 days off. • some wholetime firefighters are solely day crew staff. • traditionally the day shift was 9 hours and the night

shift 15 hours, however some are moving towards 12hrs/12hrs split or some other variation, e.g. 11hrs/13hrs split.

Contract type All Eng Scot NI

100% (120 hours per week) contract 49% 40% 73% 91%

75% (90 hours per week) contract 41% 47% 26% 8%

Other contracts 10% 13% 1% 1%

RDS/other personnel: • RDS personnel work varying contracts.• From the recent RDS survey, which was carried out

in 2010, most were available to respond to emergencies 120 hours of the week.

• 76% of respondents available weekdays• 94% available evenings• 91% available weekend days • 90% available weekend nights

RDS contracts worked 6:

6. Survey of RDS Firefighters and Leavers in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, ERC 2010. Base: All respondents, 7,359


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How have the FRS made efficiency gains through changes to working patterns?

Some FRAs have made efficiency savings through greater use of RDS, flexible crewing, and the use of volunteers7.

7. Making Efficiency Gains: Case Studies from the Fire and Rescue Service (ODPM 2006).

Shift pattern change for wholetime staff

Cheshire: Optimum crewing

A move from ridership calculation to optimum staffing, through the introduction of rostered leave and the move to ‘restful watch’ with staff available for immediate response.

Efficiencies – around £470k over 3 years to 2007-08.

West Yorkshire: Flexi System

Introduction of ten day fortnight system for grey book and day duty system staff, (from 9 day fortnight) resulting in an increase in hours from 32.5 to 37. In addition a non-standard day crewing arrangement for the staff of USAR vehicles to provide 24/7 cover with minimal personnel.

Efficiencies - £2,768,000 in 2005/06.

Some initial issues with Union, but resolved.

New shift patterns for RDS: (see also South Wales case study)

Devon: salary based duty system

Salary package based on a maximum availability of 84 hours per week.- availability is over a rolling 8 week period (previously had a pay as you go scheme). RDS staff to contribute to CFS work. Should reduce RDS staff needed and improve work/life balance and retention/recruitment problems.

No efficiencies reported

Surrey: RDS based on a prepaid hours contract

Pre paid for a set number of hours and RDS staff to undertake additional duties (CFS, training).

Efficiencies not known


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Possible efficiency savings through the use of volunteers

Volunteers in the FRS

• Volunteers are less often used by the FRS than by other rescue organisations. This may be because of the need for very rapid response times to fire incidents and the training required.

• However, there are arguments for a greater use of volunteers within the fire service for non-operational duties, such as community fire safety education.

• London Fire Brigade – Fire Community Safety Officers. FCSOs are community engagement specialists, targeting diverse communities in London on how they can protect themselves from fire

• Cheshire8: Volunteers for CFS provide a focal point of contact between local community and FRS, visit households to give safety advice and undertake HFRCs, support community events promoting safety awareness, provide admin/IT support.

8. www.cheshirefire.gov.uk 9. www.communityhelpers.co.uk

Other rescue organisations – use of volunteers 9

Mountain rescue/lifeboats and coastguard/Fire and Emergency Support Service

Local people volunteer to help the work of mountain rescue. The mountain rescue teams are charitable organisations which do not receive any government funding – they rely on volunteers to sustain the service. Volunteers can take an active role in rescuing or support the service. Training is provided for those on mountain rescue teams. Volunteers are provided with a pager and may be called out at any time – they have to seek permission from their employer if necessary.

Police - special constables – work includes patrolling on foot, assisting at emergencies such as fires and road accidents, tackling brawls, helping out with road safety initiatives, giving crime prevention talks to schools or businesses, undertaking house to house enquiries and participating in operations to target a particular problem such as underage drinking.


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What is the evidence from overseas FRS models in terms costs and local accountability?

Across the world there are a variety of differing models of Fire and Rescue Service. Many countries with large rural areas and remote communities have significantly higher numbers of part-time or volunteer staff than in England, although everywhere towns are generally covered by professional staff. Around the world, typically fire services are provided through public sector funding.

Examples of private funding10, 11:

Chile - the Fire and Rescue Service is manned solely by volunteers, who fund the service and equipment themselves;

United States - some fire services may be funded through fees for services, fundraising or charitable contributions. (Cost of fire service is 0.25% of GDP).

Private provision of fire services:

Denmark - the fire departments are public bodies, but they are able to choose on a local level whether the fire service is run on a voluntary basis or outsourced and provided by a private company. Falck (private company) currently provides a large proportion of emergency services. (Cost of fire service is 0.08% of GDP).

Use of volunteer firefighters and/or more use of retained:

France which is largely rural. Volunteers comprise 75% of the firefighter workforce. They are on standby from work and outside of working hours and paid by the session;

Republic of Ireland’s fire stations are mostly manned by retained personnel and make up two thirds of the total workforce, mainly in rural areas. Firefighters in Dublin also operate an ambulance service and operate a regional control centre to manage calls;

The Netherlands have a combined control room for emergency services. Seventy five per cent of firefighters are volunteers (Cost of fire service is 0.18% of GDP);

Germany organises fire Brigades on a town/village basis with 24,000 volunteer fire brigades, 800 private fire brigades and 100 public fire brigades

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighting_worldwide 11. World Fire Statistics, The Geneva Association (2009)


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In the UK, the cost of the Fire and Rescue Service is 0.22% of GDP11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighting_worldwide

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PLACEHOLDERWhat is the evidence from overseas FRS models in terms of outcomes, costs and local accountability?

There is limited published information on overseas models specifically in terms of outcomes, costs and local accountability. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


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Is it possible/appropriate to expand the share of the RDS?

Other countries, such as Northern Ireland and France have a larger role for the retained personnel, although the information suggests that retained personnel still tend to be concentrated in rural areas.

It might be an issue to expand their role in busier urban areas/stations because of the volume of calls they would be expected to respond to from their primary employment.

Also increasing levels of commitment are required to meet training and health and safety combined with the shift from an intervention culture to a prevention culture puts significant demands on the part time workforce who already have existing work commitments.

A recent survey12 of existing retained personnel found that although 70% stated they would be able to provide more time to the FRS, the majority were already working full time for their primary employer and providing the FRS with an additional average of 18 hours per week.

The example from South Wales (see next slide) suggests that changing the conditions under which RDS staff are employed may make recruitment of RDS personnel easier.

The best solution to this may be much greater flexibility on the part of individual FRAs around hours, terms and conditions etc.

The need to increase staff on the RDS offers a positive opportunity to target recruitment material on under-represented groups. Sharing of notable practice amongst FRSs may provide a useful avenue for achieving this.


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12. Survey of RDS Firefighters and Leavers in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, ERC (2010).

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What information do we have on part-time and salary models ?

South Wales case study – RDS salary scheme13

South Wales FRS introduced a salary scheme for RDS staff to replace payment per call-out.

13. Information provided by South Wales FRS

Proposal

The proposed solution was for payment consistent with commitment to being on call. A salary estimated based on call volume for the 6 busiest RDS stations over the previous 3 years and assuming a 1-hour call duration for each. This gave 38 hours pay per month for fire calls. To this was added 8 hours drill activity and 4 hours community safety giving a total of 50 hours. A further 25% was added for being on call.

Part of the initial brief to the project team was to reduce the number of hours required by RDS personnel to be on call, therefore it was decided that in an ideal theoretical situation two crews/watches would be required over the week to provide 100% cover, each crew being on call for 84 hours. (24 hours x 7 days ÷ 2)

This gives a regular monthly income in excess of £9,000 per year.


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Benefits of salary scheme

• Establishment level has increased. Majority of stations have waiting lists.

• Increase numbers of female applicants• Reduced staff turnover• Maintenance of operational experience and competency

as all station personnel now regularly attend operational incidents

• Budgetary planning – ability to accurately forecast RDS costs

• Improved availability of appliances, increasing from an average of 83% before the salary scheme was introduced to over 96% in 2008

• RDS stations now proactively involved in community safety due to removal of payment only by number of incidents attended

• Reduction in number of emergency calls due to more community safety activity

• Personnel co-operate to fill in the gaps in appliance cover rather than relying on those who first respond as they are nearest to the station.

62

What information do we have on part-time and salary models ?

Kent and Medway FRA case study - retained to part-time workers14

Kent have recently proposed to create a part time workforce with full contractual rights to replace RDS personnel. If agreed it will be implemented from April 2011.


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14. Information provided by Kent and Medway FRS

Background

In 2001 the FBU took two test cases to court under the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations on behalf of retained staff. In 2007 that Tribunal found that retained firefighters were engaged in broadly similar work to Wholetime firefighters and they had been treated less favourably in terms of pension rights and sick pay. On this basis the Tribunal asked the National Joint Council (the national negotiating body for fire and rescue services) to reach a negotiated agreement with the FBU.

Kent FRS Proposal

To agree a conversion date to full part-time contracts.

Pilots are underway in Thanet and Medway. “Clusters” of stations will be created to work together to provide community safety activity and fire cover.

Kent are also exploring other contractual options such as annualised hours and pre-determined on-call hours.

Opportunities•Recruitment of staff from a wider base and increase in diversity.•Part time staff could be offered the same training and performance management arrangements as wholetime staff, lessening the current cultural and reducing performance management issues.•Planning for training arrangements will be easier and training itself less costly. •Managers will be recruited from a wider base as all staff would be able to move across the organisation.•The additional hours worked by part timers could be used for CS or to meet their training requirements.•Mixed crewing and flexible deployment systems are being explored to get the best from the resource.

Impact Assessment

There is likely to be considerable impact on retained staff who cannot stay with the Service. Kent aim to develop a communication strategy based on fire fighting in rural areas and devote resources to helping staff understand the changes.

63

PLACEHOLDER What evidence is there of the impact of alternative (central) funding systems on outcomes, e.g. payment by results?

There is limited published information on the impact of alternative (central) funding systems on outcomes, e.g. payment by results. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


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What can Fire and Rescue Services currently charge for?

Action Person who may be charged

Hiring out or provision of equipment, vehicles, premises or employees

The person who requests the service

Inspection, testing, maintenance and repair of equipment and vehicles

The person who requests the service

Containment and clearance of debris, spillages, discharges or leaks

The owner, occupier or operator of any premises or vehicle

Provision or removal of water The owner, occupier or operator of any premises

Effecting entry to, or egress from, premises

The owner, occupier or operator of the premises

Rescuing persons from lift cabins The owner or operator of the lift

Rescuing animals The owner or keeper of the animal

Provision of training The person who requests the service

Removal of dangerous structures The owner, occupier or operator of the structure or premises

15. Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and Statutory Instruments (SI 2004 no 3205 and SI 2007 no 2784)

Some of the actions which FRAs can charge for are listed below15:

Possible further developments

A consultation of FRAs in 2003 found that all respondents charged for some special service incidents but there is no uniformity between FRAs over the incidents that were charged for.

The 2004 FRS Act is more specific about what services FRAs cannot charge for, referring to “fighting fires”.

Possible areas of charging which are being considered are:

RTCs – The NHS and Ambulance service have charging powers for attending RTCs. However, there are extensive costs in managing the scheme. Another possible objection is that most services covered by the Statutuory Instrument are for discretionary services whereas attending an RTC is a statutory duty.

Repeat false alarms (RFAs) – A legal case in 1990 found that the FRS had no right to charge for RFAs. However, this may now be permissible under the 2004 Act as no firefighting is involved.

Sports events – e.g. football and rugby matches, dangerous sports such as hang-gliding involving rescues

When and how much to charge is a decision for FRA’s. Guidance could be given on this which may help promote further use of charging.


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PLACEHOLDERWhat are the costs and benefits of an expanded charging regime?

There is limited published information on the costs and benefits of an expanded charging regime. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


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PLACEHOLDER Are there any examples of more efficient models of working? Is there any evidence of what might provide an incentive for change in the FRS?

There is limited published information on examples of more efficient working and specifically what might provide an incentive for change. The workstream may wish to source this if it is considered appropriate.


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67

Contents







68

A shift of power to local areas raises a number of important questions for national interests and resilience

Key questionsSome questions raised about national

interests and resilience

Resilience

National versus local interests

How does the FRS ensure it is prepared in the future for large scale incidents and terrorist attacks?

Which of the current functions of the FRS are in the national interest?

• What are the areas of national interest in the functions performed by the FRS in which Central Government should play a direct role?

• What role should the National Framework have?

• What can the FRS learn about national performance expectations from other decentralised public services?

• What other models of funding/governance are there to underpin national resilience?

The role of Central

Government

Other models and public services

National Interests

69

What are the current areas of national interest?

The National Framework (1)

The Fire and Resilience ProgrammeThe Fire and Resilience Programme is an integrated set of projects to enhance the nation’s ability to handle emergencies and crises – for instance natural disasters or industrial accidents. It consists of three key delivery projects:

New Dimension provides the FRS with new kit to deal with mass decontamination; urban search and rescue; and high volume pumps to deal with floods and pump large volume of water where required;

Firelink the provision of a resilient, digital, wide-area, radio-communications system on one network for England, Scotland and Wales. Firelink will enable both command level communication within the service and with the police and ambulance services;

FiReControl is intended to provide a new highly resilient, call handling and mobilising network. Currently, all 46 Fire and Rescue Authorities have their own standalone systems. Under FiReControl there will be nine Regional Control Centres (one for each English region) which will be able to back each other up if another is overwhelmed.

Fire & Rescue National Framework 2008 - 111

The National Framework describes the role played by the Fire and Rescue Service in resilience issues. This includes terrorist attacks, CBRN incidents, natural disasters such as flooding, industrial accidents and major outbreaks of disease.

Current expectations of the Fire & Rescue Service include:Prevention, Protection and response – covers the core business of Fire and Rescue Authorities in analysing risks and taking action. Resilience – covers the delivery of the key resilience programmes and the actions authorities need to take to ensure they are fully equipped to meet the demands of the resilience agenda.Diversity and workforce – covers mainstreaming of diversity in all levels of the Fire and Rescue Service and workforce development.Governance and Improvement – covers institutions in place to support the delivery of Fire and Rescue Authority business.

National Interests

1: The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008/11 http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/nationalframework200811

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/nationalframework200811

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What are the current areas of national interest?

The National Framework (2)

Previous editions of the national framework have included:• Prevention, Protection and response – covers the core business of Fire and

Rescue Authorities in analysing risks and taking action• Resilience – covers the delivery of the key resilience programmes and the

actions authorities need to take to ensure they are fully equipped to meet the demands of the resilience agenda

• Diversity and workforce – covers mainstreaming of diversity in all levels of the Fire and Rescue Service and workforce development

• Governance and Improvement – covers institutions in place to support the delivery of Fire and Rescue Authority business

But are these current national interests?

National Interests

71

What is the current role of central government?

National Framework (3)

Performance assessment2

Chief Fire and Rescue Advisers Unit providing advice on “Operational Assessment of Service Delivery“

National indicators collected and monitored centrally through collection of FRS incident data (IRS)

CLG support for local authorities on new performance framework

CLG working with CFOA, GOs and the LGA/IDeA to build sectoral challenge including peer-review of improvement strategies

CLG to support the improvement of Fire and Rescue Authorities where performance or other risks to outcomes raise cause for concern

Government has retained its intervention powers for instances of serious underperformance.

The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Unit.

The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser and his team work in a strategic and advisory capacity:

providing fire and rescue-related advice and guidance to Communities and Local Government, the Fire and Rescue Service in England and other stakeholders.

auditing of the fire safety arrangements in Crown Premises.

Finance

Central Government currently determines a significant proportion of the funding level for all Fire and Rescue Authorities through the Comprehensive Spending Review and the Fire and Rescue Relative Needs Formula

National Interests

2: The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008/11 http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/nationalframework200811

Debate about the National FrameworkArguments for retaining the Framework include:

•It being a useful statutory vehicle to set out Government’s Expectations. •The Government being assured that the Fire and Rescue Authorities are able and equipped to work together on national resilience activities such as the floods in 2007.

Arguments against include:•National Framework does not fit with the localism agenda - a framework from the centre is directive rather than participative and not consistent with the goal of empowering local organisations and citizens.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/nationalframework200811

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What are the benefits of central coordination?

Some benefits of central coordination are for example to ensure appropriate levels of service to all communities, to maintain firefighter safety and to ensure resilience. But it does not exist in all countries.

Responsibility for fire is devolved completely to the local level in Germany and the USA for example, although resilience aspects of fire and rescue service activity are almost universally led centrally3.

Central government has already devolved some responsibilities to local FRAs in England other than that required for accountability and National Audit Office purposes, through Long Term Capability Management for New Dimension and devolution of responsibility for Integrated Risk Management Planning to FRAs.

The growth of the resilience agenda in recent years has meant so far Central Government has maintained a key role in assuring the delivery of national functions.

An example of the need for national procedures is 'Breathing Apparatus entry control'. These procedures ensure safety when firefighters enter a building wearing breathing apparatus. The procedure includes the requirement that someone outside the building is responsible for ensuring their safety by logging who has entered the building, maintaining an awareness of the length of time they have been in the building (in case they run out of air) and then logging them out of the building when they leave. Where an incident occurs that means firefighters from neighbouring FRSs attend an incident, it is crucial for firefighter safety that a common method of BA entry control is used - otherwise it may be possible for firefighters to be trapped in a burning building without their colleagues knowing the danger. This requirement for simple, consistent procedures which ensure safety at incidents means that all neighbours need to have standard procedures, which in practice means there needs to be a national approach.

National Interests

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighting_worldwide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighting_worldwide

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Are there any national performance expectations frameworks for other public services

Performance and Measurement in the Police4

Analysis of Policing and Community Safety (APACS)

The Analysis of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) framework is a performance measurement framework. It was introduced in April 2008 as Assessments of Policing and Community Safety but was subsequently renamed to reflect changes outlined in the Policing Green Paper. It applies to all police forces in England and Wales, covering key services delivered by the police working on their own or in partnership with others.

APACS was designed to be closely aligned with cross-government strategic priorities and external frameworks, in particular: the new Public Service Agreements (PSAs) and Community and Local Government’s development of performance indicators for the national indicator set in England.

Performance indicators form a key part of APACS, measuring outcomes, perceptions, and activities, which reflect the impact of community safety and policing services in local communities. E.g. NI 21 “Dealing with local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime bythe local council and police”.

Railways5

Railways in Great Britain are in the private sector. As such, they are not controlled by central government, although they are subject to economic and safety regulation by arms of government.

Using its powers under the Railways Act 2005, the Department for Transport runs competitions for the award of passenger rail franchises, and, once awarded, monitors and enforces the contracts with the private sector franchisees. Franchises specify the passenger rail services which are to be run and the quality and other conditions (for example, the cleanliness of trains, station facilities and opening hours, the punctuality and reliability of trains) which the operators have to meet. Some franchises receive subsidy from the DfT for doing so, and some are cash-positive, which means that the franchisee pays the DfT for the contract. Some franchises start life as subsidised and, over their life, move to being cash-positive.

Network Rail6 collects the data on Public Performance Measure, which combines figures for punctuality and reliability into a single performance measure. It covers all scheduled services, seven days a week, all year round, and measures the performance of individual trains against their planned timetable.

4.http://tna.europarchive.org/20100419081706/http:/www.police.homeoffice.gov.uk/performance-and-measurement/assess-policing-community-safety/index.html 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Great_Britain#Statutory_framework 6. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/travel-transport/other-modes-of-transport/rail/index.html

National Interests

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Great_Britain#Statutory_framework

74

IRMP Guidance

IRMP Steering group

FRS

IRMPs

Operational Assessment of

Service Delivery

Performance Assessment?6

Local Resilience Forum

Risk Assessment Working Group

Community Risk Registers

Regional Resilience Teams

Civil Contingencies Secretariate

Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies

Act

LRAG guide

Cat 1 and cat 2 responders

National Framework

What is the current structure which enables, supports and manages delivery of an appropriate national/regional resilience?

6. Until May 2010 performance was assessed by the Audit Commission through Comprehensive Area Assessment

The current structure is shown below. This structure and in particular the role of the Regional Resilience Teams are currently under review by CLG Emergency Management Division

National Interests

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Civil protection and risk assessment by the Fire and Rescue Service

• The Civil Contingencies Act 20047 was introduced to provide a framework for civil protection and defines organisations into Category 1 (such as fire, police and ambulance) and Category 2 responders such as the Health and Safety Executive.

• Category 1 responders “assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning”.

• Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) were created to bring together all the Category 1 and 2 organisations who have a duty to co-operate under the Civil Contingencies Act.

• There are 43 LRFs within England. Amongst other tasks, LRFs complete risk assessment of civil contingencies within their areas, produce Community Risk Registers and ensure multi-agency plans, procedures, training and exercises exist.

• The UK Resilience website8, developed by the Cabinet Office’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat, provides a standard approach to Local Responder risk assessment, as carried out by Category 1 responders within LRFs. It also provides the national risk register which updates the public on the Government’s most current assessment of the likelihood and potential impact of a range of different risks (both natural hazards and malicious threats). Most scenarios included in the risk register would require support from the FRS. The latest risk register can be found at:

• http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/intelligence-security-resilience/civil-contingencies-uk-resilience/national_risk_register.aspx

• Integrated Risk Management Plans (IRMPs) were introduced in 2004/05 for every Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) as part of the FRS modernisation process. The Audit Commission’s Operational Assessment of Service Delivery (OASD) guide lays out short statements that encapsulate expectations of FRSs, including on risk analysis. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and IRMPs are both focused on integrated emergency management, which require effective risk analysis.

Research looking at the Risk Assessment Tools and Techniques used by the FRS (2008)9 found that FRSs already provide useful input to LRFs and that LRFs are already useful forums for identifying and sharing data and information.

The researchers suggested that FRSs may benefit from further developing similar structures to review IRMPs at a regional and national level to plan for large scale events and assess risk. For example the FRS could develop a set of regional/national IRMPs, perhaps with regional/national IRMP forums, to mirror the LRFs. A regional IRMP forum could address issues such as:• Liaison with LRFs, RRFs and RRTs• Planning for regional scale events• Agreeing ‘over the border’ co-operation for major events• Co-ordinating the retention and use of ‘reserve’ resources.Implicit in these suggestions is the principle that FRSs should consider regional and national scale risks when making decisions about their own ‘reserve’ resources and resilience. This would require liaison between national, regional and FRS specific IRMPs.

7. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/preparedness/ccact.aspx 8. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience.aspx 9. http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/Riskassessmenttools.pdf

National Interests

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/preparedness/ccact.aspx

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Current issues for the FRS and resilience - working alongside other fire and rescue services and emergency services

The capacity of the FRS in its resilience role Extreme events in recent years, such as the floods in

Boscastle, Carlisle and the Midlands/Yorkshire highlighted the key resilience role of the FRS alongside other emergency services and drew attention to potential gaps in their capacity and capability.

There is a need for the FRS to work across borders, to deal with large or concurrent emergencies. To, for instance, ensure deployment of New Dimension equipment on a regional or multi-regional basis.

Current systems are based on single FRS/LRF areas where risk assessments and IRMPs are undertaken - better cross border IRMP planning and exercising needs to be done at a regional or even national level.

The Summer floods raised questions about the need for additional boats to be supplied to the FRS for them to be able to respond to wide scale floods.

The 7/7 bombings in London highlighted the need for enhanced cross-service communications. The report into the 7th July bombings concluded:

"The plans, systems and processes intended to provide a framework for the response to major incidents in London must be revised and improved. Communications within and between the emergency services did not stand up on July 7."

The Buncefield incident identified the need for a co-ordinated approach to planning and response across administrative boundaries.

Firelink (an enhanced communications system) is the replacement of each Fire Authority's legacy radio system with a resilient national wide-area digital radio system in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Firelink system is now providing operational voice communications to all Fire and Rescue Services in England, enabling a more effective response to emergency calls.

Firelink has also introduced national roaming for all FRS appliances and vehicles to allow resources to work effectively beyond Brigade boundaries.

Police and ambulance services also operate on the same network which supports tri-service communication interoperability. Timely sharing of critical information about hazards and other dangers reduces the risk of harm to the public, FRS personnel and other emergency responders.

Police, CLG and the Department of Health have established an interoperability programme to develop a framework of policies and procedures to assist in the delivery of an efficient tri-service response to incidents; an efficient voice and data communication is critical to this.

National Interests

77

PLACEHOLDERAreas of National Interest to be looked into further

Suggestions include the Olympics and mass decontamination.

The workstream may wish to source these or other areas if considered appropriate.

National Interests

fire futures draft background work stream pack fire futures background evidence pack 2 nd september...

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