Hertfordshire CommunityProtection Directorate

What We Do and Why We Do It

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue ServiceHertfordshire Trading Standards

County Community Safety UnitResilience Team

V1.2020

Our Vision

To make Hertfordshire thesafest county in which to live,work or visit, and to protect

consumers, the environmentand support economic

prosperity.

Our Mission

Working to Protect. Acting to Save.

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Welcome to the Hertfordshire County Council(HCC) Community Protection Directorate (CPD)overview,What We Do and Why We Do It. This is a reference document designed to support our key plans and strategies. Thesehelp us ensure that we are delivering efficient and effective services.

By explaining the key organisational drivers in one document it makes our plans andstrategies slimmer, easier to read and so understand.

This document is complimentary to many key strategic plans the Directorate haseither;

• a 'statutory obligation' to publish – such as the Integrated Risk Management Plan• or 'chooses' to produce to assist in its longer-term planning.

It also explains how the areas of the CPD;• Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) • Trading Standards• County Community Safety Unit (CCSU), • Resilience,

work together to help protect those that live, work and travel through Hertfordshire, aswell as how we protect consumers, the environment and support economic prosperity.

It summarises how we work with partners to improve safety, security and wellbeingacross the County, and how we support national resilience.

It does not express the strategic direction of the Directorate. The 'long term' strategyis in our Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) which is complimentary to theCounty Councils Corporate Plan.

More detailed strategies for specific activities, for example our Prevention Strategy, arepublished approximately every two years. These provide the 'medium term' directionand are refined on an annual basis to form our annual Directorate Action Plan (DAP).

We hope that this approach will make it easier for our staff and the public to betterunderstand how the services we deliver are linked to the aims of the organisationwhich are in the HCC Corporate Plan and our own Directorate Plans.

This document will assist all staff, but especially those who may be new to theorganisation, those that are moving to a new role within the organisation or membersof the public who want a clearer understanding of the reasons behind What We Do andWhy We Do It.

Our Vision 2

What we do and Why we do it 3Contents 4Legislative Framework 5

Our Framework – Corporate Direction 11Our values and behaviours 13Professional Standards – Fire Standards Board (FSB) 14How the strategies translate and affect local plans 16How does being part of HCC affect Community Protection Teams? 18

Risk Management in Hertfordshire 19Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 19How We Assess and Manage Organisational Risks 19

Collaboration 20

National and Regional Collaboration 22National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) 22National Trading Standards 22Regional Collaboration 23

The Community Protection Directorate – Summary 24Department summary 25Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service 28National Resilience 38Hertfordshire Trading Standards 39County Community Safety Unit 42Resilience - Including the Local Resilience Forum 44Community Protection Support Services 46

Governance 48The Fire Authority 49Key Decisions 50Statement of Assurance 51

HCC Strategic Decision Making Process – Public 51

CPD Decision Making Bodies 52

CPD Management Structure 53

CPD Planning 54

How We Measure Success 55

Glossary 56

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Contents

The Legislative FrameworkLegislation provides a framework within which public bodies operate. It can;

Provide direction,•ensure that public bodies have the necessary powers to deliver services,•undertake actions and to meet the expectations of the public, •ensure that there is accountability for the actions of the organisation and•its officers.

Community Protection (as part of HCC) has a broad remit and so has a widerange of legislation which it must consider. Key examples are listed below butare not exhaustive:

The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004

Provides the framework under which a fire and rescue service operates.

It requires fire and rescue authorities to establish arrangements to receive•and handle calls for assistance (section 7(2)c), requires that arrangements are made to collect information on risks that•firefighters may face in responding to emergencies (section 7(2)d), requires authorities to enter in to arrangements for mutual support•(sections 13 & 16), provides the powers of entry that a firefighter will need in order to gain•access to premises to tackle a fire (section 44).

The 2004 Act also introduced an expectation that fire and rescue serviceswould use their staff, skills and equipment to respond to a broad range ofemergencies including accidents and that prevention of fires is an importantrole for services.

Read the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004

The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England

Sets out the government’s priorities and objectives for fire and rescueauthorities. The government has a duty under the Fire and Rescue Services Act2004 to produce the framework and keep it current. Fire and rescue authoritiesmust have regard to the framework in carrying out their duties.

Read the current Fire and Rescue National Framework for England

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The Fire and Rescue Services Emergencies (England) Order 2007

Places additional statutory duties on fire and rescue authorities, whereprovision of resources has been made by central government, to respond toincidents, both within and outside the authority area, involving;

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear hazards (CBRN)•Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). •

Read the Fire and Rescue Services Emergencies (England) Order 2007

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004

Often referred to as the CCA.

It establishes a clear set of roles and responsibilities for those involved inemergency preparation and response at the local level. It requires a broadrange of organisations to prepare for adverse events and incidents byundertaking risk assessments and planning, on a collaborative basis, forforeseeable emergencies. This work is coordinated through Local ResilienceForums and the constituent agencies, in the event that an emergency occurs,will work together through a Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG).

Read the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

Often referred to as the RRO, is designed to provide a minimum fire safetystandard for occupants of buildings. Community Protection is responsible foradvising on, and enforcing the RRO as appropriate and we do this mainlythrough our Fire Protection Team. We must of course also comply with therequirements within our own buildings.

Read the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order

The Policing and Crime Act 2017

Further reforms policing and enables important changes to the governance offire and rescue services. Within the Act there is clear expectation aroundcollaboration between all of the emergency services.

Read the Policing and Crime Act 2017

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The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014

For the purposes of The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014, HFRS isthe Petroleum Enforcement Authority (PEA) and responsible for enforcing theregulations which includes issuing certificates to sites storing Petroleumwithin the County.

Read the Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014

Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975

Under the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975, the county council is responsiblefor issuing and enforcing safety certificates in respect of ‘designated’ sportsgrounds. The county council also has responsibilities under the Fire Safetyand Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987 which applies in relation to ‘regulatedstands’ in sports grounds that are not “designated”. Within Hertfordshire theseresponsibilities are fulfilled by our Regulatory Services team.

Read the Safety and Sports Grounds Act 1975Read the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Gives local authorities and police forces duties to work together to develop andimplement crime and disorder reduction strategies and to work in partnershipwith other agencies - Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) - to tackle theidentified problems. Our County Community Safety Unit supports this objectiveas well as undertaking statutory intelligence requirements for CSPs inHertfordshire, such as annual strategic assessments in relation to crime anddisorder.

Read the Crime and Disorder Act 1998

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Hertfordshire Trading Standards have a statutory responsibility to enforce over250 different pieces of legislation across a wide range of subject areas. Theseinclude those listed below. Some of these pieces of legislation change regularlyand so the business advice pages of our website are a good source of advice andup to date information:

HCC Trading Standards Business Advice can be found on the HCC Website

Safety of consumer goodsConsumer Protection Act 1987 and the •General Product Safety Regulations 2005•

Food standards and safetyFood Safety Act 1990•

Fair trading which includes pricing, descriptions of good, digital content andservices and terms and conditions

Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008•Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008•

Intellectual property including product counterfeiting;Trade Marks Act 1994•Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988•

Age restricted salesThe Children and Young Persons (Protection From Tobacco) Act 1991•Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015•Video Recordings Act 1984•Licensing Act 2003•Criminal Justice Act 1988•Offensive Weapons Act 2019•

Agriculture including animal health and welfareAnimal Health Act 1981•Animal Welfare Act 2006•

Standards and composition of animal feeds and fertilisersAgriculture Act 1970•

Consumer credit malpracticeConsumer Credit Act 1974 & 2000 •

Doorstep sales protectionCancellation of Contracts made in a Consumers Home or Place of Work etc•Regulations 2008

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Weights and measures (including certification of public weighbridgeoperators)

Weights and Measures Act 1985•

Explosives storage and licensingExplosives Regulations 2014•Fireworks Regulations 2004•

Sports grounds safetyThe Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975 •Fire Safety and Safety at Places of Sport Act 1987•

The Trading Standards and Fire Protection teams must also have regard to thefollowing when investigating breaches of legislation:

• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000• Investigatory Powers Act 2016• Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 • Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996• Protection of Freedoms Act 2012

Where appropriate they will also utilise powers under the

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA)•

to ensure the recovery of criminal benefit or financial gain.

Other legislation

In addition to these specific pieces of legislation the Directorate (and HCC) mustcomply with a wide range of more generic legislation and regulation. Forexample:

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health,safety and welfare of employees. We ensure our policies and procedures reflectbest health and safety practice and that our employees and volunteers operatewithin safe systems of work.

The Local Government Act 1999

Places a duty on local authorities to obtain best value for communities and toinvolve communities in decisions that affect them. We strive to provideeconomic, efficient and effective Community Protection services and weconsult and engage with local communities to ensure we provide services thatare responsive to community needs.

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Public bodies have a duty to consider all individuals when shaping policy,delivering services and in relation to their own employees. They must have dueregard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunityand foster good relations between different people. We are committed topromoting equality and fairness, and making access to services, andemployment opportunities, fair for all.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000

Places a duty on local authorities to provide access to information held. We arecommitted to openness and actively seek to make available information on howwe work, our decisions, our performance and the services we provide.

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 and Local Government Act 2003

Require local authorities to undertake safe and prudent budgeting and tomonitor budgets during the year, taking remedial action if potential overspendsand/or shortfalls in income are identified. We have implemented systems andprocesses to ensure effective and efficient budget management within theDirectorate.

The Public Contracts Regulations 2006

Set rules for local authorities for the procurement of supplies, works andservices, above certain thresholds. We adhere to these rules to ensuretransparency, non-discriminatory and competitive procurement, and facilitatethe achievement of value for money for communities. Additionally,Hertfordshire County Council publishes financial transparency information onthe Hertfordshire.gov.uk website in accordance with The Code ofRecommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency. There arefour categories of spend data: expenditure over £500; councillor allowancesand expenses; senior salaries; and contracts and tenders worth over £500.

The Localism Act 2011

Introduces a general power of competence for local authorities in England,providing councils with the legal capacity to do anything an individual can do,unless specifically prohibited by law. We try to make best use of the freedomsprovided under the Act to explore opportunities for further partnership workingand to develop innovative Community Protection services, focused on theneeds of our communities.

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Under the Equalities Act 2010 and Equality Act (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011

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General Data Protection Regulation

The GDPR applies to anyone who controls or processes data and details arange of aspects around security and handling of data. It applies to a widerange of personal data and means that we should carefully consider ouractions in relation to data. There is considerable information available online,however HCC has an Information Governance Team who can provide adviceand guidance on these regulations.

Our Framework: Corporate Direction

The HCC Corporate Plan setsout the key priorities for theCounty Council.

It explains how we will worktogether as a Council and withpartner organisations todeliver better outcomes forour residents and for thosethat work in, or travel throughHertfordshire.

This overarching framework links;

all HCC’s planning arrangements •

sets the context for the Integrated Plan, which is our budget setting•process

the aims under each of the Councils 4 ambitions - these ensure that•Hertfordshire remains a county where people have the opportunity to livehealthy, fulfilling lives in thriving, prosperous communities.

The 4 ambitions are:

Opportunity to live in thriving places•

Opportunity to share in Hertfordshire prosperity•

Opportunity for everyone to achieve their potential•

Opportunity to enjoy healthy and safe lives•

All the work that is undertaken within CPD must link to the HCC Corporate Planand support the broader organisational aims.

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The CPD is one of six ‘Directorates’ within Hertfordshire County Council and workalongside other partners which include;

Hertfordshire Constabulary (Police)•East of England Ambulance Service•the ten District and Borough Councils•other bodies such as the •

Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the •Local Resilience Forum, Hertfordshire Resilience. •

We also work with our neighbours, as we border a wide variety of rural and urbanareas, this includes the counties which directly border Hertfordshire; Bedfordshire,Cambridgeshire, Essex, London and Buckinghamshire, as well as the six countiesthat make up the Eastern Region, which as well as ourselves includes;Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.

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Hertfordshire County Council

CommunityProtection Directorate

Children’sServices

Adult CareServices

Environmentand

Infrastructure

PublicHealth Resources Partner

Organisations

Fire andRescue ResilienceTrading

Standards

CountyCommunitySafety Unit

Our values and behavioursTo effectively deliver our plans we need a committed, engaged and competentworkforce which considers the Council’s Values and Behaviours and supportsEquality, Diversity and Inclusion in everything we do. The HCC People Strategy, towhich the Community Protection People Strategy is linked, will help us achievethis.

Our overall Values and Behaviours are detailed on the HCC Intranet but are titledas follows:

Citizen focused•Every penny counts•Integrity•Getting it right•Innovation•

However, we summarise these by committing to deliver services to a highstandard, ensuring that we act with integrity towards the public and ourcolleagues. We will aim to get things right first time but accept that mistakes canhappen, especially when seeking to innovate, and so should ensure that we learnfrom them and the opportunity to improve. Throughout all that we do we willensure that we make the best use of available resources, we will support anddevelop our staff to be the best that they can and to deliver high quality outcomesfor the public.

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Professional Standards: Fire Standards Board (FSB)The 'Fire Standards Board' for England is funded by the Home Office and has beenset up to oversee the;

Identification,•organisation,•development and, •maintenance of Professional Standards for fire and rescue services in•England.

The intention is to establish a suite of professional standards to set out what anefficient, effective and 'good' fire and rescue service looks like.

The standards will help to ensure that both the organisation and individuals haveclear expectations of how they should perform and are measured.

The FSB website provides a useful overview of what will be developed and why:Making sense of standards

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fireand Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

HMICFRS undertakes inspections of England’s fire and rescue services, assessingand reporting on their efficiency, effectiveness and leadership. Reports on all of theEnglish FRS can be found, along with other supporting information on theHMICFRS website. The Inspectorate is tasked with asking the questions thatcitizens would ask and using their expertise to interpret the evidence and makerecommendations for improvement. They also provide authoritative information toallow the public to compare the performance of their fire and rescue serviceagainst others.

HMICFRS is independent of government and the fire and rescue authorities; HMInspectors are appointed by the Crown. They are not employees of the policeservice, the fire & rescue service or the government. The Chief Inspector, asrequired by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, reports to Government on theefficiency and effectiveness of fire and rescue services in England.

It is important to understand that HMICFRS is an inspectorate, not a regulator.Regulators have powers of intervention, direction and enforcement. Inspectorateshave powers to secure information, but no powers to give orders for change.Recommendations provided as part of an inspection are not orders, it is for chieffire officers and fire and rescue authorities to take action as a result of HMICFRS’srecommendations.

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CPD: Our Strategies and PlansOur strategies and plans explain the strategic direction of CPD.

The long term strategy, our Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for the fireand rescue service in Hertfordshire sets to achieve the right balance between,

Prevention, •Protection, •Response, •budget and is complimentary to the County Councils Corporate Plan.•

A similar process is undertaken for the other areas of CPD, for example theTrading Standards Strategic Assessment which can be considered the TradingStandards equivalent of the IRMP.

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Community Protection Directorate

CPD Trading StandardsStrategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Response Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Resilience Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Protection Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Prevention Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD People Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Estates Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Training Strategy

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Core Services Strategy

HCC Corporate Plan2019-2025

HFRS Integrated RiskManagement Plan(IRMP) 2019-2023

CPDWhat We Do andWhy We Do It

CPD Strategy 2019-2023Incorpora!ng the followingoverarching strategies

ServiceDelivery

CorporateGovernance

ServiceSupport

HEADS OF SERVICE PLANS

DIRECTORATE ACTION PLAN (DAP)

TradingStandardsStrategicAssessment

PREVENTIONSTRATEGY

RESPONSESTRATEGY

PROTECTIONSTRATEGY

PEOPLESTRATEGY

TRAINING CORESERVICESSTRATEGY

ESTATESSTRATEGY

TRADINGSTANDARDSSTRATEGY

RESILIENCESTRATEGY

DISTRICT/TEAM PLANS

WATCH PLANS*

PMDS

ServiceDelivery

CorporateGovernance

ServiceSupport

*not all levels will be required

Community Protection Directorate

CPD Corporate Strategy

STATION PLANS*

On an annual, basis we publish our Directorate Action Plan (DAP), which providesmore detailed objectives which are 'SMART';

Specific, •measurable, •achieveable (in the time allowed),•realistic and •time-based.•

By distilling our vision and the corporate strategic direction into 'annual' plans ouraim is to ensure that we are clear about what we intend to achieve in the longerand shorter term. We believe that this will help our staff to understand the partsthey have to play in delivering our vision.

How the strategies translate and affect local plans

Where does strategy stop?

The CPD Strategy is supported by a set of more detailed strategies developed andowned by the Heads of Service (the Area Commanders and PM’C’ grade officers).Strategies will not be developed at a lower level within the Directorate unless largescale, long running programmes would benefit from such as approach.

It would be very easy to be drawn in to developing strategies all the way throughthe Directorate. However such an approach would simply generate a huge papertrail and add little value, more can be achieved with some well written plans whichclearly detail what will be done by teams each year, and by when.

It is however very important to us that staff at all levels are involved and engaged inthe development of key strategies and plans. We will achieve this throughworkshops providing draft documents for comment and engagement with groupssuch as the Staff Inclusion Network Group (SING), staff representative bodies andother groups.

Below the strategies

Each year the CPD Strategy will be used to generate the Directorate Action Plan(DAP), this will translate the strategy in to SMART objectives which affect the wholeDirectorate for the coming year. The Heads of Service will use their strategies togenerate the Heads of Service Plans for the coming year and these will includeSMART objectives that will be the responsibility of their service area.

This will ensure that each tier of management below their Head of Service hasclear objectives and direction from which to identify the SMART objectives for theteams for which they hold responsibility.

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This will run through the organisation and for HFRS for example will mean that;

District Commanders will develop their annual District Plan in consultation•with Area Commander Response and be guided by the Response Strategyand Head of Service Plan,

Station Plans will be developed in consultation between Station•Commanders and their Group Commander,

Watch Commanders will develop their Watch Agreements with their Station•Commander.

This means that individual members of staff will be able to see how their PMDSobjectives link and support delivery of the CPD Strategy and the HCC CorporatePlan.

The example above is used because this is the area of the Directorate with thegreatest number of ‘layers’ the principles apply throughout. For example theTrading Standards PMDS objectives should link to Team Plans and upwards to theAD Plan for Regulatory Services.

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How does being part of HCC affect CommunityProtection Teams?

Being part of the County Council means that the teams with CPD must ensure thatthe work we do and the money we spend supports the broader organisationalobjectives laid out in the Corporate Plan. On occasion this will mean that prioritiesin other parts of HCC need to take precedence over those within the CPD, but thiscan also assist us.

Being part of a big organisation which delivers a wide range of services can beboth challenging and rewarding; it provides access to services which may be ableto support us in protecting the most vulnerable, conversely CPD may also be ableto assist other directorates in delivering their priorities, though not at the expenseof our core services. Overall this can add up to considerable benefits for the peopleof Hertfordshire by ensuring that intelligence on the most vulnerable is sharedmore widely and the joined up efforts of all the directorates can help to make everycontact count.

The economies of scale that are possible in an organisation, such as HCC, whichspends over £700million per year can be significant as well. The HCC corporateteams, which for the most part form the Resources Directorate work together toprovide high quality, efficient centralised services which are consistent across thewhole Council. These include Human Resources, financial management andplanning, property services and general IT which are collaborated to takeadvantage of economies of scale.

Some specialist elements remain within directorates where there is limitedopportunity for economies of scale. For example the CPD retains a specialistDigital Services team which implements and manages equipment such as the FireControl mobilising system and mobile data terminals on fire engines because noother part of HCC requires this technology. CPD also makes use of the centralisedstaff development provision for aspects such as managerial training but wemaintain our own provision for training recruit firefighters and for training officersto manage ongoing incidents for example.

As you can see CPD takes advantage of the economies of scale provided within alarge organisation where provision of consistent systems such as email can becollaborated but maintains specialist provision where there is no such opportunity,for example in delivering breathing apparatus training.

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Risk Management in HertfordshireIntegrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP)

In order to deliver high quality, effective and efficient services to the people ofHertfordshire a Fire and Rescue Service must understand all the foreseeable risksthat might affect its area. To do that the Fire and Rescue Authority, in Hertfordshirethat means the County Council, is required by the Fire and Rescue NationalFramework for England to produce an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP).The IRMP must demonstrate how prevention, protection and response activitieswill best be used to mitigate the impact of risks on its communities.We have done this through our IRMP. It is not proposed to reproduce thatdocument here but instead the IRMP should be considered a key supportingdocument to this one and vice-versa. To understand the risks in Hertfordshire wewould recommend that you read our Integrated Risk Management Plan 2019-2023.

How We Assess and Manage Organisational Risks

Risk management is an overall term for the identification, assessment and controlof risk. The county council seeks to minimise, though not necessarily eliminate,risk; managing threats to the organisation while supporting innovation andmaximising opportunities.

When planning the way projects and services are delivered, it is important that wethink through the risks to achieving our objectives and take appropriate, timely,and proportionate action to ensure the right balance between risk and reward.It is important that risk management is embedded in both process and attitudesacross the organisation and that there is a single, consistent, yet flexible approachadopted and used through all levels of the organisation. HCC does not have asingle ‘risk appetite’, instead each risk has its own ‘target’, which represents arealistic and achievable future desired level.

Each risk has a single identified risk owner who is accountable for the effectivemanagement of the risk. To mitigate a risk, control measures are implemented,each of these is similarly owned by one officer.

Further information on the way we manage organisational risk can be found inboth the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2019-2023 and within the CountyCouncils Risk Management Policy.

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CollaborationOur communities are at the heart of everything we do and the CommunityProtection Directorate is extremely proud of the positive changes and real benefitsthat our partnership working arrangements enable us to deliver for them. We arecommitted to exploring new opportunities to engage effectively with Hertfordshire’sresidents, businesses, public and voluntary organisations, to ensure that ourservices reflect the needs of the diverse make up of our County.

We work in partnership with our communities and a wide range of partners, locallyand nationally, to ensure that we meet our statutory duties and deliver high qualityservices that support and safeguard the wellbeing of local people and the localeconomy and contribute to Hertfordshire’s future prosperity. We will also use ourinfluence and do everything we can to protect our communities from risk, preventincidents from occurring and help our residents to live safe, healthy, fulfilling lives.

We very much value the diverse skills and perspectives which our staff bring andwe aim to work collaboratively with staff groups to support effective communityengagement.

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Authority collaborates with other fire and rescueauthorities, other emergency services, wider Category One and Two responders1

and Local Resilience Forums to improve service delivery, achieve efficiencies andensure an effective response to emergencies at both a local and a national level.

We strive, alongside our partners, to deliver the best possible services andoutcomes for our communities within the context of the overall strategy forHertfordshire. This is set out by Hertfordshire Forward, the County’s LocalStrategic Partnership (LSP). This explains the overall ambitions of the CountyCouncil and its partners for the County as a whole.

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has a strong history of collaboration and thisis especially true of our relationship with the other emergency services. Followingenactment of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 we actively supported the formationof the Hertfordshire Emergency Services Collaboration Board. This Board isintended to further improve efficiency and effectiveness of the emergency servicesin the County. We have pro-actively adjusted some of our response arrangementswhere, for example, shared capability is more efficient or effective, for example theuse of the HFRS Drone to search for evidence or vulnerable missing persons. Wehave also established a joint estates board which is considering opportunities forjoint facilities; this has resulted in the shared use of fire stations as well as longterm plans to combine the HFRS and Police headquarters on to one site and adevelopment of a new shared training provision at the current HFRS TrainingCentre in Stevenage. This latter site is now used by all emergency services and isbranded the Joint Emergency Services Academy (JESA).

1 The Civil Contingencies Act 2001 defines which organisations are Category 1 as we, Police Forces and District Councilsamongst others. Category 2 includes utilities such as UK Power Networks.

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The Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) helps coordinate the local NHS, socialcare, children's services and public health. We have significant knowledge,experience and intelligence that we have gained from our extensive range ofinterventions and initiatives involving vulnerable groups including the elderly,children and young people, those with chronic health problems or disabilities anddisadvantaged members of our communities, to inform and support HWB decisionmaking and ensure that Hertfordshire County Council delivers coordinated,effective outcomes for residents.

We work with the business led Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)to facilitate and encourage sustainable private sector growth and job creation inthe County. We do this by providing clear, accurate and consistent advice tobusinesses with regard to their responsibilities in accordance with statutorylegislation and ensuring that any requirements placed upon them are reasonableand proportionate. We also work with other enforcing authorities to identifyopportunities to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden placed onbusinesses in respect of audit and inspection activities.

We are a pro-active member of each of the ten Community Safety Partnerships(CSP’s) within the County, and are committed to working together and with otherlocal agencies and organisations to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

Primary Authority Partnerships (PAP) schemes are designed to reduce theregulatory burden on businesses and to promote consistent, effective inspectionand enforcement processes.

Businesses that trade across local authority borders generally receive complianceadvice and guidance from one particular local authority, usually the authoritywhere the business is based. Primary Authority was introduced to addressbusinesses’ concerns regarding how authorities apply legislation relating toassured advice on fire safety and trading standards, environmental health, andlicensing, including contradictory advice, wasted resources and duplicated effortand lack of effective dispute resolution when authorities disagree.

The Primary Authority scheme allows businesses to form a statutory partnershipwith one local authority, which cuts red tape through a legally binding agreementthat provides assured advice, ensures consistency of regulation across the countryand reduces duplication of paperwork and inspections. A business can choosewhat level of support is received from its Primary Authority under the partnershipand the Primary Authority can choose to recover the costs of resourcing thispremium service. A PAP entails a fundamental shift in the relationship betweenthe regulator and the regulated resulting in significant benefits for both parties.More information about the PAP scheme is available at Hertfordshire TradingStandards Primary Authority Schemes.

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The Hertfordshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF), also known as HertfordshireResilience is a collaborative partnership formed under the The Civil ContingenciesAct 2004. It brings together more than 80 organisations, including the emergencyservices, your local councils, health services and volunteers and works hard tomanage a range of risks that could lead to emergencies and disrupt our daily lives.Further details can be found later in this document under the section titledResilience.

National and Regional Collaboration

National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)HFRS works closely with other FRS to ensure that good practice elsewhere is usedto improve the Service, we also ensure that our good practice is shared via theNFCC for other FRS to consider. Often this is facilitated through the NationalOperational Learning (NOL) process.

The NFCC aims to strengthen the professional and operational leadership of theFRS sector, improve national coordination, reduce duplication, increase efficiencyand support local service delivery. The NFCC also seeks to provide increasedopportunity fire and rescue authorities and services to influence key stakeholdersincluding Government.

Further information can be found at: National Fire Chiefs Council

National Trading StandardsNational Trading Standards is responsible for gathering important intelligencefrom around the country to combat rogue traders and tackle a range of prioritiesfrom mass marketing and internet scams to enforcement issues that go beyondlocal authority boundaries. They support Trading Standards across England andWales working through regional partnerships (such as EETSA - see below), andcoordinate enforcement in relation to serious consumer protection crime(including eCrime and business to business fraud) and mass marketing scams.They also deliver a programme of national enforcement, advice and support forlocal authorities in relation to the property market, in particular the activities ofEstate and Lettings Agents

Further information can be found at the: National Trading Standards website

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Regional CollaborationHFRS regularly works with other services to achieve similar objectives as thoseoutlined for the NFCC. This is undertaken through a group led by the six Chief FireOfficers and supported by a number of working groups involving staff from eachservice. These groups focus on a range of topics including Prevention, Protection,Response, Health and Safety and Training.

HFRS is committed to supporting these groups in order to achieve a consistentapproach and to reduce duplication by working together and taking a collectiveapproach.

East of England Trading Standards Association (EETSA)Hertfordshire Trading Standards works closely with other Trading Standardsservices to share good practice, co-ordinate activities and deliver improvedregulatory outcomes. EETSA is a partnership of the 11 local authority TradingStandards Services in the Eastern Region of England and has a proven track recordof effective and efficient delivery. The partnership has been built upon trust,goodwill and understanding. The collaborative working which EETSA facilitates isvital and offers huge benefits to local councils, central government, localconsumers and businesses and the economy, even more so now when localauthorities have less resources.

EETSA co-ordinates regional projects and receives funding income from NationalTrading Standards to deliver services on behalf of the region, these include co-ordinated Feed Sampling, Product Safety and Tobacco Control work, and deliveringa Regional Intelligence function. EETSA also provides vital co-ordination,communication and support at times of national emergencies, e.g. animal diseaseoutbreaks or national food and product safety issues.

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The Community Protection Directorate Summary

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Hertfordshire Trading Standards

County Community Safety Unit

Resilience Team

The Community Protection Directorate was formed in 2011 and brought together anumber of services from within HCC, these are Fire and Rescue, TradingStandards, the County Community Safety Unit and the Resilience Team. Bybringing these services together we have been able to realise a broad range ofoperational efficiencies and deliver better, more joined up services.

Examples of the benefits realised include the lead role that the Fire and RescueService now plays in planning for major incidents through the leadership of theHertfordshire Local Resilience Forum, the mutual support that is provided byTrading Standards to the Fire Protection Team in pursuing prosecutions under theRegulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order or RRO and the link between HCC and HertsConstabulary through the County Community Safety Unit.

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This innovative approach has been held up as a national exemplar and we aredetermined to continue to deliver on that success. Indeed the prosecution underthe RRO of the company responsible for the management of the Newgrange CareHome is a prime example of the benefits achieved by bringing together theseteams and lessons learned, both on an operational and an enforcement level.Many lessons from that one incident and the subsequent investigation have beenshared across UK FRS.

We are ambitious about our aims for the organisation but understand thecomplexity of delivering public services in an uncertain world. However, despitethis complexity and the challenges before us, we are also determined to takeadvantage of the opportunities ahead; particularly the County Council’s ‘GoodGrowth’ agenda, the use of new and innovative technology and the potential ofbetter data sharing in order to ensure our services continue to meet theexpectations of Hertfordshire’s communities.

Department summary

Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service (HFRS)

Works hard to protect its local communities, often working with partners to reducethe risk of fires and other emergencies wherever possible.

In addition to tackling fires and helping people involved in road traffic collisions, wewill respond when all manner of emergencies arise – the Service has specialistteams providing rope, water and animal rescue capability, we can assist withflooding incidents, and can be called upon to help other agencies.

However, it is not just about providing a 24/7 emergency response. HFRS place agreat deal of focus on prevention, aiming to reduce the risk of incidents happeningin the first place, and working closely with partners to assist the most vulnerablein our society. This includes a wide range of targeted prevention activities as wellas education through partnerships with organisations such as The Princes Trustand Herts Sports Partnership.

Hertfordshire Trading Standards

Is responsible for enforcing over 250 different pieces of legislation across a widerange of subject areas. This includes age restricted products, agriculture, animalhealth and welfare and fair trading. The latter covers aspects such as pricing,descriptions, digital content, services and terms and conditions. The Team alsomonitors and enforces around food standards and safety, intellectual property (forexample counterfeiting), product safety and weights and measures.

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The Trading Standards team provides advice to both consumers and businesses.For consumers our Trusted Trader scheme, which is run in conjunction withWhich? continues to attract positive responses from both consumers andbusinesses alike, providing access to good quality trades people, whilst our adviceand support for victims of unjust trading is helping to protect consumers every day.

Our advice to businesses comes in two primary forms; the advice that we givethrough Trading Standards to ensure that businesses understand what they needto do to meet the various pieces of legislation and the advice that we give to ensurethat businesses operate in safe premises. The latter is most often through our FireProtection department, which ensures that fire safety legislation is being adheredto by businesses and commercial premises.

The Trading Standards and Fire Protection teams work closely together to protectthe vulnerable and also to ensure that enforcement action, when this is required, isundertaken with appropriate rigour.

The County Community Safety Unit (CCSU)

The CCSU is made up of police and county council staff who are co-located andwork together to tackle anti-social behaviour, alcohol and drug abuse.

The CCSU supports the objective under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 thatrequires specified bodies such as the NHS, Probation, local authorities and PoliceForces to work together to develop and implement crime and disorder reductionstrategies and to work in partnership with other agencies. These are known asCommunity Safety Partnerships (CSPs). There are 10 CSPs in Hertfordshire toreflect the 10 Districts and boroughs in the County, and the CCSU supports theseby collating information and undertaking analysis to produce intelligence for theCSPs through products such as the annual Strategic Assessments in relation tocrime and disorder.

The CCSU, Police and partners use the Strategic Assessments to prioritise anddirect resources towards, for example, the small number of prolific offenders whocommit a disproportionate amount of the County’s crime. The CCSU also produceand lead on the co-ordination of Hertfordshire’s Drug Strategy and theycommission programmes to tackle drug misuse and reduce drug related crime. These include Hertfordshire’s Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP) which aims tohelp offenders who misuse Class A drugs out of crime and into treatment andother support such as Hertfordshire Horizons, the County’s Integrated OffenderManagement scheme which takes a holistic approach to reducing offending bylooking at the underlying reasons why offenders commit crime and helps themaccess a range of services to combat their issues so that they can lead crime-freelives.

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The Resilience Team

Provides support and advice to the County Council directorates to help them planto respond quickly and effectively to a wide range of incidents and emergencies toensure the continued delivery of critical services. The team works across HCCsites and the departments within those sites to ensure Business Continuityarrangements are in place. Each service area has their own Business ContinuityPlan and every year the team exercise an aspect of HCC business continuityarrangements.

They ensure all departments are aware of their roles and responsibilities in theevent of an emergency, providing training for HCC staff with roles in councilemergency response arrangements.

Community Protection Directorate Support Services

Provides a wide range of services and activities which ensure that the public facingelements are able to deliver effectively.

We have our own Health and Safety department to ensure that safety•remains a focus of all that we do.

Our Technical Services department is responsible for managing the•procurement and maintenance of the vehicles and equipment that ourfirefighters use every day.

The Digital Services department maintain the equipment that a modern•service needs to ensure that information is effectively managed orfirefighters are sent to the correct location.

Our Occupational Health specialists support fire and rescue staff to ensure•that they are mentally and physically prepared for the very traumaticsituations they may face.

Whilst our Training department ensures that we have the right people, with•the right skills, in the right place, at the right time.

We also have a myriad of other specialists who provide skills or link in tocolleagues in other areas to ensure that we are able to deliver all of the servicesnecessary to keep the residents of Hertfordshire safe.

Of particular importance is the support given by our Inclusion and EngagementManager and the County Councils Human Resources Team. Effective communityengagement is dependent upon a inclusive culture involving a workforce that isdiverse in all respects including its thinking. We aim to embed diversity andinclusivity in all that we do from community engagement to recruitment, retentionand progression.

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Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue ServiceHertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the largest element of the CommunityProtection Directorate of Hertfordshire County Council (HCC). HCC is also theFire and Rescue Authority.

Our fire stations are strategically placed across the County to provide a swift andeffective 24/7 emergency response to protect life and property by answeringemergency calls and despatching appropriate resources to extinguish fires, rescuepeople from road traffic collisions, water and height and deal with otheremergencies such as wide-area flooding, chemical incidents and large animalrescues.

To do this we have approx;

500 wholetime firefighter •200 on-call firefighters•30 control staff•

who are supported by a group of flexible duty officers (FDOs) and senior officerswho provide the necessary incident command management structure to ensurethat the Service is ready to respond to even the most challenging and complexincidents.

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Baldock

Royston

Hitchin

Stevenage

Buntingford

Bishops Stortford

Much Hadham

SawbridgeworthWare

Hoddesdon

Potters Bar

Hatfield

St Albans

HertfordWheathampstead

Redbourn

Harpenden

Markyate

Welwyn Garden City

Welwyn

Cheshunt

Rickmansworth

WatfordBorehamwood

Hemel Hempstead

Kings Langley

Garston

Berkhamsted

Tring

Fire Station KeyWholetime Fire Station

Wholetime + On Call Fire Station

Day Crewed Fire Station

On Call Fire Station

Service Headquarters

Day Crewed PLUS Fire Station

To ensure that the Service is able to respond to all foreseeable risks the FireAuthority both enters in to agreements with our neighbours to provide mutualsupport (under sections 13 & 16 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004) and canseek, and offers, support via the National Resilience arrangements through theNational Coordination and Advisory Framework (NCAF). These arrangementsensure that even in the most challenging of incidents the Service is able to callupon additional capacity or specialist capability to support incidents in the County.The most obvious example of such an incident in Hertfordshire was the BuncefieldOil Depot fire in 2005 which drew in oil industry experts and emergency resourcesfrom across the UK.

The Service also plays a major role in civil protection, working in partnership withother public bodies and private sector organisations to ensure an integratedapproach to dealing with large scale civil emergencies such as terrorist attacksand major road, rail and air accidents. Much of this is in conjunction with the LocalResilience Forum (LRF), known as Herts Resilience.

When responding to emergencies with other agencies we follow the Jo intEmergency Services Interoperability Principles. The aim of JESIP is to help theemergency services save more lives by working better - together.

JESIP has introduced a national standard to multi-agency joint working in the UKand is used every day by responders to support a consistent joint emergencyresponse to incidents, wherever the incident may take place across the county andelsewhere in the UK.

We do not charge for dealing with fires or for providing assistance where humanlife is at risk. However, to ensure best value we do identify all requests forassistance where charges may be reasonably imposed, ensuring that the incomefrom charges does not exceed the costs incurred. Examples of assistance wherecharges are often imposed include: removal of water from commercial premises;people shut in lifts; and people locked in or out.

We investigate the cause and origin of fires in order to battle against arson andgain insight into the behaviour of fire to inform the way we manage fire risks anddetermine future fire prevention strategies. If evidence of arson is found we workwith the Police and other partners to help convict those responsible.

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PreventionThe Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Part 2 Section 6 places a statutory duty onHertfordshire Fire Authority to promote fire safety in its area. The Fire and RescueNational Framework for England 2018 sets out a number of priorities andobjectives, which include the need for Fire Authorities to understand thecommunity it serves, identify those most at risk from fire and other vulnerabilities,to target resources at those that engage in arson and to work with otherorganisation to support risk reduction. Moreover the Policing and Crime Act 2017 Part 1 places a duty on Fire, Police and Ambulance to collaborate to ensure bestuse of resources and assets. The Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service IntegratedRisk Management Plan (IRMP) 2019-23 details HFRS’s commitment to invest inPrevention and our Prevention Strategy sets out how this commitment will be met.

Risk and Vulnerability

Risk in Hertfordshire varies greatly and it is therefore important that weunderstand what these risks are and who may be exposed to them. Risk analysiswill ensure we are able to target our prevention activities and focus our work onthe groups and individuals which are seen as high risk in terms of vulnerability tofire and other hazards.

Our strategy is driven by evidence from a number of sources including stationprofiles and the Hertfordshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNA). Theseenable us to identify local risks to local people and businesses which inform theprovision of local services that meet the needs of our community.

Our Prevention activities are directed by our Prevention Strategy which is part of asuite of other community safety strategies for Hertfordshire such as, TheHertfordshire Prevention Strategy, Drugs and Alcohol, Domestic Abuse, SeriousViolence and Fraud, and is complimentary to the HFRS Protection and Responsestrategies.

Evaluation

One of the biggest challenges that we face is effectively evaluating our preventionactivities; it is notoriously challenging to prove a negative, i.e. that we undertookprevention activity and that ‘something’ didn’t happen as a result. We therefore usevarious Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to measure this and will use academicassessment to consider how communities are impacted by our work.

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This will include analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data to demonstratewhere initiatives have achieved the risk reduction expected, but perhaps moreimportantly, identify those activities where this has not been the case. We will thusbe able to continue those initiatives that work and stop those that do not.

Delivery

A dedicated prevention team working across the youth agenda and with the elderlyand most vulnerable residents ensure a consistent approach to prevention acrossthe County; our prevention team works alongside districts and stations incoordinating core interventions and initiatives. Our operational firefighters are alsokey in delivering on our prevention agenda and they undertake a range ofcommunity safety interventions including, but not limited to, Home Visits, Road andWater safety initiatives. As well as giving them access to a central resource librarythe annual Community safety calendar is used to set out key campaigns andinitiatives that link to both the NFCC and Fire Kills priorities enabling the service toforward plan.

The Hertfordshire context

As society and expectations evolve the need to provide services and support itspopulation changes. Hertfordshire is growing and its population of 1,180,900residents is expected to increase by an additional 175,000 in the next 10 years. Thedemographics of its residents are also changing with an ageing population and, forexample, over 85s projected to rise by 137.5% by 2030. It is also known that 10% ofthe population are living with multiple complex health conditions and this is alsoexpected to increase. With regards to younger people, there are 239,500 under 19sin the county and this is predicted to rise around 33% by 2030, resulting in this agedemographic making up 24% of the population.

HFRS understands thechallenges that thesechanges will bring andrecognises that we mustwork with other countycouncil directorates,partners and the voluntarysector to help managethese demands. Theinfographic explains howthe CP Preventionactivities align with theHCC Corporate Plan.

Fit, Fed and Read

Princes Trust

Cadets

LiFE courses

OPALS events

Volunteers

Safe and Well

Road Safety

Water Safety

Assistive Technology

Job Club

Opportunityto live in thriving places

Opportunity toshare inHertfordshiresprosperity

Opportunityto enjoy

healthy andsafe Lives

Opportunityfor everyone

to achieve theirpotential

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NFCCHome Safety

HFRS recognises that as people become older the risk of them becoming thevictims of fire and other hazards increases. The Hertfordshire fire deaths report2000 - 2017 shows that of the 45 fire fatalities over a third (36%) of female victimswere aged 80 or over and that 63% of males were in the age group 65-79. It alsoclearly identified those risk factors that make an individual susceptible to fire,these are:

victim lived alone•smoking•limited mobility•alcohol•poor health•drugs (both prescription and illegal)•mental health.•

Safe and Well Visits

There are approximately 199,300 people aged 65+ currently living in Hertfordshire,which accounts for around 16.8% of the total population. Over the next 25 years,the population of over 65s in Hertfordshire is predicted to increase by 68%.

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The foundation for bringing about positive change in people’s behaviours withintheir own homes and ensuring their safety is the Safe and Well Visit incorporatingHome fire safety checks. Our Safe and Well visit provides a targeted, risk based,holistic approach to fire safety advice and household risk. We target ourinterventions at those at greatest risk; we identify high risk people as, “a personwho is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or otherdisability, age or illness; and is or may be unable to take care of themselves, orunable to protect themselves from the risk of fire and its consequences”. We stillprovide advice to low risk people and households in the form of our literature andresources, much of which is aimed specifically at the areas covered in the Safe andWell visit.

Our Prevention Team provides a consistent service across the whole ofHertfordshire and can provide automated referrals to partner organisations torequest additional support and services if required. Our core requirement, asdetailed in Fire and Rescue Services Act, is to deliver fire prevention and safetyadvice, however we use the opportunity to ensure that every contact counts byidentifying additional risk factors and vulnerabilities that may have an adverseimpact on an individual’s health and well-being. This enables us to provide briefinterventions and referrals as part of our offer. The seven determinants of the Safeand Well Visit are:

Home Safety (including fire safety)•Falls prevention•Social isolation•Nutrition/Dehydration•Promoting Physical Activity •Warm Homes•Home Security•

During visits we capture data which enables us to analyse the effectiveness of ourinterventions and identify opportunities for improvement helping us to shape ourservices to meet the changing needs of our communities.

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Road Safety

More people are killed on Hertfordshire roads each year than become the victimsof fire and so Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is a key partner on theHertfordshire Strategic Road Safety Partnership.

We know young drivers are statistically more likely to be involved in fatal or seriousroad traffic collisions, and road deaths are one of the biggest causes of prematuredeath in young people. We therefore focus much of our road safety activity on the15-24 age group and we are committed to working towards zero road deaths withinHertfordshire.

By 20312 we expect to see an 18% increase in traffic on Hertfordshire roads, thiswill place even more demand on our services, and is why it is vitally important toensure our prevention work is both targeted and appropriate.

We therefore use a range of educational activities, such as our well regardedLearn2Live events, and we will continue to work closely with partners to supportlocal, regional and national road safety initiatives.

Arson

There were over 1,3003 deliberate fires attended by HFRS in 2018/19. Arson is acrime resulting in an economic loss to people, businesses, communities and LocalAuthorities. HFRS fully supports the National Fire Chiefs Council arson strategyand like other key stakeholders4 recognises that, like many crimes, is not purelythe responsibility of one organisation. We therefore work closely with local

partners through groups suchas Crime and Disorder orCommunity SafetyPartnerships. We monitortrends to identify hotspots andour volunteers work with localcrews to identify areas wheredeliberate fire setting is anissue and to highlight therisks and effect of arson onindividuals and thecommunity.

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2 https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/media-library/documents/highways/transport-planning/transport-and-accident-data / ttdr/hertfordshire-traffic-and-transport-data-report-2018.pdf

3 Fire and rescue incident statistics for all services in England4 http://www.stoparsonuk.org/arson/documents/Arson-Prevention-Forum-Booklet.pdf

Water Safety

On average 400 people drown in the UK each year and afurther 200 people take their own lives in waters aroundthe UK. HFRS supports the UK drowning preventionstrategy, the purpose of which is to prevent accidentaldrowning fatalities in the UK by working in partnershipto provide consistent guidance for the safe enjoymentand management of activities in, on and around water.

Children and Young People

We realise that trying to change individual attitudes and risky behaviour in later lifeis more difficult and expensive than encouraging safety at an early age. We havetherefore developed a range of initiatives to protect young people from harm fromfires, accidents and other risks. We also use this opportunity to encourage bothhealth and economic wellbeing as well as safety. We work with partners to enableyoung people to develop skills for adulthood including the avoidance of antisocialor offending behaviour. We also develop and promote our Youth schemes to enableyoung people to gain new skills and qualifications

Volunteers

We realise that not only does volunteering create additional organisationalcapacity; it helps create stronger and more cohesive communities and contributesto a sense of wellbeing. We continually seek to develop and broaden the range ofwork undertaken by our Community Volunteer Scheme. We also aim to providesupport that ensures our volunteers feel well supported and part of theDirectorate, but just as important is the desire to help our volunteers gainsomething from the organisation and the work that they undertake. Like everyonewithin the Directorate we all help keep the residents of Hertfordshire healthy andsafe.

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Fire ProtectionOur Fire Protection team regulate the built environment to protect life, propertyand the environment from fire. This regulatory role looks set to increase as theramifications from the Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent public inquiry,review of building regulations and legislative framework seek to addressshortcomings in the lifecycle of a building.

As with many aspects of the Directorate there is considerable cross over betweenthe activities we undertake. For Fire Protection this means that, in particular, thereis considerable similarity between the way in which our Trading Standards and ourFire Protection teams operate. However there is also a close link between both ofthese teams and emergency response. We have identified numerous situationswhere a trading standards issue, for example cheap phone chargers, have causedfires which result in close working between crews, fire investigators and TradingStandards staff. We have also seen close working playing an important role in highprofile prosecutions such as that which followed the Newgrange Care Home fire inApril 20175 .

The primary tool used by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service to ensurecompliance and advice to business is through a risk based inspection andenforcement regime for residential, commercial and industrial buildings. The team also carry out a wide range of other activities to both protect the publicand support businesses and other commercial and non-commercial organisations.This includes;

Providing a statutory consultation service to Local Authority Building•Control departments and Approved Inspectors. Consultation relates to firesafety provisions in the design, construction and adaptation of buildings,

assessing planning applications for both domestic and commercial•premises to ensure adequate provisions are included for firefightingpurposes e.g. provision of fire hydrants or access for fire engines,

supporting operational teams to raise awareness of building design and•installations and in assessing the risk posed by both commercial anddomestic buildings,

working with partners to ensure the safety of events and festivals taking•place in Hertfordshire,

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5 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-48217477/newgrange-care-home-fire-999-call-released

providing advice to businesses of all sizes and other engagement activities•intended to educate and inform businesses of their responsibilities,

administering the licensing of premises for the storage of petroleum,•including carrying out inspections at Petrol Stations across the county,

working with response colleagues to reduce the impact of unwanted fire•signals or ‘false alarms’ and,

the team also carry out joint inspections with other regulators such as•Housing Officers, at Sports Grounds and supporting specific operations totackle issues such as Modern-Day Slavery.

Risk Based Inspection Programme

In Hertfordshire, inspections of those premises that present the highest risk to thecommunity are completed by both operational crews and our Fire Protection Team.We aim to support individuals and organisations to make their premises safe.However, if necessary, we will take legal enforcement action to ensure thatappropriate work is carried out.

Our Risk Based Inspection Programme (RBIP) has been devised using localstatistical information on fires in commercial premises and results of previousenforcement action, combined with national data and the professional judgementof the Fire Protection team. The overall potential for loss of life or serious injury isthe major determinant of risk for the purposes of the RBIP.

We also respond to issues raised by our staff and the public. When we receiveintelligence of an alleged fire risk the Fire Protection team will carry out animmediate assessment of that risk and take immediate enforcement action wherenecessary.

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National ResilienceThe Fire and Rescue National Framework for England emphasises the importanceof national resilience. Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Authority works with theGovernment, other fire and rescue authorities and fire and rescue professionals inorder to ensure continued national resilience. We engage with Government onnational resilience issues through the Fire and Rescue Strategic Resilience Board,which considers national resilience risks and priorities and current fire and rescuecapability in relation to those risks. If it is considered that there are capability gapsand/or redundant capability, the Board will provide advice to ministers on howthese should be dealt with.

The Fire and Rescue Service also works in collaboration with all other Blue Lightorganisations as well as other agencies who either contribute to, or who may beimpacted by, major incidents.

Major emergencies place significant demands on local fire and rescue servicesand often, cannot be effectively resolved without mutual aid or advice. This isprovided under the National Coordination and Advisory Framework (NCAF) whichis designed to provide robust, yet flexible, response arrangements to emergenciesthat can be adapted to the nature and scale of an incident. The NCAF documentdetails how this should be enacted and subsequently managed so that all the keystakeholders, from local responders to national government agencies, areeffectively engaged and kept informed.

HFRS will support national resilience with both ‘standard’ resources such as fireengines and other familiar equipment but also through the specific nationalcapabilities that we host. Namely, our High Volume Pump and the EnhancedLogistics Support Team. HFRS is in turn able to call upon a wide range ofspecialist capabilities which it would be inefficient to provide locally. Examplesinclude Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) or Detection Identification andMonitoring (DIM) of unknown substances. Whilst HFRS has the capability torespond to a building collapse the USAR capability is able to provide increasedcapacity and to maintain this for an extended period of time beyond that which itwould be reasonable to provide for in Hertfordshire alone. The DIM capabilityprovides more specialist knowledge and equipment than is provided via the HFRSDecontamination and Environmental Protection Unit (DEPU), the latter beingfocused on those incidents that we can reasonably foresee occurring inHertfordshire whilst the former is a very much more specialised capability. Theexamples above demonstrate how HFRS provides support for national resilienceand how we can draw upon that support to ensure that services are provided cost-effectively.

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Hertfordshire Trading Standards Hertfordshire has over a million consumers and is home to over 60,000businesses, including the national and international headquarters of a number ofcompanies.

Our Trading Standards service strives to achieve a safe and just tradingenvironment for consumers and the County’s business community.

We work in partnership with the Citizens Advice Consumer Service (CACS, formerlyknown as Consumer Direct) to advise, assist and educate consumers to help thembuy wisely and empower them to take action on faulty goods or poor levels ofservice.

Every year we receive thousands of consumer complaints through CACS and otheragencies. Where criminal breaches of consumer protection are highlighted ourTrading Standards Officers carry out investigations which can result in advice tothe business concerned and in the most serious cases prosecution or other formsof formal action. In some cases, particularly involving vulnerable consumers, weare also able to intervene and make contact with the business concerned to helpresolve complaints.

We work to combat rogue traders who often prey on the most vulnerable and callon people’s doorsteps uninvited. This work is often undertaken in partnership withother enforcement bodies such as the Police and as part of multi-agencyoperations targeting fraud or Modern-Day Slavery.

We work with partners to support victims of scams and in appropriate cases installcall blockers to stop unwanted telephone calls as well as undertaking preventionactivity to educate and help stop Hertfordshire residents from becoming victims.

To support this objective, we have partnered with Which? Trusted Traders toimprove business standards and increase customer confidence in memberbusinesses in Hertfordshire. Approved businesses have agreed to abide by theterms and conditions of the scheme and have been checked to ensure compliance.We inspect certain trade premises on a risk assessed basis for compliance with arange of Trading Standards legislation such as pricing, accurate descriptions andfood labelling. We take samples for testing to ensure that consumer products, foodand animal feed are safe and compliant with consumer protection legislation. We administer the licensing of premises for fireworks and other explosives. Weprovide advice and information to businesses to help ensure that they comply withtrading standards legislation.

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We visit manufacturers and importers to discuss the safety of their products, givingguidance on how items are presented and any instructions that may be needed forsafe use. We also support businesses undertaking product recalls or othercorrective actions and can use powers to require action where needed.

We investigate intellectual property crime such as trademark and copyrightinfringement which is often linked to serious and organised crime.

We are engaged in the prevention of sales of age-restricted products such asalcohol, knives, tobacco and fireworks to young people, and our work in thistargets those that break the law, whilst helping and supporting compliant traders.We chair Safety Advisory Groups and issue safety certificates in relation to sportsgrounds. The Safety Advisory Groups enable key agencies to work together toexamine safety at public events and provide event organisers with support andguidance to ensure that events are carried out safely and successfully. We alsocarry out inspections of sports grounds to ensure that the terms of safetycertificates are being complied with and access safety management.

We are involved in maintaining standards of animal health and welfare for livestockand for enforcing measures to prevent the spread of disease in farm animals andwe have a key role to play in dealing with animal disease outbreaks such as Footand Mouth Disease or Avian Flu. We also provide advice and assistance to farmersand the livestock industry so that they can comply with their statutory obligations.Trading Standards also enforce legislation in relation to Weights & Measurestesting weighing and measuring equipment for accuracy (including petrol pumps,weighing machines and weighbridges).

Trading Standards Officers have the power to enter business and trade premises toinspect goods and documentation, take samples and make test purchases. Officerscan seize and detain items if they consider that they may be required as evidenceof a breach of criminal law. It is a criminal offence to obstruct a Trading StandardsOfficer exercising their powers. If necessary and appropriate, Trading Standardsservices can initiate criminal and civil proceedings against a business or tradefound to be in breach of consumer protection legislation. A guilty verdict can resultin a fine, a community services order or, in extreme cases, a custodial sentence.Trading Standards can also, increasingly, issue financial penalties or ‘penaltycharge notices’ for breaches particularly in relation to Housing and Environmentallegislation.

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 Trading Standards services can take actionto confiscate assets acquired from criminal activity and can retain a percentage ofrecovered assets following a successful prosecution. This money can then be usedto fund additional community protection work. Where breaches of legalrequirements are identified, we will take action to rectify the breach and will,where appropriate and necessary, prosecute trading standards law offences in

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accordance with our formal actions policy. Our approach to enforcement explains how we apply business rules and regulations fairly and help businesses to staywithin the law.

We are not able to investigate or take action on all matters reported to us. Weprioritise our finite resources to tackle the issues which cause the most detrimentto Hertfordshire businesses and consumers, this is informed by the TradingStandards Strategic Assessment.

We can’t carry out the following functions, although communities sometimesassume that we can:

Close businesses down,•tell you which businesses to avoid or,•automatically obtain a refund for you.•

Support for Businesses

As part of our work to support Hertfordshire businesses both Trading Standardsand Fire Protection teams offer a comprehensive advice service for businesses,helping them to comply with the law.

Our Trading Standards and Fire Protection teams both offer Primary AuthorityPartnerships to businesses and other organisations to help them comply withlegislative requirements. As part of this work we have partnered with some of thelargest companies based both in Hertfordshire and beyond. The Primary Authorityscheme is designed to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses and to promoteconsistent, effective inspection and enforcement processes. It allows businessesto form a statutory partnership with one local authority, which cuts red tapethrough a legally binding agreement that provides assured advice, ensuresconsistency of regulation across the country and reduces duplication of paperworkand inspections.

Both Trading Standards and Fire Protection play a leading role in the BetterBusiness for All initiative which works to boost business productivity and growth bymaking it easier for businesses to access the regulatory support they need fromlocal authority services such as Trading Standards, Fire & Rescue, EnvironmentalHealth, Licensing and Development Control.

Our UKAS accredited Metrology Laboratory provides a calibration service for tradeand industry. The Laboratory was originally set up to ensure that the equipmentused by Trading Standards for testing weights and measures was meeting legalstandards. Since 1989, it has also been providing calibration services to industry.Using precision equipment in a carefully controlled environment, the laboratorycarries out testing and calibration work on weights, linear and capacity measures,weighing and counting machines and measuring instruments. These include theweighing equipment used by supermarkets and other retail premises.

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County Community Safety Unit The County Community Safety Unit (CCSU) is an integrated County Council andHerts Police team made up of Programme Managers, Intelligence Analysts andProject Officers. The work is generated by six countywide partnerships; theHertfordshire Domestic Abuse Partnership Board, the Hertfordshire Drugs andAlcohol Board, the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership, theHertfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board, the Hertfordshire Offender ManagementBoard, and the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Community Safety Board. These partnerships agree crime and community safety priorities for Hertfordshireand the CCSU develop intelligence products, such as needs assessments, andstrategies in response to these priorities. Some examples include serious violence,drugs and alcohol and domestic abuse where the team have worked withChildren’s Services, Adult Care and Public Health, amongst others, to deviserecommendations and strategies to enable evidence-based allocation ofresources.

The unit also support the ten district based Community Safety Partnerships todischarge their statutory duty under the Crime & Disorder Act by facilitatingintelligence led processes and producing the CSP’s annual strategic assessmentsof crime and anti-social behaviour

Value added to the Wider Community

This partnership model for community safety in Hertfordshire, results in closerand deeper partnership working to deliver shared community safety outcomes. Itallows for more efficient use of resources and economies of scale/reduction induplication, providing better value for money for tax payers.

The community benefits from effective services arising from a strong culture ofdata sharing and of review and improvement championed by the CCSU with theCCSU team acting as ‘points of contact’ for each CSP, to help facilitate improvedcommunication and working between local CSPs and the CCSU to improve theirefficiency and effectiveness e.g. development and use of SafetyNet+, a casemanagement system of anti-social behaviour and other areas such as hoarding toensure a joined up response from agencies.

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The CCSU joint commissioning activities allow for the strong aligning of budgetsand resources towards common goals – and better outcomes for the people ofHertfordshire e.g. a greater awareness amongst partner agencies and the public ofthe harm which legal highs can cause leads to changes in behaviours.

Leading and Partnership Working

The partnership co-location of agencies within the Unit allows for improvedsharing of intelligence and the joint planning of activities across agencies, inparticular the Police, County Council and Fire and Rescue.The CCSU undertakes a central facilitating and leadership role for the countywidenetwork, bringing together Responsible Authorities, the Office of the PCC,Community Safety Partnerships and commissioned services to share resourcesand priorities to work towards a common goal. It provides partners with strategicdocuments on community safety across the county with shared deliverables, e.g.Domestic Abuse, Alcohol and Drug strategies, and the unit acts as the strategiclead for areas of work which require an overarching strategy covering all districts,e.g. Integrated Offender Management and drugs and alcohol.

Supporting Local partners

The CCSU assists HCC in fulfilling its duty as a Responsible Authority under theCrime and Disorder Act, and so sits as such on each Responsible AuthoritiesGroup (RAG). It acts as a nominated point for engagement for the CSPs to accessthe expertise within the Unit, Directorate and Council. It works with the CSPs incommissioning in order to secure their willingness to get involved with delivery,e.g. taxi marshalling – a service to manage taxi queues in some districts to ensuresafe passage for members of the public using the night time economy.It leads the development of best practise e.g. guidance/support in undertakingDomestic Homicide Reviews. It services regular community safety groups, such asCSP’s for those working in this field across the county. Its effective support andprovision of useful intelligence ensures these are well-attended and regardedpositively by those involved.

The work of the CCSU is transparent to all organisations and partnerships affectedby it, with regular reporting on performance and costs. The involvement of PublicHealth in community safety and the CCSU is a major strength, e.g. in thosestrategies with a particularly strong health input; for example drugs and alcohol.The unit drives the development of strategy, which contains timetables for projectsand strategy drafting to ensure that partners are aware of the changing landscapeand can work with the unit. The CCSU provides a joint commissioning resource oncommunity safety, serving to align resources, maintain existing good practice, andprovide an integrated community safety governance structure for HertfordshireThe CCSU is a key point of liaison for communication with CSPs and ResponsibleAuthority Group (RAG) meetings.

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Resilience, Including the Local ResilienceForum Under The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 all public bodies are required to plan andprepare for emergencies that may affect them or the communities they serve. TheResilience Team coordinates and supports emergency planning and businesscontinuity arrangements across Hertfordshire County Council departments toensure that the Council can respond quickly and effectively to a wide range ofincidents and emergencies whilst continuing to deliver critical services duringtimes of disruption, when demand for services can increase rapidly. We alsocoordinate the provision of welfare support to the community and take a key role inthe recovery phase of emergencies.

We take a leading role within the County’s Local Resilience Forum, HertfordshireResilience, a multi-agency partnership which consists of the emergency servicesand all other organisations and agencies involved with emergency response in ourcommunities. We ensure the County Council plays a full role in the preparation ofmulti-agency, major incident response plans and in organising training andexercises to test emergency preparedness. The partnership also works to educateand raise the awareness of the people and communities of Hertfordshire so thatthey are better able to help themselves in an emergency.

We also provide a well-regarded and high performing traded service to district andborough councils in Hertfordshire, assisting them with the preparation andmaintenance of emergency response, business continuity and disaster recoveryplans by providing professional support and advice and a comprehensive trainingand awareness programme.

We don’t provide sandbags during flooding, although communities sometimesassume that we do, each district and borough council has its own policy.

Hertfordshire Local Resilience Forum, known as HertfordshireResilience

Local resilience forums (LRFs) are multi-agency partnerships made up ofrepresentatives from local public services, including the emergency services, localauthorities, the NHS, the Environment Agency and others. These agencies areknown as Category 1 Responders, as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act.

LRFs are supported by organisations, known as Category 2 responders, such asthe Highways Agency and public utility companies. They have a responsibility to co-operate with Category 1 organisations and to share relevant information with theLRF. The geographical area the forums cover is based on police areas.

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LRFs also work with other partners in the military and voluntary sectors whoprovide a valuable contribution to LRF work in emergency preparedness.

The LRFs aim to plan and prepare for localised incidents and catastrophicemergencies. They work to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans toeither prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident on their local communities.

The LRF is not a legal entity, nor does a Forum have powers to direct its members.Nevertheless, the CCA and the regulations provide that responders, through theForum, have a collective responsibility to plan, prepare and communicate in amulti-agency environment.

This responsibility is best fulfilled where the LRF is organised as a collaborativemechanism for delivery equipped to achieve the mutual aims and outcomesagreed by partners, able to monitor its own progress and strengths, and active inidentifying and developing necessary improvements.

Within Hertfordshire the LRF, known as Hertfordshire Resilience is chaired by theChief Fire Officer. The HCC Resilience Team provides the management andsecretariat function to support the LRF at no cost to the constituent bodies. TheLRF assesses the threats and risks to Hertfordshire and develops plans forresponse and recovery, should an incident occur. We aim to minimise the impact ofemergencies on Hertfordshire’s communities, properties and the environment andassist the return to normality as soon as possible by coordinating each of theconstituent bodies to ensure that a coordinated response is made to everyemergency in the County.

This is achieved through the development of plans, joint training and by followingand embedding the JESIP principles in all that we do.

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Community Protection Support ServicesCommunity Protection Support Services are responsible for a wide range ofservices and activities which ensure that the public facing elements of theDirectorate are able to deliver effectively. Many parts of Support Services provideadvice on specialist areas or subjects and in doing so they will explain therequirements of legislation and other guidance, however it will always remain therole of managers to listen to that guidance and consider how best to apply it in thesituation that they find themselves. Support Service specialists will do all they canto assist managers in their decision making but the ultimate responsibility mustalways reside with the manager.

The Health and Safety Team work closely with the HCC Health and Safety Team onmatters which are consistent across the Council. However fire service operationsdo introduce additional risks that would not be apparent in most workenvironments. The Team therefore provide advice and support to ensure that risksare identified and accurately assessed before control measures are implemented.The Team will assist with accident investigations and ensure that these identifylessons that can be learned to prevent future recurrence and ensure that safety isconsider in all that we do.

Our Technical Services Team are responsible for managing the procurement andmaintenance of the vehicles and equipment that our firefighters use every day.Working closely with Health and Safety colleagues the team ensure that ourvehicles and equipment comply with all relevant Health and Safety legislation fromprocurement to disposal via a programme of audit, inspection, testing andmaintenance to proscribed standards that ultimately enables the Head ofDepartment to report to Appliance and Equipment Planning Board (AEPB) and ofcourse Health and Safety Coordinating Group (HASCOG) to ensure that theDirectorate are able to identify trends or emerging issues and implement anymeasures to mitigate risk. The team are also responsible for all public firehydrants in the County and inspect and test these to ensure they are wellmaintained and operable. We also offer a chargeable service to inspect and testprivate fire hydrants.

The Digital Services Team maintain the equipment that a modern fire and rescueservice needs to ensure that emergency calls are taken and the subsequentmobilising instructions are correctly routed to make sure that the right FireEngines are sent to the right location as fast as possible, they also procure andmaintain the electronic equipment aboard our Fire Engines including that whichprovides risk information to crews attending incidents. In addition, this teamprovides and maintains all of the IT systems, applications, networks and hardwarethat a business needs to manage its normal functions.

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Our Occupational Health Team provide highly specialist medical support for ourpeople to ensure that they are mentally and physically prepared for the verytraumatic situations they may face, this may also include referrals to professionalmedical services provided by the National Health Service, private practicepsychologists or for treatment and recuperation via the Firefighters Charity.

Our Training and Development Centre Team based at the Joint EmergencyServices Academy deliver the vast majority of training for our staff. This includesleadership and management training to ensure that we are succession planningfor the future and for firefighters from Phase 1 at point of entry to continuation andmaintenance of competence training in Incident Command, Breathing Apparatus,Rescue and Firecraft to name but a few subjects. The Directorate Annual TrainingPlan (ATP) is drafted and delivered to the Strategic Operations and Training Board(SOTB) by the Head of Training at the end of each year, ready for the followingtwelve months. This ‘Board’ also preforms an assessment of the effectiveness oftraining interventions over the past year ready to report back to SeniorManagement. The underlying ethos of this team is to provide the Directorate withthe ‘right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time’

We are also fortunate to have a range of other specialists who either provide uswith their vital expertise in fields as diverse as human resources, building andfacility management and data analysis for performance reporting or link in tocolleagues in other areas to ensure that we are able to deliver all of the servicesnecessary to maintain our ability to deliver our services and keep the residents ofHertfordshire safe.

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GovernanceWe use the word governance to describe the manner in which boards direct theorganisation, but the term is equally relevant to the rules applying to that direction.Governance can also be applied to specific management process for exampleproject governance.

When we talk about governance in the context of the Community ProtectionDirectorate we are discussing the set of processes, customs and policies affectingthe way we direct, administer or control the Directorate. Corporate governancealso includes the relationships between the many stakeholders involved and ourcorporate goals or strategies. The principal stakeholders include the councillorselected by the public, the staff including managers and organisations such as staffrepresentative bodies as well as the public.

Hertfordshire County Council, and each directorate within it, is committed todemonstrating the highest standards of Corporate Governance. Good governanceleads to good management, good performance, effective use of resources, goodpublic involvement and ultimately good outcomes.

The Council's Code of Corporate Governance (“the Code”) comprises a range ofdocuments, policies, procedures, cultures and values and is the system throughwhich the business of the Council is directed and controlled. The Code underpinsthe aim of achieving good governance.

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The Fire AuthorityThere are 78 County Councillors in Hertfordshire, who are elected every four years.The next elections are due to take place in May 2021. They do not get a salary forbeing a councillor but they do get an allowance and expenses to cover their costs.

They each represent a different area of Hertfordshire and it is their job to representthe interests of the public. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 defines theCounty Council, that is the elected members, as the Fire Authority forHertfordshire.

The County Council Constitution is an extremely important document as it defineshow the organisation operates – it sets the rules within which the County Councilconducts its business and is informed, and informs the Council's Code ofCorporate Governance.

In order for the organisation to operate efficiently decisions need to be taken at themost appropriate level. No organisation can operate effectively if it requires everydecision to be taken by the most senior managers, and so the County Council has ascheme of delegation which sets out the authority delegated to various bodies orofficers to make decisions. The majority of day-to-day, operational decisions can bemade by officers without the need for broad consultation, however there will beoccasions, known as Key Decisions, where, perhaps by virtue of scale or the effecton multiple locations, it will be necessary for wider consultation either withcouncillors or the public is required. The delegations to HCC bodies and officers bythe Council are detailed in Annex 3 of the Constitution.

These delegations are often very broad, for example the following delegations aremade to the Director of Community Protection:

All functions relating to the Fire and Rescue Service except for changes1to duty schemes and closure of fire stations. All enforcement and licensing functions relating to Health and Safety2including the storage of explosives and petroleum.All functions relating to Trading Standards, Weights and Measures3and Consumer Protection.All functions relating to food standards and safety.4All functions relating to animal health and welfare, and animal feed.5All functions relating to Civil Aid and Emergency Planning.6

The Constitution therefore allows for sub-delegations which must be recorded inwriting in a register held by the HCC Legal Team. The sub-delegations with CPDmean that functions such as the authority to commence legal proceedings or theauthorisation of prohibition notices for fire safety contraventions can beundertaken by officers other than the Director.

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Key DecisionsBefore an officer exercises a delegated power the officer may need to inform orconsult a Councillor or Councillors in accordance with the table below. TheCouncillor to be informed or consulted is specified in the third column. If thematter is a purely technical, professional or routine matter, which is notcontroversial in any way, then Councillors will not need to be involved.

Significant decisions are known as Key Decisions and these should be planned inadvance with notice published that these will be taken in the next 4 months. Oncethe decision is taken then the decision record is also published. Both the forwardplan and the record of decisions is published on the HCC website: Officer KeyDecisions.

A simple rule of thumb which helps decide whether a decision is a key decision ornot would be a significant expenditure or saving (i.e. £500,000 or more) or thedecision affects one or more electoral wards.

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Significance of Proposed Action Controversial

Relevant Councillor(s) to beConsulted

Technical/Professional/Routine No No need to inform or consult

Councillors

Technical/Professional/Routine Yes

Consult relevant Lead ExecutiveMember and, where appropriate, LocalCouncillor

Local No Inform Lead Executive Member andLocal Councillor

Local Yes Consult Lead Executive Member andLocal Councillor

General or County-wide No Consult relevant Lead ExecutiveMember (s)

General or County-wideConsult relevantLead ExecutiveMember(s)

Consult relevant Lead ExecutiveMember and the Leader of the Council

Statement of AssuranceThe Fire and Rescue National Framework for England requires fire and rescueservices to publish an annual statement of assurance which outlines the way inwhich the authority and its fire and rescue service has delivered services whichmeet the National Framework, the Integrated Risk Management Plan and anystrategic plans. The authority must also provide assurance to their community andto government on financial, governance and operational matters. As HFRS is partof HCC there is technically no requirement for the Service to produce a separatedocument. However we choose to do so to ensure that similar visibility is affordedto HFRS as is expected of any other FRS. Read the latest HFRS Statement ofAssurance.

HCC Strategic Decision Making Process –Public

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CPD – Decision Making Bodies

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O

CFO Darryl Keen

Director of Community

Protection and Chief Fire Officer

DCFO Chris Bigland

Deputy Director of Community Protection

and Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Equalities Champion

ACO Gus Cuthbert

Assistant Chief Fire Officer � Response,

Resilience and Prevention

H&S Champion

AC Andy Hopcraft

Head of

Operational Response

AC Steve Holton

Head of

Prevention

Response Prevention

& HHSS

Guy Pratt

Assistant Director of Community

Protection - Strategic Prevention

and Regulatory Services

Andrew Butler

Head of Regulatory Services

Trading Standards

& Fire Protection

John Boulter

Head of Business Development,

Governance and Finance (SLFO)

Performance & Business Support,

Intelligence

(Data Management Team),

CCSU,

Commercial Services,

& R&D

ACO Steve Tant

Assistant Chief Fire Officer � Service

Support

Gill Goodchild

Head of Specialist Services

AC Tony Morrison

Head of Training, Technical and

Digital Services

H&S,

Property,

OHU,

Equalities,

& HR

Tech Services

Training

& IT (not Data Team)

Key:

SLG Member Line Management Directorate Champion

V01/01/2020

CPD Management Structure

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CPD – Planning We will use our strategic aims of Plan and Respond to Emergencies, Prevent andProtect and Be an Excellent Organisation to focus our organisational plans andrealise our vision and strategic priorities.

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How We Measure Success For an organisation to be as effective as possible all of its parts must beperforming at their best, this ranges from individual members of staff rightthrough to the largest teams. Whilst it is important to provide clear direction toteams and individuals it is not sufficient to simply set strategy and expect this to beimplemented without the support and understanding of staff at all levels acrossthe organisation. We therefore ensure that effective communication, performancemanagement process and management information are in place to support this.

Therefore Community Protection managers manage performance at a number oflevels, whilst the Directorate itself is monitored by the County Council StrategicManagement Board (SMB) which is made up of the Chief Executive and theDirectors of all six Directorates including the Director of Community Protection(Chief Fire Officer).

Throughout the organisation a performance management framework isimplemented which starts with individual performance objectives set out for allmembers of staff in conjunction with their line manager at the start of each yearas part of the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS).Managers then set team, and departmental objectives which will be recorded indocuments such as Watch Agreements and District Plans. The DirectorateStrategic Leadership Group (SLG) sets overall objectives which align with the HCCCorporate Plan and provide direction for the teams below through the annualDirectorate Action Plan (DAP).

Performance is then assessed, again in a variety of ways; regular 1:1’s areundertaken by managers and formalised as a minimum through six-monthlyperformance reviews. Organisational performance is reviewed using methods suchas the Service Scorecard, which builds to provide performance information toinform the quarterly review of the DAP. This also informs the QuarterlyPerformance Monitor which is presented to SMB, both are drawn together toprovide a six-monthly performance report to Elected Members at the CommunitySafety and Waste Management Panel (follow this link for the performance reportsand other documents presented to Members).

Further information on organisational performance management across theCounty Council can be found here on the HCC website, information on the PMDSsystem is available on the HCC Intranet here.

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GlossaryThe Authority This is the political leadership of the

organisation made up of 78 publically elected councillors

The Fire Authority This is the political leadership of HFRS and is the HCC Cabinet

CCA Civil Contingencies Act

CCSU County Community Safety Unit

Designated Sports Under the provisions of the Safety of Sports Ground Grounds Act 1975 the Secretary of state for

Culture, Media and Sport may designate as requiring a safety certificate any sports ground that has accommodation for more than 10,000 spectators, or 5,000 in the case of Premier League and Football League grounds in England and Wales. These sports grounds are referred to as designated grounds.

FRSA or FRS Act Fire and Rescue Services Act

FRS Fire and Rescue Service

HFRS Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service

HASAW The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

IP or Integrated Plan The annual HCC budget setting process

IRMP Integrated Risk Management Plan

JESIP Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles

LRF Local Resilience Forum

Regulated Stand A Regulated Stand is defined in the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 as any covered stand at a sports ground with accommodation for 500 or more spectators, whether seating or standing.

RRO Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order

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Version Control Template

Version Date Edits Approved by

V1.2020 -140420 210120 Page 16 - removed word and removed incorrect spacing between 2 paras. Angela

V1.2020 -070220 070220 Wording throughout the whole document and CPD Organisational structure

chart update Lucy/Darryl

V.1 2020 - 110220 110220 Sort out the JESIP hyperlink on Page 29 - Missing ‘J’ and ‘Principles’ Lucy/Darryl

V.1 2020 -130220 130220 Wording throughout the whole document and added a page for the ‘Mission

Statement’ Cogs Lucy/Darryl

V.1 2020 -180220 180220 Deleted Cogs page and added Mission Statement on Vision Page Lucy/Darryl

V.1 2020-020320 020320 Changed our aims and objectives diagram - formated a page Lucy/Darryl