Performance Committee
Wednesday, 4 December 2024, at 10.00 amin the Main Conference Room, Service Headquarters, Fulwood.
Minutes
Present: |
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Councillors
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P Britcliffe
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M Clifford
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F De Molfetta (Chair)
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N Hennessy
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T Hurn
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H Khan (Vice-Chair)
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D O'Toole
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M Salter
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Officers |
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J Charters, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (LFRS) P Jones, Area Manager, Head of Service Delivery (LFRS) M Warwick, Group Manager, Community Protection Manager, Southern (LFRS) Z Scott, Campaigns Officer, Corporate Communications (LFRS) S Hunter, Member Services Manager (LFRS) L Barr, Member Services Officer (LFRS) |
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In attendance
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15/24 |
Apologies For Absence
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Apologies were received from County Councillors Paul Rigby and Barrie Yates.
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16/24 |
Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests
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None received.
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17/24 |
Minutes of Previous Meeting
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Resolved: - That the Minutes of the last meeting held on the 04 September 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
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18/24 |
Performance Management Information
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The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented a comprehensive report to the Performance Committee. This was the 2nd quarterly report for 2024/25 as detailed in the Community Risk Management Plan 2022-2027.
This quarter, one Key Performance Indicator (KPI), 2.9 Business Fire Safety Checks, was shown in positive exception and one Key Performance Indicator, 3.3 Total Fire Engine Availability, was shown in negative exception.
Members examined each indicator in turn focusing on those KPIs in exception as follows:
KPI 1 – Valuing our people so that they can focus on making Lancashire safer
1.1 Overall Staff Engagement
Members received an update on how staff were engaged during the period.
From July to September 2024, 26 station visits were carried out by Principal Officers and Area Managers as part of the service-wide engagement programme. Fifty-three wellbeing interactions were undertaken ranging from workshops with crews to wellbeing support dog interactions.
The views of staff were sought by a survey on how useful people find the appraisal conversation in order to improve the quality of appraisals.
The Service engaged with staff over several topics that related to the Service’s fleet and equipment, which included two items designed to enhance firefighter protection from harmful particulates found in soot and smoke: particulate flash hoods and particulate filters for face masks. A wildfire team along with learning and development centre trainers were trialling devices to monitor heat stress in firefighters, and a new hose reel was also being trialled.
Improvement works at Blackpool Fire Station and plans for new training props at the Leadership and Development Centre had been the subject of staff engagement relating to property projects.
As previously reported: A comprehensive staff survey was undertaken periodically to gain insight from all staff on a range of topics which included leadership, training and development, health and wellbeing, and equality, diversity, and inclusion. The feedback was used to shape future activity and bring about improvements and new ideas. The survey included a staff engagement index which was a measure of overall staff engagement based on levels of pride, advocacy, attachment, inspiration, and motivation. The current staff engagement score index was 74% (2023).
The engagement index was calculated based on five questions that measured pride, advocacy, attachment, inspiration, and motivation; factors that were understood to be important features shared by staff who were engaged with the organisation.
For each respondent, an engagement score was calculated as the average score across the five questions, where strongly disagree was equivalent to 0, disagree was equivalent to 25, neither agree nor disagree was equivalent to 50, agree was equivalent to 75 and strongly agree was equivalent to 100. The engagement index was then calculated as the average engagement score in the organisation. This approach meant that a score of 100 was equivalent to all respondents saying strongly agree to all five engagement questions, while a score of 0 was equivalent to all respondents saying strongly disagree to all five engagement questions.
During the survey period, the corporate communications department visited wholetime and on-call crews on 51 occasions to encourage participation in the survey. Five focus groups were held with on-call units by the Service’s independent researcher to obtain qualitative feedback on on-call specific matters, to complement the survey data.
In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy regarding the periodic undertaking of the staff survey and the response rate, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that Corporate Communications would commence a new staff survey within the current year. The response rates were characteristic of those in other organisations, however, the Corporate Communications department constantly developed ways to increase responses. He cited one Fire Service that made a donation of £5 to the Firefighters Charity for every survey returned which increased the number of returns by providing an incentive.
1.2.1 Staff Absence Wholetime
This indicator measured the cumulative number of shifts (days) lost due to sickness for all wholetime staff divided by the total average strength.
Annual Standard: Not more than 8 shifts lost. Annual Shifts Lost ÷ 4 quarters = 2
Cumulative total number of shifts lost: 3.200
1.2.2 Staff Absence On-Call (OC)
This indicator measured the percentage of contracted hours lost due to sickness for all on-call contracted staff.
Annual Standard: No more than 2.5% lost as a % of available hours of cover.
Cumulative on-call absence (as a % of available hours cover) at the end of the quarter, 1.18%.
County Councillor Salter queried, in relation to the KPI, whether the standard of 2.5% should be lowered as the Service was performing particularly well. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that the Service was overperforming by a fraction of a percent although the construction of the graph made it look more severe. A review of the KPI was a Member decision.
1.2.3 Staff Absence Greenbook
This indicator measured the cumulative number of shifts (days) lost due to sickness for all green book support staff divided by the average strength.
Annual Standard: Not more than 8 shifts lost. Annual Shifts Lost ÷ 4 quarters: 2
Cumulative shifts lost: 2.928
1.3.1 Workforce Diversity
This indicator measured diversity as a percentage.
Combined diversity percentage of grey book (operational) and green book (support) staff. The percentages outside of the brackets represented the current quarter, with the percentage within the brackets illustrating the same quarter of the previous year:
Gender: Female 23%(21%) Male 77%(79%) Ethnicity: BME 4%(3%) White 93%(94%) Not stated 3%(3%) Sexual Orientation: LGBT 4%(4%) Heterosexual 59%(54%) Not stated 37%(42%) Disability: Disability 3%(3%) No disability 94%(95%) Not stated 3%(2%)
Diversity percentage by Grey Book Staff and Green Book Staff. Counts included double counts if the member of staff was dual contracted between Grey and Green Book.
Separate diversity percentage of grey book (operational) and green book (support) staff:
Gender: Female Grey book 11% Green book 62% Male Grey book 89% Green book 38%
Ethnicity: BME Grey book 3% Green book 5% White Grey book 94% Green book 86% Not stated Grey book 3% Green book 9%
Sexual Orientation: LGBT Grey book 4% Green book 3% Heterosexual Grey book 58% Green book 63% Not stated Grey book 38% Green book 34%
Disability: Disability Grey book 3% Green book 4% No disability Grey book 95% Green book 90% Not stated Grey book 2% Green book 6%
1.3.2 Workforce Diversity Recruited
This new indicator measured workforce diversity recruited as a percentage.
Combined diversity percentage of grey book (operational) and green book (support) staff. The percentages outside of the brackets represented the current quarter, with the percentage within the brackets illustrating the same quarter of the previous year:
Gender: Female 59%(37%) Male 41%(63%) Ethnicity: BME 6%(5%) White 26%(85%) Not Stated 68%(10%) Sexual Orientation: LGBT 6%(5%) Heterosexual 79%(85%) Not stated 15%(10%) Disability: Disability 6%(2%) No disability 91%(93%) Not stated 3%(5%)
During quarter 2, there were a total of 24 new entrants.
It was noted that a further breakdown of the data would not be provided as it may enable the identification of individuals, due to the small numbers of persons recruited during the period.
1.4 Staff Accidents
This indicator measured the number of accidents which occurred to staff members at work within the quarter: Wholetime, On-Call and Greenbook.
Total number of staff accidents, 10 for quarter 2; year to date 30; previous year to date 34. Quarterly activity decreased 44.44% over the same quarter of the previous year.
KPI 2 - Preventing, fires and other emergencies from happening and Protecting people and property when fires happen
2.1 Risk Map Score
This indicator measured the fire risk in each Super Output Area, of which there were 942. Risk was determined using fire activity over the previous 3 fiscal years along with a range of demographic data, such as population and deprivation. The County risk map score was updated annually and presented to the Performance Committee in the quarter 1 reporting period.
Annual Standard: To reduce the risk in Lancashire – an annual reduction in the County risk map score.
(Dwelling Fires ÷ Total Dwellings) + (Dwelling Fire Casualties ÷ Resident Population x 4) + Building Fire + (IMD x 2) = Risk Score.
The current score was 30,750 and the previous year’s score was 31,170 which meant that the fire risk continued to reduce.
2.2 Overall Activity
This indicator measured the number of incidents that LFRS attended with one or more pumping appliances. Incidents attended included fires, special service calls, false alarms and collaborative work undertaken with other emergency services i.e.: missing person searches on behalf of the Lancashire Constabulary (LanCon) and gaining entry incidents at the request of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS).
Incidents attended, year to date 8,669; previous year to date 9,525. Quarterly activity decreased 0.54% over the same quarter of the previous year.
In quarter 2, the Service attended 4,396 incidents. The report presented a chart which represented the count and percentage that each activity had contributed to the overall quarter’s activity:
· Total False Alarm Calls (due to apparatus, good intent and malicious) – 2004, 46% · Total Primary Fire Calls (accidental dwelling / building and deliberate dwelling / commercial fires and other primary fires) – 428, 10% · Total Secondary Fire Calls (deliberate and accidental fires) – 813, 18% · Total Special Service Calls (critical incidents, gaining entry, RTCs, Flooding and other critical incidents) – 1144, 26%
2.3 Accidental Dwelling Fires (ADF)
This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of the fire had been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known'.
Members noted that a primary fire was one involving property (excluding derelict property) or any fires involving casualties, rescues or any fire attended by 5 or more pumping appliances.
Accidental Dwelling Fires, 161 in quarter 2; year to date 327; previous year to date 374. Quarterly activity decreased 5.85% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.3.1 ADF – Harm to people: Casualties
This indicator reported the number of fire related fatalities, slight and serious injuries at primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental or Not known.’
A slight injury was defined as; a person attending hospital as an outpatient (not precautionary check). A serious injury was defined as; at least an overnight stay in hospital as an in-patient.
Fatal 3 in quarter 2; year to date 5; previous year to date 1 Injuries appear Serious 2 in quarter 2; year to date 2; previous year to date 7 Injuries appear Slight 6 in quarter 2; year to date 23; previous year to date 20
Quarterly activity increased 22.22% over the same quarter of the previous year.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer informed Members that sadly, 2 fatalities in quarter 2 related to a tragic incident in Blackpool where a young couple lost their lives, and a small child was hospitalised with burns.
One male lost his life in a gas explosion in a property in the Ribble Valley.
All three fatalities were subject to Coroner proceedings.
2.3.2 ADF – Harm to property: Extent of damage (fire severity)
This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘'Accidental' or 'Not known'.
Extent of fire, heat and smoke damage was recorded at the time the ‘stop’ message was sent and included all damage types.
The table in the report showed a breakdown of fire severity with a directional indicator that compared:
Current quarter, combined percentage of 85% against same quarter of the previous year, combined percentage of 86%.
Combined quarterly percentage had therefore decreased 1.36% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.4 Accidental Building Fires (ABF) (Commercial Premises) This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a building had been affected (which was other than a dwelling or a private building associated with a dwelling), and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘'Accidental' or 'Not known'.
ABF (Commercial Premises), 60 in quarter 2; year to date 132; previous year to date 127. Quarterly activity increased 5.26% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.4.1 ABF (Commercial Premises) – Harm to property: Extent of damage (fire severity)
This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a building had been affected (which was other than a dwelling or a private building associated with a dwelling), and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘'Accidental' or 'Not known'.
Extent of fire, heat and smoke damage was recorded at the time the ‘stop’ message was sent and included all damage types.
The table in the report showed a breakdown of fire severity with a directional indicator that compared:
· current quarter, combined percentage of 82% against · same quarter of the previous year, combined percentage of 71%.
Combined quarterly percentage had therefore increased 10.7% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.5 Accidental Building Fires (Non-Commercial Premises) This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a private garage, private shed, private greenhouse, private summerhouse, or other private non-residential building had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘Not known.’
ABF (Non-Commercial Premises), 21 in quarter 2; year to date 42; previous year to date 49. Quarterly activity increased 133.33% over the same quarter of the previous year.
County Councillor Salter asked the reason for the spike in activity in June of 2023/24. Area Manager, Phil Jones advised that the weather had been hot and dry over that period and those conditions often increased the number of accidental building fires which initially could be caused as a secondary fire to grass fires and burning shrubbery spreading to property.
2.5.1 ABF (Non-Commercial premises: Private garages and sheds) – Harm to property: Extent of damage (fire severity)
This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a private garage, private shed, private greenhouse, private summerhouse, or other private non-residential building had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental’ or ‘Not known.’
Extent of fire, heat and smoke damage was recorded at the time the ‘stop’ message was sent and included all damage types.
The table in the report showed a breakdown of fire severity with a directional indicator that compared:
· current quarter, combined percentage of 10% against · same quarter of the previous year, combined percentage of 11%.
Combined quarterly activity had therefore decreased 1.6% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.6 Deliberate Fires Total: Specific performance measure of deliberate fires
This indicator provided an overall measure of primary and secondary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as deliberate.
Deliberate Fires – 543 in quarter 2; year to date 1,038; previous year to date 1,145. Quarterly activity increased 17.79% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.6.1 Deliberate Fires – Dwellings
This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as deliberate.
Deliberate Fires – Dwellings, 17 in quarter 2, year to date 42; previous year to date 49. Quarterly activity decreased 32.00% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.6.2 Deliberate Fires - Commercial Premises
This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the property type was a building, other than a dwelling or a private building associated with a dwelling, and the cause of fire had been recorded as deliberate.
Deliberate Fires – Commercial Premises, 21 in quarter 2; year to date 70; previous year to date 72.
Quarterly activity decreased 30.00% over the same quarter of the previous year.
A second incident activity line was shown on the graph which excluded Crown premises which fell outside of the Service’s legislative jurisdiction.
2.6.3 Deliberate Fires – Other (rubbish, grassland, vehicles etc).
This indicator reported the number of primary and secondary fires where the property type was other than a building, except where the building was recorded as derelict, and the cause of fire had been recorded as deliberate.
The majority of deliberate fires were outdoor secondary fires and included grassland and refuse fires. Derelict vehicle fires were also included under secondary fires.
Deliberate Fires – Other, 505 in quarter 2; year to date 926; previous year to date 1,024. Quarterly activity increased 24.38% over the same quarter of the previous year.
2.7 Home Fire Safety Checks
This indicator reported the percentage of completed Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSC), excluding refusals, carried out where the risk score had been determined to be high.
An improvement was shown if:
· the total number of HFSC’s completed was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year; and · the percentage of high HFSC outcomes was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year.
HFSCs completed, 6,308 in quarter 2; year to date 5,807; previous year to date 11,737. Quarterly activity increased 6.4% against the same quarter of the previous year.
HFSCs with high-risk outcomes, Quarter 2, 52%; previous year Quarter 2, 52%.
High risk outcomes remained static against the same quarter of the previous year.
2.8 Numbers of prevention activities such as Childsafe, wasted lives etc
Members received an update on the number of sessions delivered against the following prevention activities during the quarter:
ChildSafe, 6 sessions delivered to 170 students; RoadSense, 25 sessions delivered to 895 students; SENDSafe, 1 session delivered to 80 students; Wasted Lives, 5 sessions delivered to 205 students; Biker Down, 3 sessions delivered to 51 attendees; FIRES, 45 referrals opened prior to Q2 and carried over. 42 referrals received in Q2. 43 referrals closed in Q2. 44 referrals carried to 2024-25, Q3; Partner Training (including care providers), 22 sessions delivered to 4 different partners, with 231 delegates receiving training;
Specific Education packages – delivered Water Safety, BrightSparx, ASB, Deliberate Fire Setting etc (Covers key stages 2, 3 and 4). 46 in school water safety sessions, delivered to 4,755 students & 6 virtual sessions delivered to 7,600 pupils.
Arson Threat Referrals – 233.
2.9 Business Fire Safety Checks
This indicator reported the number of Business Fire Safety Check (BFSC’s) completed and whether the result was satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If the result of a BFSC was unsatisfactory, fire safety advice would be provided to help the business comply with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. If critical fire safety issues were identified, then a business safety advisor would conduct a follow-up intervention.
A +/-10% tolerance was applied to the completed BFSCs and the year to date (YTD) BFSCs, against both the quarterly and YTD targets. When both counts were outside of the 10% tolerance, they would be deemed in exception which enabled local delivery to flex with the needs of their district plan over the quarters.
BFSCs completed, 943 in quarter 2; Cumulative 1,867; YTD target, 1,250; previous YTD 1,719.
Cumulative YTD BFSCs being satisfactory, 1,606. Top 5 completed satisfactory premise types (Shops 629, Factories/Warehouses 231, Other Workplaces 198, Offices 141, Other Public Premises 124).
Cumulative YTD BFSCs being unsatisfactory, 261. Top 5 completed unsatisfactory premise types (Shops 119, Factories/Warehouses 40, Licensed Premises 23, Other Workplaces 23, Offices 18).
The positive exception report was due to the number of completed Business Fire Safety Checks (BFSCs) being greater than 10% of the quarterly target, and the cumulative year to date target.
The BFSC intervention was now well embedded into Service Delivery. The first of two Built Environment Virtual Training (BEVT) sessions were delivered in 2023 and the second phase of BEVT roll out was due to begin in 2025.
Protection grey book staff had commenced with Strengthening Operational Awareness days in Q2 which had seen them begin to quality assure the BFSC delivery and support the transition of crews staring to undertake BFSCs in more high-risk sleeping premises types.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer highlighted that, due to the intervention and engagement, the Service had vastly overperformed for the first 6 months of the year.
Referencing a TV programme he witnessed where a fire extinguisher was loosely placed in a nursery and could easily have been removed by children, County Councillor O’Toole queried whether the positioning of fire extinguishers was incorporated into Business Fire Safety Checks. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that correct fire extinguisher positioning was included, and it would be rare to see a fire extinguisher which was not correctly mounted due to the many designs available to secure them. He added that fire extinguishers were usually placed on an exit route, were appropriate for the type of risk, and should be tested annually under an individual premise’s health & safety policy/fire safety policies.
Area Manager, Phil Jones advised that, due to an uplift in the training of Operational staff, they were now carrying out BFSCs on premises types that they would not usually access, and some employers/landlords had been prosecuted due to dangerous practices.
In response to a question from County Councillor Clifford regarding the placing of a fire extinguisher at a local petrol station which had been taken by youths and sprayed in the area, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that fire extinguishers needed to be securely placed but easily accessible for use in the event of a fire. He advised that he would have Protection staff follow up with business support advice to the premises if Councillor Clifford so wished and shared details of the specific site being discussed.
2.9.1 Fire Safety Activity (including Business Fire Safety Checks)
This indicator reported the number of Fire Safety Enforcement inspections carried out within the period which resulted in supporting businesses to improve and become compliant with fire safety regulations or where formal action of enforcement and prosecution had been taken for those that failed to comply.
An improvement was shown if the percentage of audits that required formal activity was greater than the comparable quarter of the previous year.
Total Fire Safety Enforcement Inspections, Quarter 2, 524; Formal Activity in Quarter 2, 6%, same quarter of the previous year 6%. Quarterly activity remained static against the same quarter of the previous year.
Members noted the cumulative number of Fire Safety inspections undertaken for 2024/25 was 1,054.
2.10 Building Regulation Consultations (BRC) (number and completed on time)
Where the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applied to premises (or would apply following building work) the building control body must consult with LFRS for comments / advice regarding fire safety. LFRS should make any comments in writing within 15 working days from receiving a BRC.
This indicator provided Members with information on the number of building regulations consultations received during the period together with improvement actions.
In Quarter 2, Building Regulation Consultations received 226, of which 220 were completed within the timeframe (LFRS should make comments in writing within 15 working days of receiving a BRC).
Current focus within the department:
To comply with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Competency Framework for Fire Safety Regulators, Level 4 qualified Fire Safety Inspectors must complete consultations. It was the same inspectors who were required to complete intervention work in high risk, complex premises identified by the risk-based intervention program. Consequently, use of finite resources must be fully co-ordinated and balanced. To achieve this and ensure consultation timelines were achieved: · The implementation of centralised building regulations onto the Community Fire Risk Management Information System (CFRMIS) and assigning dedicated resource to consistently input new applications continued to improve the Service’s efficiency at responding to the majority within statutory timescales.
KPI 3 - Responding to fire and other emergencies quickly
3.1 Critical Fire Response – 1st Fire Engine Attendance
This indicator reported the ‘Time of Call’ (TOC) and ‘Time in Attendance’ (TIA) of the first fire engine arriving at the incident in less than the relevant response standard.
The response standards included call handling and fire engine response time for the first fire engine attending a critical fire, as follows: -
· Very high-risk area = 6 minutes · High risk area = 8 minutes · Medium risk area = 10 minutes · Low risk area = 12 minutes
The response standards were determined by the risk map score and subsequent risk grade for the location of the fire.
Standards were achieved when the time between the ‘Time of Call’ (TOC) and ‘Time in Attendance’ (TIA) of the first fire engine arriving at the incident, averaged over the quarter, was less than the relevant response standard. Expressed in minutes & seconds.
Critical Fire Response – 1st Fire Engine Attendance, Quarter 2, Very High 05:55 min; High 06:35 min, Medium 06:51 min, Low 09:05 min.
Q2 overall 07:42 min. Year to date overall 07:41 min. Previous year to date overall 07:24 min.
3.2 Critical Special Service Response – 1st Fire Engine Attendance
This indicator reported the ‘Time of Call’ (TOC) and ‘Time in Attendance’ (TIA) of the first fire engine arriving at the incident in less than the relevant response standard.
The response standard included how long it took the first fire engine to respond to critical special service (non-fire) incidents where there was a risk to life such as road traffic collisions, rescues, and hazardous materials incidents. For these critical special service call incidents there was a single response standard of 13 minutes (which measured call handling time and fire engine response time).
Critical Special Service Response – 1st Fire Engine Attendance, 08:36 min in quarter 2; year to date 08:29 min; previous year to date 08:34 min.
3.3 Total Fire Engine Availability
This indicator measured the availability of the 1st fire engine at each of the 39 fire stations. It was measured as the percentage of time the 1st fire engine was available to respond compared to the total time in the period.
Standard: to be in attendance within response standard target on 90% of occasions.
Total Fire Engine Availability, 86.18% in quarter 2; year to date 86.54%; previous year to date 88.66%.
Quarterly availability decreased 1.66% over the same quarter of the previous year.
The negative exception report was due to the 1st fire appliance availability percentage being below the lower control limit during quarter 2.
Overall availability across all stations for the quarter recorded 86.18%, which was 3.82% below the 90% standard, although only the months of July and August recorded availability below the lower control limit of 86.80%
The availability by each of the stations designated first pump crewing type: Wholetime – 99.20% Day Crewing Plus – 99.00% Flexi Day Crewing – 99.17% On-Call – 69.41% Total – 86.18%
Whilst all the Whole-Time (WT) appliances achieved exceptional availability, the 1st appliance at the wholly On-Call stations contributed to the availability falling below the 90% standard. As such, the exception report was focused on On-Call availability.
On-Call recruitment, development, and retention was a national challenge which had seen a downward trend in availability over several years.
A shortage of staff with the Officer in Charge (OIC) skill was a significant contributing factor to low On-Call availability. On-Call Support Officers (OCSOs) were working with station-based staff and management, together with Training Centre, to support those in development and identify opportunities for staff to acquire those skills earlier in their career.
Actions being taken to improve performance:
· The On Call Improvement Programme (OCIP) was driving transformation across the Service with several workstreams to improve recruitment, development, and retention. · Incident Command trainers had reviewed the process for On-Call Incident Command Courses, which had resulted in 10 courses and 58 staff being trained as OICs in 2024. This was a significant increase in course delivery from previous delivery. · On-Call Performance Management training for Station Managers and Unit Managers was completed in Q2, which included the roll-out of sector-leading innovative software for On-Call Availability, Recruitment and Skills (OARS). The software was developed in collaboration with an On-Call academic and a software designer. The software had improved the efficiency and effectiveness of workforce planning, development, and performance. OARS was the first of its kind nationally, and the Service had demonstrated the project and software as best practice at the NFCC On-Call Conference in September. · On-Call recognition events would commence in Q3, to acknowledge the dedication and efforts of the Service’s On-Call firefighters, their families, and their employers.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer informed Members that the National Joint Council (NJC) had carried out a review of On-Call pay arrangements and in response to that, the Service would evaluate current pay arrangements and revise how staff were paid to improve availability. Due to societal factors and work/life balance, the hours of cover for a typical On-Call firefighter had reduced over recent years. It was considered that having fewer On-Call firefighters providing increased availability would be more cost effective for the Service as the associated costs of training and equipment would be lower. The NJC had proposed that where an employee provided cover for less than 120 hours per week, the banding would be: up to and including 30 hours per week; from 31 hours per week and up to and including 60 hours per week; from 61 hours per week and up to and including 90 hours per week; and from 91 hours per week and up to and including 119 hours with employees being remunerated on that basis. The Service considered that those bandings were too broad and felt that 15-hour bandings would be more effective. Initial proposals would be developed and would then be put out to consultation. It was noted that the NJC proposals did not offer the opportunity for On-Call firefighter to earn more than they currently did in LFRS as the Service paid more than the national grey book pay rates.
In response to a question from County Councillor O’Toole in relation to restrictions placed on on-Call firefighters, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that there were geographical restrictions as they would typically need to live or work within 5 minutes travel time of a fire station. The Service did not stipulate how much cover a potential On-call firefighter had to provide but they would be taken through the recruitment process if their hours of availability were beneficial to that unit. The NJC proposals provided an opportunity to offer lower hours contracts which, in turn, provided the Service with the opportunity to engage differently with businesses to secure the release of staff for valuable day time cover.
County Councillor Hasina Khan joined the meeting (10.22am).
KPI 4 - Delivering value for money in how we use our resources
4.1 Progress Against Allocated Budget
Members received an update on spend against the approved budget for the year.
The annual budget for 2024/25 was set at £75.1 million. Spend at the end of September 2024 was £34.5 million. The annual forecast was £75 million, which was a small underspend of (£0.1) million.
The revised capital budget for 2024/25 was £12 million and spend at the end of September was £1.7 million. The total annual spend forecast was £5.8 million, and £0.3 million savings had been identified predominantly in Information Technology (IT). It was also anticipated £5.9 million expenditure would slip into 2025/26. Extended lead times and resourcing shortfalls resulted in the slippage.
Quarter 2 variance -0.13%.
4.2 Partnership Collaboration
Under the Policing and Crime Act 2017, blue light services were under a formal duty to collaborate to improve efficiency, effectiveness and deliver improved outcomes.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), Lancashire Constabulary and North West Ambulance Service had met at both tactical and strategic levels and had agreed and signed a strategic statement of intent which contained the following aims:
• Improved Outcomes – The collaboration maintains or improves the service we provide to local people and local communities; • Reduce Demand – The collaboration should contribute towards our longer-term strategic objective of decreasing risk in communities and reducing demand on services; • Better Value for Money – The collaboration produces quantifiable efficiencies either on implementation or in the longer term; • Reduced inequalities within our communities – The collaboration contributes towards reducing inequalities wherever possible.
This indicator provided Members with an update on the progress against key workstreams being progressed under the Blue Light Collaboration Board (BLCB) partnership collaboration during the period.
Leadership Development Partners had scoped collaboration opportunities for leadership development. Each Service agreed to host a leadership development event for senior leaders from all three organisations. Lancashire Fire and Rescue (LFRS) hosted the first event in October, which focused on ‘Leadership (and well-being)’ and explored cross-coaching. The event was a success with over 60 people attending from across all three services and the partners met in November to develop cross-coaching opportunities.
The Service was planning the next session which would be hosted by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) in early February 2025, where the focus for the event would be on ‘Media’.
Lancashire Police in Spring 2025 would host the final session. The group were considering an interesting area round ‘Generational Differences’ with a view to potentially exploring that as the final topic.
Estates and Co-location This project was a long-term work stream which could deliver significant efficiencies and effectiveness where co-location sites were identified.
In October, the project objectives were reviewed and affirmed, aligned to the Strategic Board objectives. The Estates and Co-location workstream focused on four key areas: Sharing knowledge and information, estates and asset integration, resilience and shared opportunities in support functions, and financial opportunities.
Blue Light partners were reviewing property asset management strategies to identify potential areas for co-ordinating future development plans over the next 5-10 years and discussions were continuing in relation future opportunities. All current locations for each organisation had been mapped, with the focus on understanding the of longer-term plans for each service. The LFRS ‘Preston Area Review’ continued to be discussed and considered with the Blue Light partners regarding collaboration opportunities.
Community First Responders The workstream involved LFRS volunteering as Community First Responders (CFR) to support NWAS. LFRS staff volunteers undertook an initial CFR training programme at LFRS Training Centre. Once qualified, they could shadow existing CFR practitioners to develop their clinical abilities and build confidence in their newly acquired skills.
The Service now had 13 LFRS staff volunteers responding to life threatening emergencies in Lancashire from the workplace and administering life-saving interventions in the initial vital minutes before NWAS colleagues arrived. Since the workstream commenced in 2023, LFRS had responded to more than 180 CFR incidents that included unresponsive/collapsed, not breathing, cardiac arrests, seizures, strokes, and choking. It had resulted in many successful outcomes.
The Service was now scoping ‘Phase 3’ of the workstream which would involve On-Call staff volunteers becoming CFRs within more remote parts of the county, where NWAS resources and response times could be more challenges. This would further improve outcomes for medical emergencies within those communities.
4.3 Overall User Satisfaction
People surveyed included those who had experienced an accidental dwelling fire, a commercial fire, or a special service incident that the Service attended. The standard was achieved if the percentage of satisfied responses was greater than the standard.
Annual Standard: 98.71%
In quarter 2, 77 people had been surveyed and the number satisfied with the service was 75. The running number of people surveyed for the year was 3,720 with 3,672 of those people being satisfied with the Service; 98.71% against a standard of 97.50%; a variance of 1.24%.
In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy in relation to the potential HMI gradings pertaining to information in the Performance Measuring Progress Report, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that overall, the report was positive and the KPIs that had been in exception over recent years were areas of national challenge which were now experiencing a marked improvement. He added that Blue Light Collaboration was an area of increased incident activity which added value to the public. It was expected that the HMI would take an interest in all areas of Performance and management of risk in Lancashire such as prevention and protection activity, and staff engagement, highlighting existing good practice. It was noted that as the Assistant Chief Fire Officer was the Lead Officer for Performance Committee and would be new to the Service at the time of the inspection, Jon Charters would take the lead or assist with any interviews by the HMI.
County Councillor Clifford asked for clarification on a discussion at Resources Committee where the Director of Corporate Services stated that LFRS would be one of the last Services to be inspected on the old inspection system as opposed to the new system. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that the Services HMI Inspection should have taken place earlier in the year but had been postponed due to staffing challenges. It was complimentary to LFRS as they had postponed inspections on those Services which were perceived to be performing well. The outcome of the upcoming inspection would determine the timeframe for the following inspection.
The Chair commented that LFRS had always been a top performing organisation which he was confident would continue.
County Councillor O’Toole stated that the HMI Inspection had been postponed 3 times in his time as Chair of the Authority and he was also confident that the Service would perform well in the upcoming inspection.
The Chair thanked the Assistant Fire Officer for a positive report.
Resolved: - That the Performance Committee noted and endorsed the Quarter 2 Measuring Progress report, including one positive and one negative exceptions.
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19/24 |
Cooking Safety Campaign Overview Presentation
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The Chair welcomed Campaigns Officer, Zoe Scott and Group Manager, Community Protection Manager, Mark Warwick to provide the Committee with a presentation detailing the delivery of the Cooking Safety Campaign in July 2023 which aimed to reduce the number of cooking-related incidents by educating the public on safe practices and encouraging behaviour change. July was chosen as the month for the campaign due to a seasonal spike in incidents involving barbeques etc., and it aligned with the NFCC (National Fire Chiefs Council) campaign calendar.
Cooking related incidents continued to be the largest cause of Accidental Dwelling Fires (ADFs) (KPI 2.3) in Lancashire, with 317 reported incidents in 2023. Of the 317 fires in 2023 the significant causes were: distraction (152 cases); using the hob as a work surface (111 cases); and accumulation of fat and oil (32 cases). Casualties from kitchen-originated fires accounted for 38% of all fire-related injuries, with Blackpool experiencing the highest number of incidents.
There were a total number of 1058 incidents from 2021 – 2023 as follows: - 2021 – 359 Incidents - 2022 – 382 Incidents - 2023 – 317 Incidents
From the incident data, the service was able to determine insight which included: · High-risk areas included Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, and Lancaster. · Ribble Valley had the highest ratio of cooking fires at 52% of total ADFs. · Key times for cooking related incidents was between 5-7pm.
The campaign was implemented in July after yearly incident data showed a peak in cooking fires.
The campaign objectives were to: · Reduce the number of overall cooking-related fires during the campaign period. · Increase audience engagement with campaign materials. · Change target audience behaviour, particularly reducing casualties from cooking-related fires.
The target audience was adults aged 18+ living in the highest risk areas – Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen and Lancaster, and busy adults with young families.
The key messages were: · Fires won’t wait for your attention. · Stay there and cook it! · Never use your hob as an extension of the worktop. · Keep it clean, keep it clear – a build up of dirt or grease and items stored on top of a hob creates a significant fire risk. · Get out, stay out and call the fire service out.
A pre-campaign telephone survey was conducted in April, contacting 60 Lancashire residents who had a cooking related fire in the last three years, The survey aimed to gather more information about each incident such as: · Household profile – presence of children or pets. · Individual profile – age, gender, disability. · Use of kitchen appliances. · Distractions at the time of the fire. · Influence of alcohol or drugs. · Presence of a working smoke alarm.
Data from the survey found that 58% of respondents were not in sight of the fire when it started, and 59% admitted to watching tv, bathing or doing household chores when the fire ignited.
After investigating the incident data from the past few years, a recurring cause of cooking fires was busy parents distracted with homework or chores whilst cooking a meal, causing a fire. A radio advertisement on local station Hits Lancashire (formerly Rock FM) was chosen for the campaign due to its captive audience during the school run and rush hour traffic, aiming to target those busy families whilst they were actively listening. The 30 second advert portrayed a tired, busy mum, juggling family demands whilst cooking dinner, her concentrated had lapsed for a few seconds and a fire had ignited in the kitchen. The ad ended with the sound of flames and a fire alarm sounding. The scenario played out in real time which showed that it only took 30 seconds of distraction to start a fire. The audio for the radio campaign advert would not play in the meeting and Members noted that this would be sent to them outside of the meeting.
The first part of the campaign involved a competition to win a Ninja air fryer. To enter, members of the public had to answer three short questions about cooking practices. The entry process gave the participants the correct answers to questions to highlight the safest practices. The three questions were written using the campaign’s key messages, meaning the participants had to actively read and absorb the messaging to answer the questions.
The competition was well received and resulted in 5,635 entries which gave valuable insight into cooking habits and perceived acceptable behaviour across different age groups. This insight would be used in future campaigns to inform the key messages and target audiences. Members were informed that an entrant from Great Harwood won the competition and a message was sent to all those who entered the competition to notify them of the winner.
The following channels were used to share the content and key messages: · Social media platforms: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Nextdoor. · Cooking safety page on the Service’s website (www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/cooking) · Media release to local news outlets. · Radio advert. · Paid advertising on Facebook.
In total, the campaign reached 1,178,149 people and generated 110,545 engagements (comments, shares, website clicks etc.). Social media posts about using the hob as a work surface sparked lots of engagement, with some people sharing their shock that people could “be so stupid,” and others sharing their own experiences of doing so and causing a fire.
5,635 people entered the competition and took part in the quiz which allowed the Service to promote the key safety messages and highlight unsafe practices. 356 people visited the cooking safety page on the website during the campaign period. Two news articles appeared in the local media.
The next steps were to build on insight gained from the campaign to further develop the picture of who was most at risk and the behaviours that contribute to fires, alongside analysing data at the end of the year.
The new risk profile would decide the key messaging for the next campaign. New creative materials would be designed using the new messaging which included a new video that focused on distractions in the kitchen.
In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy regarding the Ribble Valley having the highest ratio of cooking fires (52%) of the total ADFs, Mark Warwick explained that the percentage was high due the overall number of accidental fire incidents for that area being very low which distorted the percentage figure. Members were informed that the Ribble Valley was included in the target audience.
County Councillor H Khan asked if the figures for the campaign included the BME community. Area Manager, Phil Jones confirmed that they were included and the insight from the campaign would inform next year’s campaign with focused information around Ramadan and hot oil cooking.
County Councillor H Khan mentioned that she had been on the radio to talk about the work of the Fire Service and found that many members of the BME community were not aware of the varying role of LFRS. Regarding Ramadan cooking fire safety, she would be collaborating with Community Safety Advisor, Faz Patel, to launch the campaign throughout Lancashire.
County Councillor Clifford stated that the campaign was very interesting, and he had shared the messages through his social media account, however, they did not have much interaction and asked if the Service was disappointed with the level of engagement. Zoe Scott advised that a previous Lithium Battery campaign competition to win an iPad received 1,000 entries so 5,635 people entering the air fryer competition was a sizable increase. The number of entrants was pleasing as they had to actively read key safety messages and answer questions with wrong answers being corrected and so the number of people who had processed the information was quite high.
County Councillor Clifford questioned whether the public may have thought that the chance to win an air fryer was a scam. Zoe Scott explained that there were very few comments about the competition being a scam, and there were none on Facebook.
County Councillor Hennessy suggested including Service personnel in the photographs for future campaign competitions so the public would know it was not a scam.
In response to a question from County Councillor O’Toole as to whether the work on campaigns was outsourced or conducted internally, Zoe Scott confirmed that the work was undertaken by the Service. Additionally, adhering to GDPR, the Service would collate some personal details which would be used to inform future campaigns and to target certain demographics.
County Councillor Clifford commented that in a bid to move away from chip pans, there had been a move to deep fat fryers with newer models having open tops which he felt was a flaw. Mark Warwick stated that the modern design was most probably due to costs. However, chip pan fires were now an exception, and many safety messages had been used to inform people of the dangers of using water on an oil fire.
The Chair remarked that he felt that food delivery services would have helped to reduce the number of cooking fires.
County Councillor Hennessy asked if every Fire Service had a Campaigns Officer. Mark Warwick believed that every Service had a campaigns calendar which would be followed, even if not a designated officer. Zoe Scott advised that, as a dedicated Campaigns Officer, she was able to focus solely on campaigns whereas some other Services may have a Communications Officer who would deal with campaigns as one aspect of their job.
The Chair thanked Campaigns Officer, Zoe Scott and Group Manager, Community Protection Manager, Mark Warwick for their extremely helpful presentation.
Resolved: - That the Performance Committee noted the report and presentation.
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20/24 |
NWFC Q2 update
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The Committee was provided with a report and presentation detailing the performance of NWFC during quarter 2 (July – September 2024).
North West Fire Control (NWFC) was the emergency control room for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS). The core functions for LFRS were to: · Receive emergency calls via the 999 system, other agencies or alarm receiving centres. · Mobilise appropriate resources to incidents in line with LFRS’s mobilising procedures. · Manage resource availability (standby manoeuvres).
NWFC would carry out Emergency Call Management (ECM) prompts provided by LFRS to determine whether an attendance was required for specific incidents and would signpost calls to other appropriate agencies where it determined that the Fire Service would not be attending.
In addition, NWFC would support LFRS with: · Notification of intruder alarms at fire services premises. · Notification of planned events. · Notification and implementation of special mobilising arrangements. · Road closures. · Passing additional risking information for specific addresses. · The passing of accident or near miss information. · Providing a supplementary media statement for specific incidents.
NWFC had also absorbed through its current staffing model the additional calls from North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), for gain entry requests to premises for medical emergencies. This was a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with LFRS, NWAS and Lancashire Constabulary.
Emergency Calls
Incoming emergency calls for LFRS for Quarter 2 total 6,317. This was almost 1,500 less emergency calls than Quarter 2 the previous year. These figures had to be caveated with the following: · NWFC could not assure that the year’s figure was totally accurate due to an issue with the data retrieval software. Audits of reports had highlighted missing data, which had been reported to system engineers and escalated through their management controls. NWFC had utilised other software to extract the data and would carry out further analysis when there was confirmation that the data retrieval software was reporting accurately and would look at previous data and supply to fire and rescue services. This had been reported to each fire and rescue service and His Majesty’s Inspection for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS). · The Summer of 2024 did not see the usual spike in calls for grass and wildfires.
Admin Calls
NWFC also received administrative calls for all services including LFRS for such items as a request for support from crews at incidents or updating resource availability, e.g. training, exercise, defective.
In quarter 2, NWFC received 6196 admin calls, which was almost identical to the same period last year.
Again, the information was caveated with the issues regarding the data retrieval software.
Responses to Fires
NWFC had a target of mobilising resources to fires within 90 seconds on average. In July and August 2024, that target exceeded 95 seconds.
Analysing the reasons for this increase in call mobilisation times had highlighted the following information: · Operating in a period of fallback in August due to loss of the main mobilising Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. During business continuity events, tried and tested fallback methods of working were implemented. These however, required a manual process when there was a loss of CAD, and mobilising resources was not as fast as normal which impacted on the mobilising times. This issue had been highlighted and reported to fire and service services and further control measures had been implemented to ensure the reason for the loss of the mobilising system on this occasion was not repeated. · NWFC had highlighted with its Board of Directors, an issue with retention of staff. This was not just a NWFC issue, but was reflected in all fire control rooms, all emergency control rooms and, according to the CIPD, was a national trend for organisations. To replace the staff, NWFC must recruit and train new operators, which would take approximately two years to get them to a level of competency. The relatively high number of inexperienced staff impacted the call mobilisation times. NWFC had completed a capacity review of its operating model and was moving forward with a plan to help to improve retention. It was noted that the average mobilising times for September 2024 had improved to 87 seconds, which was below the target.
Response to Special Service Calls
NWFC did not have a target for mobilising to special service calls but did monitor them to identify trends.
Mobilisation of these calls increased in Quarter 2. Analysis of reasons for this were similar to the two reasons above for fires.
In addition, NWFC had a new People Development and Assurance Programme (PDAP) in place, which was designed to improve the skill sets of the operators. Part of this had been adopting the newly issued NFCC Control National Operational Guidance, which often required additional call handling questions to determine whether a response was required and ensured the safety of proceeding crews and callers.
County Councillor Nikki Hennessy suggested that North West Fire Control be invited to a future Strategy meeting to update Members on the procurement of the new mobilising system.
County Councillor Salter expressed his concern regarding the issues with the data retrieval software on Page 93 of the agenda pack. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that the Service had been informed of the issues with data not collating on the complex IT systems through the NWFC Board of Directors and Steering Group. IT suppliers had identified the root cause, and the system had been updated. NWFC had notified the Service early into the issue as it would affect the mobilisation data requested by the HMI; however, the issue had since been resolved and the data had been sent to the HMI. An update would be provided by NWFC in the upcoming weeks to ensure that there were no further issues and once the data had been quality assured, it could be reported back to the Authority.
County Councillor Salter highlighted that the risk of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) leaving the collaboration with NWFC could be exacerbated by the recent system issues. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that GMFRS were committed to NWFC until 2033 when the building lease would expire, he also explained that coinciding with that timeline would be a further mobilising system replacement project, in readiness for post 2033. As such, this longer-term planning for NWFC options would commence in 2026.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer reminded Members to confirm their attendance for the visit to NWFC on 21 or 23 January 2025.
Resolved: - That the Performance Committee noted the information in the report and presentation.
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21/24 |
National Fire Statistics - Comparative Information
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The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented the meeting with a report on Comparative Fire Rescue Service Data.
Historically, since 2000, at the final Performance Committee of each financial year, the Measuring Progress report would be accompanied by a comparative performance analysis of other Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) which was formed upon historic ‘Family Groups’ and enabled Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) to demonstrate to the Committee how the Service was performing against other FRSs on a small number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
As the fire sector evolved, the use of Family Groups slowly diminished as had the value of their use in effectively comparing FRS with FRS. The position had been further weakened by new FRSs joining Family Groups that they were not originally intended to be placed within.
During the Performance Committee on 16 March 2022 (resolution 24-20/21 – Review of Family Group Comparative Information), Area Manager Mark Hutton proposed that future Family Group analysis could involve data that looked beyond the Family Group, taken from other national databases that the Service now had access to, and which could offer a broader and more suitable comparison than the current arrangements.
Since that time, the Service had compiled a report comparing a selection of key LFRS activity against other Fire and Rescue Services in the country, using information published by the Home Office on National Fire Service Activity.
On a quarterly basis, the Home Office published a rolling 12-month update on National Fire Service activity, with the latest release being termed as year ending June 2024 which meant the 12-month period to the end of quarter one.
The report compared a selection of key LFRS activity against other Fire and Rescue Services in the country, along with the current LFRS position and trend.
Selected metrics: 1. Total incidents. 2. Dwelling fires. 3. Dwelling fire casualties. 4. Non-domestic building fires. 5. Assist other agencies. 6. RTCs attended.
A table was included in the report which indicated if a Service was classed as Predominantly Urban, Significantly Rural or Predominantly Rural: Lancashire was classified as Predominantly Urban. These classifications allowed for a relatable comparison with FRSs that shared the same characteristics as LFRS.
LFRS had one of the higher incident levels of the total 44 Fire Services in England, ranking 8th as the 12-month period to June 2024. LFRS also had greater activity than a number of the metropolitan Services and the highest activity of a predominantly Urban, non-metropolitan Service.
With decreasing numbers of fire incidents, and increasing non-fire incidents, the proportion of incidents recorded as non-fire incidents had surpassed the count of fire incidents for the first time. Fire false alarms continued to account for the largest proportion.
Whilst overall activity had been increasing over the last ten years, the latest 12-month period had shown a reduction within LFRS and across the majority of other FRSs.
There had been a notable decreasing in dwelling fires attended, and a smaller, if fluctuating, decrease in the resultant domestic fire casualties. It was a similar view with fires in non-domestic properties which had been in a slight overall decline.
These were offset by large increases in assist other agency incidents. A similar trend was seen nationally, with LFRS recording the largest number outside of Greater London. Road traffic collisions had been steadily trending upwards.
1. Total Incidents
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service attended 16,903 incidents during year ending June 2024, against and England FRS average of 11,016. Greater London (131,664), and Isles of Scilly (47), were both excluded from the average due to recording very high/low counts.
Over the past decade, the number of incidents attended by LFRS had been on a gradual upward trend, with activity increasing 40.7% since the 13,906 incidents in 2014 to the 19,563 recorded in 2023. However, in the latest year ending June 2024, there had been 16,903 attended incidents, a decrease of 13.6% over the previous year.
This followed a similar national trend, although the decrease within Lancashire was larger than the average 4.6% seen nationally.
The share of incidents between incident types had changed over the past decade, with an increasing share of incidents being non-fire incidents over recent years. Fire incidents had steadily been decreasing and there had been a reduction in false alarms during more recent years.
For the year ending June 2024, the share of fire incidents was 24.4%, the lowest since comparable data became available, with non-fire incidents accounting for 30.9% and fire false alarms, 44.7%. In 2014, the split was: Fire 38.0%, non-fire 17.9% and false alarms 44.1%.
Lancashire was classified as predominantly urban and had the highest total incident count within a non-metropolitan Service, predominantly urban Service (year ending June 2024).
2. Domestic Fires
LFRS attended 757 dwelling fire incidents during year ending June 2024, against and England FRS average of 490. Greater London (4,668), and Isles of Scilly (0), were both excluded from the average.
To the year ending June 2024, dwelling fires attended by LFRS had reduced from 1,601 in 2014 to 757 in the latest period, a reduction of 28.7%. This was a greater reduction than that seen across all other Fire and Rescue Services (average), which saw an 18.8% decreased over the same period.
3. Dwelling Fire Casualties
There were 55 casualties requiring hospital treatment from dwelling fire incidents during the year ending June 2024, against an England FRS average of 36. Greater London (485), and the Isles of Scilly (0), were both excluded from the average.
To the year ending June 2024, there had been 55 casualties requiring hospital treatment from dwelling fire incidents by LFRS. These had reduced by 21.4% from the 70 recorded in 2014. This was a slightly smaller reduction than that seen across all other Fire and Rescue Services (average), which saw a 25.5% decrease over the same period.
4. Non-Domestic Building Fires
LFRS attended 358 non-domestic building fire incidents during the year ending June 2024, against an England FRS average of 209. Greater London (1,504), and Isles of Scilly (0) were both excluded from the average.
Fires in non-domestic properties attended by LFRS decreased by 11.8% from the 406 recorded in 2014. This was a smaller reduction than that seen across all other Fire and Rescue Services, which saw a 15% decrease over the same period.
5. Assist Other Agencies
LFRS attended 1,724 assist other agency incidents during the year ending June 2024, against and England FRS average of 578. Approximately 50% of assist other agency incidents were to gain entry to a domestic property on behalf of the ambulance or police. Greater London (4,626), and Isles of Scilly (2) were both excluded from the average.
To the year ending June 2014, assist other agency incidents attended by LFRS had seen large increases, with 1,724 recorded in the latest period, from a low 115 in 2014, an increase of 1,399.1%. This was a significantly larger increase than that seen across all other Fire and Rescue Services, which still saw a significant 529.9% increase over the same period.
6. Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) Attended
LFRS attended 662 road traffic collision incidents during the year ending June 2024, against an England FRS average of 658. Greater London (4,626), and Isles of Scilly (2), were both excluded from the average due to recording very high/low counts.
To the year ending June 2024 Road Traffic Collision incidents attended by LFRS have seen relatively small increases, with 662 recorded in the latest period, from 512 in 2014, an increase of 29.3%. This was a larger increase that that seen across all other Fire and Rescue Services (average), which saw a 9.8% increase over the same period.
County Councillor Clifford stated that, for the last 10 years, the number of incidents that LFRS attended had gradually increased but was now beginning to decrease, and he asked if that was due to a growing population. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that there were many factors such as the establishment of new types of collaboration work and increasing demand that this had created.
County Councillor Salter highlighted that, on Page 110 if the agenda pack, the number of ‘Assist other agencies’ incidents that LFRS attended was higher than that of most other FRSs and asked if that was indicative of the good relationship LFRS had with other agencies. The Assistant Chief Officer stated that it was a positive relationship and, when crews were not attending emergency incidents, they had delivered improved outcomes for the public. The Service had a statutory duty to collaborate with other Blue Light Services which led to the establishment of the Blue Light Collaboration Board (BLCB). LFRS played a strong role in operational work in terms of collaboration.
County Councillor Hennessy felt that the positive relationship with other Blue Light Services came from good leadership which was fed down by the Chief Fire Officer and took years to develop.
The Chair gave thanks to Jon Charters for his work in the role of the Assistant Chief Fire Officer and wished him well in his role as Chief Fire Officer in the new year.
County Councillor Hurn thanked Jon Charters for his assistance in his time as Chair of the Committee.
Jon Charters advised that he had enjoyed leading the Performance Committee. There had been some good conversations which he had hoped the Members had found useful. There was a lot of detail in the meeting, but he favoured transparency and assisting Members to understand the work of the Service which he hoped led to better scrutiny and governance. He would assist the new Assistant Chief Fire Officer with the Performance Committee in the early stages.
Resolved: - That the Performance Committee noted the information provided in the Comparative Fire Service Data Report and endorsed the new format in which the Service provided comparative performance data.
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22/24 |
Date of Next Meeting
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The next meeting of the Committee would be held on 05 March 2025 at 10:00 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.
Further meeting dates were noted for 25 June 2025 and agreed for 03 September 2025.
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