Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
Planning Committee
Meeting to be held on 6 February 2023
(Appendices 1 and 2 refer)
Contact for further information – Deputy Chief Fire Officer Steve Healey
Tel: 01772 866801
Executive Summary
This year’s Annual Service Plan (ASP) (appendix 1) continues to provide Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) with the platform to highlight the priority activities and projects the Service intends to deliver over the coming year. We are leading improvements and innovation in our sector with some of the best firefighting equipment in the country and a highly skilled and motivated workforce.
The year ahead will see us build on our achievements by staying focused on continuous improvement that makes the people of Lancashire safer, particularly the most vulnerable members of our communities. Many of our priorities are initiatives that will transform the way we work and bring lasting benefits.
This year’s Annual Service Plan provides the direction and deliverables that have been identified to deliver against the strategic aims of our Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) and supporting core strategies. The Strategic Assessment of Risk (SAoR) (appendix 2) has been refreshed and provides strategic direction for Service and district planning and enables LFRS to direct resources effectively to minimise and respond to risk. RecommendationThe Planning Committee is asked to note and endorse the Annual Service Plan and the Strategic Assessment of Risk for publication.
|
Part 1: Annual Service Plan
The Annual Service Plan is a core part of our planning framework which sets out the activities we intend to deliver during the next 12 months and is built around the Service’s five corporate priorities that are detailed in the Community Risk Management Plan. These are:
|
Role in the planning framework
The Annual Service Plan sits at the heart of our framework and informs activity that will be led across the Service, as well as locally within district plans. Activities that we plan to deliver also inform our staff performance appraisal process, so all staff understand our plans and are involved in helping to deliver our key activities.
As in previous years, detailed under each corporate priority is a series of activities and projects with a brief description of each item to give further clarity and context. This ensures that all staff and the public are informed of the changes and activities the Service aims to progress and how these items fit within our priorities. This provides the opportunity for the Service to ensure that we continue to provide transparency and visibility of our plans in a clear and concise format. The governance arrangements for delivery of the Annual Service Plan items will continue to be monitored through the Service's Corporate Programme Board and Service Management Team.
As always, we aim to continually improve and refine our planning processes and this year’s document aims to add focus on achievable progress within the year, acknowledging that a proportion of items are continued from the 2022/23 Plan, reflecting our commitment to a number of long-term projects. It is presented in a style to remain consistent with that of the CRMP 2022-27.
Background
Part 2: Strategic Assessment of Risk
Risk in Lancashire will always remain dynamic; it changes over time, differs by area and demographic, and needs different interventions to reduce the likelihood of the risk occurring or to lessen its consequences. We identify these risks in our Strategic Assessment of Risk which is refreshed annually and is also informed by the Lancashire Resilience Forum Community Risk Register. Through our risk management framework, we continually assess changing risk and prioritise our response framework.
The Strategic Assessment of Risk reflects the knowledge and experience of a variety of specialist departments and utilises our Incident Recording System (IRS) data to derive a data driven methodology that highlights the incident types that pose the greatest risk to the county of Lancashire and the individuals who live and work within it. The SAoR drives both Service and district level response to risk and enables LFRS to tailor our prevention, protection and response activities to the identified risks.
This year’s document builds on previous iterations as we seek to continually improve our risk management processes. Significant changes have been made to the ‘About Lancashire’ section, which has been refreshed to ensure we are using the most up to date data sources available and most notably the section now uses Census 2021 data. Revisions have been made to our local Risk Assessment, resulting in some movement in the ranking of our highest risk incident types. We have also sought to identify more clearly how LFRS responds to the strategic risks identified, examples being; our response to the emerging threat of climate change.
The Annual Service Plan forms an integral part of the Service’s corporate planning process. It sets and communicates a clear strategic direction of travel for the next 12 months. The provision of such a document ensures that proper business planning takes place.
The Strategic Assessment of Risk is an integral part of the Service’s Risk Management Framework and captures the high-level risks that the Service must prepare for and respond to. It forms a key part of our planning process culminating in the development of our Annual Service Plan.
None
The Annual Service Plan and Strategic Assessment of Risk have been produced in accordance with accessibility guidelines. The overarching strategic documents have also had equality impact assessments carried out.
No implications, however, the ASP and SAoR should form part of the district planning process and will link through to individual appraisals.
The updated SAoR and ASP provide the latest data and intelligence, ultimately directing the Service’s focus over the next 12 months. All items within the Annual Service Plan are either already within revenue and capital budgets or will be progressed accordingly through the Resources committee, as required.
Paper:
Date:
Contact:
Reason for inclusion in Part 2 if appropriate: N/a