Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
Meeting to be held on 26 June 2023
Member Champion Activity Report
Contact for further information:
DCFO Steve Healey – Tel No: 01772 866801
Executive Summary
This paper provides a report on the work of the Member Champions for the period up to 31 May 2023.
Recommendation
The Authority is requested to note and endorse the report and acknowledge the work of the respective Champions. |
The concept of Member Champions was introduced in December 2007 with a review of the roles in 2017.
The Authority appoints its Member Champions at its Annual Meeting in June, and the current Member Champions are:
· Community Safety – Councillor Jean Rigby
· Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Councillor Zamir Khan
· Health and Wellbeing – County Councillor Andrea Kay
· Road Safety – County Councillor Ron Woollam
Reports relating to the activity of the Member Champions are provided on a regular basis to the Authority. During this period, all have undertaken their respective role in accordance with the defined terms of reference. Their activity to date is as follows:
Community Safety – Councillor Jean Rigby
In April, Lancashire launched a Water Safety Partnership to coincide with the National Fire Chiefs Council “Be Water Aware Week”. The partnership is currently chaired by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service with a vice chair from HM Coastguard. The partnership brings together a wide range of partners, all with an interest in community safety and reducing water related incidents and fatalities. The previous 12 months have been spent agreeing an action plan for the group so that there can be better and more joined up use of resources. Part of this has involved data sharing across the partners so that the right areas and demographics can be targeted. LFRS have been pivotal to the creation of this partnership and feel that it will really make a difference to how we prevent accidental drownings across the county.
LFRS continue to work with telecare providers and Lancashire County Council following the changes made to telecare charges to ensure provisions are in place to identify and support those Lancashire residents who require it through our Home Fire Safety Check service. This has also provided an opportunity to deliver further training to those who are responsible for installing telecare and should result in an increase in referrals back to LFRS. This will be monitored and evaluated through our partnership reporting.
LFRS are working as part of the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network and across the Community Safety Partnerships in each area to fulfil our obligations as a specified authority within the Serious Violence Duty. Fire and Rescue services have a longstanding role of engaging with local communities to promote fire safety as well as wider to support citizenship, community cohesion and directly to support vulnerable individuals and communities. Work with children and young people, Prince’s Trust, safeguarding as well as fire reduction strategies, such as the sectors work to reduce deliberate fires, will form part of our role under the duty.
Preston Caribbean Carnival was held on the 27 and 28 May; one of the largest and longest running cultural celebrations in Preston. LFRS team members attended to share safety messages, promote diversity within the Fire Service and celebrate the culture of our diverse communities.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Councillor Zamir Khan
As we look to recruit and attract a diversity of applicants we have updated and refreshed our recruitment material promoting Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service as an employer of choice. We continue to attend careers events explaining the role of a firefighter and the varied career opportunities within the Service. As the summer approaches, it presents several opportunities to meet with different communities promoting employment with LFRS over June and July as we commence our positive action to fill our next recruits course planned for February 2024. We attended the Preston Carnival and are planning to attend the Windrush Festival. We are also planning to attend various Pride Events which will be taking place across Lancashire, in addition to attending the mosque at Preston and the Preston City Mela Festival.
Health and Wellbeing & Climate Change Update – County Councillor Andrea Kay
Climate Change and Environment
Our measured carbon emissions (for gas, electric and vehicle fuel) have now seen a 26% reduction from the baseline year (2007/08). Water is currently seeing a 35% reduction from baseline year, noting this is not as high as 2018/19, which showed a 46% reduction. Gas has reduced 6.9% and electric 5.4% compared to last year, whilst vehicle fuel (from fleet) has increased by 9.4%. The data has been shared individually with stations involving both Environmental Champions and Station Managers, allowing comparisons to be made by station over several years. It is recognised that over the 15 years of monitoring, the way carbon emissions are recorded and reported has changed. The Carbon Management Team are currently looking at how our data can be used to better represent LFRS’ impact on our environment.
LFRS created 101.1 tonnes of waste in 2022/23, a decrease from 102.2 tonnes in 2021/22. General waste had reduced by 0.9% compared to the previous year whilst dry mixed recyclable waste increased by 3.9%. The overall recycling rate across the service remains very good at 35%. There are many stations that stand out with excellent waste management and others where there may be opportunities for improvement. Some stations have been highlighted for further investigation into the data, and where necessary, measures will be agreed to improve waste management. Again, data has been shared with all stations via their Environmental Champions and Station Managers.
Health and Wellbeing
This report is to serve as an update of the Health and Wellbeing resources utilisation over the 2022/23 reporting period (Apr 22 – Mar 23).
· Employee Assistance Programme - utilisation of the free and confidential independent support has increased from 12% to 14.3% as a direct comparison to 2021/22 reporting period. The top 3 categories are consistent and include Mental Health, Relationships and Legal advice enquiries (e.g. divorce and separation, childcare, motoring etc.).
· In August 2022 we launched Traumatic Incident Briefings (TIBs), following feedback received from crews that group TRiM sessions would be beneficial. To ensure we are still providing support following traumatic events in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for trauma support we have expanded the offering from the TRiM team to include TIBs, which are essentially group TRiMs, facilitated by an appropriately trained TRiM Manager/TRiM Co-ordinator/TRiM Practitioner. This reporting period we have undertaken 30 TRiM interventions, including 10 TIBs; evidencing the introduction of TIBs is effective and being utilised well.
· 49 Wellbeing Support Dog requests have been completed in a nine-month period, with a review in progress to evaluate the capability to understand if it can be delivered more effectively and efficiently.
The Wellbeing Wednesday pilot is due to be reviewed in June, evaluating evidence from the six-months of visits that have been undertaken to learn from feedback provided and improve the potential benefits of the visits. This quarter we have undertaken 7 Wellbeing Wednesday visits. The launch of the Peer Support Ambassador initiative is also coming up and will be reported on fully in a future update.
Road Safety – County Councillor Ron Woollam
Road Sense is a Year 6 Road Safety Education Package delivered by LFRS and offered to all primary schools in Lancashire. Delivery since September reached nearly 14,200 pupils. Feedback from teachers continues to be very positive with 76% of teachers selecting they ‘strongly agreed’ the session would have a positive impact on the student’s road user behaviour. The remaining 24% ‘agreed’ with this. An anonymous evaluation has been introduced for the children to complete following completion of the session. Whilst it is in its infancy feedback is very positive, please see example below:
“My most memorable safety message was to be careful when crossing roads because if you have headphones on while crossing you wouldn’t notice a car”
This will allow evaluation of the effectiveness of the delivery from the pupil’s perspective and will feed into a wider piece of work Prevention Support are doing into the evaluation of our Prevention activities.
Biker Down continues to grow with a very successful ‘2 wheels month’ in April. 7 courses were run throughout the month with 115 attendees. 9 Short clips were created and released throughout the National Fire Chief Councils ‘week of action’ promoting the course and highlighting the importance of wearing personal protective equipment when riding, (the theme of the campaign.) They had a total reach of over 4,700 people. In addition to the clips, information posts went out reaching 14,500 people. The most successful month on social media to date.
In May LFRS organised the annual ‘Alive to Drive’ event at Leyland Tesco which was also used for filming Project Edward – ‘Every Day Without a Road Death’. The footage taken was then broadcast nationally as part of the launch of the week of action. ‘Alive to Drive’ ran over 2 days and attracted a large crowd, allowing members of the public to watch a live road traffic collision demonstration and engage with staff from emergency services and road safety organisations. This event was a partnership that formed with Chorley Institute of Advanced Motorists 15 years ago but has grown bigger each year and has attendance from Lancashire Constabulary, North West Ambulance Service, Blood Bikes, National Highways, Lancashire County Council, Tyre Safe and Mountain Rescue.
Financial Implications
Activities are within budget.
Business Risk Implications
Whilst no formal obligation is placed on the Authority to have Champions, effective utilisation of such roles offers a number of benefits.
Environmental Impact
The Member Champion role provides leadership on environmental issues and assists in engaging Authority members in strategic objectives relating to protecting the environment.
Equality and Diversity Implications
The Member Champion role provides leadership on equality and diversity issues and assists in engaging Authority members in strategic objectives relating to equality and diversity.
Human Resource Implications
Some Member and Officer time commitments.
Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
List of background papers
Paper:
Date:
Contact: DCFO, Steve Healey
Reason for inclusion in Part 2 if appropriate: N/A