Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
Performance Committee
Meeting to be held on 05 March 2025
Performance Management of Building Regulation Consultations
Contact for further information – Sam Pink, Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO)
Tel: 01772 866801
Executive SummaryThis paper supports the presentation to Performance Committee and provides an overview of our actions pertaining to the His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) 2021/22 area for improvement.
RecommendationThe Performance Committee is asked to note the report.
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Information
Following Lancashire Fire and Rescue (LFRS) 2021/22 HMICFRS Inspection an ‘Area for Improvement’ (AFI) was highlighted regarding completion of Building Regulation (BR) Consultations within the statutory timeline. The reported stated “The service should make sure it allocates enough resources to respond effectively and in time to statutory building control consultations”
Previous Procedures
Initially a review of internal process took place to identify how we could improve our current working practices to increase performance and ensure we delivered on our statutory duties. This review identified that BR consultations were received locally via Area Based offices from Local Authority Building Control Bodies and Approved Inspectors. This could be by way of email or ‘in person’ deliveries. Plans were then stored on local drives and manually inputted on an excel spreadsheet. With the volume of consultations varying from area to area the impacts and ability to respond could be greatly impacted. In addition the number of inspectors qualified to undertake BR consultations was limited in certain areas. This area-based view limited the ability for the department leadership team to manage BR holistically across the County.
Improvements undertaken
To support our commitment to BR consultation timelines the authority introduced KPI 2.10 Building Regulation Consultations (BRC).
Investment initially took place in training, to ensure staff had the required competencies to undertake BR consultations. To further improve our performance a single mailbox was established and shared with all Local Authorities and Approved Inspectors, monitored by a dedicated BR team. This team then input the initial consultation and an action was allocated to an appropriately qualified inspector. This provides our leadership team with a pan-Lancashire view of current activity and distributes work across all qualified inspectors regardless of area, allowing for an even spread of workloads.
In addition, investment in digital systems has also been undertaken to ensure we track our responses and manage performance consistently.
Outcome
As a result of improvements in our processes, training and digital systems, Measuring Progress reports a 96.9% response rate for Q3 2024-25 (226 received consultations with 219 completed in time) compared to 51.5% (Q4 2021-22) around the time of our last HMICFRS inspection.
Business Risk
Ability to effectively fulfil our role as a statutory consultee.
Environmental Impact
None.
Equality & Diversity Implications
None.
HR Implications
None.
Financial Implications
None.
Legal Implications
None.
Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
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