Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
Meeting to be held on 27 April 2026
Member Champion Activity Report and Member Feedback
Contact for further information – Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Sam Pink.
Tel: 01772 866802
Executive SummaryThis paper provides a report on the work of the Member Champions for the period up to 26 April 2026.
Members are invited to provide any feedback they may have for the period up to 27 April 2026.
Recommendation(s)The Authority is requested to note and endorse the report of the respective Member Champions and share any feedback received in relation to associated Service activities.
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Information
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 – County Councillor Andy Blake
· Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - Councillor Salim Sidat
· Health and Wellbeing & Climate Change – County Councillor Sohail Asghar
· Road Safety - County Councillor Jordan Fox
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 - County Councillor Andy Blake
From February to early April, our Community Fire Safety (CFS) teams have been actively delivering key prevention and engagement activities across Lancashire. These initiatives focused on protecting vulnerable residents, strengthening community relations, and supporting partner agencies.
A major highlight was our Eid al-Fitr safety campaign, which promoted safe cooking practices in student halls of residence. With a growing number of students from the Indian Subcontinent, we targeted halls with a history of cooking-related fires. Our team engaged with students and wardens, ensuring that crucial fire safety messages were shared. Linked to this we did not attend any cooking-related incidents during the Eid al-Fitr festivities.
Additionally, a targeted safety talk was delivered to communities supported by the Salvation Army, focusing on safety during Ramadan. The presentation emphasised fire risks in the kitchen, particularly related to clothing and cooking distractions.
We are also pleased to announce our successful application for funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s £7.5 million Uniformed Youth Fund. The National Fire Chiefs Council secured a total of £532,233.40, and we were awarded a bursary of £3000 to replace outdated equipment in our Fire Cadet units. This funding has enabled us to purchase essential tools, such as dividing breeches and a standpipe key and bar set, ensuring practical training for our fire cadets can continue without interruption, even if a fire engine is unavailable.
In March, we launched the CareSafe Fire Safety Scheme, aimed at improving fire safety in the homes of individuals at higher risk. The scheme provides free training to care providers, ensuring fire safety remains a priority in their work with vulnerable individuals. A launch event on 18 March brought together representatives from 18 care providers and Blackburn with Darwen Social Services to discuss key topics, such as hoarding, clutter, and fire risks. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many agencies planning to share the learning with their teams. To date, 20 providers have signed up, and the scheme will be evaluated after 12-months, with plans for a wider rollout.
Furthermore, our CFS team attended training delivered by Lancashire Carers Service, which focused on identifying carers, understanding what support is available, and how we as a Fire and Rescue Service can best refer individuals for further assistance through the Carers Service.
Our CFS team also participated in the second annual Blackpool Careers Fair. This event has already become the largest of its kind in the area, bringing together a wide range of local employers and providing numerous opportunities for attendees.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – County Councillor Salim Sidat
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) continues to deliver targeted community engagement, prevention activity and organisational improvements aligned to safety, inclusion and accessibility priorities.
Social media activity continues to align safety messaging with religious, cultural and national awareness events, including Ramadan, Diwali and Neurodiversity Week, supported by toolkits provided to local stations and partners to ensure consistent, timely messaging.
During Ramadan, LFRS reinforces fire safety advice linked to fasting and increased cooking activity and continues to support staff observing Ramadan through flexible and considerable arrangements. A data-led cooking safety campaign used Mosaic insight to identify higher-risk groups, resulting in new targeted materials for social and sheltered housing and advertising on bus routes serving affected areas.
Community engagement supported the 2026-27 Council Tax and Shaping Our Services for the Future consultations through digital promotion, printed materials, stakeholder communications and targeted social media advertising. The targeted advert reached over 64,000 people and generated more than 2,800 survey responses, helping amplify voices from higher-risk communities.
The Service attended the Lancashire Faith Forum, where interest was expressed in LFRS signing the Faith Covenant, which would represent a national first for the fire sector. Engagement with faith communities has also included a staff visit to the new mosque in Blackburn and ongoing fire safety talks to community groups which focus on evacuation awareness and safety.
Prevention activity continues to evolve, with flexible fire safety packages delivered to home-educated children and a review of rural fire safety materials underway, focusing on wildfire risk and rural workplaces. Targeted fire safety interventions have also supported responsible persons from ethnic minority communities through bespoke materials and tailored engagement.
Internally, work continues to strengthen equality, inclusion and accessibility. An ‘On the Menu’ session supported understanding of Equality Impact Assessments, and from April 2026 an Equality Progress Update Report will be presented at each Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Culture Board (EDICB) meeting to strengthen oversight. Positive progress has been made through Employee Voice Groups, including enhancements to Transition at Work arrangements, improved engagement with On-Call staff, and exploration of improved Chaplaincy provision.
Significant digital and accessibility improvements have been delivered, including the rollout of CoPilot Chat across the Service, updated procurement standards requiring Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance, accessible corporate templates, and the availability of Read and Write assistive software for all staff. Accessibility training and usability reviews continue to ensure inclusive digital design is embedded across systems.
A new Exit Interview online form is currently in development, with the aim of launching the revised process in April 2026, subject to approval and testing.
These activities demonstrate LFRS’s ongoing commitment to inclusive engagement, effective prevention and continuous improvement. By working closely with communities and strengthening internal accessibility and governance, the Service continues to build trust and improve safety outcomes across Lancashire.
Health and Wellbeing & Climate Change – County Councillor Sohail Asghar
Climate Change and Environment
Service‑wide recycling figures have shown a significant improvement, increasing from 30% to 40% over the past 12 months. Our waste contractor, Suez, has advised that such an improvement within a single year is unusual and has highlighted LFRS as one of the leading organisations they work with in terms of recycling performance.
A competition has been launched across LFRS to identify which station can collect the highest number of clothing donations over a one‑month period. Donations will be collected via Fire Fighters Charity textile recycling banks, which are located at 22 LFRS stations. The competition aims to encourage colleagues to donate and recirculate items rather than contributing to a throwaway culture, while also raising vital funds for the Fire Fighters Charity. All Fire Fighter Charity textile banks will be emptied at the end of March to allow all stations to start from the same benchmark.
Health and Wellbeing
Ninety‑nine per cent of Grey Book (operational and functional) staff have now completed their annual fitness assessment, representing a significant 25% improvement compared with last year. The remaining 1% are colleagues who are currently on long‑term sickness absence. The Fitness function is supporting the 2026/27 training calendar by scheduling fitness assessments to ensure all Grey Book staff complete an assessment within the next 12‑month period.
The Firelight Project is a bespoke eight-week programme developed by Cuerden Valley Park Trust in collaboration with LFRS, Lancashire Police and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS). The project aims to establish a mental health and wellbeing hub within Cuerden Valley Park to support those serving in Blue Light and associated services. The programme delivers a range of experience‑led conservation activities through regular weekly sessions in the park. The initiative was conceived by Andy Seddon, a former member of Greater Manchester Police. Andy experienced significant mental health challenges and, following a period of homelessness, sadly passed away in December 2024, despite the support of his family and friends. His commitment to helping others facing similar difficulties inspired the development of the Firelight Project.
In March, LFRS had the privilege of taking part in the inaugural Experience Day, with the pilot programme due to go live on 29 April 2026. A selection of photographs from the Experience Day is included below. Progress with the programme will be shared through future update reports.
Road Safety – County Councillor Jordan Fox
Education sessions delivered in the last quarter:
Road Sense (yr 6): 157 sessions, 5188 pupils
Biker Down: 6 Sessions, 92 attendees
Wasted Lives (yr 10/ 11): 28 sessions, 3099 pupils
January to April is a quiet period for events due to the weather, however lots of meaningful work has still taken place. A project to deliver an adapted Wasted Lives session to Young Farmers groups including the Crashed Car was continued following its launch in December. This work was prompted by staff from On Call Fire Stations noting they were concerned about some of the young driver behaviour in tractors. This was also notable in the KSI statistics. An offer was shared with Young Farmer Groups, and four sessions have now been delivered. The groups were all well attended – some had over 40 young people and the feedback from all of the sessions was overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to reach out to other groups across the county and expand this project. A case study was presented in the session where a young farmer was prosecuted in Preston, this is an incident most of the young people were aware of, so it highlighted the importance of Road Safety within their community.
Biker Down has had a busy quarter with courses being delivered and filming taking place for TikTok in preparation for the biking season starting at Easter. Short clips will be posted throughout April encouraging Bikers to book on a course along with sharing key safety messages around ensuring their bike and personal protective equipment (PPE) are in good shape and road worthy. This year’s clips are shorter and hopefully more catchy, appealing to a wider audience. Utilising the CFA Road Safety Champion budget, we were able to purchase 360 First Aid kits for the next 12 months courses. We also had A5 flyers and business cards printed with QR codes which take the user to the LFRS website to book a course.
Wasted Lives sessions have been delivered to both Police and Air Cadet groups, all were well attended sessions and feedback was really positive. Cadet groups allow us to deliver longer more interactive sessions than those in schools due to timetable constraints. We have also found some of the young people who attend cadets are home educated and would otherwise have missed out on this delivery, as both these cadet groups range from 13-18 years. We also engage with many learner and new drivers within this cohort. The offer will continue to go out to these groups to increase the number of sessions delivered.
We are currently working with Lancashire Constabulary on a project that will provide a new experience with a new crashed car. Whilst this is in the early stages, we have secured permission from the family via the Family Liaison Officer and we are now looking at a suitable trailer to transport the car. More details will be shared in due course.
Business risk
Whilst no formal obligation is placed on the Authority to have Champions, effective utilisation of such roles offers a number of benefits.
Sustainability or 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.
Data Protection (GDPR)
Will the proposal(s) involve the processing of personal data? N
If the answer is yes, please contact a member of the Democratic Services Team to assist with the appropriate exemption clause for confidential consideration under part 2 of the agenda.
HR implications
Some Member and Officer time commitments.
Financial implications
Activities are within budget.
Legal implications
None identified.
Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
List of background papers
Paper:
Date:
Contact: ACFO Sam Pink
Reason for inclusion in Part 2 if appropriate: N/A