Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor Hasina Khan and Councillor Zamir Khan.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary/non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None received.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the last meeting held on the 16 March 2022 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed the new Members of the Authority to the Performance Committee.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented a comprehensive report to the Performance Committee. This was the 4th quarterly report for 2021/22 as detailed in the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-2022.

This quarter, 2 KPIs were shown in red which indicated that they were in negative exception. These were 2.4 Fire Engine Availability – On Call Duty System: and 4.2.1 Staff Absence – Excluding On-Call Duty System. KPI 1.4 – Accidental Dwelling Fire Casualties was shown in grey, indicating that it was in positive exception.

Members examined each indicator in turn as follows:

KPI 1 – Preventing, fires and other emergencies from happening and Protecting people and property when fires happen

1.1      Risk Map

This indicator measured the fire risk in each Super Output Area. 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 Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that the County risk map score was updated annually and would be presented to the Performance Committee in the report for quarter 1 of 2022/23.

The standard and ambition of the Service was to reduce the risk in Lancashire – an annual reduction in the County risk map score.

The current score was 31,862 and the previous year’s score was 32,448 meaning that the fire risk continued to reduce.

1.2      Overall Activity

This indicator measured the number of incidents that the Service attended with one or more pumping appliances.

Quarter 4 activity 4,478, previous year quarter 4 activity 3,725. An increase of 20.21% over the same quarter of the previous year.

Incidents attended consisted of a myriad of different types, including special service. The report presented a chart which represented the count and percentage that each activity had contributed to the overall quarter’s activity; most notably was that 48% were false alarms.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Mein, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the new attendance policy for Automatic Fire Alarms (AFAs), had been introduced by the Service from 1 April 2022 for non-sleeping risk premises during the day (08:00hrs to 19:00hrs), as it was found that 99.5% of AFAs from these building types were false alarms. The impact of the new policy would be realised in Quarter 1.

County Councillor Jennifer Mein added that it would be useful to see the national average of targets set for the KPIs for comparison with Lancashire Fire and Rescue.

1.3      Accidental Dwelling Fires

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'.

It was noted that quarter 4 activity was 203, the previous year quarter 4 activity was 214, which represented a decrease of 5.14% over the same quarter of the previous year.

It was stated by the Assistant Chief Fire Officer, that the sharp rise in activity in April  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4/22

The Chair welcomed Ged Basson, Senior Operations Manager, North West Fire Control (NWFC), and Kellie Matthews, Operations Manager, North West Fire Control to the meeting. Ged Basson, NWFC, provided the Committee with a report detailing the performance of NWFC during quarter 4 (January – March 2022).

Activity – Admin Calls 

Within quarter 4, a total of 6,772 admin calls were received for Lancashire Fire and Rescue (LFRS), compared to 6,131 in quarter 3. The total number of calls was 25,222 for the full year, compared to 23,799 in the previous year which equated to a rise of 5.9%. In total, 117,377 admin calls were received by NWFC for 2021/22, of which, LFRS represented 21.4% of those calls.

Admin calls included crews and officers contacting NWFC for either guidance, or to offer advice such as notification of missing equipment, defective resources, liaising with control regarding exercises or resources availability. 

Activity – Emergency Calls

A total of 9,179 emergency calls were received in quarter 4 for LFRS, compared to 9,234 in quarter 3. In total, NWFC received 39,258 emergency calls for LFRS in 2021/22, compared to 32,413 calls the previous year which equated to a rise of 21.1%. In total, NWFC received 162,590 emergency calls last year, of which, LFRS represented 20% of these calls. It was noted that the increase in emergency call volume could be attributed to the lockdown period in 2020/21, as when the country came out of lockdown, by April 2021, more businesses began to fully open and operate. Emergency calls included 999 calls from members of the public and emergency calls from Lancashire Constabulary and North West Ambulance Service.

Call Handling Times – Lancashire

It was noted that 42% of calls were not mobilised in quarter 4, following call challenging and this figure was also similar for LFRS. In April, NWFC implemented a new call challenge process for automated fire alarms on behalf of LFRS, which would ensure that resources attend the fire alarms presenting the most risk. This would make sure that resources were available for other emergencies. 

For NWFC, mobilising performance times for fires in 2021/22, was maintained at 78 seconds. LFRS mobilising times for fires in quarter 4 was under 80 seconds for each month and under the 90 second target. NWFC had continued to mobilise resources to fires under the 90 second target for the full year, showing sustained improvement.

Call Handling Mobilisation Time – Partner FRS’

The call handling times for fires over the previous 24-month period continued to be relatively favourable compared to other fire and rescue services. A drive at NWFC to highlight how a quick response could reduce fire damage, took place over the previous 12 months which included some basic fire behaviour training, and a requirement for operators to record and rationalise any delays in mobilising.

Call Handling Mobilisation Time – Special Service Calls: Lancashire

Mobilising performance times for all NWFC in 2021/22 for special service calls had improved to 119 seconds which compared favourably to 126 seconds  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/22

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented the April 2021 to March 2022 Comparative Performance Report to the meeting. Arrangements were in place within the old Best Value (BV) family group 4 to compile an annual comparative report in respect of the two (now withdrawn) national fire indicators. The information contained within the report was open to the public and was brought to committee once per year.

The comparative fire and rescue service continued to comprise those which made up the old BV family group 4 as detailed in table 1 below:

TABLE 1 – COMPARATIVE FIRE & RESCUE SERVICES

The 2 tables of note for Lancashire Fire and Rescue were the number of fatalities in primary fires per 100,000 population and the number of non-fatal casualties in primary fires per 100,000 populations. Members were informed that measures were in place to improve performance in those areas.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that with the introduction of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and the associated data returns from Fire and Services (FRS), in tandem with increased transparency of Home Office incident data for England’s FRSs, an opportunity now presented itself to review the suitability of Family Group data presently used for performance comparison purposes, and to determine whether more suitable benchmarking arrangements could be developed to support broader contextualization of performance across the sector.

Councillor Dave Smith commented that, in isolation, the Family Group Comparative Performance report was insufficient as figures were provided annually to enable year on year comparison. He added that a national comparison or a comparison with the North-West could be more beneficial than with the family group.

County Councillor Nikki Hennessy concurred that a like for like comparison would be more beneficial in terms of geographical and population size, and areas of deprivation.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer agreed to review and present an alternative format for the comparative information at a future meeting of the Performance Committee for consideration.

RESOLVED:- That the Performance Committee noted the family group information provided in the format consistent with previous years and endorsed the Service’s ambition to explore options to provide comparative performance data in future years, based upon context broader than purely the former family grouping.

Group Manager Prevention, Kirsty McCreesh, provided the meeting with an annual report regarding Road Safety Intervention Activity which explained the Service’s core prevention offer and also the issues on Lancashire’s roads.

Members noted that, through the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-2022 (IRMP), prevention and protection services and the structure for delivery were reviewed to ensure that the Service was delivering appropriate services in line with the changing operating environment. As a result, working practices had changed with a strategic focus on the quality of the services that continued to be delivered. The services were delivered around key themes: helping people to start safe, live safe, age safe and be safe on the roads with a focus on working collaboratively with other organisations. To ensure constant improvement in all parts of prevention delivery, the Service had dedicated thematic groups whose priorities aligned to the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) 2022-2027 and the Prevention Strategy. 

Road Safe Thematic Group

The Thematic Road Safety Group continued to meet every quarter during 2021-2022 with an option of in-person and virtual meetings. Membership of the group came from all areas of the county and was a mix of Community Safety and Operational Staff. Road Safety Champion, County Councillor Ron Woollam, had close links with the group and was in regular communication with the Prevention Support Officer for Road Safety.

An annual plan aligned to the terms of reference had been developed alongside a priority work programme which supported the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP) ‘Towards Zero’ strategy. An ambition of the group was to improve communication between strategic and practitioner levels and also to send clear messages out to Service Areas with key road safety priorities. The Service sought to deliver focused activities in areas identified as having issues and evaluate effectiveness. Unfortunately, in March 2020, the coronavirus struck and subsequently, the Service had to develop new ways of working to target ‘at risk’ groups. Some of those working practices had been adopted as business as usual and offered a greater choice of delivery methods for the community, improving the Service’s reach and efficacy.

Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP)

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service continued to be a proactive member of LRSP and had representatives at both Strategic and Operational group levels. The partners worked closely with each other and delivered the partnership strategy ‘Towards Zero’ Lancashire: Road Safety Strategy for Lancashire, in an attempt to reduce those killed or seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads.

The Partnership had 3 staff posts:

i) Road Safety Analyst, hosted by Lancashire Constabulary;

ii) Road Safety Coordinator, hosted by LFRS; and

iii) Road Safety Manager, hosted by Lancashire Constabulary.

The Road Safety Analyst produced road safety reports that focused on the risks, not only throughout Lancashire, but also at district level. The data ensured that resources were best directed into reducing road traffic collisions of all severities throughout Lancashire’s fourteen districts (including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen), whilst combating the criminal use of the wider road network.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/22

Verbal report and presentation.

The Group Manager Prevention, Kirsty McCreesh, informed Members that hoarding was defined as where a person acquired an excessive number of items and stored them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter. The items could be of little or no monetary value. It was estimated that 1 person in every 100 had a problem with hoarding which seriously affected their life. An accurate number to give a scale of the problem could be difficult to provide as a person who hoarded might be embarrassed and so would avoid inviting people into their property. That could be where the Service was made aware of the problem, although it would tend to be at the ‘incident’ stage and barriers might be encountered when trying to access the property for a HFSC. 

Hoarding was considered a significant problem if:

-         The amount of clutter interfered with everyday living – for example, if the person was unable to use their kitchen or bathroom and could not access rooms; or

-         The clutter was causing significant distress or negatively affecting the quality of life of the person or their family – for example, they became upset if someone tried to clear the clutter and their relationship suffered.

Hoarding Disorder had been recognised as a distinct mental health problem which might present in isolation or as part of another mental health problem such as;

·        Physical illness

·        Dementia

·        Depression

·        Alcohol and drug misuse

·        Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders

·        Learning disability

·        Autism and related disorders

·        Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Hoarding was a very complex issue and more than providing a means of disposing of items. It was important not to assume why people were hoarding or make judgements as there were many reasons, causes and medical conditions that could lead to hoarding. Hoarding Disorder could be diagnosed when there was no other illness to account for the problem. It was noted that those with a hoarding disorder strongly believed that their hoarded items were valuable.

Hoarding was a concern for LFRS as clutter and hoarding increased the risk of a fire occurring and made it more difficult for people living in the property to evacuate safely. Fire could also spread to neighboring properties and any fire could also be more difficult to tackle posing a greater risk to firefighters. In addition, the occupier was likely to have little or no engagement with other services and a higher risk of social isolation.

To support individuals who were hoarding, LFRS could:

-         Conduct a Person-Centered Home Fire Safety Visit;

-         Ensure smoke alarms were fitted and they were aligned to risk and where the householder spent their time;

-         Create Escape Plans and stress the importance of clear exits;

-         Use the clutter image rating scale for additional information and guidance on how to support the person; and

-         Record risk where appropriate to provide notification to fire crews attending an incident.

The clutter rating scale had been adopted by LFRS and guidance had been produced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8/22

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 14 September 2022 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:          scheduled for 14 December 2022 and 15 March 2023

                                                proposed for 28 June 2023

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Wednesday, 14 September 2022 at 10:00 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 14 December 2022 and 15 March 2023 and agreed for 28 June 2023.