Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor J Hugo and County Councillors G Mirfin, L Parkinson, and M Ritson. County Councillor L Parker was in attendance as substitute for County Councillor G Mirfin.

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 5 March 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented a comprehensive report to the Performance Committee. This was the 4th quarterly report for 2024/25 as detailed in the Community Risk Management Plan 2022-2027.

In quarter 4, one Key Performance Indicator (KPI), 2.9 Business Fire Safety Checks, was shown in positive exception and two KPIs were shown in negative exception. These were 1.2.1 Staff Absence Wholetime (WT) and 1.2.3 Staff Absence Greenbook.

Members examined each indicator in turn focusing on those KPIs in exception as follows:

KPI 1 – Valuing our people so that they can focus on making Lancashire safer

1.1  Overall Staff Engagement

Members received an update on how staff were engaged during the period.

A pulse survey, a short survey designed to measure staff engagement levels in between full staff surveys, was conducted from 18 December 2024 to 7 January 2025. It was an online survey only and received 252 responses (20%).

The resultant staff engagement index score of 79% was a 5% increase on the 2023 score.

From January to March 2025, 17 station visits were carried out by Principal Officers and Area Managers as part of the service-wide engagement programme. In addition, six engagement sessions were held across the county for Station, Watch, and Crew Managers and Community Fire Safety Team Leaders with Heads of Service Delivery to reflect on progress achieved in 2024-25 and consider priorities for 2025-26.

Thirty wellbeing interactions were undertaken ranging from workshops with crews to wellbeing support dog interactions.

Seven online sessions were held to update all operational staff on the final stage of implementing the Service’s dynamic cover software. Two On the Menu digital sessions were held: the first was about leadership and development pathways and attended by 56 people, and the second was about digitalisation of the incident ground attended by 33 people.

The Service engaged with staff over several topics that related to the Service’s fleet and equipment, and views were sought by survey and through employee voice groups in relation to a new project to replace breathing apparatus. Staff engagement over improvement works at Blackpool and Preston fire stations continued.

As previously reported: A comprehensive staff survey was undertaken periodically to gain insight from all staff on a range of topics which included leadership, training and development, health and wellbeing, and equality, diversity, and inclusion. The feedback was used to shape future activity and bring about improvements and new ideas. The survey included a staff engagement index which was a measure of overall staff engagement based on levels of pride, advocacy, attachment, inspiration, and motivation. The current staff engagement score index was 74% (2023).

The engagement index was calculated based on five questions that measured pride, advocacy, attachment, inspiration, and motivation; factors that were understood to be important features shared by staff who were engaged with the organisation.

For each respondent, an engagement score was calculated as the average score across the five  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4-25/26

Area Manager (AM) Matt Hamer and Prevention Support Officer Clare Burscough presented the annual report regarding Road Safety Intervention Activity which explained the Service’s core prevention offer and also the challenges on Lancashire’s roads.

Members noted that, through the Prevention Strategy 2022-2027, 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, be safe on Lancashire’s roads, and be safe in and around water, 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 more recent Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) 2022-2027 and Strategic Assessment of Risk alongside District Plans.

Road Safe Thematic Group

The Thematic Road Safety Group continued to meet every quarter during 2024-2025 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.

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.

The Service continued to offer a variety of delivery methods for the community, improving reach and efficacy. The offer of virtual delivery remained part of the service’s plan and continued to be selected by schools as a delivery method across the county for campaigns such as Road Safety Week and Elective Home Education Sessions. The group was responsible for ensuring all road safety packages were kept up to date and continuous evaluation of the feedback received was considered and steered change where appropriate.

Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP)

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) continued to be a proactive member of LRSP and had representatives at both Strategic and Operational group level. The partners worked closely with each other and delivered the partnership strategy ‘Towards Zero’ Lancashire: Road Safety Strategy for Lancashire 2016 – 2026’, in an attempt to reduce those killed or seriously injured on Lancashire’s roads.

LFRS played an active role on the Children and Young People workstream (as Chair) and the Powered 2 Wheelers / Ebike and Escooter Working Group and Senior Road Users Workstream. The Delivery Group brought partners together to look at what was currently delivered, what worked well and where the gaps where so that resources could be pooled to work effectively and without duplication. At each meeting, Lancashire County Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5-25/26

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented the report on the annual review of the Fire Engine Availability Key Performance Indicator (KPI) 3.3.

At a resolution of the Planning Committee of 17 July 2023 (08/23), the decision was taken to adjust the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) relating to overall fire engine availability, to report against how effectively fire cover was provided across the 39 fire stations (risk areas) of the county. 

The decision approved the proposal to report on the combined availability of the primary asset at each of the 39 stations in percentage terms, whether that be a wholetime or retained duty system fire appliance, with a revised overall target of 90%. Furthermore, that this target would be reviewed annually aligned to the continued work being delivered to strengthen on call appliance availability.

Under the resolution approved at Planning Committee, the KPI change would be subject to annual review with an intention to incrementally increase the standard, if and when appliance availability performance was sustained above the agreed standard. The Service deemed the business year-end to be the most suitable point to conduct this exercise each year and, as such, the report formed the basis of the 2024 review.

At national level, on-call availability remained a significant challenge, as emphasised by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). Ongoing efforts, both locally and nationally, were focused on addressing those key issues. Within the Service, considerable initiatives were underway to enhance recruitment, training, retention, and the wider use of on-call personnel, all while maintaining realistic role expectations give the limited training hours available each week.

The introduction of the Dynamic Cover Tool at North West Fire Control had mitigated Service risk by aiding the deployment of resources more efficiently.

The total availability over 2024/25 was 89.97% which was slightly below the 90% target. Each quarter was below the standard with 86.91% availability reported in quarter 1, 86.14% in quarter 2, 89.30% in quarter 3, and 89.57% in quarter 4.

The months of June, July, and August 2024 were below the lower control limit which meant that an exception report was published for Q1 and Q2.

However, in Q3 and Q4, availability increased, with December 2024 achieving 90.35% (0.35% above the 90% availability standard), and January 2025 achieving 91.19% (1.19% above the 90% standard). 

The Service KPI change appeared to provide an appropriate balance of oversight and ambition for fire engines crewed by both Wholetime and On-Call firefighters. The 90% availability performance standard was supplemented by further internal KPIs for use by local managers to drive contractual performance and ensure value for money.

Area Manager (AM) John Rossen added that there had been improvements in on-call availability through the on-call improvement projects and that the 90% first pump availability standard continued to be an appropriate target.

The Service recommended that Members maintained the combined 90% first pump availability target across the 39 fire stations in Lancashire.

Resolved: - That the Performance Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6-25/26

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 03 September 2025 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:         scheduled for 03 December 2025 and

                                              proposed for 11 March 2026

The Chair thanked members for attending the first Performance Meeting of the municipal year.

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on 03 September 2025 at 10:00 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 03 December 2025 and agreed for 11 March 2026.

County Councillor L Parker remarked that there was a big opportunity for collaboration with councillors to distribute LFRS communications throughout the county, including prevention and awareness messages. The Chair added that this could include weekly or monthly bitesize pieces of information. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) advised that the Service used the In the Know system to communicate a lot of information, members could sign up for this system and encourage members of the community to sign up allowing them to receive frequent messages on key themes including prevention.

The ACFO added that the service had recently advertised water safety messaging at all EG Garages across the North West. In response to a question from County Councillor L Parker in relation to how this had been achieved, the ACFO confirmed that the agreement was reached through good working relationships. County Councillor L Parker asked if there was opportunity to identify other businesses to work with. The ACFO confirmed that the service would welcome any suggestions for collaborative working.

County Councillor M Clifford added that all members could follow LFRS social media pages and share this information to their own pages and in relevant groups. Area Manager (AM) Matt Hamer confirmed that he would share his email address and review ways to collaborate with members to communicate key messages.