Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Mohammed 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.

In relation to resolution 25/19 on page 16, Councillor Smith was aware of a petition to parliament to ban the sale of disposable barbecues.  He felt this was an important issue and asked whether any progress had been made.  In response, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the sector had fed back concerns to the National Fire Chiefs Council who were lobbying the Home Office to consider making changes to legislation to ban barbecues.  In the interim a number of leading manufacturers and supermarkets had chosen to stop stocking them, not just those used on the moorlands but also those that were used on balconies.  Members would be updated at future meetings as clarity emerged.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 24 June 2020 be confirmed as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

The Chairman introduced, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Ben Norman who presented the report.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised Members that this was the 1st quarterly report for 2020/21 as detailed in the Risk Management Plan 2017-2022. 

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 standard was to reduce the risk in Lancashire – an annual reduction in the County risk map score.

The current score 32,448, previous year score 31,816.

This was a negative exception report due to the overall risk score increasing over the previous year.

Analysis showed the reason was due to two factors:

i)    an update in 2019 to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) score which was compiled by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government; (with the previous update being 2015).  The IMD score was the official measure of relative deprivation for Lower Level Super Output Areas (SOA’s) and was taken from the English Indices of Deprivation.   Each SOA was assigned a score; the higher the score the more deprived the area. The 2019 update showed an increased score for 565 of the 941 SOA’s within Lancashire.  Our risk map calculation applied a multiplier of two to the score; hence an increased likelihood of SOA’s being moved to a higher risk banding; and

ii)  the number of dwelling fire casualties recorded over the three-year period had increased.  Details of casualties were reported quarterly within KPI 1.4.  It was noted that although there were decreases in the number of dwelling and building fires, they were insufficient to offset the combined increases in IMD and casualties.

It was also noted that as the increase in the risk map score appeared to be related to the updated IMD, it was felt that this increase would be a single occurrence and that the current trajectory of dwelling and building fires would lead to a reduction in the next risk map update.  The updated risk would be considered in future planning actions and performance would continue to be monitored at both a local and county level.

1.2       Overall Activity

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

Quarter 1 activity 4,916, previous year quarter 1 activity 4,532 an increase of 8.47% over the same quarter.

Incidents attended consisted of a myriad of different types.  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 45% were false alarms which was comparable with previous periods.  The Assistant Chief Fire  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29/19

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 16 December 2020  - venue to be confirmed.

Further meetings are: proposed for: 17 March 2021, 30 June 2021 and 15 September 2021.

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Wednesday, 16 December 2020 at 1000 hours – venue to be confirmed.

Further meeting dates were agreed for 17 March 2021, 30 June 2021 and 15 September 2021.

The Authority is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, they consider that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item. 

RESOLVED: - That the press and members of the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

(Paragraph 3)

It was noted that arrangements were in place within the old Best Value (BV) Family Group 4 to compile an annual comparative data in respect of the two (now withdrawn) National Fire Indicators that related specifically to fire authorities.  

Data was provided for the six components which in turn made up the two explicit fire and rescue indicators in respect of: the position of each Fire and Rescue Service within the Family Group, 2018/19 – 2019/20 comparative progress/decline; percentage change in terms of actual numbers; the position of each F&RS within the comparative group for the respective indicator and a summary overview in graphical form.

Members examined each indicator in turn and noted Lancashire’s position.

National Indicator 33 – Number of deliberate (i) primary and (ii) secondary fires per 10,000 population.

NI 33 – Arson Incidents (deliberate fires) per 10,000 population

NI 33i Deliberate primary fires per 10,000 population

NI 33ii Deliberate secondary fires per 10,000 population

National Indicator 49 – Number of primary fires and related fatalities and non?fatal casualties per 100,000 population.

NI 49i Number of primary fires per 100,000 population

NI49ii Number of fatalities in primary fires per 100,000 population

NI49iii Number of non-fatal casualties in primary fires per 100,000 population

RESOLVED:- That the Committee noted the content of the report and the comparative outcomes.