Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillors Paul Rigby and Barrie Yates.

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 04 September 2024 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 2nd quarterly report for 2024/25 as detailed in the Community Risk Management Plan 2022-2027.

This quarter, one Key Performance Indicator (KPI), 2.9 Business Fire Safety Checks, was shown in positive exception and one Key Performance Indicator, 3.3 Total Fire Engine Availability, was shown in negative exception.

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.

From July to September 2024, 26 station visits were carried out by Principal Officers and Area Managers as part of the service-wide engagement programme. Fifty-three wellbeing interactions were undertaken ranging from workshops with crews to wellbeing support dog interactions.

The views of staff were sought by a survey on how useful people find the appraisal conversation in order to improve the quality of appraisals.

The Service engaged with staff over several topics that related to the Service’s fleet and equipment, which included two items designed to enhance firefighter protection from harmful particulates found in soot and smoke: particulate flash hoods and particulate filters for face masks. A wildfire team along with learning and development centre trainers were trialling devices to monitor heat stress in firefighters, and a new hose reel was also being trialled.

Improvement works at Blackpool Fire Station and plans for new training props at the Leadership and Development Centre had been the subject of staff engagement relating to property projects.

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 questions, where strongly disagree was equivalent to 0, disagree was equivalent to 25, neither agree nor disagree was equivalent to 50, agree was equivalent to 75 and strongly agree was equivalent to 100. The engagement index was then calculated as the average engagement score in the organisation. This approach meant that a score of 100 was equivalent to all respondents saying strongly agree to all five engagement questions, while a score of 0 was equivalent to all respondents saying strongly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18/24

The Chair welcomed Campaigns Officer, Zoe Scott and Group Manager, Community Protection Manager, Mark Warwick to provide the Committee with a presentation detailing the delivery of the Cooking Safety Campaign in July 2023 which aimed to reduce the number of cooking-related incidents by educating the public on safe practices and encouraging behaviour change. July was chosen as the month for the campaign due to a seasonal spike in incidents involving barbeques etc., and it aligned with the NFCC (National Fire Chiefs Council) campaign calendar.

Cooking related incidents continued to be the largest cause of Accidental Dwelling Fires (ADFs) (KPI 2.3) in Lancashire, with 317 reported incidents in 2023. Of the 317 fires in 2023 the significant causes were: distraction (152 cases); using the hob as a work surface (111 cases); and accumulation of fat and oil (32 cases). Casualties from kitchen-originated fires accounted for 38% of all fire-related injuries, with Blackpool experiencing the highest number of incidents.

There were a total number of 1058 incidents from 2021 – 2023 as follows:

-        2021 – 359 Incidents

-        2022 – 382 Incidents

-        2023 – 317 Incidents

From the incident data, the service was able to determine insight which included:

·       High-risk areas included Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, and Lancaster.

·       Ribble Valley had the highest ratio of cooking fires at 52% of total ADFs.

·       Key times for cooking related incidents was between 5-7pm.

The campaign was implemented in July after yearly incident data showed a peak in cooking fires.

The campaign objectives were to:

·       Reduce the number of overall cooking-related fires during the campaign period.

·       Increase audience engagement with campaign materials.

·       Change target audience behaviour, particularly reducing casualties from cooking-related fires.

The target audience was adults aged 18+ living in the highest risk areas – Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen and Lancaster, and busy adults with young families.

The key messages were:

·       Fires won’t wait for your attention.

·       Stay there and cook it!

·       Never use your hob as an extension of the worktop.

·       Keep it clean, keep it clear – a build up of dirt or grease and items stored on top of a hob creates a significant fire risk.

·       Get out, stay out and call the fire service out.

A pre-campaign telephone survey was conducted in April, contacting 60 Lancashire residents who had a cooking related fire in the last three years, The survey aimed to gather more information about each incident such as:

·       Household profile – presence of children or pets.

·       Individual profile – age, gender, disability.

·       Use of kitchen appliances.

·       Distractions at the time of the fire.

·       Influence of alcohol or drugs.

·       Presence of a working smoke alarm.

Data from the survey found that 58% of respondents were not in sight of the fire when it started, and 59% admitted to watching tv, bathing or doing household chores when the fire ignited.

After investigating the incident data from the past few years, a recurring cause of cooking fires was busy parents distracted with homework or chores whilst cooking a meal,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19/24

The Committee was provided with a report and presentation detailing the performance of NWFC during quarter 2 (July – September 2024).

North West Fire Control (NWFC) was the emergency control room for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS). The core functions for LFRS were to:

·       Receive emergency calls via the 999 system, other agencies or alarm receiving centres.

·       Mobilise appropriate resources to incidents in line with LFRS’s mobilising procedures.

·       Manage resource availability (standby manoeuvres).

NWFC would carry out Emergency Call Management (ECM) prompts provided by LFRS to determine whether an attendance was required for specific incidents and would signpost calls to other appropriate agencies where it determined that the Fire Service would not be attending.

In addition, NWFC would support LFRS with:

·       Notification of intruder alarms at fire services premises.

·       Notification of planned events.

·       Notification and implementation of special mobilising arrangements.

·       Road closures.

·       Passing additional risking information for specific addresses.

·       The passing of accident or near miss information.

·       Providing a supplementary media statement for specific incidents.

NWFC had also absorbed through its current staffing model the additional calls from North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), for gain entry requests to premises for medical emergencies. This was a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with LFRS, NWAS and Lancashire Constabulary.

Emergency Calls

Incoming emergency calls for LFRS for Quarter 2 total 6,317. This was almost 1,500 less emergency calls than Quarter 2 the previous year. These figures had to be caveated with the following:

·       NWFC could not assure that the year’s figure was totally accurate due to an issue with the data retrieval software. Audits of reports had highlighted missing data, which had been reported to system engineers and escalated through their management controls. NWFC had utilised other software to extract the data and would carry out further analysis when there was confirmation that the data retrieval software was reporting accurately and would look at previous data and supply to fire and rescue services. This had been reported to each fire and rescue service and His Majesty’s Inspection for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS).

·       The Summer of 2024 did not see the usual spike in calls for grass and wildfires.

Admin Calls

NWFC also received administrative calls for all services including LFRS for such items as a request for support from crews at incidents or updating resource availability, e.g. training, exercise, defective.

In quarter 2, NWFC received 6196 admin calls, which was almost identical to the same period last year.

Again, the information was caveated with the issues regarding the data retrieval software.

Responses to Fires

NWFC had a target of mobilising resources to fires within 90 seconds on average. In July and August 2024, that target exceeded 95 seconds.

Analysing the reasons for this increase in call mobilisation times had highlighted the following information:

·       Operating in a period of fallback in August due to loss of the main mobilising Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. During business continuity events, tried and tested fallback methods of working were implemented. These however, required  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/24

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented the meeting with a report on Comparative Fire Rescue Service Data.

Historically, since 2000, at the final Performance Committee of each financial year, the Measuring Progress report would be accompanied by a comparative performance analysis of other Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) which was formed upon historic ‘Family Groups’ and enabled Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) to demonstrate to the Committee how the Service was performing against other FRSs on a small number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

As the fire sector evolved, the use of Family Groups slowly diminished as had the value of their use in effectively comparing FRS with FRS. The position had been further weakened by new FRSs joining Family Groups that they were not originally intended to be placed within.

During the Performance Committee on 16 March 2022 (resolution 24-20/21 – Review of Family Group Comparative Information), Area Manager Mark Hutton proposed that future Family Group analysis could involve data that looked beyond the Family Group, taken from other national databases that the Service now had access to, and which could offer a broader and more suitable comparison than the current arrangements.

Since that time, the Service had compiled a report comparing a selection of key LFRS activity against other Fire and Rescue Services in the country, using information published by the Home Office on National Fire Service Activity.

On a quarterly basis, the Home Office published a rolling 12-month update on National Fire Service activity, with the latest release being termed as year ending June 2024 which meant the 12-month period to the end of quarter one.

The report compared a selection of key LFRS activity against other Fire and Rescue Services in the country, along with the current LFRS position and trend.

Selected metrics:

1.     Total incidents.

2.     Dwelling fires.

3.     Dwelling fire casualties.

4.     Non-domestic building fires.

5.     Assist other agencies.

6.     RTCs attended.

A table was included in the report which indicated if a Service was classed as Predominantly Urban, Significantly Rural or Predominantly Rural: Lancashire was classified as Predominantly Urban. These classifications allowed for a relatable comparison with FRSs that shared the same characteristics as LFRS.

LFRS had one of the higher incident levels of the total 44 Fire Services in England, ranking 8^th as the 12-month period to June 2024. LFRS also had greater activity than a number of the metropolitan Services and the highest activity of a predominantly Urban, non-metropolitan Service.

With decreasing numbers of fire incidents, and increasing non-fire incidents, the proportion of incidents recorded as non-fire incidents had surpassed the count of fire incidents for the first time. Fire false alarms continued to account for the largest proportion.

Whilst overall activity had been increasing over the last ten years, the latest 12-month period had shown a reduction within LFRS and across the majority of other FRSs.

There had been a notable decreasing in dwelling fires attended, and a smaller, if fluctuating, decrease in the resultant domestic fire casualties.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/24

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 05 March 2025 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:         scheduled for 25 June 2025

                                              proposed for 03 September 2025

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on 05 March 2025 at 10:00 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 25 June 2025 and agreed for 03 September 2025.