Agenda item

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised Members that this was the 1st quarterly report for 2016/17 as detailed in the Risk Management Plan 2013-2017.

 

The report showed there were 5 negative KPI Exception Reports. An exception report was provided which detailed the reasons for the exception, analysis of the issue and actions being taken to improve performance.

 

Members focussed on the indicators where an exception report was presented and examined each indicator in turn as follows:-

 

2.1.1   Critical Fire Response – 1^st Fire Engine Attendance

This indicator reported the ‘Time of Call’ (TOC) and ‘Time in Attendance’ (TIA) of the first fire engine arriving at the incident in less than the relevant response standard.

 

The response standards for the first fire engine attending a critical fire (including call handling time KPI 2.1.3) are as follows:-

 

· Very high risk area = 6 minutes

· High risk area = 8 minutes

· Medium risk area = 10 minutes

· Low risk area = 12 minutes

 

The response standards are determined by the risk map score and subsequent risk grade for the location of the fire.

 

Standard: to be in attendance within response standard target on 88% of occasions.

 

Quarter 1 – 1^st pump response 83.87%, previous year quarter 1 - 87.06%.

This is a negative exception report due to critical Fire 1^st pump response being below the standard. Overall quarter 1 pass rate was 83.87%.

Exception report provided.

 

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that there had been a marginal improvement in this indicator during 2015/16.  Critical fire activity was within standard during the month of April however, this could be attributed to the unusually low number of incidents during the month. During May, responses failed by an average of 1 minute and 37 seconds and by 3 minutes and 9 seconds during June. This included the call handling time. June contained an incident where the first pump failed to book in attendance at the incident on initial arrival, which resulted in an unusually long response time being recorded. Over the quarter 1 period, 55 incidents failed to achieve the standard response, 31% of the failures failed by less than 60 seconds. It was reported that Preston, Chorley and Hyndburn were accountable for 16 of the 55 failures with the main reasons being distance and time of day.  Many failures occurred between 1600 hours - 1900 hours and the possible relationship between peak travel times and fire engines travelling through congested traffic was noted.

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the standards were not set nationally they were set by the Authority’s Planning Committee and monitored by this Performance Committee.  It was noted that Fire Services across the family group had less stringent targets for example, some had a blanket response time of 10 minutes whereas Lancashire’s response standards were graded on risk.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Holgate, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that there used to be two separate measures for call handling and response attendance however with the introduction of North West Fire Control the 2 indicators had been amalgamated.  There was however an opportunity to review the current suite of indicators which would link into the new Integrated Risk Management Plan and be effective from April 2017.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Taylor, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that it was the responsibility of the Officer In Charge to press a button on arrival to confirm attendance however, sometimes when there was a serious fire their attention was drawn to commence operations.  It was noted that new technology was being considered which auto recognised when an engine had arrived at its destination.

 

2.2.1   Critical Special Service Response – 1^st Fire Engine Attendance

This indicator measured how long it took the first fire engine to respond to critical non-fire incidents such as road traffic collisions. The response standard for the first fire engine attending a critical special call (including call handling time KPI 2.2.2) is 13 minutes. We have achieved our standard when the time between the TOC and TIA of the first fire engine arriving at the incident is less than13 minutes.

 

Standard: To be met on 91.5% of occasions

Quarter 1 results 87.56% achieved against a target of 91.5%, previous year quarter 1, 85.63%, an improvement of 1.93%.

This is a negative exception report due to critical Special Service 1^st pump response being below the standard. Overall quarter 1 pass rate was 87.56%, outside of the 91.5% standard.

Exception report provided.

 

The Assistant Chief Officer advised that during this reporting period had shown large variations, with April recording one of the lowest response rates 81.8%, with June recording a pass rate of  90.2% within the two percent tolerance. 21% of the failures failed by less than 60 seconds.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Crompton, the Assistant Chief Officer confirmed the high number of failures in December was due to the severe storms with failures occurring between peak times of 1600 hours to 1900 hours.

 

2.2.2   Critical Special Service Response – Call Handling

This indicator measured the time from the ‘Time of Call’ to the ‘Time of Send’ of the first appliance mobilised. A median was used to calculate the average time for the month. This excluded duplicate calls for the same incident.

 

The median call handling time for quarter 1 was 124 seconds, previous year quarter 1 was 122 seconds; a worsening of 2 seconds. The previous quarter 1 (January to March 2016) recorded 95 seconds.

 

Standard: Within 90 seconds

 

This is a negative exception report due to performance being below standard, with the improvement in call handling recorded during the previous year showing a worsening during quarter 1 of 2016/17.

Exception report provided.

 

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised Members that this indicator was wholly reliant on the performance of North West Fire Control.  Performance had worsened during the winter months when the number of special service calls would be at their peak and potentially quite complex.  It was anticipated that the actions identified in the report would deliver progressive improvements that would lead to call handling performance returning to levels previously delivered prior to the year end.

 

 2.4      Fire Engine Availability – Retained Duty System

This indicator measured the availability of fire engines that are crewed by the retained duty system. It is measured as the percentage of time a fire engine is available to respond compared to the total time in the period.

 

The percentage of time that RDS crewed engines were available for quarter 1 was 91.89%, previous year quarter 1 was 91.81%, an improvement of 0.08%.

 

The previous quarter 1 (January to March 2016) recorded 91.66%.

Annual Standard: Above 95%

 

This is a negative exception report due to the cumulative RDS availability for the three months of quarter 1 being below the standard and outside of the 2 per cent tolerance.

Exception report provided.

 

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer reassured Members that quarter 1 had seen continued improvement in the Retained Duty System (RDS) appliance availability.  Members discussed the potential impact following the current recruitment of whole time posts.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that RDS staff who were successfully appointed would be expected to support the service to maintain cover. He clarified that where the Service looked at the availability of the RDS it was looking at appliance availability and not staff availability as quite often staff would make other arrangements to crew the engine (including the use of whole time staff or overtime).

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Crompton, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer would confirm outside the meeting the total number of RDS applicants from ethnic backgrounds and their gender.

 

 

 

4.2.1   Staff Absence – Excluding Retained Duty System

This indicator measured the cumulative number of shifts (days) lost due to sickness for all wholetime, day crewing plus, day crewing and support staff divided by the total number of staff.

 

Annual Standard: Not more than 5 shifts lost

Cumulative total number of monthly shifts lost 1.3

Quarter 1 results indicate the number of shifts lost through absence per employee being above the Service target for 2 months during quarter 1.

Exception report provided.

 

Members then examined each indicator in turn as follows:-

 

KPI 1 – Preventing and Protecting

 

1.1       Risk Map Score

This indicator measured the risk level in each neighbourhood (Super Output Area) determined using fire activity over the previous three fiscal years along with a range of demographic data.

 

The County risk map score is updated annually, before the end of the first quarter. An improvement is shown by a year on year decreasing ‘score’ value.

Score for 2013-2016 – 32,990, previous year score 33,268.

No exception report required.

 

1.2       Overall Activity

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

 

Quarter 1 activity 3,880, previous year quarter 1 activity 3,485, an increase of 11.33%.

Total number of incidents 2016/17 – Year to Date, 3,880

 

Included within this KPI is a new incident type of ‘Gaining Entry’. This is where we have attended on behalf of the North West Ambulance Service. During quarter 1 we attended on 137 occasions.

No exception report required.

 

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'.

 

Quarter 1 activity 200, previous year quarter 1 activity 232, a decrease of 14%.

Total number of Accidental Dwelling Fires – Year to Date, 200

No exception report required.

 

1.3.1   Accidental Dwelling Fires – Extent of Damage

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' presented as a percentage extent of fire and heat damage.

 

This indicator shows the total number of Accidental Dwelling Fires where damage is limited to the item first ignited and limited to the room of origin (it excludes incidents that are limited to heat/smoke damage only).

 

Cumulative Accidental Dwelling Fires activity, 152: -

20% limited to item 1^st ignited

61% limited to room of origin

13% limited to floor of origin

6% spread beyond floor of origin

No exception report required.

 

1.3.2   Accidental Dwelling Fires – Number of Incidents where occupants have received a Home Fire Safety Check

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known' by the extent of the fire and heat damage. The Home Fire Safety Check must be completed within 12 months of the fire occurring.

 

	2016/17		2015/16
	ADF’s with previous HFSC	% of ADF’s with previous HFSC	ADF’s with previous HFSC	% of ADF’s with previous HFSC
Q1	13	7%	7	3%

No exception report required.

 

1.4       Accidental Dwelling Fire Casualties

This indicator reported the number of fatalities, slight and serious injuries occurring at primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of fire had been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known'.

 

Casualty Status	2016/17 Quarter 1	2015/16 Quarter 1
Fatal	0	1
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Serious	6	3
Victim went to hospital visit, injuries appeared Slight	7	8
TOTAL	13	12

No exception report required.

 

1.5       Accidental Building Fires (Non-Dwellings)

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the property type is a building and the property sub-type is not a dwelling and the cause of fire has been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known'.

 

Total number of incidents	2016/17 Quarter 1	2015/16 Quarter 1
	89	109

No exception report required.

 

 

1.5.1   Accidental Building Fires (Non-Dwellings) – Extent of Damage

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where the property type is a building and the property sub-type is not a dwelling and the cause of fire has been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known' presented as a percentage extent of fire and heat damage.

This indicator shows the total number of Accidental Building Fires where damage is limited to the item first ignited and limited to the room of origin (it excludes incidents that are limited to heat/smoke damage only).

 

Quarter 1 Accidental Building Fires activity, 75: -

	2016/17				2015/16
	ADF activity	Item 1st ignited	Room of origin	Floor of origin	Spread beyond floor of origin	Item 1st ignited	Room of origin	Floor of origin	Spread beyond floor of origin
Q1	75	12%	40%	17%	31%	29%	26%	13%	32%

No exception report required.

 

1.6       Deliberate Fires

This indicator reported the number of primary and secondary fires where the cause of fire had been recorded as 'Deliberate'. Secondary fires are the majority of outdoor fires including grassland and refuse fires unless they involve casualties or rescues, property loss or more appliances attend. They include fires in single derelict buildings.

 

Deliberate Fire Type	2016/17 Quarter 1	2015/16 Quarter 1
1.6.1 Deliberate Fires – Anti-Social Behaviour	566	596
1.6.2 Deliberate Fires – Dwellings	21	30
1.6.3 Deliberate Fires – Non-Dwellings	41	37

No exception report required.

 

1.7       High / Very High Risk Home Fire Safety Checks

This indicator reported the percentage of completed Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSC), excluding refusals, carried out where the risk score had been determined to be either high or very high.

 

	2016/17	2015/16
	% of High and Very High HFSC outcomes	% of High and Very High HFSC outcomes
Q1	79%	67%

No exception report required.

 

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer introduced Group Manager Neil Taylor who provided Members with a presentation on the Springboard Project. The background to the project included that LFRS had secured an Information Sharing Protocol with Lancashire County Council which provided ‘upper threshold’ adult social care data that gave us detailed household level risk information.  The initial data contained approximately 18,000 households of which 7,000 – 8,000 were new and predicted to be high risk, based on the Home Fire Safety Check scoring matrix.  The Springboard Project had been piloted in Burnley and extended to Preston.  Following a positive evaluation this would be rolled out on a phased basis across the Service from October 2016.  Agreement in principle had been reached with both Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council to share data using similar Information Sharing Protocols.

 

In response to Members concerns around staff making visits to potentially aggressive and volatile individuals, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the more staff undertake high risk / vulnerable visits the greater the complexity of the service we deliver.  As part of the roll out across other districts the training and support that staff received would be revisited so they were confident and able to make meaningful interventions.

 

Members asked that the Committee’s thanks be extended to all involved for a tremendous initiative.

 

1.8       Road Safety Education Evaluation

This indicator reported the percentage of participants of the Wasted Lives and Childsafe Plus education packages that show a positive change to less risky behaviour following the programme; based on comparing the overall responses to an evaluation question before and after the course.

 

	2016/17 (cumulative)		2015/16 (cumulative)
	Total participants	% positive influence on participants’ behaviour	Total participants	% positive influence on participants’ behaviour
Q1	1832	87%	4811	82%

No exception report required.

 

1.9.1   Fire Safety Enforcement – Known Risk

This indicator reported on the percentage of premises that have had a Fire Safety Audit as a percentage of the number of all known premises in Lancashire to which The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies.

 

Number of premises	Number of premises audited to date	% of all premises audited Year end: 2016/17	% of all premises audited Year end: 2015/16
32,933	18,329	56%	55%

No exception report required.

 

1.9.2   Fire Safety Enforcement – Risk Reduction

This indicator reported the percentage of Fire Safety Audits carried out within the period resulting in enforcement action. Enforcement action is defined as one or more of the following: notification of deficiencies, action plan, enforcement notice, alterations notice or prohibition notice.

 

Period	Satisfactory audits 2016/17	Requiring formal activity – 2016/17	Requiring informal activity – 2016/17
Q1	28%	8%	61%

No exception report required.

 

KPI 2 – Responding to Emergencies

 

 

2.1.2   Critical Fire Response – 2^nd Fire Engine Attendance

This indicator reported the time taken for the second fire engine to attend a critical fire incident measured from the time between the second fire engine arriving and the time it was sent to the incident. The target is determined by the risk map score and subsequent risk grade for the location of the fire.

 

Standard: to be in attendance within response standard target on 85% of occasions.

 

Quarter 1 – 2^nd pump response 84.34%, previous year quarter 1 was 85.04%

No exception report required.

 

2.1.3   Critical Fire Response – Call Handling

Critical fire criteria as 2.1.1 Call handling time is calculated from the ‘Time of Call’ to the ‘Time of Send’ of the first fire engine. The measure used is taken from the Performance Framework used by North West Fire Control. A median is used to calculate the average time for the quarter. Excluding duplicate calls for the same incident.

 

Standard: within 90 seconds

 

The median call handling time for quarter 1 is 83 seconds, previous year quarter 1 was 78 seconds, a worsening of 5 seconds.

No exception report required.

 

2.3       Fire Engine Availability – Wholetime, Day Crewing and Day Crewing Plus

This indicator measured the availability of fire engines that are crewed by wholetime, day crewing and day crewing plus shifts. It is measured as the percentage of time a fire engine is available to respond compared to the total time in the period.

 

Fire engines are designated as unavailable for the following reasons:

 

· Mechanical

· Crew deficient

· Engineer working on station

 

Annual Standard: Above 99.5%

 

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer reported to Members since the transition to North West Fire Control KPI data was held by North West Fire Control. The use of NWFC’s Business Information tool (BI Direct) to extract the data was proving problematic therefore alternative solutions were being investigated.

No exception report required.

 

2.5       Staff Accidents

This indicator measured the number of staff accidents.

Total number of staff accidents 2016/17 – Year to Date, 18

Quarter 1 results indicate percentage pass within standard

No exception report required.

 

 

KPI 3 – Delivering Value for Money

 

3.1       Progress Against Savings Programme

Annual budget for 2016/17 - £55.6m

Budget to end of quarter 1 - £14.4m

Spend for the period to date was £13.9m

Underspend for the period £0.5m

Variance -0.90%

 

3.2       Overall User Satisfaction

Total responses 1317; number satisfied 1305

% satisfied 99.1% against a standard of 97.5%

Variance 1.63%

No exception report required.

 

KPI 4 – Engaging With Our Staff

 

The Assistant Chief Officer tabled the data for indicator 4.1 which had not been available at the time of issuing the report.

 

4.1    Overall Staff Engagement

This indicator measured overall staff engagement.  The engagement index score was derived from the answers given by staff that related to how engaged they feel with the Service.

               

Staff engagement index for period 1 to 62%, based upon 220 replies.  This is 4% higher when compared against the same period last year.

 

Period	2016/17		2015/16
	Number of Replies	Engagement Index	Number of Replies	Engagement Index
1	220	62%	199	58%

 

4.2.2   Staff Absence – Retained Duty System

This indicator measured the percentage of contracted hours lost due to sickness for all retained duty staff.

Annual Standard: Not more than 2.5% lost as % of available hours of cover

Quarter 1 results indicate percentage pass within standard

Cumulative retained absence (as % of available hours cover) 0.77%

No exception report required.

 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that at Chief Fire Officers Association annual conference which was attended by Brandon Lewis MP, the Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service and other key government figures from the Home Office, the Service had contributed to video which promoted the collaborative work the Service was doing.  Members viewed the video and requested that it be shown to all Members.

 

RESOLVED:- That the Committee endorse the report and note the contents of the 5 negative KPI exception reports.