Agenda item

Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer Norman presented the report.  The Annual Service Report (ASR) was a key part of the Service’s corporate planning process which enabled the documentation of deliverables in the previous 12 month period.

 

In addition to highlighting the key projects that had been delivered against the 2018/19 Annual Service Plan, it also presented the opportunity to reflect on some of the unplanned major achievements the Service had delivered over the last 12 months. The most notable example would be the response and resolution to the Winter Hill incident during June and July 2018. Building on the successful delivery of the 2017/18 ASR these reflections would once again be captured in the format of a short video that would be presented to the next Combined Fire Authority meeting in addition to internal and external cascade via website links, social media and staff briefings.

 

Annual Service Plan Progress Report

Members considered the detailed a range of projects, action plans and priority items for completion during the year as set out in the report:-

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Preventing fires and other emergencies from happening, protecting people and property when they happen and responding quickly and competently

 

Evaluate tools to strengthen our response

 

·        Pre-alerting

 

The pre-alerting project was rolled out as a pilot from early 2019 at four fire stations; Preston, Penwortham, Bamber Bridge and Fulwood. This allowed the Service to measure the impact on performance levels across different shift systems of early mobilisation messages.

 

·        Dynamic cover tool

 

The dynamic cover tool had been viewed by our staff and some business benefits had been noted. However, the costs currently outweighed the benefits therefore it hadn’t been procured. The Service was exploring the possibility of collaborating with our bordering fire and rescue services and North West Fire Control in order to consider if this approach was more feasible.

 

Strengthen our operational assurance

 

·        Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

 

Following the inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services we received an ‘outstanding’ in promoting the right values and culture and ‘good’ in all other categories. LFRS was currently the only Service in the country to be graded as at least ‘good’ against every category whilst also receiving an ‘outstanding’ grade in one.

 

·        National Operational Guidance

 

The Service had decided against replacing current operational procedures and was instead writing what are known as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), bringing them, and training, in line with National Operational Guidance while also retaining local information.

 

·        Assurance monitoring system app

 

The Service had been working towards delivering an assurance monitoring app that collated information and intelligence from numerous sources. Crews were currently operating on a ‘debrief’ function of the app but further work was planned to provide benefits such as the identification of early trends and issues regarding policy, equipment or training. This work was expected to be completed later this summer.

 

·        Integrate water towers into our fleet

 

The Fleet and Engineering Department had worked alongside operational members of staff to capture a qualitative evaluation of Stinger 1 placed at Blackburn Fire Station. This had allowed the Service to request modifications from the manufacturer to be made to the vehicle in order to improve its operational capabilities.

 

We had procured a second Stinger, which at the time of writing was at Skelmersdale Fire Station hosting the required crew training. This would be operational from August 2019.

 

·        Replace incident command units

 

A functional specification had been produced for two new incident command units. This specification had been produced to support the command model that we operated towards. The Service had made the decision to, when the time arrived; place the new units at the stations they were currently hosted at: Fulwood and Blackburn.

 

Engagement had been made with Lancashire Constabulary and wider Lancashire Resilience Forum members to ensure the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) requirements would be met. The vehicles would be owned by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and a joint procurement exercise would not be taking place.

 

·        Emergency Services Network (ESN)

 

The Service continued to support this Home Office led project; there was a funded post from the programme that was filled by an experienced operational station manager. Early work remained ongoing with regards to helping the programme shape the required deliverables and deployment plans. The full business case was due to be presented to Government by the Home Office Programme Team later this year and transition timescales were anticipated at that time. Our current Airwave provision remained fit for purpose and effective in the interim. 

  

·        Optimise availability of front-line services

 

A range of duty systems operated within the Service to ensure fire engines and special appliances were crewed appropriately based on risk. Rota management software and smart phone apps were currently utilised by whole-time and on-call operational crews, as well as administration teams, to achieve this. This project was established as it became apparent that, although we were consistently very good at ensuring appliance availability, improvements could be made to some of the processes used to achieve this. The project team had reviewed the full range of processes, software, policies and guidance and authored an improvement action plan which was being progressed in 2019/20. The improvements were identified through extensive staff engagement and the independence of the findings was assured through involvement of an external auditor. The outcomes of the project were not specifically intended to enhance appliance availability (as this was already well supported by existing processes) however they would release significant amounts of time for operational and administrative teams to be re-invested in other activities.

 

Valuing our people so they can focus on making Lancashire safer

 

Develop a strong organisational culture where our values are understood

 

·        Consult with staff on the appraisal conversation

 

The Service had consulted with staff on how to improve the way we undertake the appraisal conversation. This work was being used to develop new arrangements in relation to how we undertake appraisals. For 2019, the feedback from the consultation had been used to develop new appraisals for on-call firefighters.

 

·        Performance manage appraisals

 

Following feedback from staff, an electronic recording system had been developed to allow all managers to record completion of appraisals centrally: this was known as PDR Pro.

 

·        Develop a range of tools to improve the appraisal conversation

 

The Service had explored opportunities for implementing an online appraisal tool to enable accurate reporting and recording, and a solution was being progressed. Further to feedback from staff, the documentation that sat within the appraisal process was being updated. Development had been provided to all crew managers in terms of having difficult conversations and this would continue to be a feature of their development programme.

 

Encourage and listen to employee voice

 

·        Staff survey

 

A survey for staff at all levels and in all roles ran for seven weeks during 2018 to find out their views on: what it’s like to work for the Service, leadership and management, training and development, recognition and communication in order to inform future activity. There was an increase in both response rates and engagement levels than in previous surveys. The results were being used to provide insight and influence activity in a variety of areas across the Service.

 

·        Intranet

 

A new intranet had been developed reflecting feedback from the staff survey in terms of information and features people most wanted. The site aimed to connect staff from across the Service and provided forums for expression of views and knowledge sharing. It also represented the first phase of a new corporate document store.

 

Develop our leaders

 

A development day for middle managers was held which included an outline of our Annual Service Plan and direction in terms of a positive, ambitious and realistic future. There was also a focus on dealing with change, developing resilience and increasing staff engagement.

 

In addition, the Service hosted several events led by Paul McGee which opened up the opportunity for staff to listen and learn from the international keynote speaker and performance coach, who combined his background in psychology with humour and practical insights.

 

Promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the Service

 

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service worked very hard to promote working opportunities to our vastly diverse population and shaped inclusive services through a representative and informed workforce. Our chief fire officer leads the EDI steering group which developed and shaped our EDI action plan. This plan was further refined through staff engagement in the format of LGBT, women and families, ethnicity and culture and disability employee voice groups. The work of these teams had enabled the Service to shape policy, deliver positive action recruitment and diversify the workforce. The EDI action plan and delivery against the objectives were reported to the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority annually. 

 

Expand apprenticeship opportunities

 

In the previous 12 months the Service had offered a more diverse range of apprenticeships including: project management, procurement, business administration, human resources and fleet and engineering. The Service had been awarded accrediting body status for apprenticeships and the 18 recruits commencing their training in September would be a part of our apprenticeship growth.

 

Build a strong and resilient workforce

 

Embed TRiM

 

Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) is a recently developed risk assessment based approach to trauma support for all staff within the Service. This new system had replaced critical incident debriefing and was being delivered by trained practitioners from across the Service.

 

·        Review research on the effects of contaminants at fires on firefighters’ health

 

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service had developed its understanding of the potential risks posed by contaminants on firefighting personal protective equipment. Following current best practice guidance, the Service had developed a new policy and risk assessment on how we managed this risk.  We had included improvements to managing contamination within a new design for breathing apparatus training facilities at Service Training Centre.  We had signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) to become the first fire service in the UK to support the research on contamination being developed by UCLAN and the Fire Brigades Union.

 

Delivering value for money in how we use our resources

 

Invest in training and equipment

 

·        Area-based training hubs

 

Scoping work for an area based training hub for the north of the county had been ongoing. The Service had been completing market research by seeing what other fire and rescue services were using, what manufacturers had to offer and at what price.  A utilisation exercise had been completed to calculate the projected periods of time the hub would be used and by which staff. Consultation was still ongoing with this project and a cost benefit analysis would take place to mark the feasibility of the project.

 

·        Service Training Centre improvements

 

Consultation with staff across the Service had been ongoing regarding our new plans to upgrade Service Training Centre. The detailed specifications for our new building included: breathing apparatus training, equipment maintenance, staff welfare facilities and trainer offices were completed, tender documents were drafted and we now moved towards the build phase.

 

·        Virtual reality training software

 

XVR virtual reality training software had been extensively evaluated and the required benefits were not identified for Service command training, therefore we would no longer be pursuing this.

 

·        Review duty rig

 

A project team had been exploring a wide variety of options for duty rig. The team was working closely with staff consultation groups to ensure that any changes to uniform met the needs of our diverse workforce across all areas of business. 

 

Collaboration with Lancashire Constabulary

 

Collaboration with Lancashire Constabulary had been building momentum over the year since a joint temporary project officer post was created. There had now been a series of Blue Light Collaboration Boards and Executive Collaboration Boards that had inserted a structure into the programme as well as a governance pathway.

 

Within this, the original 32 opportunities proposed in February 2018 had been streamlined into 15 positive opportunities to work on together. These include major projects such as: missing person searches, real time demand management and co-location of a public order training site, as well as smaller local projects such as shared asset management, vehicle maintenance and fuel business continuity.

 

In addition, there had been other relationship developments such as collaboration over the changes required following the General Data Protection Regulation legislation, duty officer communication links and also a joint emergency services open day, which included the three blue light services as well as other partners such as Blood Bikes, Mountain Rescue and the RNLI.

 

Property collaborations and co-location

 

The Service, working alongside North West Ambulance Service, had completed the build of a joint fire and ambulance station in Lancaster. This was finished in early 2019 and both fire and ambulance colleagues using the site were reporting positively on the environment and enhanced working relationships.

 

Information Management Strategy

 

·        Records management

 

The Service had appointed a records management officer who was leading this work to improve how records were managed, stored and deleted within the organisation.

 

·        Integrated Planning Platform

 

The Service had gone live with an interim solution for district-level key performance indicator reports. This built on the work delivered earlier in 2018/19 whereby post incident records were created and analysed digitally to ensure that all learning and reactive prevention measures were delivered in a timely and effective manner. 

 

·        General Date Protection Regulation (GDPR)

 

The Service had been working to raise awareness of the Data Protection Act 2018. Staff members who handled sensitive information had all received specialised training on how to work in compliance with the Act. We had also provided all members of staff with an e-learning module to educate them of the changes in the new Act. A project team had created a GDPR action plan delivering the key priorities whilst developing improvements and longer term changes to ensure the Service remained compliant.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding the modifications for the new second Stinger, Acting Chief Fire Officer Norman reported that the manufacturer had changed the specification requirements for stinger 2 procured for Skelmersdale.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding the Incident Command Units during the Moorland Fires incidents, Acting Chief Fire Officer Norman confirmed that the Service had captured the lessons learnt as we do from all incidents with command debrief focussing on a number of areas.

 

In response to a question raised by County Councillor O’Toole regarding the Services preparedness for a major incident such as a terrorist incident, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer reassured Members that the Service had a strong working relationship with Lancashire Constabulary and we continued to learn from all our partners.  In addition, the Lancashire Resilience Forum continued to regularly pre-plan exercises to ensure if a major incident did happen the Service would be able to respond. 

 

RESOLVED: - That the report be noted and endorsed.