Agenda item

The Head of Service Development presented the report which provided an update on the work to date on the formulation of the Strategic Assessment of Risk (SAoR) and planning for production and consultation on the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) which would commence in April 2022.

In April 2022 the Service would be required to deliver the next Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) as required within the “Fire and Rescue National Framework” published in May 2018.  The guidance within this document required that the IRMP must:

1.    Reflect up to date risk analyses including an assessment of all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks that could affect the area of the authority;

2.    Demonstrate how prevention, protection and response activities will best be used to prevent fires and other incidents and mitigate the impact of identified risks on its communities, through authorities working either individually or collectively, in a way that makes best use of available resources;

3.    Outline required service delivery outcomes including the allocation of resources for the mitigation of risks;

4.    Set out its management strategy and risk-based programme for enforcing the provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in accordance with the principles of better regulation set out in the Statutory Code of Compliance for Regulators, and the Enforcement Concordat;

5.    Cover at least a three-year time span and be reviewed and revised as often as it is necessary to ensure that the authority is able to deliver the requirements set out in this Framework;

6.    Reflect effective consultation throughout its development and at all review stages with the community, its workforce and representative bodies and partners; and

7.    Be easily accessible and publicly available.

In order for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) to efficiently discharge the requirement, it would be essential that suitable and sufficient resource and time be allocated to the planning and production of the IRMP and supporting documents such as the Strategic Assessment of Risk (SAoR), and associated strategic documents, policies, plans and governance statements.

Work had started on a new and revised SAoR format that would deliver prior to April 2021. This would underpin and guide the next iteration of the IRMP, based upon a robust data-led methodology which, when coupled with the new district intelligence profiles, would provide LFRS with a refreshed evidence-led direction for future Prevention, Protection and Operational Response activities over the medium term.

Through LFRS’s linkages into national workstreams running under the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), the Service remained closely aligned to emerging work pertaining to Risk Management Planning and intended to evolve the IRMP, so far as was reasonably practicable, aligned to this emerging sector-led guidance as new information became available.

The Head of Service Development presented a timeline for planned work as below:

Integrated Risk Management Plan 2022 to 2027 Milestone Chart

The SAoR had been taking shape in the basic statistical framework, and would be progressed to internal stakeholder groups for consultation and professional judgement to be applied with any supporting rationale suitably documented.

Once the risk categories had been finalised through the stakeholder groups, work would commence in tandem to complete the final version of the SAoR and the inception of the IRMP document that would be presented in an update to Strategy Group in early July 2021.

Thereafter, Planning Committee would be asked to approve the opening of consultation for a 10-week period from mid-July.  The Service had been in discussion with other Fire and Rescue Services who had been planning/undertaking consultation work, to learn from their experiences and to best position the Service to deliver an effective consultation exercise over the 10-week period, despite the constraints arising from the potentially ongoing pandemic.

In response to a question from County Councillor O’Toole in respect of timescales, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that although the new plan would cover five years (2022 to 2027), there would be opportunities over that period to take on board changes post-Pandemic.

In response to questions from County Councillor Shedwick and County Councillor Hennessy about consultation parameters, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) advised that the intention would be to use a blended approach to the consultation with a wide spectrum of engagement.  This approach would draw on what had worked well in other Fire and Rescue Services nationally and would utilise the more traditional formal processes of previous years whilst seeking out innovation, including using the network of social media the Service had in place.  The ACFO added that the thoughts and feedback of Members about what could be added to the consultation process would be welcomed.

In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy about the wording of the Plan, the Head of Service Development advised that the aim would be for the high level IRMP to be written as a clear and transparent all-encompassing document that would be understandable to a lay person whilst allowing agility in what the Service delivered.  The detail that would sit below the IRMP would be in the Annual Service Plans.  These plans would drill down into the work that would be delivered over a 12-month period.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer added that care would be taken with the level of detail and use of acronyms within the IRMP and that consideration would be given to providing an additional succinct executive summary of the Plan that could be used to support the consultation process.

In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy relating to the resources that would be available to undertake this work, the Head of Service Development confirmed that work on the Plan had started earlier than in previous years and the aim would be for this to be undertaken within existing internal resources.

RESOLVED: - that the Planning Committee noted and approved the contents of the report.