Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented a report to Members detailing the proposed update to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The proposal was to reorder the KPIs to prioritise ‘Valuing Our People’ to reflect the Service’s STRIVE values. Several KPIs had been added or amended to provide information in a way which was clearer to understand and to enable measurement against targets.

The existing arrangements of KPIs were:-

1  Preventing fires and other emergencies from happening. Protecting people and property when fires happen.

2  Responding to fire and other emergencies quickly and competently.

3  Delivering value for money in how we use our resources.

4  Valuing our people so that they can focus on making Lancashire safer.

The new proposals for the arrangements of KPIs were:-

 1 Valuing our people so that they can focus on making Lancashire safer.

 2 Preventing fires and other emergencies from happening. Protecting   people and property when fires happen.

 3 Responding to fire and other emergencies quickly.

4 Delivering value for money in how we use our resources.

It was proposed to remove 1.3.2 (Accidental Dwelling Fire (ADF) – number of incidents where occupants have a received a Home Fire Safety Check (HFSC)). This indicator was difficult to understand and explain. Success was implied if the percentage of households that experienced a fire after having had a HFSC increased (as this is alleged to be indicative of correct targeting) but, arguably, it’s also indicative of the Service not being able to fully mitigate risk.

Five new KPI headings had been added to under the new KPI 1 (Valuingour people so that they can focus on making Lancashire safer), to enable the Service to better measure progress and identify areas for improvement. The KPI for staff accidents had been relocated to this KPI from ‘Responding to Incidents’, as the section reflected LFRS’ commitment to staff.

The existing KPIs were:-

4.2.1    Staff Absence (Excluding On-Call).

4.2.2    Staff Absence (On-Call).

The proposed KPIs were:-

1.1            Overall Staff engagement (Performance measure of how engaged our staff are).

1.2.1      Staff Absence Wholetime (WT) (Specific measure of WT absence).

1.2.2     Staff Absence On Call.

1.2.3      Staff Absence Greenbook (Specific measure of Greenbook absence).

1.3.1      Workforce Diversity (as a %) (Performance measure of how representative our staff are of our communities.

1.3.2      Workforce Diversity Recruited (as a %) (Performance measure of our success in recruiting a diverse workforce).

1.4         Staff Accidents (Now included within KPI 1).

Two new KPI headings had been added to the new KPI 2 (Preventing fires and other emergencies from happening and Protecting people and property when fires happen), to provide a clearer representation of the data and activity levels. Percentages could be misleading when dealing with relatively small numbers, therefore, the KPIs would move to publishing numbers as opposed to percentages where appropriate. This would provide a more representative account of the data.

The proposed new KPIs were:-

2.6         Deliberate Fires Total: Specific performance measure of deliberate fires.

2.10      Building Regulation Consultations (BRC) (number and completed on time).

Due to the Fire Safety and Building Safety Bills, FRS involvement with Building Regulations Consultations (BRC) would gain an increased focus. The volume of BRC activities undertaken were not currently visible to Members/staff/public, however, they represented a significant proportion (over 500 per quarter) of Fire Safety Inspectors work. KPI 2.10 had therefore been added for Members to have oversight.

A new KPI heading had been added to the new KPI 3 (Responding to fire and other emergencies quickly), to provide an accurate ‘Lancashire wide’ view of overall Fire Engine Availability and a greater level of scrutiny.

It was proposed to remove Critical Fire Response – 2^nd Fire Engine Attendance to align with the majority of the other 45 Fire and Rescue Services in England. It was proposed that response times would be measured against immediate interventions which would form from the first attending appliance, which also included call handling times.

The proposed new KPI was:-

3.3         Total Fire Engine Availability.

A new KPI heading had been added to the new KPI 4 (delivering value for money in how we use our resources), for Partnership collaboration which would provide a qualitative analysis of collaboration across Lancashire.

The proposed new KPI was:-

4.2              Partnership Collaboration.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer reassured Members that staff were engaged through a staff survey. Questions asked were appropriate to measure how staff felt valued and engaged as part of the Service’s STRIVE values. It was noted that the Planning Committee would determine the level of engagement in relation to the proposed changes to KPIs.

RESOLVED :- That the Committee approved the proposed changes to KPIs and their inclusion within the Service’s Measuring Progress Report be recommended to the scheduled Planning Committee meeting in February 2022 who would then consider and agree the relevant performance levels.