Agenda item

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 a manual process when there was a loss of CAD, and mobilising resources was not as fast as normal which impacted on the mobilising times. This issue had been highlighted and reported to fire and service services and further control measures had been implemented to ensure the reason for the loss of the mobilising system on this occasion was not repeated.

·       NWFC had highlighted with its Board of Directors, an issue with retention of staff. This was not just a NWFC issue, but was reflected in all fire control rooms, all emergency control rooms and, according to the CIPD, was a national trend for organisations. To replace the staff, NWFC must recruit and train new operators, which would take approximately two years to get them to a level of competency. The relatively high number of inexperienced staff impacted the call mobilisation times. NWFC had completed a capacity review of its operating model and was moving forward with a plan to help to improve retention. It was noted that the average mobilising times for September 2024 had improved to 87 seconds, which was below the target.

Response to Special Service Calls

NWFC did not have a target for mobilising to special service calls but did monitor them to identify trends.

Mobilisation of these calls increased in Quarter 2. Analysis of reasons for this were similar to the two reasons above for fires.

In addition, NWFC had a new People Development and Assurance Programme (PDAP) in place, which was designed to improve the skill sets of the operators. Part of this had been adopting the newly issued NFCC Control National Operational Guidance, which often required additional call handling questions to determine whether a response was required and ensured the safety of proceeding crews and callers. 

County Councillor Nikki Hennessy suggested that North West Fire Control be invited to a future Strategy meeting to update Members on the procurement of the new mobilising system.

County Councillor Salter expressed his concern regarding the issues with the data retrieval software on Page 93 of the agenda pack. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer explained that the Service had been informed of the issues with data not collating on the complex IT systems through the NWFC Board of Directors and Steering Group. IT suppliers had identified the root cause, and the system had been updated. NWFC had notified the Service early into the issue as it would affect the mobilisation data requested by the HMI; however, the issue had since been resolved and the data had been sent to the HMI. An update would be provided by NWFC in the upcoming weeks to ensure that there were no further issues and once the data had been quality assured, it could be reported back to the Authority.

County Councillor Salter highlighted that the risk of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) leaving the collaboration with NWFC could be exacerbated by the recent system issues. The Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that GMFRS were committed to NWFC until 2033 when the building lease would expire, he also explained that coinciding with that timeline would be a further mobilising system replacement project, in readiness for post 2033. As such, this longer-term planning for NWFC options would commence in 2026.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer reminded Members to confirm their attendance for the visit to NWFC on 21 or 23 January 2025.

Resolved: - That the Performance Committee noted the information in the report and presentation.