Agenda and minutes

of the previous meeting held on 2 November 2021 attached.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 2 November 2021 be signed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSC/22/1) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Service Improvement (CSC/22/1) recommending to the Fire & Rescue Authority the approval of the draft Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2022 to 2027 following incorporation of feedback received during the public consultation exercise which closed on 14 January 2022.

The Director of Service Improvement advised the Committee that the public consultation had been extensive, with 250 individual responses received in addition to the 1700 responses to the pre-consultation exercise undertaken in 2021, the result of which had been fed into the draft CRMP prior to the public consultation exercise.  He added that the CRMP was an iterative document and that an annual review would be undertaken to ensure that the Service could address any emerging risks in future years.

Reference was made to a change in appliance type at certain stations and an explanation was requested of the Service’s reasoning behind this.  The Director of Service Delivery advised that the Service had undertaken a review of its vehicles and their location under its Fleet Replacement Plan to ensure that it had matched its resources to risk appropriately which accorded with its Community Risk Management Plan.  This process had been undertaken with staff and stakeholder engagement and an explanation had been given to each station as to why each vehicle was being placed in its location.  The Committee requested that all Members of the Authority be kept apprised of such matters or any other contentious information in future to assist them in responding to queries from the public.  The Chief Fire Officer responded that more clarity may be needed in terms of the type and means of providing this information whereupon it was suggested that this matter be discussed at a future Members’ Forum.

The Committee also referred to the Emergency Response Standards for fires and Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) and asked if the target set was realistic for urban areas bearing in mind the delays that could occur at key, busy times in the day.  The Director of Service Delivery confirmed that the target had been set following extensive research into the survivability of a person some years back and was:

·       10 minute response for primary fires (75%); and

·       15 minutes for RTCs.

It was acknowledged that the impact of changes in fire safety such as the increased use of smoke alarms, more modern appliances, less chip pan fires and so on may have impacted on the survivability of a person in recent years.  There may be a piece of work that could be undertaken in the future to look into this.

RESOLVED that the Authority be recommended to approve the draft Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2022 to 2027 as set out at Appendix A of report CSC/22/1.

Report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/2) attached.

The Committee received for information a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/2) that set out the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) against which the Service’s performance in relation to the Strategic Objectives for Quarter 3 of 2021-22 was measured.

The performance status of the Service KPIs is based on the following criteria:

·     Succeeding                 -         The KPI is achieving its target.

·     Near target                 -         The KPI is less than 10%                                                         away from achieving its target.

·     Needs improvement    -         The KPI is at least 10% away                                                   from achieving its target.

The Committee noted that performance to quarter 2 of 2021-22 was as follows:

There was one KPI requiring improvement – KPI 1.1.4.1 on the number of Home Fire Safety Visits completed.  This area was the subject of a full review with an exception report was included within report CSC/22/1.  A full report on Home Safety Visits was also included elsewhere on the agenda for this meeting.

The Committee expressed its thanks for the quality of report and performance presented.

NB.  Minute CSC/21/14 below also refers.

Report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/3) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/3) that set out details of fire engine availability within Devon and Somerset based on statistics over a five-year period from December 2016 to November 2021 for:

·       Standard pump availability;

·       Risk prioritised availability; and

·       Risk dependent availability.

Availability had been recognised as a risk in the previous iteration of the CRMP, the Integrated Risk Management Plan.  Whilst there had been a decline in the availability of risk dependent pumps (December 2017 to December 2020) as a result of a decline in the numbers of  retained duty system staff which had impacted on Emergency Response Standards (ERS), the efforts made by the Service with the advent of Pay for Availability to improve the On Call system had started to result in signs of improvement.  It was early in the development of this system, however, thus it was recommended that a review of the position was undertaken in 12 months’ time to gauge any further improvement.

The Committee expressed its thanks for the excellent work undertaken on the Pay for Availability system.

Councillor Redman MOVED (seconded by Councillor McGeough) an amendment to recommendation (b). in report CSC/22/3 to add:

          “that a follow up paper be provided in 6 months as well as 12 months’           time”.

Upon a vote, this amendment was CARRIED unanimously.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

(a).          noted the contents of this paper as suitable evidence to support scrutiny of strategic objective 2a as agreed by the Authority namely:

·       Provide response resources at times and in locations relevant to identified risks of fires and other emergencies

(b).     received a follow-up paper in 6 and 12 months’ time and included this item on the Committee’s forward agenda.

NB.  Minute CSC/21/12 above and CSC/21/15 below also refer.

Report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/4) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/4) that set out the background to the instigation of Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) and the Service’s approach to targeting the most at risk groups of people in the community for such a visit.

The report covered, amongst other matters:

·       The impact of prevention activity and the Home Fire Safety Check;

·       The Home Fire Safety Visit process in Devon and Somerset;

·       The targeting of at risk groups;

·       The Service’s capacity to deliver Home Fire Safety Visits;

·       The risk factors employed in targeting the most vulnerable in the community;

·       The Service’s Community Safety Strategy 2018-22; and

·       The National Fire Chiefs’ Council (NFCC) person centric framework.

The Director of Service Delivery reported that the Service’s target for HFSV was 18,000 per year.  Capacity was based on having 25 full time equivalent technician’s posts to deliver specialist home fire safety visits to the most vulnerable people likely to die in a fire.  The technicians were able to deliver between 1000 to 1200 visits a month usually.  This had been impacted recently by issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and people being unwilling to let the technicians into their homes to undertake the visits, thus the target was not being met.  The Director of Service Delivery added that the Community Safety Strategy was being reviewed currently and integrated with the NFCC’s person centric framework.  A new online tool was also being developed which would enable those at lower risk from a fire to gain access to information to enable the Service to focus on those at higher risk.  The emphasis was being placed on the quality assurance of visits undertaken.

The Chief Fire Officer referred to work being undertaken by the Service’s data analysts and advised that a predictor tool was being worked on which could be brought to a future meeting of this Committee for information.

RESOLVED that the report and contents therein be noted as suitable evidence to support scrutiny of strategic objective 1a as agreed b the Fire and Rescue Authority namely:

·       deliver interventions and education events to reduce the risk of fire in the community.

NB.  Minute CSC/21/12 above also refers.

Report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/5) attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Service Delivery (CSC/22/5) that set out a proposed Forward Plan for the Committee in order to provide appropriate scrutiny against the Authority’s Strategic Priorities 1 and 2.

RESOLVED that subject to the inclusion of the following, additional items, the Forward Plan for 2022-23 as set out in report CSC/22/5 be approved:

·       Review of fatal fire deaths – July 2022; and

·       Interim report on fire engine availability – July 2022.