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ITEM CA17

CABINET – 18 OCTOBER 2005

FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE: INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN
ACTION PLAN 2006-07

Report by Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer

1. This report proposes a number of projects to be included within the Fire & Rescue Authority’s Integrated Risk Management (IRMP) – Action Plan for 2006–07. The proposals summarise those areas where the Service’s Senior Management Team believe service improvements may be achieved. To meet the requirements of the IRMP process each proposal must be supported by robust evidence, validating both its inclusion and contribution to improved community safety and/or firefighter safety. Similarly, each proposal must be cognisant of the prevailing economic constraints.
2. Those proposals approved by the Cabinet will be subjected to a comprehensive process of ‘risk analysis’ and offered for appropriate, internal and external, formal consultation. Feedback from the consultation process will be provided to the Cabinet, for due consideration, prior to the adoption of the final version of the Action Plan.

Background

3. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 requires the Secretary of State to prepare a Fire and Rescue National Framework, to which individual authorities must have regard when discharging their functions.
4. The Secretary of State published the 2005/06 Fire and Rescue National Framework in December 2004. The purpose of the Framework is to provide strategic direction from central government while ensuring that authorities continue to make local decisions. The Framework sets out the Government's objectives for Fire and Rescue Services and what individual authorities should do to achieve these objectives.
5. The 2005/06 Fire and Rescue National Framework confirms the requirement on the Fire and Rescue Authority to develop and maintain an IRMP which reflects local need and establishes strategies to effectively reduce and control existing and potential risks to communities. The framework also incorporates the requirement to produce annual Action Plans on which they have fully consulted their local communities, allowing twelve weeks for the consultation. The framework requires that the production of IRMPs and Action Plans take account of central government guidance and that Fire and Rescue Authorities effectively use resources to implement the IRMPs and Action Plans.
6. Oxfordshire published its first IRMP in April 2004, providing strategic direction for the next three to five years. The strategic document is subjected to annual review and updated and amended as required. The current IRMP requires no amendment for 2006-07.
7. The Annual Action Plan 2005-06 identified five projects, enabling the Service to deliver the strategy during the relevant period. These projects have been progressed and are monitored through established performance management systems.
8. The proposals submitted for inclusion in the Action Plan for 2006-07 have been identified by the professional judgement of the Service Delivery Management Team and ratified by the Strategic Management Team. The options adopted by the Cabinet will be subjected to a rigorous process of ‘risk analysis’ based on the standard advocated by the Institute of Risk Management. The risk management standard provides a quantified assessment of the risk to all stakeholders and will enable informed and effective decision-making.
9. The approved list of proposals and supporting evidence, based on the analysis of risk, will be published and offered for appropriate internal and external consultation. The consultation process will adopt the principles advocated by central government’s guidance and will be proportionate to their salience and impact on the relevant community and key stakeholders.
10. Responses to the consultation will be considered and, where appropriate, incorporated in the final version of the plan. The Action Plan 2006–07, once adopted by the Cabinet, will be published and made available and accessible to all sections of our community.

Projects for IRMP Action Plan 2006-07

11. The following paragraphs summarise the projects proposed for inclusion in the IRMP Action Plan for 2006-07.
    
    

1. Oxfordshire Fire Cover Review

12. A comprehensive review of fire cover for the County is being undertaken utilising the Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) model software. The software will be used to assess the risk within the County and devise an optimum strategy to improve community safety through the allocation of resources and the nature of its response to incidents. This will enable the development of a medium to long term strategy for the deployment of resources to reduce the identified risks to the community of Oxfordshire. This strategy, once developed, will be brought to Cabinet together with the projected budget implications. Any short term opportunities that will provide improved service delivery provision with no impact on budgets will be discussed with the Cabinet Member and acted upon following consultation with the relevant bodies.

(b) Risk Assessment Based Approach to Managing Fire Safety

13. The Regulation Reform Order is anticipated to come into force on 1 April 2006. This Order draws together all of the separate pieces of fire safety legislation placing the responsibility for the enforcement of this Order with the Fire & Rescue Authority. The Authority will determine the frequency for auditing premises within Oxfordshire on the basis of risk. An important change for the occupiers of all premises with the exception of domestic properties will be the requirement to carry out their own risk assessments and this change will need to be promulgated to them. The Fire & Rescue Authority’s role will be to audit and ensure the risk assessment is appropriate and that the managerial systems are in place to support a safe environment for people who reside in the premises.

(c) Provision of Small Fire Appliances

14. Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue has for a number of years maintained a standard fleet of appliances. Each appliance carries a full array of operational equipment to deal with a variety of incidents from fires in domestic/commercial buildings to Special Service Calls such as road accidents and chemical incidents, which has served the community and service well over the years. However, with the changing needs of the service it is now necessary to deliver the service in a different way. The smaller type fire appliance will primarily be used for secondary type fires including car/chimney fires and should be capable of carrying five personnel and their associated PPE, thus maintaining the brigades resilience. The appliance should be capable of initial attack on structure fires and should have limited rescue capability in case of attendance at a road accident collision. The appliance should also carry the latest extinguishing media i.e. Compressed Air Foam system which will improve firefighter’s safety due to its improved ‘knock-down’ capability. Through the procurement of this vehicle it is believed the service will be able to provide enhanced service to the public through the introduction of new firefighting techniques, improve firefighter’s safety and provide cost effective, highly efficient Fire & Rescue vehicles.

(d) Review Day Duty System

15. Currently the Day Duty System worked in Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue is a nationally agreed system, with personnel working a 9-day fortnight (0900 – 1700 hours) which equates to 31.5 hours per week. There is now increasing pressure on our specialist sections who work this duty system to increase its level of industry to meet demands of the service, this is particularly true for fire safety, staff/technical departments and training centre personnel. Currently our day duty staff who are predominantly operational personnel are contracted on a 42 hour week. However due to the nature of their role and the need to have flexibility with personnel to underpin crewing levels at operational stations, there is a trade off between the hours they are contracted for and the hours they actually work. It is anticipated through redesigning this duty system to deliver an increase in the working week, that the brigade will be able to meet some of the growing pressures from within existing resources. This is an area of perceived weakness identified in the CPA report i.e. Corporate Capacity.

(e) Review Roles and Appliance Provision at Kidlington Fire Station

16. Kidlington Fire Station is a one appliance station which also has the Brigade’s Rescue Tender (RT). The station is crewed by 14 Day Crewing firefighters and is supported by a Retained Crew establishment of 12 personnel. The RT is now only crewed by Day Crewing firefighters due to the technical nature of the rescue equipment. These technical skills have a high erosion factor if not regularly practised. In addition to technical rescue, the Day Crewing personnel also carry out firefighting duties, which also requires training time to sustain competence. The station Retained crew are used to supplement the Day Crewing personnel in a firefighting role and crew the fire appliance should the day crewing personnel be attending another incident in the RT. This shared appliance system is unlike other wholetime stations where retained crews have their own appliance. The retained crew provide 24 hour cover and are only required when the Day Crewing personnel are attending other incidents in the RT. This lack of involvement has a negative effect on retained recruitment and retention and causes personnel to feel undervalued. To compound this problem, over the last 5 years the technical skills of the RT crew have increased exponentially and now require a considerable amount of time to maintain their competency. This has increased the training requirement for personnel and has now brought into question whether the Day Crewing firefighters have sufficient time to have a multiple role, i.e. Firefighter/Technical Rescue.

(f) Realignment of Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service

17. Following a number of major changes in legislation and working practices there is a need to realign the structure of the Fire and Rescue Service to ensure that the Fire Authority can meet the needs of the IRMP. This need to develop increased capacity has been confirmed during a recent Fire CPA audit and is seen a pivotal to maintaining the current levels of performance. Linked to this structural change there is a requirement in the 2005/06 Framework Document to move from a ‘Rank’ based organisation to a ‘Role’ based organisation. The process for this change has now been agreed by NJC for Fire & Rescue Services and must now be implemented.

Financial Implications

18. The financial implications arising from these proposals will form part of the Integrated Service and Financial Planning Process and will be the subject of a ‘Limited Service Review and Star Chamber’.

RECOMMENDATIONS

19. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED:

1. subject to any amendments which the Cabinet may consider appropriate, to approve the proposed projects to be included in the Draft Integrated Risk Management Action Plan 2006–07 for ‘risk analysis’ and consultation as outlined in the report;
2. to ask the Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer to report the outcome of consultation with any recommendations for amendment to the Cabinet in March 2006, with a view to formal adoption of the Action Plan for implementation from April 2006.

JOHN PARRY
Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Martin Crapper, Service Delivery Manager Tel: 01865 242223

October 2005

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