27 June 2005
LEAD/CONTACT OFFICER: TELEPHONE NUMBER: EMAIL: BACKGROUND PAPERS: 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. There is much excellent practice in Community Fire Safety across the fire service, particularly in the South East. Innovative ideas are helping to reduce risk to the public and, as well as reducing the number of deaths and injuries in fires, are beginning to show results in cutting the number of fires. 1.2 To help ensure that all fire authorities in the South East region can make the maximum contribution to increasing the safety of the population they serve, the Common and Specialist Service Workstream of the South East Regional Management Board undertook to create a good-practice tool kit. From this each authority could pick what it wanted, with an understanding of the costs and benefits of each approach with suggestions where possible for appropriate performance management or quality assurance techniques. The approaches set out may not necessarily be appropriate for all authorities, as local needs and approaches will ultimately define what each authority chooses. Nevertheless, the opportunity exists for authorities to learn from each other and, potentially, to reduce research and start up costs for new initiatives. 2. BACKGROUND 2.1 During the final quarter of 2004 the Common and Specialist Services Workstream commissioned a project to collate Community Fire Safety activities under 3 themed areas;
2.2 This previous work was important in collating all the activity in the region for use where applicable. This report seeks to bring together this activity in one place, to identify good practice and to attribute, where possible, costs and benefits to community fire safety approaches. The intention is to provide authorities with a manual of good practice approaches in order that any contemplating a particular activity can learn from others and asses the implications before proceeding. 3. ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY 3.1 The suggested manual of good practice is attached as appendix one to this report. It is set out as a narrative of activities grouped under the three themes outlined above, with specific case studies from different authorities around the region and an analysis of the impact each has had. 3.2 Board members will see a variety of different activities ascribed to most if not all of the constituent authorities in the South East. The relative balance of cited examples should not necessarily be taken to be a reflection of the level or variety of community fire safety activity taking place in particular authorities. Rather, it is a product of the collective efforts of the working group on CFS reporting to the Common and Specialist Services Steering Group. 3.3 Inevitably, there will continue to be further developments as needs arise and the relative success of different approaches becomes clearer. For this reason it is proposed that the manual is kept under regular review by the relevant working group under Common and Specialist Services and periodically updated and reissued. It is suggested that an annual reissue would be appropriate. 3.4 The manual is primarily intended to be a guide for practitioners, but it is also a useful reference point for Members in considering options for delivering policy aspirations in relation to community safety. 4. IMPLICATIONS 4.1 The resource implications, in terms of cost and human resources, are set out in the Appendix to this report. The cost comparators are intended to be indicative, but they do provide a clear indication of how different authorities are approaching similar issues. There are considerable potential benefits to be explored by all constituent authorities for increased collaboration in the use of materials, such as posters, leaflets and schools packs, and the standing working group will continue to develop this approach alongside the relevant CFOA committee in the South East. 5. CONCLUSION 5.1
Fire and Rescue Authorities in the South East region have much
to be proud of in the variety and quality of its Community Fire
Safety programmes. The new duty imposed by the Fire and Rescue Services
Act 2004 requires further consideration by all authorities as to
how they are meeting the duty. There are obvious benefits from sharing
good practice to assist this process as well as potentially suggesting
efficiencies and economies of scale. Accordingly, Board members
are asked to endorse the good practice manual (Appendix one refers),
to agree its circulation and to agree the regular updating arrangements
referred to above.
|