Agenda item

To consider a report

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer submitted the proposed indicators and targets for 2023/24 to the Authority for consideration. The majority of targets had been based on the five year averages and these were provided in the report, along with the previous targets and proposed targets.

The indicators and targets had remained broadly the same in Prevention and Protection.

In the area of response, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer was seeking views from the Authority as to whether the indicator measuring the percentage of occasions global crewing enabled nine riders (5 and 4) on two pumps responses (Wholetime) should be removed or temporarily suspended for one year. His rationale was that the Service had determined to improve county wide fire cover by more frequently deploying the fifth rider on Wholetime appliances to cover deficiencies in on-call fire appliance availability. In simple terms, moving the fifth firefighter from a Wholetime pump with 5 crew to an on-call appliance with only three crew available would enable two fire appliances to be mobilised with the minimum crewing of 4 (a total of 8) rather than a single fire appliance with a crew of 5.

The Chief Fire Officer added that this proposal had been developed in response to the continued challenges around on-call availability.  As this was being addressed by the on-call improvement programme, it was hoped that, in future, these global crewing levels could be maintained.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer also reported on proposed changes to the call-handling indicators. As discussed at previous meetings, benchmarking exercises had identified that the current target was not in line with other Fire and Rescue Services across the country. For example, the average call-handling time to primary fires for Bedfordshire incidents, at 60 seconds, was far below the average of 90-120 second target in place at other Services. It was therefore proposed to increase the target to 90 seconds.

Whilst Members expressed support for the reasoning behind these proposed changes, it was also noted that some of these indicators formed part Authority’s and long standing standards of Emergency Response set out in the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP). The CRMP latest had already undergone extensive consultation and was being presented to the Authority for final approval later on in the meeting.

In response to a comment on the status of the CRMP, the Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the Service had not consulted on changing the standards of emergency response even though he believed they needed a through review to ensure they were easily understood and enabled ready comparison with other Services. This would be undertaken during 2023/24 now that the new Performance and Insight Manager was in post in this CRMP.

Following this discussion, it was agreed that the current Response indicators remain as they were, but that additional indicators be developed to provide more insight.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer reported on new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Our People indicators and on the indicators that were now being reported to the Corporate Management Team rather than Members as they related to operational management of the business. 

RESOLVED:

1. That the proposed KPI targets for 2023/24 be received.

2. That the agreed targets be approved for inclusion in the Service Performance Management Framework, subject to the exclusion of the Response targets, which are to remain as set out in the Authority’s Community Risk Management Plan.