Agenda item

To consider a report

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer introduced the Performance Report for the first quarter of 2023/24 (April to June 2023). He highlighted the revised template that had been agreed by the Executive at its last meeting. This had been adopted to make the data set clearer and to improve accessibility. The new reporting template was based on exception reporting, so that indicators not reaching target levels were detailed at the beginning of the report.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer reported that the narrative for primary accidental dwelling fires as set out in the report was incorrect, although the data provided was correct. The number of these incidents was one over target, which was below the five year average and similar to the number of primary accidental dwelling fires recorded in Quarter 1 2022/23.

(Note: following the meeting, the correct narrative text was provided as follows – “Primary fires are larger more serious fires involving property or harm to people. The number of primary accidental dwelling fires (ADF) is one over target, but the same total as in Q1 2022-23 and below the five-year average for Q1. Numbers of ADF show some natural fluctuations.

In common with previous trends, cooking activity was the most common cause of fire, responsible for more than one third of the fires (29 of 75). After-fire ‘hot strikes’ and other targeted Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) are carried out to reduce the risk of ADF. Data from our new HFSV system shows that over 6% of households visited deep fry on the hob. A similar

proportion of households were found with cluttered kitchens or cooker not kept clean and grease free. Risk reduction advice is provided during the HFSV. ADF have been on a downward trend with the lowest ever total on record in 2021-22. In their report, HMICFRS recognised BFRS achieved the largest reduction in ADF rate of all FRS.”)

In relation to presentation of the data set, Members were advised that a standard deviation line had been included to illustrate if performance was on track in a more visual way. As national performance information was released for the Key Performance Indicators, these would be presented side by side with local performance indicators, where definitions were aligned.

In response to questions, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that:

·         There were “family groups” of fire and rescue services that enabled the Service to compare itself to similar services in terms of size and activity levels. Additional work was being undertaken to align the definitions of Key Performance Indicators with the national indicators to facilitate improved benchmarking.

·         Work continues to  reduce response times to incidents, including a trial involving one of the Luton fire appliances being temporarily moved to another location. Improvements were being introduced across the entire journey of a 999 call, from time of call to time of response, and this had already had a positive impact on response times. The continued work of the on-call improvement project also sought to reduce improve response times, and additional staff resource had been allocated to this project accordingly.

·         There were different measurements for time of call and time of alert, with the time of call being when the call was received by Control and the time of alert being when the resources were allocated.

·         The number of Home Fire Safety Visits delivered continued to be high; however, there was now much more targeted activity, and the Service was working with partner organisations, such as housing associations, to enable them to also carry out these checks as Service staff focused on embedding the new technology and targeting high risk groups. There were plans to improve the granularity of data.

·         Greater clarity around performance management would be welcomed by the Inspectorate and all areas for improvement identified in the report would be linked to a Key Performance Indicator to ensure that progress was tracked.

·         The Service worked closely with Age Concern and other voluntary sector organisations to identify and support vulnerable adults with mental health issues.

The Chief Fire Officer added that the locations of the Service fire stations was also influencing the time of response, as many of the fire stations in the County had been in their present locations since the 1970s, with Dunstable being the newest fire station built in 2009. Therefore, resources were not necessarily aligned with the population and housing growth that had taken place since then. The response standards would be discussed in greater depth at the Member Development Day on 5 October 2023.

The Chief Fire Officer explained that the level of prevention activity undertaken by the Service had resulted in a reduction in the number of dwelling fires. Bedfordshire had been the fifth worst performing service in this respect in 2018, and had now improved to thirteenth best. The last year had seen the second lowest level of accidental dwelling fires on record.

The Service continued to support the Ambulance Service with falls response as it was recognised that many of those individuals who were vulnerable to falls may also have a high fire safety risk.

In relation to support of residents with mental health issues, or Alzheimer’s and dementia, Head of Prevention and Protection Ian Evans reported that Bedford Borough Council had provided additional funding to enable the Service to target older people with dementia for Home Fire Safety Visits. Discussions were ongoing with the BLMK Integrated Care Board and the Primary Care Networks to determine whether the NHS could provide funding for this preventative work across the County. The Service worked closely with its partners to target the Home Fire Safety Visits to the most vulnerable residents. 40% of visits were delivered as a result of referrals received from other organisations.

In response to a suggestion that, if the ICB was not forthcoming with funding, the Service may wish to approach Central Bedfordshire and Luton Borough Councils, Ian Evans reported that Luton Borough Council already funded additional work though the Early Years Alliance, and that the Service already accepted referrals to address referrals relating to those suffering with dementia county-wide.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer suggested that case studies be presented to a future meeting by the Lead Member for prevention, Councillor Sultan, to share how the Service was working with other agencies in this area with Members.

In response to a question about the percentage of Road Traffic Collisions that occurred on the M1, the Chief Fire Officer replied that the reduction in speed limit on the motorway had led to fewer incidents and that the most serious collisions usually took place on A roads involving cars travelling in opposite directions.

The Authority was advised that 30-40% of all calls arose from  false alarms. These[NU1]  were broken down into fire false alarms due to apparatus at domestic and non-domestic premises, and false alarm good intent or false alarm malicious.. 626 fire false alarms in non-domestic premises had been attended during Quarter 1 2022/23.

Noting the control indicators were all red, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer explained that control operators had been asked to provide a greater level of call challenge to prevent mobilisation to false alarms. An increased level of challenge could lead to longer response times.

Mr Evans reported that 4% of all calls originating from detection equipment to non-domestic settings were found to be fires on attendance.  For domestic properties this is higher at 9% of calls originating from detection equipment.  The Service mobilising policy set out the  pre-determined response based upon the type of premises. It was noted that all calls received from care homes and hospitals were provided with a full response as there was a greater threat to life in properties where individuals were not able to self-evacuate.

HMP Bedford was also a setting  with a high level of deliberate fires. As this a Crown Property, the Service is not  the enforcing authority for the First Safety Order.  The Service continues to engage with both the Governor of the prison and the Crown Premises Inspection Group regarding its concern about deliberate fire setting there.

RESOLVED:

That the Service’s performance, contained within Appendix 1 of the report, against the published standards within the Community Risk Management Plan and the wider corporate Key Performance Indicators be acknowledged.