Agenda item

Candida Brudenell, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, and Craig Parkin, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, jointly presented the report which presents the final version of the 2022-2025 Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), following several levels of consultation.

Candida Brudenell, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, updated the Authority on the process and structure of the consultation and highlighted the following points:

a)  the document sets out the Service’s ambition for the next 3 years and has taken 18 months to develop with a significant level of analysis and engagement on the strategic needs assessment;

b)  the pre-consultation draft was approved by members last year with the consultation of statutory partners and neighbouring Fire and Rescue Authorities starting in the spring, followed by a 10 week formal consultation by an external organisation to ensure a statistically valid consultation was achieved. This was accompanied by a targeted effort to engage with communities which rarely engage with the Service, including via social media, leaflet dropping and direct contact with a variety of community leaders, as set out in the report;

c)  the full consultation results are attached to the report with 98 responses, including people involved with the Fire Service;

d)  changes were made following the consultation, the document was revised and the style further streamlined;

e)  one key and ongoing theme is that there is a lack of understanding in the community of the breadth of the remit of the Service’s activity, beyond emergency  response.

Craig Parkin, Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented the final version of the CRMP document and the Annual Delivery Plan (ADP) for 2022-23, highlighting the following points:

f)  members have been involved in the plan from the pre-development stage and have received regular updates on progress;

g)  national good practice was considered at every stage, including active gap analysis;

h)  the ambition of the Authority remains to be formally recognised as ‘outstanding’ by 2032;

i)  the ADP incorporates the CRMP’s 6 Strategic Goals:1,2,3, are around protection, prevention and response, whilst goals 4,5 and 6 are about the workforce – diversity, training and culture;

j)  commitment is a key element of the plan, setting out what the Service will provide to citizens, some elements of which are under significant pressures so with regard to this and the consultation feedback, some of the commitments have been pared back due to availability of funding, with some statements purposely made quite broad;

k)  it is noted that this Service doesn’t experience the cultural difficulties seen in some other Services, but there is no room for complacency and there is still work to be done;

l)  detailed data will be used to further inform the Strategic Assessment of Risk, including more detailed consideration of demographics, but especially the built environment and the increasing workload pressure that this element is forecast to present with increasing built environment legislative requirements;

m)  governance, financial management, monitoring and assurance is set out in the document, including how decisions are made and prudence applied;

n)  an Annual Statement of Assurance will be presented to the Authority every autumn which will look backwards and forwards at performance, including scrutiny by  the  committees;

o)  there is a higher requirement for performance data and its scrutiny, including both by officers and members of the Authority. In response, a Community Risk Management Plan Assurance Board has been established to monitor and check that the Service is performing as required and as per its commitments.

The Chair welcomed the ease of reading and format of the CRMP and thanked officers involved. It is noted that whilst there has been a broad reach for consultation, as the consultation document it did not contain contentious issues or proposals, it was predicted that the response level would be low.

At the suggestion of members, it was requested that all members are provided with an electronic copy of the plan to share within their communities, and also a limited number of hard copies if requested.

Members commented as follows:

p)  this document is welcomed as it explains clearly exactly what the Service does and illustrates to citizens how their money is spent. It should be made as widely available in as many public places as possible;

q)  in addition to easy access to electronic copies, it would be beneficial to provide paper copies of the plan for those citizens who do not access electronic data and also for the harder to reach communities which can be particularly vulnerable;

r)  at least a few translated hard copies would be welcome for circulation to specific communities, including at places of worship;

s)  citizens also need to understand that the Service works hard to keep people safe with preventative work, so this document which highlights the broader role of the Service is welcomed.

Craig Parkin, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, assured members that the Community Engagement Plan was exploring further engagement, including new and emerging communities. The issue of digital literacy and also digital access, as highlighted during the height of the pandemic, is also being considered, as is including digital translation availability. This work is taking place within the remit of the Wider Community Prevention and Protection Plan.

Resolved

1)  to note the consultation feedback and amendments made to the CRMP;

2)  to approve the final draft version of the Service’s CRMP;

3)  to approve the contents of the Year One Annual Delivery Plan.