Agenda item

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Mick Sharman, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, presented the report detailing the draft Community Risk Management Plan 2025-28, and highlighted the following points:

(a)  The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England (National Framework document) states that fire and rescue authorities are required to produce a Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP).

(b)  A CRMP is a high-level business plan, designed specifically for a public audience, to inform interested parties of the Service’s mid-term priorities, and key deliverables over the defined period.

(c)  The Service’s current CRMP covers the period from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2025. This means the new plan is required to be published that takes effect from 1April 2025.

(d)  In developing the draft plan, the Service has updated its Strategic Assessment of Risk (SAoR) and again commissioned an independent specialist to undertake a detailed community risk and fire cover review (FCR). This ensures the CRMP is developed against a thorough understanding of all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks which could affect the area of the Authority.

(e)  In the CRMP 2022-25, the Authority adopted a long-term ambition to be one of the best fire and rescue services in England, with a principle that everything the Service does is guided by a core purpose of ‘Creating Safer Communities’. It remains NFRS’s intention to be an ‘Outstanding Service’ that delivers exceptional outcomes for its communities.

(f)  The CRMP 2022-25 was built around six strategic goals. These are:

·  We will help people stay safe from fires and other emergencies;

·  We will improve fire safety in the buildings people live and work in;

·  We will respond immediately and effectively to emergency incidents;

·  We will continue to support and develop our workforce and promote an inclusive Service;

·  We will continue our improvement journey to deliver an outstanding Service;

·  We will manage and invest in our Service to ensure it is fit for the future

(g)  The concept of having six strategic goals, relating to key business and improvement areas, has served the Service well over the last two and a half years, and has provided the overarching context for the Service’s continual improvement programme. The six strategic goals remain relevant and have therefore been adopted in the CRMP 2025-28. This will ensure a continuity of understanding as well as ensuring momentum is maintained across core service improvement areas.

(h)  Previously, services to conduct the public consultation on the draft CRMP have been commissioned from an external consultation company. This year the Service will undertake consultation using its internal resources. This decision has been taken based on previous feedback from Members, with the aim of providing greater community reach and exceeding previous consultation efficacy, whilst also being more financially efficient.

(i)  On approval of the draft CRMP, a nine-week consultation will be undertaken in line with the Service’s Consultation Framework. The provisional dates for this are Monday 30 September to Sunday 1 December 2024. 

(j)  The consultation objectives are:

·  Measurably ‘raise awareness’ of the consultation process through communication with key stakeholder groups;

·  Engage with as many of the stakeholder groups as possible, generating meaningful responses that help shape planning; ?

·  Provide the transparency required by reporting back on the results of the consultation and the impact that it has made.

(k)  The consultation will utilise various approaches including, but not limited to:

·  Digital and paper questionnaires;

·  Direct engagement with service users (persons who have had an incident, or a prevention or protection intervention);

·  Public focus groups;

·  Stakeholders focus groups;

·  Community advisory groups;

·  Analysis of social media channels (reach and engagement).

(l)  Outcomes of the consultation and a final CRMP will be presented to Members at the February 2025 Fire Authority meeting, with the aim of agreeing a final Community Risk Management Plan for implementation from 1 April 2025.

Members commented that they welcomed the consultation being carried out in-house, but that it was important to ensure the consultation questions are available in different languages and paper copies are available for those who won’t access it electronically.

Resolved to approve

(1)  The content of the draft Community Risk Management Plan 2025-28.

(2)  The approach for consultation on the draft Community Risk Management Plan 2025-28.