8. The FAIRMaP has been compiled in
accordance with National Government policy and has drawn heavily on advice
contained in Fire Service Circulars and that given directly by the Fire Service
Inspectorate.
9. The
Council’s Corporate Plan has the strategic objective of:
“Creating
safe and crime free communities.”
10.
The FAIRMaP with its emphasis on prevention and
improved public safety links directly to the Council’s delivery of the strategic
objective referred to above.
CONSULTATION
11. The consultation strategy (detailed in
Section 10 of the FAIRMaP) was developed in partnership with The Isle of Wight
Council’s Community Partnerships Manager and Communications and PR Manager.
12. In addition, the Isle of Wight Council’s
2003 public consultation included three questions relevant to community fire
safety. The results form Appendix C.
13. The main conclusions reached by the Isle
of Wight Council survey are:
·
71% of people agreed or strongly agreed with the
policy of redeploying some personnel from operational duties to a community
safety role.
·
87% of people agreed or strongly agreed that the Fire
and Rescue Service should work in partnership with a wider range of
organisations.
·
87% of people agreed or strongly agreed that carrying
out educational work in schools is an effective use of resources.
14
All members of the Fire and Rescue service have had
the opportunity to attend FAIRMaP presentations conducted by the Chief Fire
Officer (see details of programme - Appendix D). The Fire and Public Safety Select Committee
considered the FAIRMaP process at their meeting on 9 June 2003. Likewise, the Fire Brigades’ Union and other
Representative Bodies have been consulted on FAIRMaP.
15.
The Fire Authority entered into a partnership with an
independent market research company, Questions Answered Ltd (QA), to facilitate
the public consultation and to analyse the responses on their behalf. The report from this company forms Appendix
B.
16. The main conclusions reached by QA found
in their Executive Summary p.10 (Appendix B) states:
“The
rudder is set and the move to modernise is afoot, the process of implementation
is critical and the continued communication to all stakeholders (and
particularly staff) is paramount. If
this is done properly and people see planned actions becoming reality (and as
such realise that there is no hidden agenda), so will others accept and agree
that this is the right way forward and put their weight behind the new
philosophy.”
17. Her Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate
(HMFSI) are mandatory consultees and their detailed comments are included in Appendix E.
18. Of particular note is the Radar Chart that
the Inspectorate produced. This
measures the FAIRMaP and Improvement Programme against the average score for
all English and Welsh Fire and Rescue Services.
We
scored above the national average for:-
·
Our commitment to the principals of modernisation and
the philosophy of the White Paper.
·
Our action plan (Improvement Programme).
·
Our identification of the Resources Requirements to
implement the plan.
We scored at the national average for:-
·
Our
policies and standards.
·
Our
identification of opportunities for improvement.
We
were below the national average for:
·
Identification
of risks to the community.
·
Evaluation
of current arrangements.
19. As regards the identification of risk to
communities, in the consultation document a conscious decision was taken to
only include certain details. However,
following the comments from HMFSI this section has been greatly revised and
updated (Section 7 Isle of Wight Risk Profile) and although the FAIRMaP will
not be reported on again by the HMFSI during this round, we have a verbal
acknowledgement that the work we have done on this section since the draft will
have significantly improved our score.
20. With reference to evaluation of current
arrangements our performance indicators are published in the Best Value
Performance Plan and as such are publicly available. Consequently they are not referenced in FAIRMaP. However, to satisfy the need to evaluate current arrangements in the
future some improvements will be necessary to the Fire and Rescue Service ICT
infrastructure including the implementation of the Fire Service Emergency Cover
Model (FSEC).
FINANCIAL/BUDGET
IMPLICATIONS
21. Sub section 5.1 of the FAIRMaP (Appendix
A) refers to the general financial implications.
22. The detailed budget implications of the
FAIRMaP and Improvement Programme will
be considered as part of the normal budget planning process. Given the emphasis on the FAIRMaP and it
being the foundation that the service will in future be built upon the whole of
the Fire and Rescue Service budget is arguably directly linked to the
FAIRMaP. However, the Service Plan
contains a number of bids that are needed as a direct consequence of FAIRMaP.
These
include: £
|
Integrated Personal Development System
(IPDS)
|
100,000 year on year
|
|
ICT
(necessary for development of FAIRMaP in future years)
|
413,000
capital over 4 years plus 32,000 year on year
|
|
Fire Service
Emergency Cover (FSEC)
|
100,000
year on year
|
23. All of these are currently under
consideration as part of the annual budget round.
24. Should it prove not possible to fund these
bids then a separate report will be brought to the Executive detailing those
aspects of FAIRMaP and the Improvement Programme, which cannot be addressed
during the current year and the risk, impact and consequences of this.
LEGAL
IMPLICATIONS
25. Section 1(1)(a) of the Fire Service Act
1947 places a duty upon every Fire Authority to:
“make provision for fire-fighting purposes and in particular
secure – the services for their area of such a fire brigade and such equipment
as may be necessary to meet efficiently all normal requirements”.
The FAIRMaP sets out how the Council
will fulfil that duty.
26. On 12 January 2004, the new
Fire and Rescue Services Bill was presented to Parliament and is
expected to become law in Autumn 2004.
This Bill will repeal the Fire Service Act 1947.
27. Section 21 of the Fire and Rescue Services
Bill, places an explicit duty on the Secretary of State to prepare a Fire and
Rescue National Framework.
Section
21 (2) states; The Framework –
a. Must set
out the priorities and objectivities for fire and rescue authorities in
connection with the discharge of their functions;
b. May
contain guidance to fire and rescue authorities in connection with the
discharge of any of their functions;
c. May
contain any other matter relating to fire and rescue authorities or their
functions that the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
28. The Draft Fire and Rescue National
Framework Chapter 1, sets out the principles and aims of risk management and
prevention and states;
“1.2
The old standards of fire cover, which set out the speed and weight of response
to fires depending on building density, were insufficiently flexible to allow
Fire and Rescue Authorities to respond to the needs of their communities. In future they will be replaced by local
Integrated Risk Management Plans (IRMPs).”
29. The Council also has a statutory duty to
undertake Best Value reviews of its services. The continual cycle of review and
consultation contained within FAIRMaP Improvement Programme will address this
duty in respect of the Fire and Rescue Service.
OPTIONS
30. The Executive has the following options:
1. To
consider the consultation responses (Appendices B, C and E) and approve the
revised FAIRMaP (Appendix A).
2. To propose changes or amendments to the
FAIRMaP.
3. To
reject the FAIRMaP.
EVALUATION/RISK
MANAGEMENT
31. Having
evaluated the responses and considered them carefully, and having due regard to the QA and Isle of Wight Council
consultation, on balance, of the
responses received, there is no compelling arguments made to change any of the proposed improvements.
The changes to the Risk
Profile (Section 7) as explained in Paragraph 19 above, the fact that the
Improvement Programme Document has now become an initial working document for
the Fire and Rescue Service, and with the addition of a new Section 13, to more
clearly describe the actions to be taken, these are the only changes that have
been made to the FAIRMaP.
32. The
ODPM has required every Fire Authority to produce an Integrated Risk Management
Plan, which must be consulted upon, and then all responses to the consultation
process fully considered by the Fire Authority before the final plan is
approved and implemented. The FAIRMaP
must be implemented from 1 April 2004.
33. Failure to produce a FAIRMaP and
associated Improvement Programme, to consult
adequately or to implement the plan on time could lead to intervention by the
Fire Service Improvement Team (FSIT) of the ODPM.
34. The Fire and Rescue Service Comprehensive
Performance Assessment (CPA) will feed into the Council’s overall CPA
score. Intervention by the FSIT could
seriously impact upon the Council’s final CPA assessment
35. The FAIRMaP Improvement Programme is a
five-year rolling programme of development for the Fire and Rescue
Service. Future improvements to both
intervention and prevention very much depend upon the collection and analysis
of fire and incident statistics and data.
36. To do this adequately requires robust ICT
systems including implementation of the ODPM’s FSEC Model. If it is not possible to resource this then
there is a risk to the Council that future FAIRMaP improvements will not have
sufficient evidence supporting them.
This could lead to:
·
an
adverse report in subsequent years’ consultations on FAIRMaP with the HMFSI,
·
adverse
comments by the Audit Commission both during the next Verification Study and
subsequent CPA,
·
intervention
by the Minister either currently under Best Value legislation or subsequently
under the provisions of the Fire and Rescue Service Bill (Para 33 above).
|
RECOMMENDATIONS
37. That the FAIRMaP is accepted and
that the action plan can commence on
1 April 2004.
|
BACKGROUND
PAPERS
38. All background papers are listed in
Section 12 of the FAIRMaP (Appendix A).
APPENDICES
Appendix
A FAIRMaP
Appendix
B QA Consultation Report
Appendix
C Isle of Wight Survey
Results
Appendix
D Presentation Programme
Appendix
E HMFSI IRMP Assessment
Contact
Point: Richard Hards, Chief
Fire Officer. 01983 823199,
richard.hards@ iow.gov.uk
R
HARDS
Chief
Fire Officer
|
D
KNOWLES
Portfolio
Holder for Fire, Consumer Protection and Emergency Planning
|
