11
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service
Equality Impact Assessment
Date: December 2010
Directorate: Safer and Stronger Communities
Unit: Fire and Rescue Service
Function or Strategy: Prevention (Community Risk Management)
Lead Officer responsible for EIA: Head of Community Risk Management/Service Improvement Officer
This EIA applies to the following policies and documents (list if relevant)
This is a cross cutting review of prevention in relation to services to the community in Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service. A separate review of prevention in relation to organisational development has also been undertaken.Table 1: Aims of function or strategy being assessed
Purpose of the function/strategy / PreventionDoes the function/strategy support a Council Plan objective, LAA indicator or National Indicator Set indicator? (please state) / Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service objectives 2010-11
§ -Improved road safety
§ -Reduce the impact of fire and other emergencies on communities
§ -Equality for all groups in Cumbria
§ -To improve respect for others
§ -Continuous improvement
Who is intended to benefit from the function/strategy? / Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service and the community that it serves.
This will look at prevention in terms of analysing risks and taking action to mitigate against the effects of risk through community safety work and education with the community.
Scope of function/strategy:
· One directorate
· Cross directorate
· Outsourced organisation / Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service only
Phase 1: Gathering information
Introduction:
The Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service is located within the Safer and Stronger Communities Directorate of Cumbria County Council.
The Headquarters are in Cockermouth, however Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service operates four geographical localities Kendal, Workington, Carlisle, Barrow.
Cumbria enjoys an outstanding natural environment however the local context brings significant challenges to local delivery. Cumbria is the second largest county in England and covers 689,000 hectares including 245km of coastline. The population is low, with larger settlements around the edges of the county. The population is aging and many of these older people live in rurally isolated areas. Approximately 2% of the population can be classified as BME and “White Other”.
Despite some affluent areas in Southlakeland and Eden, there are also pockets of significant deprivation. Wages in Cumbria are lower than the national average. Rural deprivation also presents many challenges even in more affluent areas. Transport and communication can be problematic.
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service seeks to overcome these challenges through careful planning, risk management, innovation and partnership.
The service is delivered through 38 fire stations across the four localities and 850 staff are employed of which 253 are full time (regular) firefighters and nearly 500 are part time (retained) firefighters.
The over-arching principles of service delivery are:
§ Prevention
§ Protection
§ Intervention
§ Organisational Development
Table 2: Information and feedback.
List examples of background information that you think is relevant. This may include official statistics such as Census or Household Survey information, or data held by the organisation, such as service uptake, workforce or complaints data. Also include consultation with staff and community groups.
Type of information or feedback / FindingsThe following documents were considered:
§ The Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2008-11
§ Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) Service Plan 2010-2011
§ CFRS Integrated Risk Management Plan 2010-14
§ CFRS Equality and Diversity Action Plan 2010-11
§ CRM Strategy 2010
§ CFRS Corporate Risk Assessment
§ CFRS Children and Young People Plan
§ CFRS Older Person’s Strategy
The following data/information was considered:
§ CFRS Performance Indicators
§ CCC Intelligence Unit Data / These are included in the issues section
Phase 2 Identifying the issues
Table 5: Screening for issues
General/All: This includes impacts that cuts across different protected groups
Issue: / Positive Impact/Negative Impact / Further comment / Further action?
Community Safety
Strategic leadership. Is the service delivered equitably across Cumbria? / Positive / The Head of Community Safety provides a strategic lead to the localities to ensure that there is consistent delivery across the county, without discouraging local initiative. A strategic plan for CRM has been developed. / No
Community Safety work in localities / Positive / A range of outstanding community safety initiatives in the localities, will be further improved by a strategic approach, that will allow more sharing of good practice and innovation. / No, continue with existing work
Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) Consultation process and reaching all groups / Negative if not inclusive / Service planning should be inclusive. The consultation process for IRMP ensured that all strands of diversity are considered with a meeting with AWAZ, CDN, Outreach and Gypsy Traveller Group Reps on 13.8.10 Redhill Penrith. / No
Community Volunteers / Positive / Excellent initiative to support community safety through voluntary sector. Recruited from all strands of diversity. / No, continue with existing work
Training on Equality and diversity / Negative if not successful.
Needs to inspire commitment to equality across CFRS / Every crew and station received equality training tailored to their station area in 2009. Plans are being developed for equality training linked to workplace behaviour, “Crossing the line” style training in 2011, / No
Dwelling Fires / Positive / There were 268 accidental dwelling fires in 2010 (26% improvement)
There were 4 fatalities in dwelling fires in 2009-10 (3 in 2008-09)
Non fatal casualties were 17 (15% improvement on the year before)
CFRS fatality and casualty rate per 100,000 when benchmarked against national performance? / No
Home Safety Visits
Quality vs quantity / Negative potential as may not target vulnerable groups / Last year CFRS delivered 15057 HSV, but not clear how many of these were to vulnerable groups
These should be targeted at most vulnerable groups, as well as offered universally. The purchase of pin point should assist with this. / Yes – roll out of Pin Point
Road Awareness Training / Positive / Update in 2010 in partnership with the Ariel Trust and meets the needs of a wide range of service users, including young people and minority ethnic groups / No
Ensure strategic planning in community safety and equality clearly joined up / Negative / Ensure strategic planning in equality in CCC and in CFRS and CFRS prevention activity is clearly linked / Yes
Ensure activity in equality and community safety clearly joined up / Negative / Ensure that equality work with Outreach Cumbria, Cumbria Disability Network, AWAZ is clearly linked to work with advocates / Yes
Ethnicity: All ethnic groups recognised under the Race relations Act including Asian, Black, East Asian and white minority ethnic groups, including Eastern Europeans, Irish people and Gypsy Travellers.
Issue / Positive Impact/Negative Impact / Further comment: / Further action?
Positive initiatives around the localities to engage with different communities / Positive / There are a good number of activities across all localities and these are reported to and monitored by the Equality Steering Group. A new monitoring system is being introduced from 201. / No, continue with existing work
Availability of Fire Safety Information for the community in their own language / Negative
Ensuing they are available will be a positive action / Fire Safety Information secured in 12 languages (no cost from CLG), plus large print and Braille. Use of translation service if community need technical understanding to address Fire Safety issue. / No, continue with existing work
BME Migrant Workers Advocate / Positive / Appointed in September 2008, this Advocate has made a real impact in assisting the Service to reach different communities across Cumbria.
There has been a very good partnership with Cumbria Multi-Cultural Service and also assisted by the Impact of Migration Grant / No, continue with existing work
Home Safety Visits,
are these reaching all groups? / Negative
Lack of monitoring means it is hard to demonstrate that a good service is received across all the strands of diversity. / Have not been able to establish from CFRMIS numbers of HSV to specific groups. / Yes
Gypsy and Travellers / Positive / Good relationship established with Travelling community in Cumbria with CFRS visiting 4 main sites regularly to deliver HSV and youth engagement activity / No, continue with existing work
Disability and health and wellbeing: All forms of disability recognised under the Disability Discrimination Act including sensory impairment, mental health, learning disabilities, mobility related conditions, conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma. This also covers any impact on health and well being
Issue / Positive Impact/Negative Impact / Further comment: / Further action?We know that people with Disability or reduced mobility are much less likely to escape from fire / Negative / Disability or reduced mobility groups should be targeted through Home Safety Visits.
Increased partnership with Adult Social Care has lead to more consistent referrals for vulnerable adults, still could be improved?
Use of Older Person Advocates is very positive.
Increased engagement with Cumbria Disability Network. / Yes
Enhanced Prevention for people with reduced mobility. / Positive / CFRS will assess individual needs and consider the use of enhanced safety features such as sprinklers and flame resistant bedding packs when individuals identified as high risk following Home Safety Visit. Use of volunteers to ensure fire risks mitigated in homes. / No, continue with existing work
Gender: including men, women and transgender people.
Issue / Positive Impact/Negative Impact / Further comment: / Further actionMales are more likely to die or be injured in a fire than women / Negative / Community Safety activity to target males, particularly aged 50 plus who are group most at risk from being a casualty in a Fire / Yes
Sexual Orientation: including heterosexual, gay, lesbian and bisexual people
Issue: / Positive Impact/Negative / Further comment: / Further action:People who are Lesbian, Gay Bi-Sexual or Trans Sexual may feel less confident about coming forward for services such as Home Safety Visits / Negative / Ongoing equality training and also continuing to work closely with Outreach Cumbria will assist / No
Age: All age groups
Issue: / Positive Impact/Negative / Further comment: / Further action:
CFRS Children and Young People Strategy 2006-2010 / Positive / Sets our strategic commitment to service to Children and Young People and to ensure positive engagement in the development of services for children and young people / No
Initiatives for Children and Young People / Positive / Huge amount of positive work including, Young Fire Fighters, FACE, Junior Citizens, School Visits to each Primary School each year, NVQ schemes. / No, continue with existing work
Children’s Act 2004
Duty to cooperate/Child Protection / Positive / There is a clear policy and appropriate training regarding the duty to cooperate and proactively raise child protection issues. / No, continue with existing work
Protection of Vulnerable Adults / Negative / There is a clear and appropriate policy and guidance in place / No
Older Person’s Strategy / Positive / Sets out our strategic commitment to service delivery for older people. / No
Older Person’s Advocate / Positive / Having a champion to promote and co-ordinate the preventative agenda with older people in each locality is a very positive step forward. / No, continue with existing work
Older people are more at risk from a dwelling fire, those aged 80 plus recorded the highest fatality rate / Negative / Preventative work such as home safety visits should target older people, with those aged 80 plus being most at risk and those living alone should received enhanced home safety equipment if assessed as being in need (such as fire retardant bedding packs). / No, continue with existing work
The number of young people aged 16-24 killed or seriously injured in Road Traffic Accidents has improved but is still a significant concern / Negative impact on families, communities an emergency services / Partnership work from Cumbria Road Safety Partnership
And RAT awareness training reviewed and improved in 2010 / No, continue with existing work
Religion/belief: all faiths including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and non religious beliefs such as Humanism
Area / Positive Impact/Negative Impact / Further comment: / Further action:
The Fire Brigade has a very traditional image and people of some faiths/beliefs may feel less confident about coming forward for services such as Home Safety Visits / Negative / Seek to improve the image of the Fire and Rescue Service by positive actions to increase the confidence of currently under-represented groups.
Awareness raising/training for CFRS in this area
Also consistent engagement with community representatives
Work pf BME Advocate has had a positive impact / No, continue with existing work
Locality Initiatives to reduce barriers and promote understanding / Positive / Many successful local initiatives, monitored by Equality Steering group / No
Socio-Economic Status: This can include people on low incomes, as well as issues around rural and urban deprivation
Area / Positive Impact/Negative Impact / Further comment: / Further action:
Consideration of Fire Casualty data indicates that only 80& of casualties in the last 5 wards have been in medium and low risk wards / Negative / Rural Advocates appointed to help address this
Increased awareness on the need to reach rural areas and many good initiatives across CFRS / No, continue with existing work
National research indicates that people from low social economic groups are more at risk of fire. / Negative / The Service needs to ensure that its prevention activity is reaching those most at risk from fire, the purchase of Pin Point should help with this, if it is used effectively / Yes
Community Cohesion: This is where a decision or a change to services may risk creating tensions between community groups in a local area.
Issue / Positive Impact or benefits / Negative impact or risks / Further Action RequiredNone identified
However, the Place Survey 2009 indicated that
§ Black and Minority Ethnic people are satisfied with public services, but dissatisfied with relations with their local community
§ Disabled people were concerned about Personal safety
§ Young people were concerned about community safety / Negative impact on Community Consultation / Yes CFRS should consider in strategic planning how it can help to improve these areas of concern highlighted by the community
Phase 3: Action planning