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Hertfordshire Fire Authority Community Safety PlanPage 1 of 46
Contents
- Introduction…………………………………………………
- Executive Summary……………………………………….
- Glossary………………………………………………….....
- The CountyProfile…………………………………………
Part 1 – Strategic plan
- Planning and Priorities………………………………….
- Strategic Aims…………………………………………….
Part 2 – Our Annual Action Plans
- Update on 2005/06 Action Plans………………………..
- Our Performance…………………………………………..
- Key Achievements 2004-06………………………………
- What we plan to do in 2006/07…………………………..
- Risk Assessment Update………………………………...
- 2006/07 Action Plans for Consultation………………...
- Consultation Arrangements……………………………..
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- Introduction
Welcome to our community safety plan for Hertfordshire. This year we have rationalised the number of plans used within the fire and rescue service by combining our strategic plan with our annual risk management plan.Part one contains our strategic plan, which sets out our vision and strategic aims and objectives for improving the safety of our community over the next five years, and Part 2 contains our integrated risk management plan which includes proposals for efficiencies and improvements in Community Safety following the completion of the work we said we would do in last year’s IRMP.
We are determined to reduce the level of risk within our community and believe it is better to prevent accidents and fires in Hertfordshire rather than respond to more incidents. You will see from our proposals how we intend to move more of our resources towards prevention and protection activities to help us achieve our vision of creating a safer community where there are no preventable deaths, injuries or damage from fires and other related emergencies. Just as important is the safety of the people who work for the service, especially those who attend emergencies and have to enter hazardous environments.
We have undertaken an extensive risk assessment looking at risks and call out patterns which has given us a clear view of the resources we need for preventing as well as responding to emergency incidents. Proposals contained within this plan include setting up a new community safety task force to support our staff who are already carrying out fire safety initiatives across the county which we believe will further reduce casualty rates across Hertfordshire.
It is important to mention that community safety improvements can only be achieved through successful partnership working with our stakeholders and local authorities. The County Council is committed to establishing effective partnerships across all services at both strategic and tactical levels and we want to actively encourage all the community to become involved in reducing the risks in Hertfordshire.
This plan sets out the direction and intent for the service and together with next year’s proposals will ensure the service has the right people in the right place, at the right time, to make Hertfordshire a safer place.
Your comments and views about how we can make the service better for you are important to us. Your feedback from this consultation will help us to set specific objectives for the years ahead.
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2.Executive Summary
Risks to you the Public are always changing and as such we seek to make the best use of our resources to keep you safe. In order to modernise the service, it is vital to recognise that fire stations alone make no contribution to risk reduction – it is the emergency personnel and the fire engines they ride on that provide the ultimate emergency response.
Our strategic aims are designed to support the challenges laid down by the County Council, address the areas for improvement identified through the 2005 Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), and ensure we continue to move in the right direction as set out in the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and 2005/06 National Framework Document.
This document details proposed changes to your Fire and Rescue Service over the next year. In our second Integrated Risk Management Plan published in April 2005, we identified the risks affecting Hertfordshire and initiated an action plan that would allow us to identify the changes we need to make in order to place a greater emphasis on preventing emergencies rather than traditional response.
We achieved what we set out to do in all but one of last years action plans. This year’s proposals are the results of the research we said we would conduct, to closely examine the services we provide in order to identify opportunities for improvement in our service delivery.
As a result of our research, we propose to:
- Introduce a Community Safety Task Force to carry out safety education throughout Hertfordshire;
- Introduce a new attendance standard for fires in Hertfordshire;
- Change the non fire engine based officers duty rota system to ensure a sufficient number of officers are available to implement the incident command system – 7 days a week, 24 hours a day;
- Reduce the aerial appliance fleet (high-reach vehicles) from 3 to 2 vehicles;
- Reduce the number of firefighters at Hemel Hempstead, St Albans and Stevenagefrom 13 to 12 per watch;
- Make the second fire engine at Watford available for the busiest 12-hours rather than 24-hours as it is as present;
- Revise the working hours for wholetime and day-crewed stations to 12-hour shifts synchronised to start and finish at the same times;
- Increase the number of firefighters at Bishops Stortford and Hitchin fire stations;
- Close Bovingdon fire station;
- Close Radlett fire station;
- Change the duty system at Royston to make more efficient use of wholetime firefighter resources.
As part of community safety planning process, we consult you on an annual basis. This is your opportunity to comment on the main proposals that affect community safety. At the end of the consultation period, all responses will be collated and presented to the County Council. The Council will then consider your comments before determining the next course of action.
A summary of the outcomes will be circulated to all households in HCC’s free newspaper ‘Herts Direct’ and a final document will be available in all Public libraries in Hertfordshire, on all fire stations and available to download via the internet.
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3Glossary
Vision
A vision is an image of what the future will, or could, be like – it is a picture of what the organisation intends to become. It should provide as concrete a picture as possible and forms the basis for formulating strategies and objectives.
Mission
A mission is a strongly felt aim or calling. The mission defines the core purpose of the organisation i.e. why it exists.
Strategy
A strategy is a plan designed to achieve a particular long-term aim. A strategy represents the broad priorities adopted by an organisation in pursuit of its mission.
Objective
An objective is a goal or aim. It is a concise statement describing the specific things an organisation must do well in order to execute its strategy. Objectives often begin with action verbs such as ‘increase’, ’improve’, ’reduce’ etc.
Performance Measure (or Performance Indicator)
A measure is a standard used to evaluate and communicate performance against expected results. Measures are often quantitative in nature capturing numbers, pounds, percentages etc.
Acronyms
CBRN – Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (threat, attack)
CFS – Community Fire Safety
CPA – Comprehensive Performance Assessment
CPD – Continuous Professional Development
DMS – Diploma in Management Studies
ICS – Incident Command System
IRMP – Integrated Risk Management Plan
IOSH –The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
IPDS – Integrated Personal Development System
MIDAS – Multi-Agency Information Data Access System
NEBOSH – The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health
NVQ – National Vocational Qualification
ODPM – Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
RTC – Road Traffic Collisions
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4The CountyProfile
Hertfordshire covers a geographical area of approximately 631 square miles and has a resident population of just over 1 million people. The county lies just to the north of London and stands astride key road and rail routes between London and the major cities of the Midlands and the North. Hertfordshire is a diverse county which is reflected in a number of ways. The 2001 census showed that 10% of the population of Hertfordshire residents considered that they belonged to a minority ethnic group, both black and white. This masks considerable variation. In Watford the figure was 20% and in Hertsmere 12.5%; whereas in East Hertfordshire only 6.5% said they belonged to a minority ethnic community. Around 25% of residents are aged 19 years and under and 16.6% over 65. Again there are variations across the county: 33% of Stevenage’s residents are under 19, only 12.5% of Watford’s residents are over 65.
Hertfordshire as a whole is relatively prosperous. However there are some deprived communities which sit side by side with more affluent areas, where disadvantaged individuals and groups find difficulty in accessing the full range of services and facilities many take for granted. There are four wards in particular in Hertfordshire that fall into the top 10% of the most deprived wards in the East of England (Index of Multiple Deprivation). They all lie within new towns or former London overspill settlements. Deprivation however is also an issue in rural areas. The cost of living is high, house prices are over one-third higher than the national average and access to services and public transport can be limited.
Whilst 90% of Hertfordshire residents live in market towns, garden cities or urban areas, 10% live in rural communities. The types of places people reside in include traditional built 2 storey houses, high and low rise flats, Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO), house boats, permanent and temporary sites for travellers, residential homes, hospitals, hostels and prison. There are many other buildings where people regularly congregate such as schools, universities, places of worship, cinemas and theatres, leisure centres, offices, shops, factories and building sites.
Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is set up to meet the requirements of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004[1] and has just over a 1000 members of staff delivering services to the community ranging from training, fire and accident prevention, emergency call handling to emergency response. These services are currently delivered from 32 fire stations and support departments strategically located across the county. The total service budget including capital and revenue for 2005/06 was £36.2 million, which equates to a cost of £34.78 per head of population in Hertfordshire.
In 2004/05, we responded to 13,140 emergency calls of which 5,032 were fires, 5196 were false alarms, and 1887 were to special service calls such as road traffic collisions. This represents a 22% reduction in calls compared to the previous year, mainly as a result of fewer fires but also due to a 17% reduction in the number of false alarm calls attended. The reduction in fires was due to a combination of our proactive arson reduction initiatives and the cooler weather throughout the summer period.
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Part 1 – Strategic Plan
5. Planning and Priorities
Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is part of the Adult Care and Community Safety Portfolio of the County Council, the County Council is the Fire and Rescue Authority. There are a number of factors that influence what we do as a Fire and Rescue Authority. These include the challenges set out by the County Council, the new Comprehensive Performance Assessment process, the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and National Framework Document. This plan and our strategic aims and objectives have been designed to incorporate the requirements of each of these documents.
HertfordshireCounty Council Challenges
In 2005, the County Council set a number of new challenges for its departments which are designed to improve the quality of life for people in Hertfordshire. One of these challenges is particularly significant for the fire and rescue service:
- To help people feel safe and secure,
Along with all other County Council departments we can also contribute to the following challenge:
- Maximise efficiency savings to help keep council tax at an acceptable level.
Through the content of this document, we will show how we intend to support these challenges.
Comprehensive Performance Assessment
Early in 2005, the Service was assessed under the national Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) process administered by the Audit Commission. CPA is an assessment at the corporate level, of how well the Authority is being run. It does not give an opinion on how well the fire service responds to emergency incidents. The CPA report published in July 2005 rated the fire authority as “fair overall, performing well but with areas for improvement”.
The inspectors examined what the Authority is trying to achieve, how it sets about delivering its priorities, what it has achieved and, in the light of that, what it plans to do next. While Hertfordshire was not among the top-rated authorities – just two were judged to be excellent and twenty good - its higher-scoring fair rating put it in the middle of the list. The Service was rated as being ‘consistently above minimum requirements and performing well’ in six of the nine areas assessed, and ‘meeting minimum requirements, performing adequately’ in the remaining three.
The Audit Commission commented particularly favourably on our:
- Strong performance in reducing deaths from accidental fires and reducing malicious calls
- Good conditions to the wider agenda of social inclusion and crime reduction
- Good leadership on equalities from member and officers
The inspectors were also impressed by the commitment of the workforce, support from the County Council and our openness to challenge. Among the areas for development were:
- Single planning process to set out vision, objectives and priorities
- Align our planning process to budget
- Internal communications
- Greater shift in resources from responding to emergencies to prevention activities
- Improving the effectiveness of Service Executive Board, performance management and updating some Human Resources policies.
This Community Safety Plan marks the first stage in addressing these areas by setting out a single planning process, clarifying our objectives, priorities and vision and aligning service and financial planning.
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Part 1 - Strategic Plan
Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and the 2005/06 Fire and Rescue Service National Framework document published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) provides the legislative base and central direction for the development of a modern Fire and Rescue Service. As well as a duty to promote fire safety, the Act introduced new duties with regard to road traffic collisions, terrorist incidents and other emergencies.
One of the key expectations in the National Framework is the requirement for every fire authority to produce and maintain an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) which reflects local need and sets out plans to tackle effectively both existing and potential risks to the community.
The National Framework also requires Fire and Rescue Authorities to produce annual action plans which take regard of central government guidance and make efficient and effective use of resources to implement the IRMP and the action plans using more efficient working practices where appropriate.
Part 2 of this document represents our third annual action plan.
The Regional Management Board
The Fire and Rescue Authority is a constituent member of the East of England Regional Management Board (RMB) set up under the Fire and Rescue Service National Framework 2004/05. The board is made up of the six fire and rescue authorities located in the eastern region and is designed to ensure fire and rescue authorities work together when developing specialist areas of work such as responding to terrorist incidents, training and procurement.
We currently lead, on behalf of the RMB, the regional resilience work stream which aims to ensure preparedness in the event of a catastrophic incident such as widespread flooding or major act of terrorism.
The Planning Process
It can be confusing for staff and members of the public to follow a number of strategies and plans in different formats. By introducing this one overarching Service Plan we hope to make it easier for people to obtain an overview of all the work we are doing, the service improvements we hope to make and how we are performing. Although it is our intention to use this document as our long-term strategic plan, both external and internal influences may require us to revisit our strategic aims and objectives and therefore these may, on occasion, be subject to change.
The diagram below illustrates the influencing factors and the broad planning process that we follow.
Service Influences / HCC ChallengesComprehensive Performance Assessment
Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004
National Framework Document / Community Safety Plan & Dynamic action plans / Department & District Action Plans / Station Action Plans
National Conditions of Service
Legislative Changes
Integrated Risk Management Process
Consultation
Significant Event or Findings
Funding