Information
Fire Accountability Meeting – 15th January 2025
| Welcome and introductions.
Attendees:
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Minutes and decisions of previous meeting
DS welcomed everyone to the meeting. Minutes of the previous meeting were circulated with the meeting papers. |
| Part 1 | |
| Performance review
Matters previously notified to the Chief Fire Officer for discussion. Demand and incidents attended. The Chief Fire Officer provided an overview of two systems in use. Vision (used by Fire Control to log calls and the response) and IRS. Vision logs every call received by Fire Control which has improved how incident information is captured. Now seeing an increase in the number of incidents due to better recording on Vision, especially of matters that are dealt with in Fire Control Room but might not receive an operational deployment. Fire control have a robust challenge policy which explains why the number of incidents is different to the number of incidents attended. This is particularly so in relation to fire alarms. Call trends are monitored and mapped across the new CRMP to establish what the future is going to look like. More tools such as PowerBI being delivered later this year providing further data to aid future resourcing discussions. Action – Add CRMP update (to include changes in trends) to February Problem Solving Board The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the 5% increase in incidents reported to NFRS compared to the 2.3% reduction in incidents attended is the result of better recording – both via systems and people. It was agreed that using the term ‘demand’ is misleading. Providing data on actual mobilisation to incidents would be preferable. There was a discussion about the resilience in Fire Control given that they operate with a small number of trained personnel. RP advised they are working on a paper as discussed in December. JB advised that he liked the new daily report being produced by Vision. PB confirmed that the new automated daily reporting system is saving up to 3 hours per day in data analysis. What used to be done manually is now done automatically. Assurance statement: The Commissioner welcomed the fact that the Chief Fire Officer and team appeared to have a good understanding of the demand coming into the service and the fact that non deployed to incidents were being recorded more effectively in the Fire Control Room environment as these calls still create a demand pressure for the service. The Commissioner was assured that the service were considering any demand changes as an integral part of the current CRMP refresh, which will be discussed at a problem solving meeting in February Secondary Fires Definition – small outdoor fires not involving people and property e.g. Grass fires, bonfires and fire in unoccupied buildings etc. (national agreed definition). Most come in as deliberate. This might be because it is a bonfire out of control, or because there are no obvious signs of ignition. 88% of secondary fires are reported in the summer months. NFRS do a lot of prevention activity including via the Arson taskforce, aimed at young people and education in schools. Social media is another tool that NFRS use to communicate safety messages e.g. how to take responsible action when having a bonfire. Have recently discovered that the second largest population of language in Northamptonshire is Polish, so now putting out information in English and Polish. If fire is deliberate and sinister, the Fire Investigators will consider and deal. There are various levels of fire investigation involvement depending on the nature of the incident. The Arson task force will be involved where a specific issue is identified such as a spate of arsons or fire linked ASB.NFRS work with the Community Safety Partnership to identify and high-risk fly tipping that may cause issues. General fly tipping falls within the remit of the council. Assurance statement: The Commissioner understood why there was a seasonal spike in these types of fire generally approaching and over the summer months. She questioned whether fly tipping was an issue creating additional fire risk and what response was provided to this from partners. The Commissioner was reassured that there was an understanding of the reasons for the spike annually in these reports. She was also assured that the service sought to put into place preventative measures to reduce these incidents and asked that consideration be given to what more can be done in this regard.
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| Part 2 | |
| Final budget approval
Following the initial December discussions relating to the NFRS budget requirements for the financial year 2025/2026, the Commissioner requires a formal paper that sets out, as a result of these discussions the final requested budget requirements for NFRS and to include any reworked investment proposals and savings plans. The 2025/26 NCFRA budget requirement was taken as read with NA providing some additional commentary on a few minor changes since December. The Grant award was slightly lower than expected. (Pension and Buildings Grants rolled together and only one inflated). There has also been a slight erosion to the National Insurance Grant. NA confirmed still that he is still waiting for the business rate settlement figures however the Unitary Authorities have indicated that is it likely to be higher than originally forecast. M1/J15 depot will come online at some point in 2025/26. Waiting for further information on this from WNC. Whilst the additional revenue will be it welcome, the site will have an impact on demand which may dilute any spending power gained. There was a discussion about the ECR and the original assumption that it would provide savings of 0.5% of annum. The ECR is no longer being seen as a savings driver and as such the narrative for the programme need to be rewritten. Whilst it will still have a positive impact on a number of things including the reduction of overtime, cost savings is not the key driver. NA will change in future reports and align 0.5% savings efficiency as a requirement not linked to the ECR. Discussion on cashable savings and the agreement to progress a total of £1.6m savings. It was noted 5% of the budget is a sizable challenge with work to do throughout the year. The Commissioner asked about any potential income generation of S106 money. NA confirmed that there currently is little or no income generation activity but can revisit if acquire new joint training facility. Also new estates masterplan to reduce running costs will pay dividends and reduce some of the strain on budgets. NFRS remains one of the poorest funded Services in the country. Getting as much funding to front line to deliver services is first priority. Getting more money out of government is next priority with a plan to write to the fire minister to lobby for a fairer funding settlement. There was a discussion around the next pay award which could add additional pressure to the 2025/26 budget if it is significantly above inflation, it will be a significant risk. Another 4% would be damaging, not because it is not the right thing to do, but we simply don’t get the grant to cover it. Central government estimate pay settlement is likely to be around 2.7% (forecast) 2% will be expected budget requirement. Have budgeted 2% with contingency. Firefighters seem content with current pay and conditions, low attrition rates. Assurance statement: The Commissioner thanked all that had been involved in the significant work to get the budget proposals for 2025/2026 to the point that they were now at. The Commissioner agreed the budget as proposed in this paper. |
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| A.O.B
Verbal update on ICCS “go live” as this took place on 13th January. PB confirmed ICCS has gone live. Few minor bumps now fixed. Warwickshire go live today (15th January). Have entered Hyper Care– 2 weeks of advanced support and monitoring. Now that the Service has a stable system it is HO compliant so can close the risk on the Risk Register. This is really good news at it was a big risk to the organisation. Next steps are around the pro’s and cons of staying with Vision 4 or moving to Vision 5 and the timings of this specifically. Mindful of extra complexity with Warwickshire arrangement, the plan is to move to Vision 5 as there are a number of advantages. PB meeting with ACFO in Warwickshire and MD of supplier next week.
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