Agenda item

The Head of Protection and Organisational Performance introduced the report which provided Members with an update on the Service’s performance against the key performance indicators (KPIs) for Quarter 2 2017-18. Appendix 1 to the report contained the corporate performance scorecard reflecting the Quarter 2 position against targets set and the year-on-year direction of travel for the Service’s KPIs.

Members were referred to Appendix 2 of the report which contained a detailed description of each KPI, including a summary of current performance and any actions taken to improve performance.  Alongside the Head of Protection and Organisational Performance, the Head of Prevention and Head of Service Delivery provided further information on the KPIs relevant to their departments.

Members emphasised the importance of the Authority’s prevention work and queried how they could continue to assist the Service with improving performance.  Officers highlighted the benefit of partnership work with the police and other agencies and the continued support of the Authority with this work.  They informed Members that working with partner agencies ensured that skills and resources were deployed in the right areas.

A Member queried whether officers were considering targeting other groups concerning the Service’s Safe and Well programme to follow on from the Service’s current work with over 65s.  The Head of Prevention informed Members that work had been undertaken recently to identify other groups who would benefit from the Service’s prevention work.

A Member queried the progress the Service had made in encouraging the installation of sprinklers in high-rise buildings.  The Head of Protection and Organisational Performance informed the Committee that officers were re-engaging with housing providers/duty holders and encouraging them to install sprinklers.

A Member drew the Committee’s attention to the number of non-domestic premises fire safety audits completed by the end of the quarter.  Information was included in the performance summary of the KPI concerning plans which were in place to establish a new BME business group in Cheshire East to provide safety advice to the BME community when they set up a new business and fire safety advice to migrant employees.  A Member queried whether the Service would ensure that translated advice and handouts were provided for the community to ensure a full understanding of the advice the Service intended to provide.  The Head of Protection and Organisational Performance informed Members that the literature would be reviewed by the Service, but that responsibility for compliance ultimately lay with the duty holder.

A Member referenced the performance on average days/shifts lost to sickness and congratulated staff on how few working days were lost to sickness so far over the year.  He queried whether the Service could give a reward for good attendance performance.  The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive informed Members that this was being looked at by officers as part of the Service’s pay and recognition policy and that he would inform Members of the outcome.

The Head of Service Delivery provided further details concerning the Service’s current performance for on-call availability.  A Member queried whether the availability statistics for appliances from Wilmslow in Appendix 4 included periods when cover had been provided by wholetime crews to keep an appliance available.  The Head of Service Delivery explained that the availability statistics for the appliance at Wilmslow included occasions where individuals provided cover from other stations to keep an appliance available.  A Member queried whether officers could provide a separate report with the number of occasions when the appliance was kept available at Wilmslow due to cover from individuals from other stations.  Officers confirmed that they would provide this information to Members.

A Member requested information on the response times of on-call appliances at the following stations for the last 10 incidents attended by each of them: Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Penketh, Congleton, Runcorn and Winsford.  The Head of Service Delivery confirmed that officers would provide this information and informed Members that the intelligence model utilised by the Service predicted a 5 minute turnout for on-call appliances and 90 seconds for wholetime.  He highlighted that the average turnout for on-call appliances was usually three and half a minutes.

RESOLVED: That

[1]       the Quarter 2 Performance Report 2017-18 be noted.