Agenda item

The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive introduced the report which provided an update on the 2017-18 Quarter 3 review of performance for each of the Service’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  Appendix 1 to the report contained the corporate performance scorecard reflecting the Quarter 3 position against targets set and the year-on-year direction of travel for the Service’s KPIs.

The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive introduced the Head of Service Delivery who responded to the following queries raised by Members at the last meeting of the Committee in November 2017 (extracts from the minutes from Item 3 – Quarter 2 Performance Report 2017-18 are in italics):

‘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.’

The Head of Service Delivery referred Members to a document containing an overview of on-call availability at Wilmslow Fire Station.  A nucleus duty system was currently in place at Wilmslow, with wholetime cover provided from 0700-1900 and on-call cover from 1900-0700 every day.  The average availability of the on-call team at Wilmslow was 62% from October 2017 to December 2017.  Further supplementary crewing provided an additional 33% average availability over the same period, increasing total availability to an average of 95% over that period.  He explained that surplus individuals from other stations could volunteer or do overtime to act as supplementary crew to increase the availability at Wilmslow Fire Station.

The Head of Service Delivery informed Members that the year-to-date spend for on-call staff at Wilmslow was £59k.  Supplementary crewing costs were £42k, meaning that the total year-to-date spend was £101k against a total budget of £162k.

He drew Members’ attention to further developments that were being implemented to improve availability at Wilmslow.  He highlighted that a recruitment campaign at Wilmslow Fire Station had led to four further suitable candidates being found. As part of a new pilot scheme, two Crew Managers had also been stationed at Wilmslow to work alternating night shift patterns.  This was expected to improve availability as it would ensure that the skillsets essential to maintaining the availability of an appliance were available (i.e. full competence, ability to drive an appliance, officer in charge).  Having a Crew Manager available during evenings was also expected to assist with the completion of administrative work. 

‘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.’

The Head of Service Delivery drew Members’ attention to a document containing average on-call turnout times for the last 10 turnouts for Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Penketh, Congleton, Runcorn and Winsford:

A Member asked for further clarification concerning turnout times of crews and the time taken to get to an incident.  The Head of Service Delivery explained that turnout time was the time taken from being alerted to when the fire appliance was ready to leave the station.  Attendance time was the time taken from an appliance being mobilised from its current location to arrive at an incident.

The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive referred Members back 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.  Each KPI had a previous and current progress status against its target (green, amber or red).  He expanded on several of the KPIs, providing further context particularly where the status was currently amber or red. 

A Member referred to the KPI concerning fires in non-domestic premises and queried what officers were doing to tackle the number of fires in prisons.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer informed the Committee that significant progress had been made over the years to reduce the number of incidents at prisons as part of the Service’s prevention agenda.  Memoranda of Understanding had been agreed with prisons in the area and individuals could be prosecuted for setting fires.  He advised that a new Memorandum of Understanding had been produced with one of the prisons in the area, which he hoped would be signed off soon.

The Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive concluded by referring Members to progress concerning on-call availability and informed the Committee that the Service was working alongside Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service to share ideas on how to improve availability.

RESOLVED: That

[1]      the Quarter 3 Performance Report 2017-18 be noted.