To consider Report CFO/072/16 of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer, concerning scrutiny of performance against the Service objectives and the performance targets/ outcomes as set out in the Service Delivery Plan 2016/17 for the period April to July 2016.

Members considered report CFO/072/16 of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer concerning scrutiny of the performance against Service objectives and the performance targets/outcomes as set out in the Service Delivery Plan 2016/17 for the period April to July 2016.

A presentation was delivered to Members by the IRMP Officer, which provided an overview of the progress against Service Delivery Plan and Functional Plan action points; and Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) against the outcome targets.

Members were informed that MFRS had attended an increased number of incidents in comparison to the same period the previous year, however the number of primary and secondary fires had decreased.  A peak in incidents had been observed during May, which may be accounted for by grassland fires. 

In relation to the Attendance Standard of the first appliance attending incidents within 10 minutes, the performance was better than target with an actual achievement of 96.4% 

Other Performance Indicators where performance was better than target include: Fire Control answering 999 calls within 10 seconds; alert to mobile within 1.9 minutes; and the amount of CO₂ emissions per m².

Long term sickness reduced by over 50%, with performance being better than target.  However, an increase had been observed in short term sickness absence, with causes and solutions being investigated.

Performance in relation to Accidental Dwelling Fires for the period was good, with a reduction observed in the total number of Accidental Dwelling Fires, the number of injuries resulting from Accidental Dwelling Fires, and no fatalities to date.

There were 190 deliberate vehicle fires (DVF) (motorcycles accounting for 63) which is an increase upon the previous year but still within 10% of the target.  In July alone there were 48 DVF’s, 20 of which involved motorcycles. 

Attendance at false alarms was within 10% of target when discounting false alarms with good intent.

Attendance at special calls, such as road traffic accidents (RTAs), flooding, animal assistance and effecting entry/exit, had risen from 841 last year to 972 for the same period this year, resulting in the target being exceeded.  The largest proportion of these incidents were RTAs.

Members requested information with regard to the significant reduction in long term sickness and were informed that this was due to robust case management from Occupational Health and the introduction of the Capability Policy supporting employees back into the workplace.  However Officers were aware short term sickness absence requires closer management.

There was discussion over referrals received from Merseyside Police, the protocol around helping individuals locked out of their property and the increase in Special Service Calls.

More detailed information was provided to Members with regard to Special Service Calls and collaborative working with the Police on effecting entry to property. It was confirmed that the figure for Special Service Calls was not necessarily concerning as it highlights the important work that the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) does in the community, the continuing relevance of the FRS, the need for continued funding and our support of the Joint Emergency Services Principles.

With regard to attendance at Automatic Fire Alarms (AFA) Members were reminded of the recent change in policy from responding to all AFA’s, to responding only if there was a life risk – hence the response to Sheltered Housing.  The initial significant fall in attendance has levelled out, as would be expected, but work has been ongoing through Community Risk Management teams with the owners of domestic premises with AFA’s to educate them to manage their alarm systems.

Discussion took place on the possibility of charging for call outs to false AFA’s, lock outs and Road Traffic Accidents.  However Members were informed that there could be a risk with this strategy by deterring calls to life risk incidents.

Members then raised the importance of lobbying parliament in order to be allowed to find new ways of raising income, for example as the Ambulance Service are allowed to reclaim costs of attending RTA’s from insurance companies.

Members thanked officers for the report.

Members resolved that:

a)    The contents of the report be noted