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2020Staffordshire

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Contents

4 Introduction

10 Education and Engagement

12 Community Safety and Wellbeing

14 Planning, Resilience and Response

16 Efficiency Plan 2016/17 to 2019/20

18 Projects and proposals 2020 – Summary

We know that the communities of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire will undergo significant change over the next few years both in terms of socio-demographic changes and ongoing financial challenges. Our transformation through Staffordshire 2020 will put us in a position to anticipate, plan for, and respond effectively to these changes. Whilst the future may hold many uncertainties, we believe that the Service can adapt to the changes it faces in terms of future risk, demand and resourcing by taking a consistent and considered approach to the way in which we transform. We believe it is the

right thing to do to review and undertake a re-design of an area of the Service if this reduces duplication and waste, and improves efficiency and effectiveness. Working towards the Staffordshire 2020 action plan will support achievement of the Corporate Safety Plan’s three priorities within the timescale of the current plan (2017 to 2020).

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is our action plan for the approach Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will take to transforming our Service to meet the challenges of the future.

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The result of our future transformation is likely to be that the Service will be smaller, utilising the skills of the workforce and volunteers more effectively, and using technology to deliver our prevention, protection and response activities.

All of our work will continue to be underpinned by the clear red lines drawn by the Chief Fire Officer:

• There will be no compromise to community safety

• There will be no compromise to firefighter safety

We will also endeavour to protect as many livelihoods of those within our organisation as practically possible.

The Staffordshire 2020 vision is supported by guiding principles that will help us focus our transformation.

We will:

• Align our resources and risks

• Promote our belief that prevention is better than cure

• Understand the different demands placed upon the Service

• Re-design our Service around demand and risk

• Use evidence to make decisions

• Challenge our traditional thinking at every opportunity

• Involve staff in problem solving, decision making and creating solutions to meet the challenges we face

• Maintain a long-term view focussed on outcomes for our communities

• Focus on the importance of customer service

• Engage with partner agencies where appropriate to deliver better outcomes for our communities

As a Service we have always strived to improve our efficiency and effectiveness in order to provide a first class service to the public.

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The tragedy at Grenfell Tower posed some particular challenges to the fire sector and while the full outcomes of the Public Inquiry will not be known for some time, the review by Dame Judith Hackitt has already identified a number of recommendations that will need to be considered by fire and rescue services and other stakeholders involved in building design and fire safety regulations.

We will continue to face significant financial challenges with ongoing funding reductions announced by Government. The Authority welcomed the opportunity to accept a four-year settlement from the Home Office in order to secure certainty and aid planning around funding levels through to 2019/20. In line with this, the Authority previously published a robust, transparent and locally owned Efficiency Plan which is supported by the detail contained within this document.

Early in 2018 the Authority agreed to a 2.75% increase in Council Tax in order to mitigate some of the reduction in funding. They set a balanced budget for 2018/19 at £40.2m that incorporates the settlement funding reduction imposed by Central Government of £1.0m. The Settlement Funding for 2018/19 included a reduction in Revenue Support Grant (RSG) of c. £1.0m as part of the overall £4.8m reduction during the period 2016/17 to 2019/20. RSG is forecast to be reduced to £4.6m by 2019/20, a reduction of 65% (£9m) from the level received back in 2012.

So far £2.2m of cash savings have been approved by the Authority and implemented within the Service;

this is set against the original Efficiency Plan Target saving of £4.0m. The Authority

have been able to reduce this target by £0.5m following the approval

of the Medium Term Financial Strategy covering the next five years to 2022/23. Further savings of £1.3m must therefore be implemented during the next two years.

We have now established a new Transformation Support Team that will be reviewing and developing the key saving areas. The team will be using a using a Systems Thinking approach, a methodology that has previously been used successfully within the Service transformation programmes. This will ensure that the overall purpose of the Service remains central to any changes to operational, or support services structures, and supports the Corporate Safety Plan to 2020.

This document, sets out the clear direction to ensure that the Staffordshire Commissioner is best served to provide an exceptional and efficient fire and rescue service up to 2020 and beyond to the communities of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

Despite the considerable changes and transformation the Authority has overseen there still remain a number of challenges ahead. The Government’s fire reform agenda and the National Framework sets out a direction of travel and challenges for the fire sector to meet to ensure services are effective, accountable, transparent and reflective of the communities it serves. The Policing and Crime Act 2017 enables Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take responsibility for the governance of fire and rescue services and in Staffordshire, the transfer of governance to the PCC will take place during summer 2018. This means that the Fire and Rescue Authority will become the Staffordshire Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority. As a result of this, there will be an increasing emphasis on improving emergency service collaboration and the priority will be to ensure a smooth transfer of all governance arrangements in the first instance.

"...there will be an increasing emphasis on improving emergency service collaboration and the priority will

be to ensure a smooth transfer of all governance arrangements in the first

instance."

Education and EngagementThe Safe and Sound Project

The Safe and Sound project will create an exciting outreach delivery model where we alongside partner organisations will work with people through interactive activities. The project will allow users to immerse themselves in learning experiences to help them make informed lifestyle choices, to reduce the risk of harm from fire, road traffic collisions and unintentional injuries, whilst promoting personal resilience, independence and responsibility. The project will be inclusive and accessible to all, with a strong focus on those most at risk from harm. The project will take the learning and immersive technologies to communities across Staffordshire using Community Fire Stations, schools or other appropriate venues as a means to deliver on a local basis. In addition, core work will continue to improve the safety and wellbeing of our communities through work associated with road safety, arson reduction, working with children and young people, safeguarding and greater engagement with our residents.

Safer Communities Community Interest Company

We continue to support the Safer Communities Community Interest Company (CIC) as an independent, self-funding and not for profit partnership between the public, private and voluntary sector, with the primary purpose of providing opportunities to improve the health, safety, social and economic wellbeing of the communities of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. The CIC will continue deliver projects to enhance the wellbeing of our communities and generate income to re-invest in our prevention, protection and road safety activities. This approach has allowed the CIC to transform the lives of hundreds of young people from the area, helping them to gain employment, education or training through the delivery of several separate Prince’s Trust Programmes.

Protect, Technical Fire safety and Business Support

Our protection and technical fire safety arrangements continue to be developed using our data and intelligence to ensure that the work of the Service reduces the risk of fire to residents, businesses and emergency responders. We will continue to perform its statutory functions required by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 as well as providing dedicated business support and advice to reduce risk and promote the economic vibrancy of the area.

We have instigated a risk-based inspection programme which is continually reviewed to ensure that premises which may pose the greatest risk from a fire occurring are targeted for supportive action and for firefighters to gather information to plan for any emergency situation.

Our Community Sprinkler Project started work in 2016 and aims to fit automatic fire sprinklers in all residential buildings with five or more storeys in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. The project is effectively reducing the risk of fire to some of the most vulnerable residents within Staffordshire and reducing the danger of high rise building fires to emergency responders.

The project demonstrates how the Service is commited to working in partnership with residents and partners locally, and delivers against both local and national aspirations to the automatic fire suppression agenda.

The first phase of the work has been successful in that the collaboration between SFRS, Bromford Housing Group and Severn Trent Water has resulted in a retro-fit of automatic fire sprinklers into David Garrick Gardens in Lichfield, two eight storey tower blocks containing 63 flats. Working relationships are in place across the county with social housing providers, local architects, building control and

planning teams to make sure that they are fully involved with the design, construction and refurbishments of all the residential buildings across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.

The work is helping to demonstrate to central government the benefits that a change in national policy (to make it a legal obligation for sprinklers to be fitted in all new homes and buildings) would provide. The fact that the completion of the first phase of the project coincided with the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower has increased the importance of the work of the project and allowed the broader fire sector to demonstrate a clear commitment to improving fire safety within high rise buildings.

Following completion of the work on the first of 47 residential buildings targeted by this project, we have now gained commitment from 85 per cent of the others who have agreed to install automatic suppression in the future.

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Community Safety and Wellbeing

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Safe and Well visits

Since 2002 we have had a stronger preventative focus, where home fire risk checks have been carried out to provide fire safety advice, the installation of smoke

alarms and assistance in partner referrals to help people where required. This

work has seen a reduction in incident demand of

approximately 40 per cent and a

reduction in fire

deaths and injuries of 25 per cent. We are currently visiting between 25-30,000 homes per year within Staffordshire.

Recently it has become clear that there are many other health related issues that can contribute to risk of someone dying in a fire; such as people suffering from frailty, falls and dementia. These are additional risks to the ones already known to increase the likelihood of death and injury in accidental dwelling fires such as smoking, alcohol, age and mobility; the factors highlighted in the Service’s SAME campaign. This prompted a piece of work to trial a home visit with a wider focus of questioning, advice and education around the risks within the home. A

pilot linked with Public Health England (PHE), the Chief Fire Officer Association (CFOA),

Local Government Association (LGA), Age UK and the Staffordshire Health and Wellbeing Board saw the home visit evolve into a Safe and Well visit with a focus on a reduction of excess winter deaths. This pilot was delivered over the winter period of 2015/16 for six months and the aims were to reduce fire risks, falls/ frailty, cold homes, social isolation and flu.

The success of this pilot, which was independently reviewed in 2016, led to SFRS rolling out the Safe and Well visit concept for all our home visits across the Service and opportunities to increase the effectiveness of Safe and Well visits through more formal arrangements with health organisations are being explored.

Risk stratification and data

We continue to use data and intelligence to drive activity with the aim of preventing emergencies happening in the first place. Working with partners, including the NHS, to deliver prevention in a more targeted and cost effective manner to where it will have the greatest impact in improving the quality of people’s lives, particularly those who are at the greatest risk from fire. The sharing of GP data has allowed us to locally stratify the risk and target our engagement with people who are over 65, with a number of physical vulnerabilities and who are much more likely to sustain an injury or worse as a result of fire.

The move to an intelligent led, enhanced and targeted approach for our prevention activities will ensure that support is given to those most at risk within our communities. Crucially, we continue to develop our understanding and knowledge of the factors causing health inequalities, and how these factors also contribute to an individual’s vulnerability to the risk of fire. To ensure we target the most vulnerable within our communities we must further develop data sharing and risk stratification processes across partners, thus creating a richer picture of these risk factors.

Planning, Resilience and ResponseCollaboration and Integration

Two large scale collaboration projects are in delivery; one with West Midlands Fire Service is a shared fire control, another, with Staffordshire Police is a shared Transport and Engineering function. Other collaborations include a shared Driver Training function and Occupational Health, both with Staffordshire Police. We continue to integrate services in a range of areas while maintaining a high level of service delivery, coupled with achieving economies of scale through joint working initiatives. Examples include sharing our community fire stations at Stafford and Newcastle with Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT) and sharing payroll services with Stoke-on-Trent City Council. All of these offer efficiencies and underpin more effective service delivery. We continue to seek further opportunities to collaborate where public and firefighter safety can be improved and we will work hard to try to secure improvements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness at the same time. We will continue to look for other opportunities to work with other organisations that help us to achieve our service aims and objectives.

Efficiency Planning

We are committed to ensuring that every opportunity is explored to provide efficiency in all areas of our work. We will ensure that when opportunities arise through existing contractual arrangements we will review these with collaboration in mind, ensuring a focus on efficiency andeffectiveness. In order to meet the financial challenges ahead we have established the followingwork streams to deliver against the challenges.

Capability review

Several reviews of Service capabilities have been implemented including firefighter decontamination, water rescue, and Learning and Development. A programme of personal

development for Learning and Development department staff is underway to ensure that each member of staff has the appropriate professional qualifications for their role. Opportunities to enhance public, firefighter and partner organisation safety and effectiveness are continually being identified and evaluated.

Efficient response options

We have implemented new crewing policies for both our wholetime and retained duty system staff with the aim of securing reliable, resilient appliance crewing in the most efficient way. Staff flexibility and engagement are a key part of this process, and a recent example of this is the implementation of a seven day week training provision that meets the needs of all sections of the operational workforce. This has required seamless staff turnover and the adoption of a new shift pattern and working practices, all designed to meet demand as efficiently as possible.

Structures

We are is always looking at ways of providing more effective means of delivering services and the staff and the organisational structure they work within are key to achieving great performance. There is currently a trial of a new streamlined service delivery structure and within this performance management is being redesigned to allow more agile, effective decision making and improved outcomes for staff and service users.

Our Staff

We recognise that our employees are critical to the delivery of a valuable service to our communities and in achieving our corporate aim

of making Staffordshire safer. We benefit from a strong workplace ethos embedded within our Cultural Framework and Leadership Message. We are committed to the health and wellbeing of which is demonstrated through our Wellbeing Strategy, Occupational Health support, Trauma Risk Management (TRIM) officers and continued investment in staff through ongoing training and development.

We have supported positive action events to help encourage recruitment for our under represented groups and will continue to do so, to ensure the Service is more representative of the community which it serves.

With over one million unemployed young people nationally, our engagement with apprenticeship programmes offers a way of unlocking talent within existing staff and our local communities, whilst ensuring that we have a workforce equipped with the skills needed for today and tomorrow.

We will use apprenticeships to offer a comprehensive programme of learning on which to build a skilled and flexible workforce. The apprenticeship framework consists of nationally recognised qualifications that combine work-based training and vocational education. It will also give our existing staff of an opportunity to further enhance current skills, or develop new skills within a structured framework.

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EFFICIENCY PLAN SAVINGS 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 £m £m £m £m Structures 0.1 0.4 0.5 0.6Prevention and Protection 0.1 0.1Efficient Response Options 1 . 1 2.0 2.2 2.2Collaboration Opportunities 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.5Procurement and cost efficiency 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.6

Total Cashable Savings (cumulative) 1.2 2.7 3.5 4.0

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Efficiency Plan 2016/17 to 2019/20

The table above is a summary of the cashable savings to be delivered during the four year period to 2020 as incorporated into our original Efficiency Plan submission to the Home Office in October 2016. To date we have successfully implemented £2.2m of savings from across the five areas identifies above and a narrative against each area is included below.

Structures

We are committed to ensuring that the staffing structures at all levels are

appropriate and as efficient and as effective as possible. Part of this identified saving (£0.1m) has already been delivered with a more streamlined executive team. Options for further establishment savings, which include a review of how prevention activity is carried out across the Service, will continue to be developed and supported by a robust and fair voluntary redundancy programme.

Prevention and Protection

We will continue to work with local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG’s) and also NHS England as the concept of Safe and Well visits for our communities is better supported by the local NHS. It is only through these commissioning arrangements that the Fire and Rescue Service can fully support and be a real asset to health.

Efficient Response Options and Capability Reviews

We have demonstrated that continued development of how we provide our front line services and the technology we use has resulted in more efficient ways of working. This concept will continue to be

developed alongside our representative bodies ensuring that we are not compromising safety or service provision but can deliver an even more efficient service at a lower cost through adept resource allocation and streamlined management. To date over £2.1m of saving have been implemented through revised crewing for wholetime and retained staff.

Collaboration Opportunities

We will continue to work will all partners but will also support the Police and Crime Act and work closely with the police and ambulance services. Cashable savings are already being achieved through a number of ongoing work streams, already discussed within this document, and additional sensible collaboration and integration opportunities will be given due consideration.

Procurement and Cost Efficiencies

We have a strong track record of delivering cost savings which includes more efficient procurement. In addition, opportunities to develop our Community Interest Company and market our enhanced training facilities will lead to more commercial opportunities and additional income generation that will support our prevention agenda. 17

Projects and proposals 2020 – SummaryEducation and Engagement

• To continue to educate children, young people, and adults to reduce the risk from harm by engagement with universal and targeted education programmes and projects

• To engage effectively using Community Fire Stations and other outreach activities to promote engagement and inclusion with all of the different groups of citizens within our communities

• To target engagement and diversionary activities with those people who are most likely to be harmed through risk taking and anti-social behaviours

• To utilise all aspects of Marketing and Communications as a tool to engage and support campaigns which make people safer

• To engage effectively with appropriate partners to make sure that we work effectively to reduce demand to both our own and other services

• To continue to promote and support the installation of sprinklers across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent within domestic and residential properties as well as schools and commercial premises.

Community Safety and Wellbeing

• To understand the impact of prevention work and significant incidents such as fatal fires through evaluation to ensure that we learn as an organisation and modify our processes

• To use data and intelligence to drive our activity in order to make the biggest difference from using our resources and people to deliver a prevention approach that is flexible to meet the needs of our communities

• To carry out interventions, where appropriate, to support people with problems in their own homes

through extended Safe and Well visits and pulling in support from other agencies where required

• To support partner initiatives such as cooperative working, place-based work and work with local health organisations to tackle the root causes of vulnerability to the risk of fire and other risks.

Planning, Resilience and Response

• To increase the resilience and professionalism of all of our staff through investment in training, development and support and a culture of staff seeking to learn, innovate and improve

• To improve technology and innovation through purchasing excellent vehicles, equipment and personal protective equipment for our staff and mobilising appropriate resources in an effective and efficient manner

• To continue to prioritise equality, inclusion and wellbeing

• To increase collaboration and evidence that opportunities to collaborate have been evaluated on a regular basis

• To use apprenticeships to offer a comprehensive programme of learning on which to build a skilled and flexible workforce

• To further learn and improve through Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) assessment.

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