www.glosfire.gov.uk
Statement of Assurance 2016 - 17
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Foreword by Councillor Nigel Moor 5
Introduction by the Chief Fire Officer Stewart Edgar 7
The communities we serve 9
Our purpose 10
Service overview 11
Financial performance 18
Fire and Rescue Service Annual Business Plan 15
Our challenges and priorities during 2016/17 19
Our performance 20
Our collaborative arrangements 23
Mutual aid and assistance 24
How we secure business continuity 24
Audit and assurance 25
Our future challenges 27
How you can become involved 27
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Foreword by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Service
Councillor Nigel Moor
I have great pleasure in welcoming you to the annual Statement of Assurance for 2016-17 for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service.
As the Fire and Rescue Authority, Gloucestershire County Council has a legal duty to ensure that a highly effective Fire and Rescue Service is available to all our communities at all times.
It is my considered opinion based on publicly available facts that GFRS remains one of the highest performing and lowest cost per head Services in the country. Through effective leadership and efficient delivery, the contribution made to the safety of people in Gloucestershire can only be described as significant and long may that continue.
The Service continues to be presented with new challenges in terms of governance models, cost reduction and increasing efficiency which must be offset against an ever evolving risk and response profile. Demonstrable success by the Service in delivery of the Prevention agenda has seen a continued decline in the requirement for emergency response to incidents, enabling the Service to utilise existing equipment and skills in unique ways that provide support to the County Council and other organisations delivering true ‘social value’ to the communities of Gloucestershire.
I hope this Statement of Assurance instils in people the confidence in all that Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue does in terms of prevention to ensure their safety and gives them the comfort of knowing that come what may the Service is always ready to respond should the need arise.
Signed on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council:
Councillor Nigel Moor Cabinet Member with responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Service
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Introduction by Chief Fire Officer Stewart Edgar QFSM
As Chief Fire Officer for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, I would like to present to you Gloucestershire County Council Fire Authority’s fifth Annual Statement of Assurance covering 2016-17.
This statement is produced to demonstrate to the communities of Gloucestershire how your Fire and Rescue Service, on behalf of the Fire and Rescue Authority (Gloucestershire County Council), has in the last twelve months met and will continue to deliver on our mission:
‘Working together for a safer Gloucestershire’.
It is our duty to provide an annual Statement of Assurance that covers governance, financial and operational matters. The statement demonstrates how the Fire and Rescue Authority meets its legal obligations and how as a Service, we are delivering against our stated objectives in our current Integrated
Risk Management Plan covering the 2015-18 period.
In the last twelve months our staff have continued to work extremely hard to ensure that we continue to offer the highest standards of community safety and emergency response services to all those who live, work or visit our county. The following information clearly shows the positive impact our efforts and prevention activities deliver to make our communities safer:
7,146 Safe and Well visits carried out to domestic properties last year alone
54% reduction in incidents over the last 10 years
30% reduction in dwelling fires over the last 10 years
8% fewer fires than in the previous year
32% fewer casualties as a result of fire than in the previous year
24% fewer road traffic incidents than in the previous year
I am proud of the way in which our staff continuously demonstrate a professional and ethical approach to their duties and the drive and commitment shown when rising to the challenges laid before them.
In common with all public services we continually strive to improve the way we operate and deliver real value for money to the communities of Gloucestershire.
In conclusion, I am confident that the arrangements in place for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service remain ‘fit for purpose’ and meet the needs of the communities we serve.
Signed on behalf of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service:
Stewart Edgar QFSM Chief Fire Officer and Operations Director
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The Communities We Serve
Gloucestershire is a diverse county covering 1,024 square miles and has a population of approximately 623,100. It is an extremely attractive place to live and work with most people living in areas surrounded by countryside. To the West the county is bordered by South Wales, to the North and North West Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Warwickshire to the North East, Oxfordshire to the East, Wiltshire to the South and Avon to the South West. The county is divided into six districts, City of Gloucester, Cheltenham, Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury, Cotswolds and Stroud with the main urban centres being Gloucester and Cheltenham where half the county’s population live.
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Our purpose
The Service maintains a clear sense of purpose which is laid down within our Mission Statement:
‘Working together we will provide the highest standard of community safety and emergency response services to the communities of Gloucestershire’.
This statement is supported by four very clear strategic aims:
We manage risk in Gloucestershire by focussing on our strategic aims; everything we do builds towards achieving these aims. Our stated priorities are to:
Reduce risk in our communities
Provide a committed, skilled and safe workforce
Respond promptly and effectively to emergencies and;
Make the best use of resources and provide an efficient Service.
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Service Overview
Statute and the Fire Framework
The primary legislation governing the Fire and Rescue Service is covered by the following:
Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004
Policing and Crime Act 2017
Civil Contingencies Act 2004
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Fire and Rescue Service (Emergencies)(England) Order 2007
Localism Act 2011
The main legislative provisions which determine the functions of the Fire and Rescue Authority include the following:
Promoting fire safety
Extinguishing fires and protecting life and property
Rescuing people from road traffic accidents (and a large range of other risks determined through the Emergencies Order)
Responding to other types of emergencies
Enter into ‘reinforcement’ schemes with other fire authorities for mutual assistance
Assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning
Cooperate with other local responders to reduce crime, disorder and re-offending (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment) and;
A new duty on police, fire and rescue and emergency ambulance services to collaborate where it is in the interests of their efficiency or effectiveness.
The Police and Crime Act 2017 also enables Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on responsibility for the governance of fire and rescue services, where a local business case is made.
Gloucestershire County Council fulfils the role of the Fire and Rescue Authority for the county and are responsible for the provision of fire and rescue services throughout Gloucestershire.
The County Council has 53 elected members and is structured around a ‘Cabinet’ of 8 councillors, each with a specific portfolio. The Fire and Rescue Service comes under the ‘Fire, Planning and Infrastructure’ portfolio which is held by Councillor Nigel Moor. Councillor Moor’s
role is to oversee the work of your fire and rescue service, making key decisions about policies and services that matter to local people. The performance of the fire and rescue service is overseen by the Environment and Communities Scrutiny and Corporate Audit and Governance Committees.
Details of how you can attend meetings and access agendas and reports can be found at the following link:
Gloucestershire County Council - Meetings
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The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a duty on all ‘Category 1’ responders to maintain plans for responding, reducing, controlling or mitigating the effects of emergencies.
Gloucestershire County Council Civil Protection Team are an integral component of GFRS, promoting effective multi agency work amongst all services and agencies through Gloucestershire Local Resilience Forum; this ensures that local communities are cared for both during an emergency and afterwards when returning to normality.
The full document can be found at the following link:
Civil Contingencies Act 2004
Fire and Rescue National Framework for England 2012
The Government outlines expectations of English Fire and Rescue Services through the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England. The Framework sets out the Government’s priorities and objectives for Fire and Rescue Authorities in England; these are high level expectations and it does not prescribe operational matters which it says are best determined at the local level.
Key priorities in the Framework include:
Identifying and assessing the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks including those of a cross border, multi-authority and/or national nature
Making provision for prevention and protection activities and responding to incidents within Gloucestershire appropriately
Working in partnership with the communities of
Gloucestershire and a wide range of partners both locally and
nationally to deliver a fire and rescue service; and
Being accountable to the communities of Gloucestershire for
the service we provide through an annual ‘Statement of
Assurance’.
The full document can be found at the following link:
Fire and Rescue National Framework for England
Integrated Risk Management Plan
The Framework requires the formulation of an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) that captures and publishes the Fire and Rescue Authorities plans to meet those priorities.
The Framework provides that the Fire and Rescue Authority must hold their Chief Fire Officer to account for delivery of the fire and rescue service, also that arrangements must be
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in place to ensure decisions regarding service provision and delivery are open to scrutiny. The Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) is Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s analysis of the county’s community risk profile, together with our strategic approach to effectively managing that risk over the period.
The IRMP identifies and assesses all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks that could affect the communities, including those of a cross border, multi authority and/or national nature. The full document can be found at the following link:
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service – IRMP 2015-18
Governance Arrangements
Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) is responsible for putting in place proper arrangements for the governance of its affairs, facilitating the effective exercise of its functions, which include arrangements for the management of risk, details of which can be found at:
Gloucestershire County Council – Code of Corporate Governance
To supplement GCC arrangements, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service have in place an internal Corporate Governance Framework to enable us to monitor the achievement of our strategic objectives and consider whether those objectives ultimately lead to the delivery of appropriate services and value for money.
This framework can be found at the following link:
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue – Corporate Governance Framework
GCC are also responsible for ensuring that public affairs are conducted in accordance with the law and that public money is safeguarded, properly accounted for and used economically, efficiently and effectively.
A ‘Statement of Accounts’ is produced and published annually on the Council’s website which contains headline financial information for the Communities and Infrastructure portfolio.
The full document can be found at the following link:
Gloucestershire County Council -Statement of Accounts Furthermore in depth information regarding funding and expenditure can be found later under the section headed Financial Performance (Statement of Accounts).
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Structure and Business Model
Strategic direction for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is set by the Fire and Rescue Authority whose statutory duty under the Fire and Rescues Services Act 2004 is to provide a fire and rescue service. Leadership and governance for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is provided by the Strategic Leadership Team led by the Chief Fire Officer – Stewart Edgar.
The Service is divided into four ‘functional’ areas with integral elements for each listed below:
Community Safety (Prevention, Protection, Response and Resilience)
Prevention work that focuses on those who are most vulnerable and at risk
A network of 21 Fire Stations across the county that give access to community safety advice, education and provide the response to emergencies
Enforcement of fire safety law (protection)
Civil Protection (planning, emergency response and recovery)
Development of operational policy and procedures.
Learning and Development, Operational Assurance, Health and Safety and GCC Centralised functions
Training – initial and ongoing maintenance of skills
Health and safety – advice, monitoring and reporting
Legal Services – advice, support and representation
Human Resources – advice, support and administration
Occupational Health – medical advice, support and health monitoring
Business Planning, Strategy, Risk Management and Performance
Business planning, strategy and performance to include development and production of:
o Internal governance analysis and action plans
o Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP)
o Annual Statement of Assurance
o Financial planning, budget setting and monitoring
o Contract management and monitoring
o Performance management information and statistical reports
o Communications, publications, branding and media
Fire Control who receive and resource emergency calls
Logistic administrative support.
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Technical Services
Fleet management, maintenance and repair
Equipment (research and replacement programmes)
Premises management and maintenance
Centralised purchasing and stores
Information, Communications and Technology -
provision, management and maintenance for all
telephony and computer based systems.
Our Resources
Service Headquarters is administered from the Tri-Service site in Quedgeley; this co-locates Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service with Gloucestershire Constabulary.
The site hosts administrative, fleet management and stores along with Fire and Police Control functions.
In 2016/17 Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service operated from twenty one community fire stations.
These stations are the base for our cadre of highly skilled fire-fighters and our fleet of 33 front-line fire engines plus a number of specialist ‘support’ vehicles designed to address the ever increasing variety of incidents we are called to.
Our specialist vehicles include:
Hydraulic platforms for performing rescues at height
Specialist Incident Support Unit for road, rail, air incidents, animal and water rescue
Foam and Water Carrier
Environmental Protection Unit (provided in partnership with the Environment Agency)
Rescue Boats (provided in partnership with DEFRA and SARA) and;
Mobile Incident Command Vehicle.
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Our People
None of the things we do would be possible
without our professional, highly skilled,
motivated and well developed workforce whose
composition is reflective of our diverse
community.
As a predominantly rural fire and rescue service
we make good use of Retained (On-call)
firefighters in areas where population levels and
risks are low and the cost of full time cover
would be prohibitive.
Of the 21 stations across Gloucestershire, 16 of these are staffed entirely by ‘Retained’
firefighters with three further stations having a mix of both full time and Retained compliments.
We utilise Retained firefighters in a variety of ways to help make the most of our resources:
Community safety advice and education and emergency response in their local area
Primary crewing for our specialist appliances which our Retained firefighters have been
trained to use
Should unforeseen staff shortages occur, they are called in to ride alongside full time
colleagues maximising the emergency cover we provide in all areas
Co-responding whereby they utilise existing training and skills to when mobilised to
specified types of medical emergency in support of our Ambulance colleagues, often
stabilising those in need before the arrival of an ambulance and optimising survival rates
for critical care patients
To ensure we reach as many people as possible with our prevention work, we use
Retained firefighters to support our Community Safety Advisors when demand is high
carrying out a significant number of Safe and Well visits to those most in need; and
Support to other community focussed safety initiatives, for example giving input or
delivering campaigns alongside partners such as the county’s Road Safety Team.
On the remaining five stations which are located in the primary centres of population we utilise
full time firefighters. The immediate response is designed to cover higher call levels where
physical and life risks are known to be much greater and wider ranging.
Our Fire Control staff are based at the Tri-Service site and are the first point of contact for the
public when an emergency occurs. They are well equipped and trained for emergency call
handling providing calm reassurance and gathering vital information to support an emergency
response. All of this helps ensure that we maintain the right resources, in the right place, when
they are needed most.
Our support staff provide the core functions of planning, administration, fleet maintenance and
management, centralised purchasing and stores ensuring that the organisation as a whole can
function on a day to day basis. When significant or large scale incidents occur they often go
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‘above and beyond’ to make sure the public receive the highest standards of emergency
response under difficult conditions.
Overall Staffing Composition As an organisation we employ a total of 484 people in the various roles required to deliver a modern and forward thinking fire and rescue service. The graph below outlines the breakdown of staff into the four key roles:
Retained Firefighters - 240
Full Time Firefighters – 175 (including 24 officers)
Fire Control Staff - 19
Support Staff – 50 (including 3 civil protection officers)
Overall Staffing Composition (as at 31/03/17)
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Financial Performance (Statement of Accounts)
Our Budget for 2016/17
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service continues to deliver excellent value for money to our communities. The net revenue expenditure for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service for 2016/17 was £19,705,252.08 which equates to a cost of approximately 8½p per day for each resident of Gloucestershire. The net revenue expenditure figure takes into account income of £5,221,585.78 made up of specific grants for Fire and Rescue from HM Government and other income received by the Service for activities where a charge has been made e.g. pre arranged attendance for a non emergency function. Expenditure overview The diagram below shows how our budget was spent in order to provide your fire and rescue service. Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service are an integral part of GCC who provide and publish annually the overall Statement of Accounts and Audit for the County Council. The published Statement of Accounts 2016-17 can be viewed by following the link below.
Gloucestershire County Council -Statement of Accounts
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Fire and Rescue Service: Annual Business Plan The Annual Business Plan covering the Fire and Rescue Service is updated annually. The plan sets out our objectives and outcomes for the forthcoming year and clearly shows the targets we have set against which we will measure our performance for that year.
The Annual Business Plan can be viewed by following this link:
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue – Annual
Business Plan
Challenges and Priorities
The Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service IRMP 2015-2018 was developed and approved
by Gloucestershire County Council Cabinet on 15th April 2015. The IRMP clearly laid out the
objectives for us to focus on over the forthcoming three years. The Year 2 Objectives were to:
Implement the outcomes of the comprehensive review of operational response
Develop a more risk based response
Research and implement new technological solutions and;
Make greater use of retained and community firefighters to build resilience.
Following on from the fundamental review of operational response undertaken last year, two
options were selected for implementation; these were to change the way in which we provided
staff at Cirencester (moving from a non-viable full time option to a more community focussed
on-call system) and a change the way we provided emergency response cover to Painswick.
Both of these changes have been implemented and the expected benefits realised.
The Service has challenged the traditional approach to risk management concentrating the
focus of its activities on actual risk to people. In particular, we focus on life risk factors
experienced for dwelling fires targeting our prevention work at those identified as most at risk.
Our response standards have been reviewed and now reflect this approach.
We have made a number of significant changes to our Service through the application of new
technology:
Fire Control has been updated with ‘state of the art’ mobilising and communications
equipment reducing time taken to establish incident details and helping to locate
incidents quickly.
Emergency vehicles have been fitted with Advanced Vehicle Location Systems (AVLS),
which allows selection of the nearest available fire engines to an incident allowing us to
significantly reduce response times.
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New Breathing Apparatus sets now give our crews clearer speech communication
between teams which will improve search and rescue times and safety for both
firefighters and the public alike
We have commenced a process to upgrade our rescue equipment used at road traffic
collisions (RTC’s). Smaller, lighter but more powerful RTC equipment utilising
rechargeable battery technology has created more stowage space to carry other
specialist rescue equipment. This will allow us to upgrade all of our fire engines across
the county for immediate response to RTC’s improving the overall response time in all
areas of the County thereby ensuring an equitable service to all road users.
We have reviewed the way in which we use our Retained (on-call) firefighters and now make
greater use of their availability and time to deliver prevention programmes and support to full
time staffing whenever necessary. (For more information regarding this see page 12).
All of these changes improve the standard of service we are able to provide to the communities of Gloucestershire.
Our Performance
Prevention and Protection Activity Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service continues to perform to exacting standards and the results of a positive focus on prevention and protection initiatives in recent years is demonstrated by the diagram below:
In terms of incidents, the table below shows the total number over the past 5 years that Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service have attended across Gloucestershire and in neighbouring counties.
This shows a steady decline in the overall number of incidents. More detail on specific incident types can be found in the next section.
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Incident Type 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 This shows a 30.9% reduction over the last 5 years which is strongly linked to an increase in
our prevention work
Total Incidents 5490 5153 4822 4081 3793
Our Performance - 2016/17
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s key performance indicators and targets against which the Service is measured can be found in Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Annual Business Plan and our performance is detailed below.
Prevention and Protection
Outcome Measure Actual 12/13
Actual 13/14
Actual 14/15
Actual 15/16
Actual 16/17
The number of casualties (deaths and injuries) caused by fire
30 22 17 34 23
Total number of accidental dwelling fires 295 308 289 323 299
Total number of deliberate dwelling fires 22 24 24 17 17
Total number of primary[1]
fires 743 864 777 806 793
Total number of secondary[2]
fires 400 510 411 563 468
Total incidents of arson 354 327 333 153 446[3]
Total number of Road Traffic Collisions attended 392 396 347 290 220
The number of commercial fires attended 135 139 110 92 96
Total number of co-responder incidents 1124 1207 1323 1162 564[4]
Total number of Safe and Well visits carried out in the home
2945 3084 4145 6165 7146
% of fires attended where a smoke alarm is fitted
84% 82% 86% 92% 90%
The % of commercial premises at which we attended fires, that were visited by a fire safety officer within 14 days of the fire
81% 87% 92% 90% 83%
The % of risk re-inspections completed within the due date
89% 87% 70% 48% 10%[5]
The number of operational and training injuries 33 50 48 27 35
Notes:
[1] Primary fires generally involve property and include buildings, caravans, motor vehicles and plant and machinery.
[2] Secondary fires are often minor and include the burning of rubbish, grass and derelict properties.
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[3] The rise in arson figures (small deliberate fires) mirrors a national trend; prevention advice and a collaborative approach with the Police has been applied to address this.
[4] The number of Co-responder incidents GFRS is called upon to attend has fallen due to a change in the way the ambulance service categorise and request support to this type of call.
[5] Risk re-inspection completion dates were missed at the final stage of recording due to technical issues with the computerised recording system. These issues were addressed and completion rates are now dramatically improved.
Response and Resilience
Outcome Measure Actual 12/13
Actual 13/14
Actual 14/15
Actual 15/16
Actual 16/17
% of incidents of dwelling fires attended within 8 minutes - Risk Category 1
64% 66% 70% 89% 86%
% of incidents of dwelling fires attended within 14 minutes - Risk Category 2
- - - 100% 100%
% of incidents of dwelling fires attended within 14 minutes - Risk Category 3
- - - 95% 90%
Retained Station availability 89% 88% 98% 98% 97%
Sickness absence expressed in days per FTE 8 8.9 9.49 8.47 7.9
Note:
Risk Categories
To identify risk we look at the occurrence of dwelling fires and the casualties involved, fire incidents that occur in non-domestic buildings and reflecting our knowledge of factors that contribute to the likelihood of fires and other emergencies data from the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
This approach gives a comprehensive assessment of risk in any given area in the county and supports targeted prevention activities designed to improve the safety of those most vulnerable and deemed to be most at risk from fire related incidents.
In simple terms, Risk Category 1 areas are identified as having the high levels of risk and shows us where we need to concentrate our efforts and resources; Categories 2 and 3 are areas with significantly lower levels of risk where instances of fire are much less likely to occur.
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Our Collaborative Arrangements
We continue to build on the collaborative approach introduced last year to ensure all of our communities get the best possible service available in an efficient, effective and economic manner.
The purpose, conditions and limitations of each partnership are agreed, captured and monitored to ensure the stated purpose is fulfilled.
Agreements exist between Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service and a variety of agencies and organisations which include amongst others:
Highways England
Gloucestershire Constabulary
Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group
South West Ambulance Service Trust
Gloucestershire Rural Community Council
Severn Area Rescue Association
Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group
British Red Cross and;
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service continues to pursue further partnerships to bring increased benefits and social value to the communities of Gloucestershire.
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Mutual Aid and Assistance Under Sections 13 and 16 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service have a legal duty to enter into ‘reinforcement’ schemes (local mutual aid and support) with neighbouring fire and rescue authorities.
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service has reinforcement schemes in place for securing mutual assistance with Avon, Dorset and Wiltshire, Hereford and Worcester, Oxfordshire, South Wales and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authorities to provide and utilise resources such as fire engines.
National mutual aid arrangements and response plans are also in place across England and Wales to help secure a resilient emergency response on a national scale for major or catastrophic incidents. These arrangements which Gloucestershire are signed up to mean we can access a range of specialist appliances and crews from across the country to assist with:
Mass Decontamination and Hazardous Chemical Analysis
Urban Search and Rescue
High Volume Pumping and Water Rescue and;
Command and Control
How We Secure Business Continuity
Business Continuity Management is governed by a series of plans which identify risk and develop Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s resilience, to ensure that adverse events cause minimal disruption to the services provided to the community and that critical services are maintained.
Business Continuity Management plans have been developed in the following areas and are regularly reviewed and updated.
BCM Plan Title Team
Staffing resilience for extended periods (Industrial action, epidemics etc.)
Community Safety (Prevention, Protection, Response and Resilience)
Death of service personnel on duty Response
Loss of, or disruption to a fire station(s) Community Safety (Prevention, Protection, Response and Resilience)
Loss of or disruption to Fire Control Room Business Planning, Strategy, Risk Management and Performance
Loss of Computer network/system Technical Services
Loss of, or disruption to HQ building Technical Services
Deployment of staff and, or equipment out of county or overseas
Community Safety (Prevention, Protection, Response and Resilience)
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Audit and Assurance
Benchmarking
We make use of national benchmarking reports and tools in order to facilitate benchmarking
against fire and rescue services of a similar size and demographics and to promote best
practice. We are part of a Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) family group for this purpose.
The government publish annual statistics from all Fire and Rescue Services across the country
and we use this to establish our position nationally. The latest statistics covering 2015/16 can
be found here:
Government Statistics – Fire statistics monitor
The introduction of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 has seen the suspension of the current
process of LGA peer reviews. The expectation at this time is that a collaborative approach will
be taken towards performance and standards assessment for each Service; therefore work is
taking place that will likely see Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Policing take on this function for
fire and rescue services as well at some time during 2017/18.
County Council Audit
Gloucestershire County Council routinely undertakes an internal audit of functions and services
that are carried out on their behalf. The GCC Internal Audit Plan for 2016/17 approved by the
Audit and Governance Committee listed the following area of audit for GFRS:
Control Refresh Project
Furthermore, GCC indicated that Internal Audit Certification would be carried out covering
grants received from the Department for Communities and Local Government to provide
assurance that, in all significant respects, the conditions of the Specific Grant Determination(s)
had been complied with.
Prevention Team Resilience Community Safety (Prevention, Protection, Response and Resilience)
Loss of, or disruption to the Service fleet Technical Services
Loss of, or disruption to the Stores/Equipment building Technical Services
Major equipment failure (Fleet, BA etc.) Technical Services
Service Fuel continuity plan Technical Services
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Auditors findings
Following audit, the Service was given a ‘clean bill of health’ with auditors reporting compliance
with requirements and processes.
The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 require local authorities, including fire and
rescue authorities, to prepare an annual governance statement in support of the annual
statement of accounts. Information regarding Gloucestershire County Council’s Annual Audit
and Inspection programme and the ‘Statement of Accounts’ can be found on the link below:
Gloucestershire County Council
Customer Service Excellence
The Government wants public services for all that are efficient, effective, excellent, equitable and empowering, with the citizen always and everywhere at the heart of service provision.
Each year we commission independent research into the degree of customer satisfaction we achieve and receive an annual report on our performance; service users are asked about three groups of performance indicators:
Initial contact with the FRS
Service provided at the scene
Information and advice
In addition to the three groups of indicators, people are asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with the service they receive overall.
The headline outcomes are:
Domestic Fires:
97% of respondents were satisfied with the service they received at scene
98% of respondents felt that firefighters were efficient
98% of respondents felt they were kept informed of what was happening during the incident
96% of respondents felt firefighters were sensitive whilst at scene
95% of respondents felt firefighters were polite and helpful whilst at scene
88% of respondents felt general safety advice offered at scene was ‘useful’
51% of respondents took up the offer of a free Safe and Well check
Note: We were ranked 1st nationally (alongside two other Services) for ‘Effect of the incident
kept to a minimum’.
Non Domestic Fires:
100% of respondents were satisfied with the service they received at scene
100% of respondents felt firefighters were polite and helpful whilst at scene
100% of respondents felt that firefighters were efficient
100% of respondents felt they were kept informed of what was happening during the incident
94% of respondents felt firefighters were sensitive whilst at scene
94% of respondents felt firefighters kept effects to a minimum
100% of respondents felt general safety advice offered at scene was ‘useful’
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Our Future Challenges We regularly analyse the county’s community risk profile and set out our strategic aims towards
effective management of identified risks. This is detailed in our Integrated Risk Management
Plan 2015 to 2018, which can be found on the link below. The Government requires us, by law,
to regularly produce and review our plan – the next plan will be developed during 2017/18 and
brought into action in early 2018.
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service – IRMP 2015-18 The Integrated Risk Management Action Plan 2015/18 details the specific projects we will start
in 2017 and the Year Three action plan sets out our commitment to:
Continue to implement outcomes of comprehensive review.
The implementation of many of the projects in years 1 & 2 will extend into next year due to their
size and significance. As a consequence by the end of year 3, we anticipate bringing the
Service into a position in which outcomes from these major projects are embedded as core
business.
How You Can Become Involved
If you are concerned about your fire safety and would like to know more, please visit our
website using the link below to book a free Safe and Well check:
http://www.glosfire.gov.uk/your_safety.html
Should you wish to make a comment about our customer service please do not hesitate to
contact us using the following contact details:
Chief Fire Officer
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service
Fire Service HQ
Waterwells Drive
Quedgeley
Gloucester GL2 2AX
Telephone: 01452 888777 Email: [email protected]
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Waterwells Drive
Quedgeley
Gloucestershire
GL2 2AX
T: 01452 888777 E: [email protected]
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