Agenda item

To receive a report from the Chief Fire Officer, which asks the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority (HFRA) to note the performance for 2018 - 2019 detailed in this report.

The Authority received a report from the Chief Fire Officer (item 12 in the minute book) regarding the Annual Performance report, which focused on the Service mission ‘to make life safer’, the Service’s response standard to critical incidents, financial performance and staff well-being focussing on core measures for operational and organisational performance. The report looked at the past year’s performance, which was also the penultimate year of the current plan.

Members noted paragraph 9 in the report, which read “HFRS continues to demonstrate a good performance in the efficiency and effectiveness of protection of the public against fire and other risks”. This was observed during the July 2018 HMICFRS inspection and performance over the remainder of the year was consistent with this finding.

Officers highlighted the reduction in fire related casualties, which was a positive step. Since the intermediate capability of appliances and personnel had been stationed more locally, Whitchurch, an ‘indicator’ station had seen an improvement in availability of 39% during the day and 18% at night. Further improvements were anticipated across the Service as this intermediate capability was rolled out across the County.

During questions from Members it was confirmed that the Home Office did not measure critical response times across family groups as this varied across different Services and was hard to record consistently. The officer confirmed that where statistics were available for comparison, for example in rural areas, results indicated Hampshire were outperforming.

Looking specifically at Emsworth Fire Station, it was confirmed that the incident recording system was the same for West Sussex call-outs as it was for those in Hampshire, but the specific figures on call-outs to West Sussex could be investigated and reported back to the Full Authority.

There had been a decrease in arson convictions, but the Authority was reassured that convictions often took a long time to process and the Hampshire Arson Task Force still had the highest arrest rate in the country. On page 67 of the pack it was note that several evaluations by University of Portsmouth academics had been done on the adult fire setter programme to provide an evidence base that it was effective, and it was requested that the results of these come back to a future HFRA meeting.

Members discussed the importance of working with property developers to ensure new roads and estates were designed in a way that emergency vehicles could get access easily if required. It was confirmed that an officer worked closely throughout the design process to ensure requirements were met and social media campaigns were also in place to remind residents about parking sensibly and to take emergency vehicle access into account.

On page 69 of the pack it stated that HFRS were looking to increase response times from 64.7% to 77% in 2019-20. Whilst there were concerns from Members that this increase was unrealistic, officers were confident that the change initiatives being implemented and an increase in retained personnel made this target achievable.

Officers were thanked and congratulated for their work on the plan and improvements made.

RESOLVED:

a)    The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority noted the performance for 2018 - 2019 detailed in this report.

b)    That further details on call-outs to West Sussex and also arson investigations by The University of Portsmouth come back to a future HFRA meeting when available for information.

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