Agenda item

To consider Item 10

The Chairman advised it was important that Members had visibility of key performance indicators that would support them in their role of scrutinising and reviewing the Service. Work was undertaken between the Senior Management Team and Lead Members to look at what those measures would be. This was still a work in progress.

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised Members this was the first report covering the Service’s Performance Measures and showed a range of measures that had been built with input from both staff and Members. Three measures had been highlighted, as good performance and areas that needed focus. Deliberate fires to non-domestic premises, fire and wellness visits were ones to focus on and serious accidental dwelling fires was a positive result. The measures continued to be developed and refined with updates being provided quarterly to Members.

The Chairman asked for further information regarding the fire and wellness visits as this linked back to the HMICFRS report.

The Head of Prevention, Response and Resilience advised that it was an area for improvement from the HMICFRS report and there was now an Improvement Plan in place, which had come through the Overview and Audit Committee. The Prevention Team had been working hard to restructure and regroup. There had been some recruitment challenges, but all positions had now been filled and they would be at full establishment. The improvement plan was progressing nicely, and the Prevention Strategy would be presented to Members at the Fire Authority meeting on 12 October. The volume of visits was not where it needed to be yet, but the numbers were starting to go up. The targeting of high risk and vulnerable people was going extremely well.

The Chairman advised that whilst the volume of visits was important, the balance of getting to the people who were vulnerable was very critical to get right.

A Member asked how groups of people i.e., living in sheltered housing, were targeted.

The Head of Prevention, Response and Resilience advised that people over 80 were a prime target and also people living in high rise buildings.

The Data Intelligence Team Manager explained to Members how people were targeted. The whole of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes was broken down into 100/200m squares, and the number of people over 80 living in those squares was counted. The highest density areas were focussed on.

A Member asked that in terms of local knowledge, whether the Service engaged with Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes Council’s housing departments.

The Data Intelligence Team Manager advised that the Service did, and it also used a gazetteer which was a national address book that informed the Service of every property type. There was also work being undertaken with the Councils to make data sharing easier.

The Head of Prevention, Response and Resilience advised that the Prevention Team had a very strong relationship with Milton Keynes Housing Department and met with them weekly to discuss any issues. The Service was also sent a monthly list of all oxygen users, so they were also targeted.

RESOLVED –

That the Performance measures for 2022/23 are noted.