Agenda item

To consider item 14

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised Members that this report was presented at the Executive Committee on 16 November 2022 and showed the Performance for Q2 across a range of measures. For Q2 one new measure had been added in the response section and that was the Site Specific Risk Information High Risk Site Completion. In the Public value section, percentage compliance with standing orders relating to contracts, work in progress measure data had now been populated. All other work in progress measures should be populated by the end of the financial year.

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised that at the Executive Committee meeting there were a couple of measures highlighted by Members that she would like to provide an update on. The first was Appraisal Completion. Since April 2022 when the end of year submissions for 2021/22 and objective setting for 2022/23 became due, reminders had been sent to managers to prompt them to complete any overdue appraisals These prompts had each time resulted in an increased return of overdue performance and development packs.

The Organisational Development (OD) team were now undertaking engagement sessions with employees to understand the barriers to appraisal completion. Alongside understanding the barriers, they would also use the opportunity to discuss career development, talent management, succession planning and leadership development.

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised that with regard to Mandatory Elearning, the OD team continued to remind staff and managers of the elearning modules that were mandatory, utilising different communication channels.

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised  that with regard to Complaints, of the 14 complaints, only one had been upheld. The highest number of complaints related to damage to property (6), and these included damage to trees and hedges.

The Data Intelligence Team Manager advised that the Key Performance Measure report helped officers to understand how the Service was performing. It also enabled officers to highlight certain measures to Members and staff.

Based on feedback from quarter one, an additional page had been added which reflected on the previous quarters highlighted measures. Reading the summary pages, it might feel that there were many measures showing outcomes not in line with expectations and targets, but it’s worth noting that during this reporting period, the Service experienced two heat waves that saw extreme demand on it and the sector. With this in mind, only one measure was highlighted in Q2 - Average attendance time to all incidents. The Service’s average attendance time to all incidents had increased from being within three seconds of previous year in Q1 to being 36 seconds slower than the previous year. The above was a common theme across several measures, most of which would be covered within the summer pressures final report.

A Member asked in relation to the fire and wellness visits and the HMICFRS Inspection report, as the Service was behind in meeting its target (1800 visits should have been completed by September, and 732 had been undertaken), was it the right target and right approach.

The Head of Prevention, Response and Resilience advised that unfortunately the fire and wellness visits were not at the target they should be. The team had been through a significant restructure since the HMICFRS report, and a significant amount of recruitment into the central team had taken place. There was also the Prevention Improvement Plan with 60 recommendations the team were working though. The onboarding of the new team would take four to six months. The foundations were in place, so although not yet on target, by April the team would be achieving the 300 target for this year. The long term focus over the next five years was to bring the Service up to the National average without sacrificing targeting.

The Chairman asked about false alarms in the home and non-domestic false alarms. Whilst tracking a green level overall, when added the aggregate false alarms together it was quite a high number, was it giving cause for concern. Was there anything in the trends and what proactive action could the Service take particularly to drive down non-domestic alarms.

The Data Intelligence Team Manager advised there was currently a review ongoing for non-domestic false alarms. In the past, the Service did look at aggregate numbers, but repeat offenders and how it could get those numbers down.

The Group Commander Community and Business Policy advised that as part of any process, the Protection team were informed of all non-domestic false alarms, if there were any more than three in three months, the team would go out and audit the premises and give them guidance.

RESOLVED –

That the BFRS Performance for Q2 2022/23 is noted.