Agenda item

To consider Item 8

The Data Intelligence Team Manager advised Members that the Key Performance Measures report gave a rounded and balanced picture on how the Service was performing at a local level up to December 2022.

The Chairman asked if there were up to date figures for wholetime firefighters available.

The  Data Intelligence Team Manager advised that at the beginning of March, the figure for wholetime firefighters stood at 289. 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer informed Members that a further intake of transferee firefighters were due to start in June which should bring the workforce up to 300, depending on leavers. Further courses were also planned for September and October.

The Chairman enquired about Fire and Wellness visits and the December figures being well below the 300 target. 

The Data Intelligence Team Manager informed Members that figures for January were 295 visits, February 326 visits and March already stood at 269 visits.

The Chairman expressed concern that average attendance times were being shown as red in some months and asked for an overview on the cause.  

The Data Intelligence Team Manager explained that the lack of wholetime firefighters meant pump availability was affected, but as discussed earlier, the number of firefighters had now increased.  Also, the extra pressure on the Service during the summer months had led to a higher number of calls and some fires were in more rural locations. Response times to major incidents were still good, but calls to minor incidents had suffered due to the above pressures. 

A Member raised concern that the ‘Great Place to Work’ section was showing a large amount of red.  

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO informed Members that a budget had now been approved to carry out more regular culture surveys which would help to give a better understanding of any problem areas.

A Member asked about lesson learned from the summer fires and if any new equipment had being sourced. 

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer informed Members that the Authority had been engaging with other fire and rescue services regarding lessons learned.  Firefighters from the Service had attended training courses run by Surrey Fire and Rescue Service on tackling wildfires.  Work on improving response to flooding incidents was ongoing. 

The Chief Fire Officer assured Members that the property footprint was in a good place,  but the Service needed to be aware that in future, it may need to move appliances around depending on the demand and the time of year. 

A Member asked when the environment and emissions targets would be populated.  The Director of Finance and Assets confirmed that the figures would be updated in 2023/24.

The Head of Technology, Transformation and PMO advised Members that the performance figures for 22/23 would be reviewed and going forward, any updates requested by the Committee (whistleblowing events; staff retention/turnover; additional narrative about response times/appliance availability and health &safety e-learning completion) would be considered for inclusion in  future reports. 

RESOLVED –

That the recommendations below be approved for submission to the Authority:

That the Performance Management – Q3 2022/23 be noted.