Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
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Independent Review Shows all Fire Services Improving

Independent Review Shows all Fire Services Improving

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT News Release (021) issued by The Government News Network on 31 January 2008

Results from the Audit Commission showing that all fire services have improved their performance in preventing fires and saving lives, were welcomed today by Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda.

The Fire Minister also welcomed the Audit Commission's recognition that workplace diversity remains a major issue, impacting directly on fire services' ability to carry out fire prevention work. He called on everyone involved to work together to improve this.

The independent report from the Commission recognises that fire deaths are at their lowest level since the 1950s and praises the Fire and Rescue Service's commitment to delivering community safety initiatives, which are helping to reduce arson and, in conjunction with the police, to improve road safety.

The report, which assesses the Service's performance since the Comprehensive Performance Assessment in 2005, shows that all authorities are on course to meet Government targets to reduce the total number of deliberate fires by 10% by 2010.

However, it notes that more needs to be done to continue the rate of improvement on prevention, with some authorities needing to learn from the performance of the best, and for action on levels of representation of women and minorities.

Fire and Rescue Minister Parmjit Dhanda said:

"These results show the high level of performance by all Fire and Rescue Authorities, which has reduced fire deaths to their lowest level in 50 years. The Commission rightly recognises the achievements of the Service in helping to drive down fire incidents, fire deaths and arson. It also acknowledges the commitment of authorities to continuous improvement to meet the needs of the communities they serve. However, more needs to be done on diversity. We - that is central government, local government, the service and the unions - must make it our mission to collectively achieve better progress. We share the Audit Commission's view that a more representative workforce makes it easier for the service to connect with the different communities most at risk from fire. Equality and diversity needs to be embedded in every aspect of the Fire and Rescue Service's work. We are currently consulting on a ten year strategy to deliver improvement - we need a step change."

The Audit Commission scorecards cover three assessment areas:
* Use of resources

* Direction of travel (improvement)

* Service assessments (includes planning to deal with fires and other emergencies)


Note to editors

1. The Audit Commission have today published the results of three assessment processes they have undertaken for Fire and rescue Authorities in 2007-8. These are published in the form of a scorecard for each authority.

The Audit Commission is responsible for the performance assessment framework for the Fire and Rescue Service in England. Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) for Fire was introduced in 2005 when each authority was given a rating based on corporate assessment. The Commission looked at issues like leadership, staff training, performance.

More information about Fire CPA, individual FRAs and the new performance framework can be found at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/fire

2. The latest quarterly rolling update Fire Statistics Monitor: Covering period up to 31 December 2006 published 14 December 2007 is at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/stats-q42006
Also on the Department's website the latest annual statistical bulletin, Fire Statistics United Kingdom, 2005, which contains trends and analysis for the years 1995-2005 http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/320258

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