Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
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Independent recognition of improvement in fire and rescue service welcomed by Fire Minister
Results of the Fire and Rescue Service performance assessment released today by the Audit Commission were welcomed by, Angela Smith Minister for the Fire and Rescue Service.
The results show that the majority of Fire and Rescue Authorities are improving strongly or well since the Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment nearly two years ago. No authorities have failed to improve since 2005.
Eighty-five per cent of Fire and Rescue Authorities have also been assessed as performing strongly or well in the management and use of their financial resources. All are delivering value for money.
The Audit Commission's report also says that the service has increasingly worked well with partners on community fire safety initiatives. Good results have been achieved in increasing home fire risk assessments and reducing arson. They have also contributed effectively to crime reduction and road safety through working with children and young people.
Fire and Rescue Minister Angela Smith said:
"These results demonstrate the extent to which Fire and Rescue Authorities have embraced the improvement agenda since the assessment in 2005. Overall, the picture is encouraging with many authorities, even at the top end of the performance spectrum, striving for continuous improvement. However, it is clear that there is more work to do in some areas and we will continue to work closely with those fire and rescue authorities to ensure a culture of improvement becomes embedded."
However, the Commission's report highlights that the gap between the FRAs performing strongly and those performing adequately is widening. Equality and diversity issues remain an area where all fire and rescue authorities need to take further action. The workforce in most fire and rescue services does not represent the community they serve and thus they are less able to engage with the communities most at risk from death and injury.
Angel Smith continued:
"The Audit Commission's report acknowledges that the service has made unsatisfactory progress on equality and diversity. It is vital that all fire and rescue authorities take action without delay to ensure equality and diversity is part of everything they do. The Department is working with the service to develop strategy that will improve the service for all."
The Audit Commission scorecards cover three assessment areas:
* Use of resources
* Direction of travel (improvement since
2005)
* Service assessments (includes planning to deal with
fires and arson etc).
In each there are four possible scores from inadequate/below minimum requirements to performing strongly/well above requirements. This information builds on the 2005 scores.
Notes to Editors
The Audit Commission have today published the results of three assessment processes they have undertaken for fire and rescue authorities in 2006-7. These are published in the form of a scorecard for each Fire and Rescue Authority.
The scorecards will give each authority's CPA score, and then a score for direction of travel, use of resources and will repeat the service assessment score published on 22 February 2007.
The scoring system used for the purposes of each of the assessments is as follows:
Score Description Assessment judgement
1 Below minimum requirements Inadequate
performance/improvement
2 At only minimum Adequate
requirements performance/improvement
3 Consistently above minimum Improving/Performing well
requirements
4 Well above minimum Improving/Performing strongly
requirements
Use of resources looks at financial accounting and reporting arrangements, how well the FRA plans and manages its finances and whether the FRA achieves value for money. The assessment is scored from 1 (inadequate performance) to 4 (performing strongly).
Direction of travel states how well the FRA has performed since the baseline CPA in 2005 and whether or not it is expected to continue to improve. Scores are given in one of four categories ranging from not improving adequately or not improving to improving strongly.
Service assessments were published on 22 February 2007 and combined an Operational Assessment of Service Delivery (OASD), which looked at process, capacity and planning with a range of performance indicators. These looked at how the service is delivered and covered issues such as the number and types of fires, deaths, injuries, false alarms and arson attacks.
Fire and Rescue Performance Assessments build on Fire CPA 2005. The assessments sit alongside the CPA judgement of poor, weak, fair, good or excellent and give additional information about how well FRAs prevent fires, deaths and injuries as well as how prepared they are to respond to emergencies, how well their services are improving and whether they provide value for money.
The Audit Commission is responsible for the overall performance 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 corporate assessment rating of excellent, good, fair, weak or poor. Inspectors looked at issues like leadership, staff training, performance and budget management against priorities and the way the Fire and Rescue Service works within the community to make it safer and prevent fires from happening in the first place. The last full CPA assessment was July 2005.
Both Kent and Merseyside FRAs were assessed as 'Excellent' in Fire CPA 2005. This entitles them to a standard package of 'freedoms and flexibilities', including an inspection holiday. As a consequence, both authorities have chosen to opt out of service assessment process but they do have scores for the direction of travel and use of resources assessments.
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