Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
2023-24 Annual Delivery Plan

Introduction

Welcome to our Annual Delivery Plan for 2023/24, the second year of our Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) 2022 - 2025. This plan builds on our progress over the last year and outlines the work we will do this year to continue delivering on our commitments to our communities.

The last twelve months have presented many challenges for the Service. We faced huge demand over several weeks last summer when the extreme weather led to a spike in fires, including some large scale, protracted incidents. Meanwhile, the economic and societal challenges caused by events here in the UK and overseas, has impacted our financial position and made planning and budgeting difficult.

Despite these challenges, we have increased productivity across our prevention and protection activities, whilst identifying efficiencies in our support services that have helped to maintain a balanced budget. We were delighted to be rated as a “Good” service by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) following their inspection of the Service in the October 2021. Their report, published in July 2022, recognised the significant improvements we have made, across all areas, since their first visit in 2019. We are due to be inspected again later this year and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how we are continuing to build upon this success on our journey towards being an ‘Outstanding’ Service.

Our Annual Statement of Assurance will provide a comprehensive report of our progress and performance over the last year when it is published in July 2023.

Looking ahead, with the increased cost-of-living and high inflation rates continuing, the financial climate remains uncertain. The proposed reductions to our emergency response model to meet the forecasted financial constraints of last year, which we presented for public consultation, were no longer required. However, we are still forecasting a gap in funding for future years, and therefore may need to identify further efficiencies in the coming months and years. In doing so, we aim to deliver a sustainable, balanced budget whilst continuing to put the needs of our communities first and foremost, and we will continue to ensure we ‘resource to risk’ by reviewing the best deployment and use of our resources across the City and County.

Within the wider fire sector, there is a focus on ensuring that fire and rescue services are fit for the future. The Fire Standards Board continue to develop new professional standards that aim to benefit the profession, the communities we serve and the services we deliver. As new standards are approved, we will assess our current activities against them to identify areas we can improve. We are also committed to learning from others, including the findings of the Manchester Arena Inquiry and HMICFRS's spotlight report on Values and Culture in the fire and rescue service.

We are proud of our organisational culture, but learning identified from events across the sector demonstrates the importance of ensuring our values (Professional, Value and Respect for Others, One Team and Open to Change) are reflected in individual and organisational behaviour. We will further develop how we engage with our communities, incorporating their views and values in our decision making; building upon the reputation and trust we have developed with them. We will continue to fully embed the Core Code of Ethics, making it an intrinsic part of what we do and how we do it.

Our development priorities this year are focused on:

  • Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our activities, through service redesign and financial and governance reviews
  • Improving the accessibility and inclusivity of our premises and training facilities, developing our culture and working to make NFRS an employer of choice
  • Continuing to develop our community engagement approach including our understanding of our communities and how best to engage with them

More information about these, and the other actions we are taking in relation to each of our strategic goals, are contained within this plan.

You can find more details about our long-term ambition and our strategic goals in our CRMP, which is also available on our website.

We will provide updates on our progress against this Annual Delivery Plan throughout the year, and we will provide a full report on our progress and performance in our Annual Statement of Assurance which will be published in the Summer of 2024.