Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
Annual statement of assurance 2022 - 2023

Strategic Goal 5: We will continue our improvement journey to deliver an outstanding Service

This goal focuses on the continuous improvement of our services, systems and processes.

In 2022/23, our focus on improvement included:

  • Using our Strategic Assessment of Risk and Fire Cover Review to prioritise our services and align our resources to best effect
  • Developing an online repository of information about risks and communities for our public-facing teams
  • Developing our management information capability to better support performance management and decision making
  • Ensuring Service information is readily accessible to all service users including those with different needs or access requirements
  • Evaluating the consultation approach used in the development of our CRMP, to identify areas of improvement
  • Responding to the recommendations of public inquiries, sector learning and new fire standards as they are published
  • Improving the availability of key systems to increase the scope for mobile working

During the year:

  • We commissioned a fire cover review to explore options for providing the best possible service within a balanced budget. We carried out a public consultation on proposals arising from the review
  • We continue to improve the quality and availability of our site-specific risk information (SSRI). At the end of 2022/23 100% of our SSRIs were reviewed and up to date. This is the first time that we have achieved this
  • We have continued to develop our data management infrastructure to improve our reporting capabilities
  • We implemented a new website to give our communities improved access to information and services that we provide. It is independently rated as one of the most accessible fire and rescue websites in the country
  • We have implemented the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower inquiry and are continuing to progress our actions for the Manchester Arena inquiry
  • Work has continued to improve the reliability of the mobile data terminals on our fire engines

Other Highlights

We are focused on providing the best possible services to our communities and becoming an outstanding fire and rescue service.

To achieve this, we know that we must strive to continually improve our efficiency and effectiveness, across all areas of our service.

Community focus

Futures 25 Improvement Programme

At the start of 2022/23, we set up our Futures 25 Improvement Programme. The overall aim of the programme is to ensure that the Service can continue to improve its service delivery to communities, whilst at the same time creating a more agile, responsive workforce, and driving productivity and efficiency gains. This programme will involve cross-department redesign of activities and investment in improvements to systems over a number of years.

Phase 1 of the programme was shaped by the immediate need to set a balanced budget for 2023/24, which is a statutory duty. By the summer of 2022, our financial forecasts predicted a multi-million pound budget deficit, driven by a range of factors including escalating inflation and uncertainty around pay awards. To address this risk, we commissioned a fire cover review, to identify options which could achieve the necessary level of savings whilst minimising the impact on service delivery. As well as identifying how best to make the savings, the fire cover review also highlighted a deficit in fire cover in the north of the County, which could be addressed by reinstating wholetime cover at Ashfield fire station.

A public consultation was carried out on these proposals and on the appetite for a £5 increase in council tax as a way of mitigating cuts in services. There was significant support for the increase in council tax and for increasing fire cover at Ashfield, both of which were approved by the Fire Authority in February. As a combined result of the increase in council tax, savings we made during the year and some increases in other government funding, the Authority was able to set a balanced budget for 2023/24 without needing to implement the proposed cuts to fire cover in the city.

However, the financial picture remains challenging and further savings will need to be achieved to ensure our future financial sustainability. This will be a key objective for the next phase of our Futures 25 Improvement programme.

A review of flexi-duty officer cover was also initiated. However, competing demands for resource, including for contingency planning for industrial action and to support the fire cover review, meant this workstream had to be suspended.

Site-Specific Risk Information (SSRI)

Fire and Rescue Services need effective arrangements for gathering accurate, relevant and timely information of identified hazards and known risks to a premises/site and making this available to ensure the safety of firefighters. Information gathering and analysis of that information is of critical safety importance as it can be used to deliver appropriate training for personnel exposed to specific risks.

We gather information about the use of the building, the hazards and risks, construction, operational and environmental considerations and information to assist in fighting a fire.

We have continued to update and review site-specific risk information (SSRI) for high-risk sites, which is accessible to our crews when needed. Throughout the year we have been developing our systems to improve the way our crews see this information.

We have 527 high-risk sites across the County. At the end of 2022/23, 100% of our SSRIs were in date for their review. This is the first time we have achieved this. Our SSRIs are shared with neighbouring fire and rescue services, and access to their risk information is available to our crews via the mobile data terminals on our fire engines.

Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Service Users

We continue to engage with our service users to ensure that we meet their needs, that our services are accessible and that we strengthen our relationships with our communities. We have maintained our commitment to driving equality through our work with external agencies such as the Disability Confident scheme, British Sign Language Charter and the Armed Forces Covenant.

In June we held an event at Joint Headquarters to launch a new service which makes calling 999 more accessible for people who use British Sign Language (BSL). 999 BSL remotely connects users to interpreters through the 999 BSL app or via the 999 BSL website. In an emergency situation, the interpreter will appear on the caller’s screen and relay the information to the control operator.

In April 2022 we launched our new website. The website, which was developed by an ‘in-house’ team, gives our communities better access to information and services we provide and is one of the most accessible fire and rescue websites in the country. By developing the website ‘in-house’ we provided development opportunities for ‘upskilling’ to our staff and avoided the expense of commissioning a third-party supplier.

Quality, Efficiency and Effectiveness

Evaluation

Developing our use of evaluation techniques to routinely assess the impact of our activities has become a focus during the year. To improve the way we do this we are developing an evaluation framework to highlight areas of good practice which will inform future projects.

We have particularly been evaluating the effectiveness of:

  • Safe and Well visits
  • Building inspections risk methodology
  • Our use of data in fire cover reviews
  • The move to joint headquarters

Public Inquiries and Sector Learning

Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Following the Grenfell Tower inquiry, an action plan was produced to ensure that we learnt from this tragic event. All 47 recommendations have been adopted and all procedures have been updated. New procedures have been adopted at high-rise incidents to ensure better coordination if evacuation is required. New equipment has been purchased, including smoke hoods and smoke curtains which have already been used to rescue people from buildings.

Manchester Arena Inquiry

In November 2022 the Manchester Arena Inquiry, Volume 2, was released. This report focused on the response by emergency services on the night of the attack. The report makes a number of recommendations to improve the way that emergency services respond to and resolve an incident of this type. We are committed to improvement and working with partners in the Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum and have developed an action plan to deliver the required learning.

Emerging Risks

An emerging risk is that presented by electric vehicles, specifically electric vehicle fires. We have a Service and regional fire service working group looking at ways to best mitigate the risk that this type of incident presents. A training plan has been developed to ensure our crews are able to effectively deal with this type of incident.

National Fire Standards

The Fire Standards Board oversees the identification, organisation, development and maintenance of professional standards of fire and rescue services in England.

They have published six new standards through 2022/23 which we continue to work towards embedding into our ways of working.

Digital Technology and Innovation

Information Repository for Staff

We have been developing a digital resource for staff which explains what we do, why we do it, how we do it and our ambition and goals. The ‘living’ resource will provide our workforce with an up-to-date repository of information which will help them to do their work more effectively and efficiently.

Information and Data Management

Over the past year we have successfully transferred all of our ICT systems and reporting databases into the cloud, moving away from the need to have site-based servers.

We have been working hard on developing our data management infrastructure, which will improve our reporting capabilities and allow us, in the future, to become a fully digital organisation, able to deliver operational data to our workforce in real time. This work is expected to be completed by 2024/25.

Mobile Working

We have introduced the ability to access key systems directly via the internet, enabling staff to work from any location with an internet connection. Operational staff have also been issued with modern internet capable devices enabling a connection whilst mobile or at an incident.

Information Security

We understand the importance of protecting personal data and demonstrating the steps we take to protect people’s rights.

Our data protection officer supports our data protection duties across the Service, and we continue to train all employees in their data protection responsibilities.

As a public authority, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service provides information about what services we provide, how we spend money, and how we make decisions. The list here includes information we routinely make available and includes links wherever possible.

  • Who we are and what we do
  • What we spend and how we spend it
  • What our priorities are and how we are doing
  • How we make decisions
  • Our policies and procedures
  • Lists and registers
  • The services we offer

Cyber Security

Maintaining the security of our systems and data is a priority. The threat of cyber-attacks is a constant risk for all organisations, particularly in the public sector.

Updating our practices and monitoring these threats is vital to ensure that we can deal with current and future risks.

In 2022/23 we counteracted 437,322 threats, which included spam, malware and viruses.