Strategic goal 2

This goal is focused on our statutory role to enforce fire and building safety regulations. We deliver this through our Fire Protection strategy. More information about this is available in our Safer Communities Strategy 2025-28, which will be available on our website.

Over the last three years, we have invested in expanding the skills and capacity of our teams and have made significant improvements to overall productivity. There has also been a focus on adapting to the requirements of new building and fire safety laws, including supporting the establishment of a Building Safety Regulator. We have provided support to businesses, and those responsible for premises, to help them understand and comply with the requirements the new legislation places on them.

Over the period of this CRMP, we will continue to improve our productivity, by improving our efficiency as well as ensuring our resources remain closely aligned to the demands of our regulated activities. We will continue to adapt and embed our ways of working with the Building Safety Regulator and make improvements to the way we collect and share risk information. We will work with East Midlands Combined County Authority to implement the Remediation Action Plan, to address unsafe cladding on residential buildings.

We will place an increased focus on our advice and education activities, which are aimed at preventing issues and incidents from happening whilst ensuring that those premises which present the greatest risks are regularly audited by competent inspectors. We will develop our use of data and local intelligence to tailor and target our services to the needs and risks of our communities.

One area of particular concern is unwanted fire signals. In 2023-24, we attended almost 5,000 incidents which turned out to be false alarms. These incidents cost the Service money, but also tie up resources which could be required elsewhere. We work hard to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals and have seen improvements in some areas. For example, by working with local hospitals and NHS trusts we have seen a reduction in the number of unwanted fire signals at their sites. However, in common with other services nationally, we are experiencing a higher number of calls triggered by domestic monitoring systems. This is largely due to an increase in numbers of people who would ordinarily live in sheltered accommodation now living in a domestic setting equipped with monitored smoke detection equipment. We will invest in further research and work with partners locally and nationally to understand this emerging picture and explore new approaches to reducing the impact of unwanted fire signals.

Over the life of this plan, we aim to:

• Continue to develop and enhance our risk-based approach to the inspection of business premises
• Ensure the continued development and competence of our team of specialist fire safety professionals and operational managers, in line with the NFCC competency framework
• Implement new and improved ways to tackle the causes of unwanted fire signals
• Continue to support the economic and social development across the county