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Strategic Assessment of Organisational Factors

Situation

Nationally, there continues to be a drive for reform within the fire sector, analysis from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) highlighting the need for more diversity within the workforce, increased accountability and productivity, and a greater ability to demonstrate value for money and innovation. This is also driven by the creation of the Fire Standards Board and the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) which has picked up the mantle for sector reform through its ‘Fit for the Future’ project, focussing on working with others, innovation, standardisation, evidence-based risk assessment and creating a more inclusive culture. It leads on a transformation programme of work to deliver change in these areas. Public inquiries and sector reports offer further direction for the shape of fire and rescue services in the future.

The strategic assessment considered the following factors in this section.

  • National Risk Register
  • Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Community Risk Register
  • National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)
  • NFCC Central Programme Office Fire Standards Board
  • HMICFRS Inspection & Annual State of Fire
  • Fire Vision 2024
  • Workforce Planning Assumptions
  • Staff Health, Safety & Wellbeing
  • National Operational Guidance
  • The Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack
  • Grenfell Tower

Direction

The National Risk Register provides a government assessment of the likelihood and potential impact of a range of different malicious and non-malicious national security risks that may directly affect the UK and its interests. In addition to providing information on how the Government and local responders manage these emergencies, the National Risk Register also signposts advice and guidance on what members of the public can do to prepare for these events.

The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) was formed because of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. The LRF comprises representatives of the responders defined in the Act, but the LRF is not a responder itself. The role is to maintain effective co-operation and co-ordination of responders so that effort is not duplicated and that responders understand how their partner agencies work. The LRF produces the Community Risk Register to help develop a better understanding of the risks that the public face, to enable responders to be better trained, equipped and prepared to respond to fulfil the obligations of the Civil Contingencies Act.

The NFCC comprises nine committees and programmes delivering work against priorities set out by the Council for the benefit of fire and rescue services. Using networks of subject matter experts, each committee aims to support fire and rescue services in reducing risk to life and property, minimising injury, and harm, and improving health and wellbeing in ways that are sustainable and cost effective. We work with other fire and rescue services and sector bodies to share learning and best practice. We support the delivery of national campaigns and initiatives, co-ordinated by the NFCC. Beyond the statutory responsibility and national fire sector campaigns, we undertake this work as an imperative to “Creating safer communities”.

The role of the NFCC Fire Standards Board is to oversee the identification, development, approval, and maintenance of professional standards for fire and rescue services. They form a point of focus, against which performance can be measured and further improvement or new requirements be identified. The NFCC and HMICFRS are collectively engaged in continuously improving the performance of fire and rescue services for the communities they serve. It is anticipated that as the professional standards are produced, the inspectorate will integrate them into its inspection framework and judgement criteria.

The HMICFRS assess and report on the 45 fire and rescue services in England. HMICFRS grade services in their performance, with the expectation being that as they complete more assessments, they will be able to see improvements over time. As part of their inspection programme, they assess and make graded judgments on the effectiveness and efficiency of each fire and rescue service, and on how well they look after their people. We underwent our second inspection in 2021, with the inspection report expected to be published during the summer of 2022. We will review the recommendations and incorporate any improvements through our annual business planning process.

Fire Vision 2024 underpins the Government’s fire reform programme. It is intended to take the fire sector forward and deliver a service for the twenty-first century. This vision is owned by the elected representatives on fire and rescue authorities, represented through the Local Government Associations Fire Commission and will be implemented by the NFCC. Much of the detailed work required to implement the vision will take place in the coordination committees which sit beneath the NFCC: Finance; Health; International; Operations; Prevention; Protection and Business Safety; Sector Improvement and Assurance; Sector Resources; and Workforce.

Management of workforce establishment levels is key to the management of staffing budgets which constitute 79% of the overall revenue budget for NFRS. Our Workforce Plan 2021-2023 forms part of the business planning process which supports the delivery of the CRMP and aims to establish workforce trends, identify potential workforce planning issues and formulate an action plan to address these issues.

We are committed to providing the highest standards of workplace safety and support for our employees and place the health, safety, and well-being of our workforce at the top of our agenda. To achieve this, our approach to wellbeing has been developed to support our People Strategy, with a focus on “developing and maintaining a healthy workforce”.

National Operational Guidance is the foundation for developing local operational policies, procedures, and training for firefighters to respond to incidents effectively and safely. There is a system of regular review to ensure new and existing national guidance is enhanced and developed to embrace further areas of operational interest. We review updates to national doctrine as part of a regional programme to develop and implement current policies and procedures. This regional approach ensures more efficient operations between fire and rescue services that share borders in the region.

The Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack

The scale, nature and consequences of the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack on 22nd May were unprecedented in Greater Manchester, with a disproportionate impact on children and young people. The Kerslake Arena Review sought to undertake an independent review of Greater Manchester’s preparedness for, and response to, the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack. The review informed the Mayor of Greater Manchester, in the exercise of his Police and Crime Commissioner function, of those aspects of the preparedness and response that were effective and those that may inform future good practice, and where necessary and appropriate to advise on what steps might be taken to address any areas that may be strengthened or improved.

In October 2019, the Home Secretary announced an independent public inquiry into the Manchester Arena attack. The inquiry is investigating the deaths of the victims and has the same scope as the inquests. The public inquiry is set up to look at a matter of public concern and is fully independent of Government. The focus of an inquiry is first to determine exactly what happened and then to work out what must be done to prevent it from happening again.

To ensure our emergency preparedness we maintain a cadre of specially trained officers, who participate in multi-agency exercises to test our response. We also maintain a cadre of National Interagency Liaison Officers (NILO’s) who have received training in responding to terrorism. We maintain close links with Nottinghamshire Police and the Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum partners to ensure that joint plans and ways of working are in place in the event of a terrorist incident.

The Grenfell Tower Fire

The Grenfell Tower fire occurred on 14th June 2017 claiming the lives of 72 people. It is the deadliest structural fire in the UK since 1988 and the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. The fire is currently subject to a public inquiry, police investigation and coroner’s inquests. The fire at Grenfell Tower raised several significant questions over how fire safety regulations are enforced in such premises and how the fire and rescue service respond to fires in high-rise residential premises.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has published its Phase 1 report, which looks specifically at the events on the night of the fire and makes recommendations for fire and rescue services and building managers. Phase 2 of the review is underway and while the public inquiry into the fire continues, the outcomes and findings are likely to have a significant impact upon the fire sector, particularly in the areas of building regulations and fire safety, as well as operational response.

As protection is a core service we provide, we anticipate increased regulatory workload alongside the requirement to develop workforce fire safety competency and capacity. Since the incident we have worked with local housing providers and local authorities to ensure the safety of residents in specific premises. Work will continue with authorities to enforce fire safety and help inform the emerging national picture regarding fire safety in high-rise and other premises.

Our Protection department team are working closely with local authorities to deliver collaborative working, particularly within premises where multiple legislation applies, relating to the Housing Act 2004 and Fire Safety Order 2005. This work continues to support the retrofitting of fire suppression measures and re-mediation of cladding systems in high-rise or higher risk buildings, to increase the safety for residents. This has a high degree of direct interaction with residents through the provision of advice.

In addition to fire safety, Phase 1 of the inquiry placed significant focus on both operational and control room training practices. Personnel visit high rise buildings to develop detailed site-specific risk information, ensuring the necessary information is available immediately to our staff should an incident occur. Our operational personnel maintain competence with technical training on responding to incidents in tall buildings and undertake local and multi-agency exercises to test our response plans.