You can use the translation service powered by Microsoft Azure to translate NFRS pages into a variety of other languages.

Please note:

This will refresh the page.

Translations cannot be guaranteed as exact and may include incorrect or inappropriate language. We cannot control the quality or accuracy of the Microsoft service.

In an emergency call 999
For general enquiries call 01158388100
Monday - Friday -

Strategic Assessment of Social Factors

Situation

We put the needs of our communities at the heart of everything we do. However, we recognise that we must continuously improve our understanding of communities to keep people as safe as possible. We await the full publication of the 2021 census data, due in 2022. This will inform our understanding of changes in population makeup, age distribution and population growth rates, however, trend indicators from local data point to continued growth in the older people age group.

Vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals will often have issues that are linked, making them vulnerable to fire, crime, anti-social behaviour and health inequalities. We recognise that there is a continued need for greater engagement with underrepresented and minority groups, whilst improving our inclusive workplace, challenging discrimination, and addressing existing inequalities.

The strategic assessment considered the following factors in this section.

  • General Population
  • Household Composition
  • Household Population Projections
  • Ethnicity
  • Religious Beliefs
  • Deprivation
  • Fuel Poverty
  • Mental Health
  • Crime & Antisocial Behaviour
  • Terrorism
  • Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery
  • Care & Support Needs
  • Hoarding
  • Alcohol
  • Drug Abuse
  • Reduced Mobility
  • Smoking

Direction

We are more than an emergency blue light response. We direct our people and resources into wider prevention and protection activities, targeting those at highest risk, and we work with a broad range of partners, agencies, and community groups to identify those people and communities.

Our CRMP places a strong emphasis on improving our understanding of communities so we can protect our county’s most vulnerable and identify buildings most at risk of fire. This “community first” approach is intended to help us tailor our services to meet different needs and ultimately save lives. To better understand and engage with our communities, we have a Community Engagement Manager to help identify and build those relationships. We provide specific interventions for individuals as well as wider community education and engagements, along with promotion of safety messages.

There is an increasing trend in vulnerable older people who are at higher risk of fire, along with a trend in vulnerable single parent households. We therefore target our prevention work and home fire safety interventions at this demographic, looking to engage with individuals that are aged over 65, or households with single parents. We work with partners to identify and support vulnerable individuals within our communities. Employing an Occupational Therapist, we can refer directly into our health practitioners and services.

Data from the 2011 Census identified over 375,000 households within the city and county of Nottinghamshire. A total of 95,717 (25.5%) households being occupied by people over the age of 65. 110,113 (29.4%) households are occupied by families and lone parents with dependent and non-dependent children residing at the same property.

The number of households in England is projected to grow to 28.0 million from 22.7 million by 2039, an increase of 5.3 million (23%) from 2014. This equates to an average of 210,000 additional households per year. The projected change in household population over the same period is an additional 8.7 million people, increasing the household population in England to 62.0 million by 2039 and representing a 16% change. An increase in population does not directly lead to an increased risk of fire or harm. However, the changes to the built environment resulting from increasing populations might require our support or intervention. There is a trend for redeveloping commercial properties into domestic, which will require greater engagement with our Protection department.

The county of Nottinghamshire has an ethnically and culturally diverse population. Data from the 2011 Census shows 85.02% (927,928) of the county’s residents identified as White British, which is above the national average of 80.5%. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups made up 14.98% (163,554) of the population. 56.5% (617,210) of the county’s residents identified as Christian, with other religious beliefs recorded in the Census data including Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and groups that identified as other religion, no religion or did not state a religion.

We need to understand the community we serve and ensure we provide equality of access to our services. We strive to do this through: building relationships with community groups and partner agencies; a community engagement plan detailing opportunities to engage with BME communities; constantly looking for ways to improve the reach of our communications (for example, through multi-lingual videos or appearances on community radio); through training and education for staff to understand the beliefs and cultural sensitivities of different religions; and through the diversification of our workforce and the positive action we take to encourage that.

We aim to understand and engage with people of different faiths to identify and highlight factors we know present a greater risk of fire. We also support national campaigns throughout the year to promote fire safety in our communities. We build our intelligence of the fire risks posed to our county’s residents and tailor these with localised campaigns to engage with the variety of religious identities. We continue to focus on recruiting a diverse workforce, but we also want to make sure that we are equipped to serve an increasingly diverse community in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

The Indices of Deprivation provides a set of relative measures of deprivation for Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA’s) – small areas of similar population size, averaging approximately 1,500 residents or 650 households. These were last published in September 2019.

  • 56 (30.8%) of Nottingham City LSOAs are among the 10% most deprived in the country. The city ranks 11th most deprived out of 317 districts in England.
  • 31 (6.2%) of Nottinghamshire County LSOAs are among the 10% most deprived in the country. The most deprived LSOA’s are concentrated in the districts of Ashfield (12), Mansfield (10), Bassetlaw (5) and Newark & Sherwood (3).

Deprivation is a reliable indicator of the risk of an incident occurring. We therefore engage with our communities and local partners to develop intelligence and referrals for those deemed at highest risk from fire. Each district has a District Prevention Plan to tailor the local prevention delivery and work with partners to identify and action referrals. We undertake a range of community engagements, from wider events, targeted community interventions, to individual “Safe and Well” visits which involve a person-centred assessment of fire risk at home.

Nottinghamshire Police highlight antisocial behaviour as an important issue to individuals and communities. The impact of persistent nuisance or harassment can be worse than that of a single crime as, due to the wider impact on a victim's life, their health, mental and emotional well-being can suffer. We have a statutory duty to formulate and implement strategies for the reduction of crime and disorder (including anti-social behaviour). We employ an Arson Reduction and Investigation Team to respond to fire investigations, but also to engage in preventative work to avert instances of arson. This includes interrogating incident statistics to highlight trends and patterns to advise colleagues and partner agencies, informing targeted prevention activities. We have specialist staff who work with individuals who are convicted arsonists, or who engage in fire-setting, to address behaviours. We also fit fireproof letterboxes for those who have been victims of arson or threatened with arson.

Terrorism presents a serious sustained threat, and we remain ready to respond. Due to the increase in terrorist attacks within the UK over recent years, a national review of the “Joint Operating Principles for Emergency Services – Responding to a Marauding Terrorist Firearms Attack” guidance was commissioned. Fire and rescue services will form part of a multi-agency response to such events. 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.

Human trafficking is the trade of humans and is closely linked to modern slavery. Individuals may be forced into prostitution, labour, begging or benefit fraud and housework. There is no typical victim of human trafficking or modern slavery. Some victims do not understand they are being exploited and many do not speak English. We are aware of the rise in this activity and work with partner agencies to build an understanding of the risk to our community. We train our personnel to recognise the signs of this activity and have safeguarding procedures in place to make necessary referrals.

In addition to the other risks detailed above, we have identified certain characteristics that place individuals at greater risk of harm from fire in the home. These are: having care and support needs, hoarding, having alcohol or drug dependencies, reduced mobility, and smoking. Individuals with any of these characteristics are targeted through our fire prevention work directly, or through referrals to partner agencies.