Annual Assurance Statement - Chief Fire Officer Service Director of Resilient Cornwall 2017/18 - Cornwall Council
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Annual Assurance Statement Chief Fire Officer Service Director of Resilient Cornwall 2017/18
Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................. 3
2. The Communities We Serve ........................................................................... 4
3. The Risks Our Communities Face .................................................................... 4
3.1 Key community risks in Cornwall ................................................................. 5
3.2 Risks beyond our borders ........................................................................ 8
3.3 Organisational Risk ................................................................................. 9
4. Overview of the Service .............................................................................. 11
4.1 Overview of our current structure ........................................................... 11
4.2 Our People ........................................................................................... 11
4.3 Our resources....................................................................................... 13
4.4 Our values ........................................................................................... 13
4.5 Our services to the community ............................................................... 13
5. Financial Performance (statement of accounts) .............................................. 14
5.1 Our budget and outturn for 2017/18 ......................................................... 14
8.2 Auditors findings ................................................................................... 15
6. Our purpose .............................................................................................. 15
6.1 Our vision ............................................................................................ 15
6.2 Our aims and objectives ........................................................................ 16
6.3 Our challenges and priorities during 2017/18 ........................................... 19
6.4 Our collaborative arrangements .............................................................. 21
6.5 How we secure business continuity ......................................................... 23
7. Governance arrangements........................................................................... 23
7.1 Your Fire and Rescue Authority ............................................................... 23
7.2 Our legal responsibilities ........................................................................ 24
7.3 Management of risk .............................................................................. 24
8. Our performance ........................................................................................ 26
8.1 How we performed during 2017/18 ......................................................... 26
8.2 What others have said about our performance.......................................... 36
8.3 Lessons learnt ...................................................................................... 37
9. Our future plans ......................................................................................... 37
9.1 Our future challenges ............................................................................ 37
10. Our community engagement ..................................................................... 38
10.1 How you can become involved ................................................................ 38
10.2 Access to information ............................................................................ 38
10.3 How to make a compliment or a complaint ............................................... 38
2
1. Introduction
We are required to produce an annual statement of assurance as part of the Fire and
Rescue National Framework for England. The purpose of this statement is to provide
assurance to communities and the Government that the service is being delivered
efficiently and effectively. Whilst the Fire and Rescue National Framework sets out the
Government’s priorities and objectives for fire and rescue authorities in England, it
does not prescribe operational matters as these are determined locally by fire and
rescue authorities.
We will make reference to the broader remit of the Resilient Cornwall service, which
incorporates the Fire and Rescue Service, however core focus of this document is Fire
and Rescue activity as outlined under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
In April 2016 we published our forward looking Service Plan 2016-19 (incorporating
our Integrated Risk Management Plan) which provided details of what we intended to
do over three years to meet the needs and risks within the community.
This annual Statement of Assurance is a backward-looking document aimed at
providing assurance, for 2017/18, that we are providing an efficient, effective and
value for money service to the community of Cornwall in our financial, governance
and operational matters.
Since fire and rescue moved to the Home Office, there have been many changes and
reforms. The Policing and Crime Act 2017 introduced new governance models into an
already diverse governance environment for fire and rescue services, alongside a new
Duty to Collaborate. The Fire Reform introduced the 3 Pillars of Reform as:
Efficiency and collaboration – statutory duty to collaborate with other
emergency services in the Policing and Crime Bill, to include co-response, co-
location, joint /national procurement,
Accountability and transparency – including the introduction of Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Constabularies and Fire & Rescues Services (HMICFRS)
Workforce reform – flexible duty systems, apprenticeships, diverse workforce,
attracting and retaining staff, professional leadership, talent pipeline, service
culture and staff engagement, national professional standards
HMICFRS independently assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and
fire & rescue services, providing information which allows public to compare the
performance of their fire & rescue service against others and used to drive
improvements in the services they provide to the public.
The new Fire and Rescue National Framework for England published in May 2018,
reinforces the Home Office programme for reform, outlining the following priorities
for fire and rescues services:
Provision of fire prevention and protection activities and response to fire and
rescue incidents
Identify and assess full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks
Collaborate with emergency services and other national & local partners to
increase efficiency and effectiveness of service
Be accountable to the communities for the service they provide
Develop and maintain a workforce that is professional, resilient, skilled, flexible
and diverse
32. The Communities We Serve
Our 2016 figures show that the population of Cornwall is 553,685, with 24% of the
population in Cornwall 65 or older1. In line with national trends Cornwall has an
increasingly ageing population as life expectancy continues to rise – between 2015
and 2025 the population aged 75-84 and 85+ is expected to increase by 47% and
36%2. We also have a growing younger population and planning for the challenges of
an ageing society needs to be balanced with supporting the development and needs of
our younger population.
Approximately 60% of our population live in key settlements of less than 3,000 people
and this presents particular challenges around access to services and rural isolation.
The changing age structure will result in a shift in the type of demand being placed on
services, with some isolated communities such as the Rame Peninsula projected to
see a faster growth in an aged population.
Deprivation is a persistent problem, Cornwall is an area of contrast, with
concentrations of both visible wealth as well as significant visible and hidden poverty.
Whilst Cornwall as a whole is not particularly deprived; there are wide geographic
variations between areas; Treneere in Penzance is within the 2% most deprived areas
in England and Latchbrook South is at the other end of the spectrum at 89%.
National trends show increasing poverty in working families and predict a significant
rise in child poverty by 2020.
Housing affordability is a key issue with the average house price in Cornwall at £244k
(house price to earnings ratio is 9:1), 14% of households are in fuel poverty and 42%
of households not connected to mains gas network.
Nationally, Cornwall ranked third highest for number of rough sleepers and within the
highest 20% for rate per 1000 population.3 Partners are increasingly being called
upon to resolve localised problems in our larger town centres, where anti-social
behaviour, street drinking and rough sleeping are the outward presenting signs but
the underlying issues are entrenched and complex.
3. The Risks Our Communities Face
We review a comprehensive range of risks that face our communities in Cornwall. Our
community risk information plays a key role in informing our three year service plan
which includes our Integrated Risk Management Plan(IRMP), ensuring that we focus
on the key issues that affect the safety of our communities.
The following sections outline some of the key risks we addressed in Cornwall in
2017/18 based on intelligence and information we gained during 2016/17, including
the demographic of our population and our unique geography, which can have an
impact on how we deliver our services.
1
Mid-Year Population Estimates (Office for National Statistics) 2016
2
The Changing Face of Cornwall: Headline summary of local evidence, Cornwall Intelligence Group 2017
3
Rough sleeping in England: autumn 2017, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government,
January 2018
4All of our risk information is pulled together into our Risk Based Evidence Profile and
Strategic Assessment to provide our managers with the intelligence they require to
follow an evidence led approach to managing our activities and resources.
Our Risk Based Evidence Profile can be accessed here:
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/rbep
The Strategic Assessment can be accessed here: http://safercornwall.co.uk/crime-in-
your-area/documents-and-publications
3.1 Key community risks in Cornwall
Fire, Rescue and Road Safety
In recent years the service has developed a tool to identify its priorities and assess
the risk presented to the public from fire, rescue and road safety related incidents in
Cornwall. This tool helps us to understand which emergency incidents pose the
greatest risk to the public and what type of activities we should be prioritising in
homes and businesses in Cornwall.
This work shows that our two highest risk incident types are; road traffic collisons and
accidental dwelling fires. Further analysis has shown that the following people,
behaviours and issues should be prioritised in order to reduce the number of incidents
and to prevent casualties from occuring.
Road traffic collisions
While traffic continues to increase, we have seen an overall reduction in the number
of collisions involving an injury (including slight injuries). However, we know that the
number of fatal and serious injuries from collisions has increased in Cornwall since
2006. On average there are 24 collisions involving an injury every week on roads in
Cornwall. The risk is increased for our communities is of being killed or seriously
injured in a road traffic collision.
To address this we have identified five high risk groups that we prioritise for road
safety prevention work in Cornwall, these are:
Motorcyclists - smaller and larger bikes
Pedal cyclists
Older drivers - drivers aged over 60 years, with risk increasing for those over
75 years
Younger drivers – drivers aged 17-24 and 25-30
Pedestrians
As well as high risk groups, the service has also identified five high risk driving
behaviours which occur in the majority of collisions in Cornwall, these are:
Failure to look properly
Speed
Loss of control
Failure to judge other persons’ path or speed
Careless, reckless, in a hurry.
5The Prevention and Road Safety Team carry out post-activity evaluation which
includes a self-assessment of the individual’s intention to change their behaviour.
We undertake a wide range of intervention activities that specifically target the our
high risk groups, including: “Biker Think, Think Biker – Give Yourself Time to React”,
Learn2Live, Driving Safely for Longer and Distractions workshops. We co-ordinate the
Cornwall Road Casualty Reduction Partnership and share expertise with Peninsula,
Regional and National Road Safety Partnerships.
Accidental dwelling fires
There has been no significant change in accidental dwelling fires in Cornwall over the
past three years and on average there have been five fires in people’s homes in
Cornwall each week. We know that there are a number of factors that make someone
more vulnerable and an increased risk of fires in their home, these are:
Older people – the risk increases for over 60s and dramatically for those aged
over 85
Living alone
Limited mobility
Smoking
Drugs (prescription and illegal)
Poor housekeeping/ hoarding
Alcohol
Mental health.
Research has identified that emollient, creams, reduced mobility and naked flames
significantly increase the risk of death in a fire, in addition to a targeted campaign to
the public, we are also raising awareness of the risks with health professionals.
We include these factors in our prevention work in the community to make sure we
are reaching the people at greatest risk. We also produce a Prevention Tool which is
updated each year to help us identify the households at greatest risk from fire so that
they are prioritised for a free home fire safety check from the service.
Our Home Fire Safety and Living Safe and Well visits are targeted using the Risk
Based Evidence Profile and through referrals from partner agencies or self-referrals
which are then prioritised using our fire risk vulnerability assesment e.g. over 65,
living alone, lone parent, living with a disability, hoarder, hard of hearing, fire setting
or known alcohol/drugs related issues. At each visit a risk score is applied based on
risk factors including; ‘no working smoke alarms, high fire loading, lack of safety
awareness’. At the end of the visit the risk score is reviewed taking into account what
has been delivered as part of the visit.
We deliver targeted services based on risk and vulnerability. We work in collaboration
with a number of partner agencies including residential social landlords, Age UK
Cornwall and Disability Cornwall to deliver activities ranging from the Home Fire
Safety and wellbeing visits, to our Adopt a Village initiative. We also produce extended
home fire safety messages via all agencies communications channels and social
media. This allows us to create safer and healthier homes for people to live in by
visiting homes to offer wider advice and support (education, support and information).
6We also carry out a range of activites to ensure businesses and non-domestic
premises such as schools and hospitals comply with fire safety legislation. Our Risk
Based Inspection Programme sets out which premises will receive an audit and we
prioritise these premises based on the risk they present to the public. Each year we
review our data to ensure we are focussing our efforts on the premises types which
present the greatest risk to the public. We have developed a Protection Tool to help us
identify new businesses and to help us prioritise the premises which are at greatest
risk. Our inspection programme prioritises the following premises types for a fire
safety audit visit from our inspection officers:
o Hospitals
o Residential care homes
o Hotels and holiday accomodation
In addition to these premises types, our officers and firefighters carry out various
visits to schools and businesses across Cornwall to highlight fire safety regulations
and provide advice in making these premises safer.
Crime and disorder and other issues impacting on Community Safety
Crime in Cornwall is comparatively low and it continues to be a safe place in which to
live and work, although concerns about crime remain high on the public agenda.
Recorded crime has seen increased significantly over the last two years, rising by 10%
in 2016/17 and by a further 23% in 2017/18. This mirrors national trends and reflects
action taken by Devon and Cornwall Police, alongside other Forces across the country,
to improve crime recording standards further to the 2016 data integrity inspections by
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. The 2018 re-inspection rated Devon and
Cornwall Police as Good.4
There is increasing awareness and reporting of more hidden crimes that are highly
complex in nature and impact on the most vulnerable in our communities, such as
domestic abuse, the exploitation of vulnerable people to sell drugs, sexual violence
and cyber crime, and these are priorities for police and partners to address.
Tackling crime and disorder is the statutory responsibility of the Community Safety
Partnership, Safer Cornwall, and our Community Safety Team provides the
management and direction for Partnership through the Safer Cornwall Partnership
Plan and the linked thematic strategies and delivery plans.
Priorities and focus areas for the Plan were identified through the 2015/16 strategic
assessment and agreed by local partners and groups for the period 2016-2019.
Domestic abuse and sexual violence, including the sexual abuse and
exploitation of children
Alcohol-related harm
Drug-related harm and recovery
Anti-social behaviour
Reoffending
The Plan also covers other key areas of work where the Strategic Assessment has
identified increasing or emerging risk (such as serious and organised crime related to
4
Devon and Cornwall Police: Crime Data Integrity re-inspection 2018, HMICFRS 2018
7drug trafficking), or where we have a statutory duty to respond, such as counter-
terrorism and local delivery of the government’s Prevent strategy.
We ensure the delivery of the Safer Cornwall Partnership Plan against identified
priorities.
3.2 Risks beyond our borders
Through Sections 13 and 16 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, we have set up
reinforcement schemes for securing mutual assistance with Devon and Somerset Fire
and Rescue Service.
We provide strategic and tactical support to the Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service
as defined within the Service Level Agreement. In line with the risk we will provide
Tactical command support, additional resources in the event of their declaration of a
major incident and speciailist officer support responses to support the post incident
requirements of an emergency on the Isles of Scilly.
Locally we have a role to play in National Resilience in the provision of specialist
appliances and crews across England and Wales, we achieve this through:
• National Incident Liaison Officers (NILO)
• Water Rescue Defra and National Asset – Bude, St Austell, Falmouth and
Penzance.
• Mobile Mass Decon Capability at Bodmin now moved by Prime mover at
Newquay.
• High Volume Pumping Capability at Newquay
• Mass Foam Capability at Newquay
In line with the coastal nature of Cornwall and the maritime risks which this
geographical characteristic presents, we are declared as a Fire and Rescue Maritime
Response (FRMR) national asset. This provides the following capabilities:
• Lead Assisting Authority in our own area
• Lead Assisting Authority in other areas
• Assisting Authority in other areas
• Command Team
• Support Team
• Assessment Team (Fire)
• Other Incidents e.g. (Hazardouts Materials (HAZMATS)
As a declared asset we would respond to fire incidents at sea if appropriately tasked
and safe to do so in our own and other authority areas.
We have a responsibility to assess all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks that
could affect our community, including those of a cross-border, multi-authority and/or
national nature. These are classed as risks from “hazards”. These risks have been
assessed at a local level and these are the current Very High and High risks applicable
to all of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (i.e. our Local Resilience Forum area):
Very High Risk
Pandemic Flu
Flooding (Coastal, River, Flash, Surface).
8High Risk
River pollution
Prolonged period of severe cold weather (Snow and Ice)
Animal disease outbreaks
Major air quality incident
Failure of local electricity network
Gas and ash clouds from volcanic eruptions from abroad.
Threats
Threats from terrorist attacks are shown on a separate “register”, and are assessed
nationally using plausibility and consequence . They are applied to the whole country,
however, Counter Terror intelligence provides us with further information about the
“local threat” which is used to develop our Counter Terrorism Local Profile. Current
Police intelligence does not indicate there are any specific terrorism threats to any
specific locations in our region. The current threat from International Terrorism in the
UK is at Severe meaning an attack is highly likely. The threat areas are as follows:
Very High
Catastrophic terrorist attack
High
Terrorist attacks on transport systems
Terrorist attacks on crowded places
Smaller scale Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear (CBRN) terrorist
attacks
Terrorist attacks on infrastructure (e.g. utilities).
Terrorist Cyber Attack
The Government monitors risks that the UK could face through the National Risk
Assessment process, led by the Cabinet Office, and through other relevant risk
assessment and horizon-scanning processes. These risks are outlined in the National
Risk Register, which can be accessed via the following link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attach
ment_data/file/644968/UK_National_Risk_Register_2017.pdf
3.3 Organisational Risk
Organisational risks are discussed during management meetings on a regular basis.
The following table outlines the service level risks that have been identified along with
the mitigations.
Risk Risk rating
Risk Description Mitigations
(Objective)
Fire Reform The risk is the Home Office Promotion of local Likelihood 2 (Unlikely) x
Fire and Rescue Service authority Impact 5 (Major) = 10
(Perform) reform programme and governance model
central government Celebration of
pressure drives the Devon success and
& Cornwall Police and innovation
Crime Commissioner to
draft a successful business
9Risk Risk rating
Risk Description Mitigations
(Objective)
case seeking control of the
Fire and Rescue Service
under the new Police and
Crime Act 2017, resulting
in the service moving out
of Cornwall Council
impacting on the wider
services provided by
Resilient Cornwall.
Industrial The risk is of potential Task and Finish Likelihood 2 (Unlikely) x
Action strike action within the group established Impact 4 (Significant) =
service as a response to to manage 8
(Response) the ongoing national industrial action.
firefighter pensions Business
dispute. Such activity may Continuity plans in
have an impact on place.
business continuity and Communications
public safety. plan
Regular Union
meetings
Capacity to The risk is not having the Recruitment of Likelihood 3 (Possible) x
deliver capacity to deliver specific Community Safety Impact 4 (Significant) =
community work to address Officer 12
safety
community safety issues, Development of a
for example Safer Town toolkit based on
agenda activity, anti-social Truro Safe
behaviour and rough
(Prevent)
sleeper projects.
Isles of The risk is having the Development of Likelihood 2 (Unlikely) x
Scilly capacity to deliver against new SLA with Impact 4 (Significant) =
expectations and potential support from legal 8
(Innovate) blurred lines of governance services
resulting in a reputation Clarity of roles and
impact. responsibilities
outlined in the SLA
Emergency Additional project slippage Local business Likelihood 2 (Unlikely) x
Services of the national ESN project continuity plan to Impact 3 (Moderate) = 8
Network could lead to a potential be developed, put
in place and tested
(ESN) loss or interoperability of
the Airwave radio network,
(Respond) due to the lapse of the
national Airwave network
contract.
Support Capacity and capability of Resource Likelihood 3 (Possible) x
Services Cornwall Council support requirements from Impact 4 (Significant) =
services to assist delivery support services 12
(Perform) identified in the
of strategic plans (Service
Service Delivery
Plan, Safer Cornwall Plan
Partnership Plan, Project/Programme
Devolution Programme) leads to liaise with
support services to
identify future
requirements
10Risk Risk rating
Risk Description Mitigations
(Objective)
Support service
review
Phoenix Service income targets are Alternative funding Likelihood 2 (Unlikely) x
Services not delivered, which will to be identified and Impact 4 (Significant) =
result in cuts being made obtained in 8
(Innovate) response to
to the service and
outcomes of Brexit
reduction in service Re-profiled
business plan
4. Overview of the Service
4.1 Overview of our current structure
Resilient Cornwall is a service which is part of the Neighbourhoods directorate of
Cornwall Council, which centres on ‘our places’, delivering services to develop and
maintain our spaces and places so they are clean and sustainable, with safe, active
and resilient communities.
The organisational restructure sees our Chief Fire Officer (CFO) in the role of Service
Director for Resilient Cornwall, bringing localism alongside fire and rescue, community
safety and emergency management functions.
Service Director for Resilient
Cornwall
(Chief Fire Officer)
Head of Community
Head of Service Support
Head of Operations Safety & Localism
Resilience and
Assets People Business Support Service Delivery Prevention Protection Community Safety Emergency Localism
Management
Special Projects Phoenix Services
4.2 Our People
We have a total of 732 personnel within Resilient Cornwall (Headcount), this total is
broken down into:
187 Whole-time firefighters
384 On-call firefighters
18 Critical Control Centre staff
116 Non-uniformed staff
27 Localism staff
Our operational fire crews maintain competency across a diverse range of fire, rescue
and community safety skills. Our multi-skilled firefighters and officers adapt their skills
based on identified local and national risks and community priorities. Our officers are
dedicated to response and other specific areas of responsibility, which includes:
Enforcement of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order
11 Prevention activity
Production and review of operational policy
Research and development for specialist projects
Quality assurance
Safeguarding
Prevent duty in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to have due
regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism
Modern slavery duty in the Modern Slavery Act 2015
Our ground breaking tri-service pilot scheme has been achieved through working in
partnership with Devon and Cornwall Police and the South Western Ambulance
Service NHS Foundation Trust. The role carries out elements of a Police Community
Support Officer (PCSO) role, is a first responder to medical emergencies and an on-
call firefighter. We have been successful in expanding our tri-service officer role and
have taken on a further two tri-service officers, who are being trained to work in the
Liskeard and Bude areas.
Our critical control operators are the first point of call for emergency incidents and
ensure the appropriate community fire station is contacted and the right people,
vehicles and equipment are sent out to manage the incident. Our operators continue
to be commended for their work during the early stages of emergency situations,
providing invaluable support, giving lifesaving advice and reassurance to people until
the arrival of our fire crews. The team have expanded their skills and knowledge so
they can deal with out of hours calls for Highways and monitor CCTV for eight town
councils.
Our Community Safety team delivers targeted preventative activities tackling issues
from antisocial behaviour, substance misuse and domestic violence. They provide
intelligence, advice, support and information to people and partners, as well as carry
out relevant enforcement activity where required. The team commission drug and
alcohol treatment services, and domestic abuse and sexual violence services for
Cornwall, as well as deliver against the priorities of the Safer Cornwall Partnership.
Our Resilience and Emergency Management team takes the lead for Cornwall Council
in pre-planning for situations which would have an impact on the people of Cornwall.
This includes working with Council services to ensure they have effective plans in
place for when things go wrong. As a category 1 responder we form part of the Local
Resilience Forum (LRF) for Cornwall, Devon and Isles of Scilly, ensuring effective multi
agency response plans are in place, tested and reviewed to deal with major incidents
and unplanned events.
Phoenix Services is the cost recovery arm of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service that
provides discretionary services supporting Cornwall Fire and Rescue services core
values and aims. The Phoenix Services team comprises of Wholetime, On-Call and
support staff. We have formally agreed concurrent contracts in place, which enables
our operational staff to work within the cost recovery arm of our service.
Our Localism and Devolution team is driving forward the Council’s devolution and
localism ambitions working closely with town and parish councils and a strong
community network area infrastructure. Working with communities, local councils and
voluntary and community groups to build a trusting relationship, we are helping
communities to develop the tools they need to create long term plans to deliver local
social, environmental and economic improvements. We are ensuring Council services
and partners within an area work closely together to make efficient use of the
12resources available to deal with day to day issues. Devolving assets and services to
local communities to maintain local services and assets and help Cornwall Council
achieve its budget savings.
Support staff provide essential specialist and administrative support for the service,
including service planning, performance management, programme and project
management, training, engineering workshops and stores, health, safety and
wellbeing and information and communications technology.
4.3 Our resources
Our Fire and Rescue Service response function, is delivered through 31 community
fire stations, including two 24-hour wholetime shift stations, five day-crewed stations
operated by wholetime staff from 7am-7pm (on-call staff at night) and 24 stations
crewed solely by our on-call personnel. During periods of the year when the
population and potential risk increases in Newquay, we implement our Newquay 24
crewing model and staff Newquay Community Fire Station 24 hours a day.
Service Headquarters is located at Tolvaddon where the majority of the service
support function operate. Our community safety and localism teams are based at
various Council buildings, police stations and partner agency buildings across Cornwall
and are well placed to work with our partners to ensure a joined up approach to the
wider community safety agenda. We promote flexible and modern working,
encouraging staff to work at locations close to home.
4.4 Our values
We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, valuing diversity and tackling
social exclusion. We want to make sure that equality and diversity is at the heart of
everything we do. We believe that strong communities are places where people feel
safe, where the environment is welcoming, where they feel able to take action for the
benefit of their community and where they feel that their concerns are heard and
responded to.
For more information regarding our commitment to our Community Engagement,
Equality and Diversity (CEED) agenda visit the following link:
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/ceed
We have a number of core values that are important to us. These make sure that the
service we provide supports our staff and our communities, you can find these on our
webpage at http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/ceed
In 2015 we invited a peer challenge on equality and diversity, which was led by the
Local Government Association (LGA). The service successfully achieved the ‘Excellent’
level against the Fire and Rescue Service Equality Framework (FRSEF) and has
demonstrated a strong and dynamic approach to community engagement and equality
and diversity.
4.5 Our services to the community
Our Service Plan, incorporating our IRMP, outlines the services we provide to our
communities based on risk. The priorities for our plan can be found on page 15.
13Our three year Service Plan with associated delivery plan can be accessed via the
following link: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/communitysafetyplan
5. Financial Performance (statement of accounts)
5.1 Our budget and outturn for 2017/18
Original
Budget Outturn
2017/18 2017/18
Revenue Budget £m £m
Service/Operations Delivery Team 11.295 11.933
Community Safety Team & Localism 2.529 2.868
Service Support Central (inc POG) 0.529 0.579
Emergency Management 0.388 0.335
Service Support Assets 3.617 3.761
Service Support People 2.216 2.082
Business Support 0.481 0.420
Phoenix Services (0.020) 0.015
Drug & Alcohol Action Team 0.000 0.000
Communities & Devolution 0.000 1.507
Resilient Cornwall Service 21.035 21.993
The outturn position for Resilient Cornwall as at the end of March is £21.993m; this
equates to an over-spend of £0.958m
Resilient Cornwall Service is reporting an overspend position of £0.958m for the year
which is predominantly due to the following factors and explained in more detail
below:
Salary and pay protection costs of an unbudgeted post following the Tier 1-4 re-
structure of £0.067 previously allocated to vacancy management
A 2017/18 budget shortfall of £0.297m for in year provision of Domestic and
Sexual Violence (DASV) services as reported throughout the 2017/18 financial
year. It was agreed at a previous Directorate Leadership Team (DLT) to accept this
overspend. Agreement for additional funding contributions has been reached with
various Council services from 2018/19 to cover off this pressure moving forwards.
Service Delivery - Operational activity has been high in terms of large protracted
and challenging operational incidents including a waste site fire, Coverack local
flooding and recovery, snow and ice, gorse fires, complex Road Traffic Collisions
(RTCs) and protracted mine rescues. An overspend of £0.350m is being reported in
relation to the On- Call firefighter budget which is demand led and a further
£0.136m in relation to whole time overtime payments.
This cost is being partially offset by a £0.030m transfer from reserve in respect of
costs incurred during the Coverack incident.
A pressure of £0.235m in relation to the Engineering Workshops budget. The
majority of this pressure is being covered through efficiencies and staff vacancies
across other areas within the service totalling £0.191m.
14 Pressures of £0.090m in relation to Digital Improvement Plan(DIP) is to be funded
from the IS budget due to delays in implementing appropriate solutions.
The position above also includes a transfer to reserve of £0.145m in relation to an
underspend on the Local Devolution Fund where expenditure against some schemes
has slipped into 2018/19.
Budget Outturn
2017/18 2017/18
Capital Budget £m £m
Cambone Pool Redruth & Hayle Emergency Cover 0 0.246
CCTV Upgrade 0 0.010
Vehicle & Plant Replacement (15 year plan) 3.015 1.323
Community Assistance (Devolution Fund –Tranche 1) 0.054 0.041
Community Fund 0.048 0.010
Devolution Capital Programme (Tranche 2) 0.477 0.072
Photovoltaic Panels on fire station 0.006 0
Resilient Cornwall Service 3.600 1.702
Vehicle & Plant Replacement - Delay in procurement of major applicances which
will now be purchased in 2018/19.
Devolution Capital Programme – slippage has resulted in moving of budget into
2018/19. Dependencies on other devolution projects such as libraries have delayed
this Programme.
8.2 Auditors findings
A summary of auditors’ reports and findings can be found in the Annual Audit Letter
on the link below. Details regarding the annual statement of accounts can also be
found via this link.
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/council-spending-budgets-and-
information/financial-publications/statement-of-accounts/
6. Our purpose
6.1 Our vision
Resilient Cornwall works towards the Council’s strategic aim of:
“Creating a prosperous Cornwall that is resilient and resourceful. A place where
communities are strong and where the most vulnerable are protected.”
We do this through our service’s mission of “Working together to make Cornwall
safer”.
Details of Cornwall Council’s Business Plan for 2016-2020 can be found via this link:
https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/18049540/corporate-business-plan-2016-2020-
220116.pdf
156.2 Our aims and objectives
Our service plan 2016-19 outlined our five priorities with associated objectives and
outcomes that we aim to achieve over the three year period. These were agreed in
consultation with our communities, staff, elected Members and partners.
Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety Service Plan 2016-19 sets out our key
objectives and outcomes and what we plan to do to achieve them. Every year we
review that plan against emerging intelligence and the changing context of local
government and Council budgets and priorities.
The Service Plan 2016-19 and Annual Review are used to identify key activities which
will be delivered across the various service functions. These activities are outlined in
our service delivery plan, team plans and form the basis of individual objectives and
performance measures.
1617
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6.3 Our challenges and priorities during 2017/18
Our key achievements and challenges against our priorities during 2017/18 include:
Prevent
We delivered a range of fire and road safety information to high risk groups,
including young and older people, people living with dementia and businesses.
Over the last year we have completed 6,165 Home Fire Safety Checks in
collaboration with our partners.
This year we redesigned and awarded new contracts for two significant
specialist service areas:
o Community drug and alcohol services awarded to Addaction – 5 year
contracts worth £5.3m a year for the adults service and £335K for young
people;
o Domestic abuse and sexual violence services awarded to national
partnership First Light and Barnardo’s; 14 contracts combined, joint
commissioning with health, £2m pooled budget secured for 4 years;
2,200 people accessed specialist treatment for drug addiction through our
commissioned services and 1,320 received treatment for problem drinking;
Repeat incidence of domestic abuse amongst high risk cases remained within
the best practice range of 28-40%;
82% of people receiving interventions for Anti-Social Behaviour did not reoffend
in the following 3 months;
We supported the embedding of a rapid response Hospital Outreach Team
(HOT) Team in Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT), supported by a successful
bid to the Government’s Life Chances Fund. The team have engaged more than
50 frequent attenders to help meet their needs and reduce hospital attendance;
Building on the successes of multi-disciplinary team approaches in St Austell,
Truro and Penzance to address rough sleeping, street drinking and anti-social
behaviour, the Community Safety Team has worked with partners to re-
establish the Safer Towns programme, which officially launched in ten towns
over ten days in April.
Protect
For the years 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 we carried out 8010 audits,
activities and operational fire safety visits.
We responded to 127 fires in non-domestic premises in 2017/18; a 5.93%
reduction over the last five years
Primary Authority Scheme (PAS) – We continue to work with Public Protection
to offer a wide range regulatory support. New Direct PAS Partners include
Another Place (Watergate Bay Hotel, The Lakes) and Seafood Trading (Rick
Stein) reviews of Fire Safety at premise in Cornwall, Cumbria and London. We
continue to develop the partnerships with Seasalt Clothing, St Austell Brewery
and Cornish Orchards.
Respond
We attended 16,410 emergency incidents in 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18.
Over the last five years we have seen a 8.7% reduction in accidental dwelling
fires; with an increase of 14 from 2016/17 to 2017/18.
Promoted the creation of a number of community resilience plans, enabling and
empowering communities to assist services in emergency situations.
19 Assisted the development of a number of business continuity plans for critical
services across the Council.
The number of false alarms caused by automatic fire detection apparatus has
reduced from 497 (2016/17) to 469 (2017/18).
During the month of July the service responded to a significant natural event in
the rural coastal village of Coverack, Cornwall. Flash flooding that created the
possibility for substantial life risk. A deployment of 64 Wholetime, 47 Oncall
firefighters and 6 Officers. A total of 200 person hours were spent in active
attendance by Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service, whilst other resources across
Resilient Cornwall provided both onscene and after the event support.
In December, a large deployment of On-Call firefighters assisted in fully
extinguishing a large scale fire at a privately owned holiday and leisure facility
near Summercourt, Cornwall. A total of 23 Wholetime, 108 On-Call Firefighters
and 14 Officers responded ensuring the prevention of fatalities and serious
injury to all.
Innovate
Since 2010 we have worked in partnership with South Western Ambulance
Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT), we responded to over 1,500 life
threatening medical emergencies in 2017/18, providing life saving patient care
until the arrival of ambulance service resources.
The Tri-Service Safety Officer (TSSO) is an innovative, ever changing,
adaptable and flexible role which integrates within the emergency services
family. In addition to the extension of the TSSO role at Hayle, an additional
two officers have been employed in Bude and Liskeard. who have been
seconded from Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service and will work in partnership with
Devonand Cornwall Police (DCP), SWASFT and Cornwall Council’s Anti-Social
Behaviour (ASB) Team to develop the role in their respective area.
We are working with each of the Fire, Police and Ambulances Services across
the South West region within the South West Emergency Services Collaboration
Board (SWESCB). This collaboration is leading the way in providing a modern
and innovative public services model where there is a relentless focus on early
intervention, collective demand reduction and improving prevention across the
South West. The work of the SWESCB is overseen by the Emergency Services
Forum (ESF). The ESF is made up of the Political and Strategic Leaders of the
constituent organisations. As an active member of the Board, we have actioned
the following regional collaboration agreements; ambulance assists, missing
persons and collapse persons behind closed doors.
We work collaboratively with the Isles of Scilly Fire & Rescue Service to support
and improve the provision of fire and rescue services across the Isles of Scilly.
This collaboration will bring transformational change and service improvement,
as the Authorities use their strengths to improve service delivery. These
improvements are governed through a formal Collaboration Agreement.
Our Blue Light Property Integration programme expands on a well-developed
collaborative partnership arrangement between our service, DCP and the
SWASFT that has already delivered a number of co-location premises, including
the first community emergency services station in Cornwall. Further
opportunities for future property integration are being developed through
purpose built or remodelled buildings
20Perform
We continue to develop our intelligence to ensure we identify the key trends
and vulnerable groups within our communities to direct our priorities
We are leading the way nationally in intelligence - providing the Community
Safety Partnership Lead on national Management of Risk in Law Enforcement
(MoRiLE) programme, leading innovation in bringing Public Health data into the
Licensing Arena and developing the Social Impact Bond cost benefit tool for the
first project of this kind in the UK for substance use
Through the delivery of our health, safety and wellbeing plan we have
maintained our BSI18001 health and safety standard
We have continued to successfully deliver against our safeguarding
improvement plan, which directly aligns to the Council's plan and has been
identified as best practice corporately
Information Governance is essential to the service’s mission of “Working
together to make Cornwall safer” by providing confidence to our communities
that the information is being used fairly and legally. We have been through a
complete review of how we handle, manage and protect the data which we
hold.
A comprehensive review of 2017/18 can be found in our End of Year Report via the
following link: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/communitysafetyplan
6.4 Our collaborative arrangements
We work with and are committed to form or join partnerships that assist in achieving
our organisational goals and contribute to our Mission of ‘Working Together to Make
Cornwall Safer’.
We continue to strengthen our partnership working around common objectives at a
local, regional and national level.
Partnerships help us create more for less - pooling resources can help partners
achieve results in a more cost effective way and access extra resources. Working with
our partners allows us to reach more areas of our community with vital safety
information and advice.
We work closely with a number of groups, businesses and agencies in the community.
By working together with agencies such as the police, ambulance, social housing
providers, voluntary and community groups we can tackle complex problems. A
broader range of perspectives, knowledge, information, strengths and skills can
provide new and better ways of delivering services. Examples of our successful
partnerships include:
The CFO is chair of Safer Cornwall, which is recognised as a high performing
and innovative partnership, with the Community Safety Team providing
management and strategic leadership across a range of community safety
themes.
Working with Social Housing Providers to improve home fire safety for
vulnerable clients.
Working with Active Plus aims to deliver courses at local Fire Stations and
provide information to improve home fire safety and reduce fear and risk of
crime to members of the community who are over 50 years of age.
21 Working with a number of agencies including Job Centre Plus to deliver
specific services to young people who are not achieving their education and
social potential.
Working with Adult Care and Support Sensory Team to ensure people who
are more vulnerable to fire due to sensory loss are given support and the
opportunity to have an adequate means of providing a warning in case of
fire.
Working with the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT) by training middle
managers in Fire Evacuations. Ensuring that all these staff have the correct
level of capability in assessing evacuation procedures therefore reducing
Automatic Fire Alarms (AFA’s) for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and full
evacuations procedures for RCHT.
Working with Dementia Friends Champions to deliver bespoke training to all
staff across the service including staff at our headquarters and stations.
We organise multiple partnership events throughout the year where we
deliver joint campaigns to local communities at our community fire stations.
We have a history of excellent partnership working, joining or forming partnerships
that assist in achieving organisational goals. Working collaboratively with other
services within the Council and a number of partners, such as the probation service,
housing providers, charities and community groups, complex problems are being
tackled to realise positive outcomes.
There is a national drive for closer collaborative working between blue light
services. We already benefit from a long established professional working relationship
with emergency response colleagues and it’s these relationships and not legislation
that continue to drive integrated working.
Local and Regional Resilience
The role of the Resilience and Emergency Team is to oversee strategic responsibility
to ensure that Cornwall Council and our Service comply with their legislative
responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
When responding to large scale emergencies there is a requirement to work in
partnership at local, regional and national levels. To do this we work with local and
regional resilience forums. We work together with our partners to maintain a
Community Risk Register for the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Resilience
Forum (LRF); the top three risks of emergencies which could affect local communities
relate to flooding, pandemic flu and coastal pollution. The LRF develops plans which
dove tail into national arrangements to respond and recover should such events
happen. An important element of these plans is communicating what to do should an
event happen.
There is a clear link from the National Risk Assessment register, through the regional
and local resilience forum work streams and integration into the local council working
groups i.e. Risk and Business Continuity and Cornwall Strategic Resilience (the HUB).
Examples of recent multi agency working include:
Coverack flooding.
Operation Resolve – Snow ‘Beast from the East’.
Operation Costume – Modern Day Slavery Safeguarding raids.
22As of the 1st April 18 the Resilience and Emergency Team have been working with
greater emphasis in the community and for the residents of Cornwall, through the
development of the localism and community resilience framework, adopting thematic
and geographical work streams to develop and complete Community Emergency
plans.
6.5 How we secure business continuity
Our Resilience and Emergency Management Team ensures that the Council adheres to
its duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and that resilience is increased for
key services within the Council. The Council has business continuity assurance
managers across the directorates who provide emergency and business continuity
updates from the Council Emergency and Business Continuity Planning Group. These
updates include information about community risks as well as emergency and
business continuity planning and exercising arrangements.
All critical functions of our service have a business continuity plan in place to ensure
services can resume in all possible eventualities:
Fire & Rescue Operational Response Plan to ensure an effective response to
emergencies
Fire & Rescue Call Handling and Critical Control Plan to ensure 999 calls are
answered and out of hour contracts are complied with
Fire & Rescue Stores and Engineering Workshop Plan to ensure continued
maintenance of vehicles and equipment
Emergency Management Plan to ensure 24 hour advice and guidance is
available in the event of large scale emergencies.
To ensure that our business continuity plans are fit for purpose we undertake
exercises using a variety of scenarios so that plan owners can identify what went well
and make any required improvements to their plans.
7. Governance arrangements
7.1 Your Fire and Rescue Authority
Governance is how the Council operates and makes decisions. It ensures that
decisions take public opinion into account, reflect and respond to the needs of local
people and are transparent and accountable.
Cornwall Council comprises of 123 elected Councillors (also known as Members).
From 5 May 2017 the Council’s governance structure has been a Leader and Cabinet
executive style decision making arrangement which includes five Overview and
Scrutiny Committees.
The Leader of the Council has chosen nine Councillors to form a Cabinet with the
Leader, dividing the Cabinet’s responsibilities into portfolios, with each Cabinet
Member being responsible for a portfolio of work and the Leader and Cabinet taking
decisions to deliver the business plan within the budget set by full Council.
23Councillor Sue James is the Cabinet Member (also known as Portfolio Holder) for
Environment and Public Protection and part of her portfolio responsibilities relate to
the Fire and Rescue Service and Community Safety.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committees (OSCs) provide critical friend challenge and
assistance in policy development as part of the decision making process, in order to
help improve outcomes for the residents of Cornwall. The OSCs are aligned to the
Council’s directorates and the OSC that encompasses Environment and Public
Protection and therefore has scrutiny responsibilities in relation to the Fire and Rescue
Service and Community Safety is the Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny
Committee. Each OSC has 15 non-executive Members, selected from the Council, and
are chaired by a nominated Councillor who is not the Cabinet Member.
For more information regarding Cornwall Council’s governance arrangements visit the
following link:
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/governance
7.2 Our legal responsibilities
We are required to adhere to a wide range of legal responsibilities. Our key ones are
listed below. For a comprehensive list, please use the following link:
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=34532
Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004
which can be found via the following link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/21/contents
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
which can be found via the following link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1541/contents/made
Community Safety Partnership (Crime and Disorder Act 1998)
More information regarding the Community Safety Partnership can be found via the
following link:www.safercornwall.co.uk
Fire and Rescue National Framework for England
which can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-and-rescue-national-framework-
for-england--2
Policing and Crime Bill 2017
which can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/policing-and-crime-bill
7.3 Management of risk
Risk management is key to delivering effective services. Our managers and staff
manage tactical, operational and strategic risks as part of their day to day role.
Cornwall Council is responsible for establishing and maintaining appropriate risk
management processes, control systems, accounting records and governance
24arrangements. Internal Audit advise services whether these arrangements are in place
and operating properly. The annual internal audit opinion, which informs the
Statement on Internal Control (contained within the Annual Governance Statement),
both emphasises and reflects the importance of this aspect of internal audit work.
Risks associated with the business are discussed at all team and management
meetings, and these are discussed alongside the progress of projects and
performance measures. High level risks are escalated to the Senior Leadership Team.
Senior managers ensure that there is adequate communication throughout the service
so that operational and bottom up risks are identified and the impact on the service,
directorate and wider Council is considered. Appropriate mitigating actions are put in
place with responsible owners to manage and reduce risks across the service.
The identification of community risk is central to the development of our plans;
therefore we ensure that we gather comprehensive information regarding our
communities so we can deliver the most appropriate services.
Our Risk Based Evidence Profile can be accessed via the following link:
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/rbep
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