Agenda item

The item was introduced by Craig Cusack, who explained the Plan had been endorsed by Cabinet earlier in the month. Of the measures relevant to the Committee, 64 per cent were on track to be met. This represented an increase of 16 per cent since the previous quarter. Key themes to have been noted included increases in demand and costs, and the ability to access resources when they were needed more quickly than had been previously anticipated. Craig Cusack stated his belief that the term ‘not on track’ sometimes carried unnecessarily negative connotations, and sometimes could be accounted by time slippages rather than a decrease in performance levels.

Members were told there had been a £39,000 overspend, which technically represented a zero per cent variation. Craig Cusack said the capital programme was on track to be delivered, and any delays and the reasons demonstrating the understanding for them had been included in one of the report appendices. Attention was also drawn to the four main strategic risks that had been outlined in the report pack.

Responding to a question from Councillor Sinclair regarding fire service response times, Ben Brook said the long-standing target of responding to an incident that represented a risk to life or property within ten minutes 75 per cent of the time was unrealistic and had not been met at any point within the previous five years. The resourcing to risk proposals would instead generate a mean average response time across the county, rather than measuring it as a percentage. The fastest response times would be in places where resources were most likely to be needed. Ben Brook said the proposed arrangements would generate a 13.2 per cent increase in prevention and protection activity, which in the longer term would help save more lives. The proposals also sought to provide a greater level of transparency.

Responding to a question from Councillor Feeney, Ben Brook said a serious fire incident review took place following all incidents involving a fire-related death or serious injury. These would be done with partner agencies to see if more work could be done to prevent similar incidents; for example, working with agencies where there was a known hoarder, as this represented an increased fire risk. Councillor Crump gave an example of a light aircraft crash that had resulted in a fatality. Although the craft was returning to an airfield in a different county, where it was registered, because the accident had taken place in Warwickshire it counted towards the county’s fatal incident statistics. Ben Brook added that although crews always sought to attend an incident as soon as possible, there was not necessarily a correlation between response time and death or serious injury resulting.

Councillor Sinclair noted the number of staff responding to say they agreed they were kept well informed of the work of the Council had fallen from 85 per cent to 79 per cent, and asked how this was being addressed. Kate Sullivan said since the report had been published, this figure had increased to 81 per cent, and any response of more than 75 per cent was a positive. More work was taking place to engage more with the community teams, who were less office-based. Feedback from managers of these teams suggested they were well informed of their own team’s work, but not necessarily that of the Council as a whole and this was looking to be addressed. Rob Powell said scores for internal communications had increased significantly during the Covid pandemic, and the targets for further improvement that had been set subsequently may have been overly ambitious. However, he stated his belief internal communications was excellent and was evolving to meet the Council’s changing needs.

Members noted the contents of the report.