Supplementary Memorandum
FIRE AND
RESCUE
The new target for the fire and rescue services
from CSR07, its components and the methods for collecting the
data.
The new CLG Departmental Strategic Objective 6—Fire
and Resilience is:
"Ensuring safer communities by providing
the framework for the Fire and Rescue Service and other agencies
to prevent and respond to emergencies."
The new DSO was announced in the Comprehensive
Spending Review alongside the National Indicator Set for Local
Government. The new fire indicators are part of the National Indicator
Set for Local Government, and are:
1. The outcomes of National Indicators on
(i) numbers of primary fires, fatalities and injuries (excluding
precautionary checks) and (ii) numbers of deliberate primary and
secondary fires, which will be measured through incident reports
submitted to the Department.
2. Improvement in the national picture of
Fire and Rescue Service performance reflected in Audit Commission
assessment outcomes. This will be demonstrated by improved aggregate
scores in published Use of Resources and Direction of Travel assessments
for Fire and Rescue Authorities in England.
3. Delivery of a co-ordinated Fire and Resilience
programme achieving planned milestones and deliverables for the
New Dimension, FiReControl and Firelink projects, which will be
monitored by the Department and assured through periodic Office
of Government Commerce Gateway reviews.
4. Delivery of relevant strands of Home
Office led counter terrorism PSA. Improving the national capability
to deal effectively with the potential consequences of major risks,
as set out in resilience planning assumptions and measured through
readiness assessments. This will be measured through a bi-annual
National Capability Survey, regular exercising arrangements at
the local, regional and national level and assured through OGC
reviews.
Data to back-up the Mr Wormald's view that diverting
resources from response to prevention measures has lead to fewer
fatalities. In particular, he referred to evidence that 80 per
cent of fire deaths occur at the time the fire service is called.
From an analysis of response times, there is
evidence to support the view that, sadly, 80 per cent of fire
deaths in the home occur before the fire service is mobilised.
This figure is supported by senior professional opinion from Sir
Ken Knight, Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor.
As part of the Home Fire Risk Check initiative,
1.1 million Home Fire Risk Checks have been undertaken and 1.3
million smoke alarms installed. This has not only made good use
of `downtime' amongst FRS operational crews—for example
the amount of time spent on Community fire safety has increased
by 42% in the last two years—but also made a real impact
on the ground.
Findings from a recently completed evaluation
of the Home Fire Risk Checks indicate that around 19 deaths and
1033 injuries have been averted, which is very close to the benefit
the Department initially estimated for the initiative. The estimated
benefits of the initiative to date (2004-2006) far outweigh the
revenue and capital costs, even allowing for uncertainties in
the analysis. This study will be published in the next few months.
There is a good level of support for prevention
work within the fire and rescue service, for example, Merseyside
FRS has said:
The effect of moving significant resources
into fire prevention and beginning free home fire safety checks
and fitting smoke alarms has been dramatic.
Trend analysis of our incident data shows
that it is very likely 22 people would have died from fire in
the region in 2006/7 rather than the 9 that actually did.
The effect of reconfiguring local stations on
response times and the overall effect of the reforms to allow
local decision making on response times and fatalities.
The Bain Review identified that resources were
not always allocated on the basis of need. For example, as Figure
3 shows (published in the Fire White Paper), many more resources
were devoted to protecting buildings in city centres (where deaths
were low) compared to what that devoted to residential areas (where
deaths are much higher).
Figure 3: Current allocation of resources to risk
A risk= normally in the largest cities and towns, and including main shopping, business, entertainment or industrial centres
B risk= normally in the larger cities and towns
C risk= normally in the suburbs of the larger towns and in the built-up areas of smaller towns
D risk= all risks other than remote rural
Source: ODPM
The review concluded that response standards
and the way resources are organised should vary in accordance
with those different levels of risk.
The move to locally determined risk and response
through Integrated Risk Management Planning, has allowed fire
and rescue services to target their resources more appropriately.
Ultimately the responsibility for providing appropriate cover
rests with the Fire and Rescue Authority, through the integrated
risk management process. Research is underway to evaluate the
impact of this devolution, including aspects such as lives saved.
This is due to report in summer 2008.
Information with accompanying statistics on the
effect of traffic congestion on response times.
For England response times to primary fires
have increased by 16% and traffic has increased by 15% since 1995.
It is frequently reported by local fire and
rescue services that traffic has an impact on the time taken to
respond to an incident.
For example, in its response to the Greater
London Authority's consultation on the Western Extension of the
Central London Congestion Zone on 21 July 2005, John Anthony,
Assistant Commissioner of the London Fire and Emergency Planning
Authority said:
Efforts to ease traffic congestion and improve
traffic speeds will assist in ensuring that the Brigade can attend
more quickly.
Conversely, the response also states:
Should an increase in traffic volume and density
by displaced traffic occur along `uncharged roads' there is a
potential for a worsening of attendance times.
This view is backed by professional advice from
Sir Ken Knight. Whilst we have not to date collected this data
centrally, we intend to undertake a research project in the next
period that will confirm this.
Reduction in bureaucracy from deregulation in
fire and rescue and any resulting effects on resources and efficiency.
Under previous legislation (The 1947 Fire Services
Act, as amended) fire authorities had to apply to the Secretary
of State to make any changes to fire cover. This meant that no
fire station could be opened or closed without Government approval.
Fire brigades were also required to adhere to statutory national
standards governing how quickly fire engines should arrive at
the scene of a fire and how many engines should attend, depending
on the location of the fire.
The 2004 Fire and Rescue Services Act removed
the requirement to seek Secretary of State permission to change
fire station locations, and abolished the national standards,
thus allowing FRAs to deploy their resources according to the
profile of risk in their areas under a process known as Integrated
Risk Management Planning.
IRMP has successfully enabled improvement and
reform in the way the fire and rescue service works and has, we
believe, helped deliver the achievements of significantly reduced
fire deaths and deliberate fires. Fire and Rescue Authorities
have used the freedoms to evaluate risk to communities—risk
to life, the economy and environment—and to use their resources
more flexibly to deliver better outcomes for communities. This
includes directing resources at community fire safety.
The total reported efficiencies achieved so
far (to end 2006/07) in recurring efficiencies is £135.6
million of which £91.9 million has been reported in IRMP
categories. A further £39.2 million of recurring efficiencies
are predicted for 2007/08 of which £21.9 million is in IRMP
categories.
Up-to-date timetable and budgets, including predicted
spend for 2007-08 and 2008-09, for the Firelink and FiReControl
projects
Firelink radio systems will be fitted to all
3000 operational Fire and Rescue Service vehicles in England by
June 2009. Over 50% of this programme will be completed during
2008/09.
During 2008/09 temporary Firelink connection
will also be completed into the 46 existing control rooms in England,
prior to migration to the 9 new Regional Control Centres (RCCs).
The 9 new RCCs in England will become fully
operational in phases, over the period (October 2009 to September
2011). In 2008/09 4 RCC buildings will be completed, in addition
to 4 built in 2007/08.
Communities and Local Government's total expenditure
on the Fire and Resilience Programme (which encompasses Firelink,
FiReControl and New Dimension) for 2007/08 and 2008/09 is currently
forecast as follows:
| Fire & Resilience Programme
| 2007/08 | 2008/9
|
| Total forecast expenditure (capital and resource)
| £170m | £220m |
These figures are rounded. If the Committee would find it
helpful to see the commercially sensitive disaggregated forecasts
for Firelink and FiReControl, including a breakdown of the forecasts
by capital and resource expenditure, then we are content to provide
a further response under confidential cover, subject to the Committee's
agreement that the information will not be published.
DECENT HOMES
Details on the amount of money, the receiving programmes and
the date when the funds were slipped from the decent homes programme
and used to fund other programmes.
We are still collating the information you have requested
and will write to you separately as soon as it available.
HOME INFORMATION
PACKS (HIPS)
The number of assessors and the balance between the workload
being generated, broken down by region.
Given the timescales involved we are unable to access detailed
data in relation to workload.
However, the table below shows the latest published figures
for numbers of assessors broken down by region against the estimated
requirement to produce HIPs as part of 3 bedroom and full roll
out.
This shows that there are sufficient energy assessors to
meet our estimated requirement for full roll out.
| Region | Accredited/ Certificated 16 October
| Estimated requirement for full roll-out
|
| North East | 229 | 80
|
| North West | 627 | 325
|
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 421
| 177 |
| East Midlands | 362 | 303
|
| West Midlands | 494 | 218
|
| East of England | 531 | 460
|
| London | 407 | 409
|
| South East | 858 | 629
|
| South West | 628 | 309
|
| Wales | 277 | 91
|
| Unknown (A) | 316 |
|
| TOTALS | 5,150 | 3,000
|
(A) Unknown postcodes
Latest data on the housing and mortgage market used for assessing
the implementation of HIPs.
The Department uses a wide range of information and data
to assess current market conditions, including how HIPs are being
implemented. Statistics being monitored include Communities and
Local Government's House Price Index and data published by Halifax
and Nationwide building society in support of their house prices
indices. We also pay close attention to data on mortgage lending.
Indices of asking prices produced by organisations such as Rightmove,
home.co.uk and Prime Location are useful indicators of the market,
as are statistics on the average time that properties are on the
market before selling. As time passes from the introduction of
HIPs, we will also examine property sales transactions recorded
by the Land Registry. These lag property listings, so we would
expect there to be no impact of HIPs on the data at this time.
We augment the statistics used for monitoring with information
on the operation of the market. This includes information gathered
by our own team making visits to Estate Agents around the country
and discussions with the industry and stakeholders.
The impact of the introduction of HIPs on the number of homes
being listed broken down by the type of property (bedroom size)
and by regions.
At the moment, there are a range of important factors which
are affecting the housing market and new listings, including interest
rates and wider consumer attitudes. RICS reported in September
that new instructions to sell property declined for the fourth
consecutive month, indicating that the number of new listings
has been declining throughout the summer, prior to the introduction
of HIPs. Data published by Rightmove indicates that new listings
of properties for sale fell in August right across the market.
This is likely to be due to a range of seasonal and market factors.
August is always quiet and this August has been particularly so
for all properties. In September, the problems in the financial
sector created further uncertainty.
We know that some estate agents were persuading sellers to
place their four bedroom properties on the market in advance of
HIPs which would result in artificially high numbers of four beds
in advance of HIPs, swiftly followed by an artificial low. This
will have distorted the figures in the short term. We expect to
see a similar pattern for three bedroom properties.
Rightmove has published data on the number of properties
listed on their website by bedroom size. This seems to confirm
expectations. Against a background of a falling number of new
listings, it indicates that, immediately prior to the introduction
of HIPs for four or more bedroom properties on 1 August, there
was a modest increase in the number of listings for those properties,
followed by a fall in the number of listings during August, and
then a recovery, almost to the level at which they were at prior
to the introduction of HIPs on 1 August. A similar pattern seems
to be emerging for 3 bedroom properties with Rightmove's data
showing an increase in listings of those properties ahead of the
10 September introduction of HIPs, with a fall immediately after.
We expect the market to absorb these short term fluctuations in
new listings.
Latest evidence on the types of packs being produced, particularly
the effect of condition reports being included.
At this early stage it is too early to draw definitive conclusions
on the impact of Home Condition Reports in the HIPs that have
been produced to date. The Area Trials, which are due to report
at the end of the year will give us a better understanding of
the effect of the Home Condition Report in the pack. We will of
course continue to monitor the roll out of HIPs as they progress.
FLOODING
More information surrounding and providing detail on the terms
of reference of Sir Michael Pitt's review of this summer's floods.
On 12th July 2007, the Secretary of State for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn, announced the establishment
of an independent review to identify the lessons to be gained
about how to manage and respond to this type of disaster in the
future. The Review is being carried out by the Cabinet Office,
with support from the Department for Environment Food and Rural
Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Sir Michael Pitt has been appointed as the independent Chair who
will oversee the Review. The Review will report to Hilary Benn,
Hazel Blears and Ed Miliband. The team are aiming to produce an
interim report of the initial findings by the end of the year;
a full report will follow in 2008.
The Review will examine the emergency response to the floods
in June and July at local, regional and national levels, and the
social implications for communities. It will consider how best
to co-ordinate and deliver the immediate response to future incidents
and to manage the transition to longer-term recovery. The review
will also look at what can be done by both the public and private
sectors to reduce the risk and impact of flooding and improve
our preparedness, particularly in terms of critical infrastructure.
The terms of reference for the Review are set out in full at Annex
A.
As part of the review process, the Review team will seek
the views of affected communities and local businesses as well
as other key stakeholders such as the emergency services, professional
associations, local authorities, voluntary organisations, industry
associations, public and regulatory bodies, and will provide the
opportunity to contribute and shape the direction of the review's
recommendations.
The Department has already started to look at the Lessons
Learned Review and how we can contribute to Sir Michael Pitt's
Report. Hazel Blears had an introductory meeting with Sir Michael
Pitt on 23 October. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss
the emerging findings of the Review and the Department's flood
response and recovery work.
From a fire and rescue service perspective on the emergency
response to the floods, the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser has
prepared an initial findings report which identified areas of
the FRS response requiring further consideration. The report concluded
that whilst urgent action is not required at this stage, efforts
should be focussed on carefully deliberating a number of issues.
These will be considered during the second phase of this review
and include, for example, clothing and equipment, and clarity
on roles and responsibilities on water rescue and co-ordination
of national assets.
Furthermore, the Department will contribute to Sir Michael's
report on the following areas: the role of the regional resilience
tier, the transition from response to recovery, and the policy
impact for Departmental work such as building regulations and
planning. Officials have been working with the Cabinet Office
team supporting Sir Michael Pitt to identify these.
STAFF ISSUES
We are still collating the information you have requested
and will write to you separately as soon as possible.
Annex A
Flooding Lessons Learned Review
TERMS OF REFERENCE
SCOPE
The Review should be wide-ranging and consider all available
evidence on the flooding that occurred in England during June
and July 2007, its impacts and what this means for the future.
It should hear from those involved at the local, regional and
national level, including the public, their elected representatives,
public organisations, businesses, the farming community and professional
associations. The Review should focus specifically on issues around:
a. Flood risk management, including the risk posed by
surface water flooding and the way in which the public and private
sectors might adapt to future risks.
b. The vulnerability of critical infrastructure, including:
i. The ability of critical infrastructure to withstand
flooding, and what improvements might be made.
ii. The resilience of dams and associated structures,
and what improvements might be made.
c. The emergency response to the flooding, including
social and welfare issues.
d. Issues for wider emergency planning arising from
the actual or potential loss of essential infrastructure.
e. Issues arising during the transition period from
the response to recovery phases.
The Review should build on previous reviews of the response
to serious flooding events, other relevant reports and policy
developments including making best use of resources and maximising
value for money.
The Review should not cover longer-term recovery issues which
will be the subject of a separate, later, review.
OBJECTIVES
Specific objectives for the Review are:
i. To understand why the flooding was so extensive.
ii. To learn lessons on how in future we can best
predict, prevent or mitigate the scale and impact of flooding
incidents in a potentially changing environment.
iii. To look at how best to co-ordinate the response
to flooding in future, including the significant social implications
for communities.
iv. To establish what access to support, equipment, facilities
and information is needed by those involved in the response at
local, regional and national levels.
v. To ensure the public has as much access as possible
to information on the risk of flooding to allow them to take appropriate
precautions, be adequately informed on developments as an emergency
unfolds, and be looked after properly in the immediate aftermath.
vi. To establish how the transition from response
to recovery is best managed.
vii. To identify those aspects of the response that worked
well and should be promoted and reinforced.
viii. To make recommendations in each of these areas to
improve the UK's preparedness for flooding events in the future.
ix. To make recommendations, drawing on the experience
of the flooding incidents, to improve the UK's broader ability
to manage the loss of essential services in any future emergencies.
COMPOSITION
The Review will be overseen by an independent chairperson,
Sir Michael Pitt.
The Review team will be led by the Cabinet Office with support
from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and
the Department for Communities and Local Government, drawing on
experts from other bodies as necessary.
GOVERNANCE
The independent chairperson, Sir Michael Pitt, will report
to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; and
the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
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