Knight Review of Fire and Rescue Services

Written evidence submitted by the London Fire and
Emergency Planning Authority (FRR 19)

1. The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority run the London Fire Brigade and is a functional body of the Greater London Authority.

2. London’s fire and rescue service is the busiest in the country and one of the largest firefighting and rescue organisations in the world. We provide services across the whole of the Greater London area, serving London’s 8.2 million residents as well as those who work in or visit the city.

3. Around 6,500 staff work for the Brigade. This includes over 5,500 operational firefighters, 100 Brigade Control staff dealing with 999 emergency calls and a range of non-operational staff working behind the scenes to deliver support services such as getting fire safety messages across.

4. The Authority was one of the 15 fire and rescue services to take part in Sir Ken Knight’s review of efficiencies and operations in fire and rescue authorities in England.

5. The Authority welcomes the recognition that risk reduction is a fundamental part of the work of fire and rescue authorities. The relationship between risk, demand, political choice, public expectation and affordability can be a complicated one.

6. As commended in the report, we have already consulted with people in London, our stakeholders, and opinion formers. The public consistently tell us that their top priority is a speedy response, and this is confirmed by recent consultation by other fire and rescue authorities such as Avon, Greater Manchester and Staffordshire. Therefore having effective response services will remain a high priority for us, despite the pressure on resources.

7. Absent from the review is sufficient acknowledgement that, whilst traditional incident demand has declined (i.e. fires and special services), new risks have emerged in the past decade; and the skills, equipment and capabilities that have been developed in Brigades to respond to that fact have consumed some of the capacity vacated by traditional demand. London Fire Brigade forms an important part of the UK national security infrastructure, and the risks associated with climate change, terrorism and managing international events means that we have to deal with new risks as they emerge. In the recent public consultation undertaken on the Authority’s draft Integrated Risk Management Plan, the themes of the need for sufficient capacity for resilience have been very strongly expressed by the public as a key priority for the service.

8. The Authority has a very clear sense of the scope for efficiencies. The Brigade carries out detailed evaluations of incidents, projects, and initiatives and we look closely at reports such as the recent report by Reform and the Audit Commission’s Value for Money profiles. The Authority is keen to share good practice, and officers of the Brigade have hosted Brigades and services from Asia, Scotland, Denmark, Germany and Sweden to exchange ideas. This gives us a well-rounded picture of performance and highlights opportunities for further efficiencies.

9. We strongly agree with the comments in paragraph 3, page 6 of the report: "I would like to acknowledge at the start that further efficiencies will have been sought and achieved in 2012/13 that are not reflected in this data." The report does not acknowledge the most recent data, in most cases it is from 2011/12, and the report does not highlight the savings that have already been made as a result of the current budget settlements. This omission is most apparent when statements such as "expenditure and firefighter numbers remain broadly the same" are made. This is not the complete picture. Figure 4 shows this and if data from 2012/13 had been used this would show a clear reduction.

10. The implication in paragraph 17 in section 5.2 that the pace of change is too slow is clearly not the case for London Fire Brigade. Our submission for the review from February clearly shows this. Some indication of how this pace can be increased may have been helpful.

11. The Authority welcomes the suggestion that there would be value in reviewing the Grey Book to ensure that it meets the needs of fire and rescue services in the 21st century and also welcomes the National Joint Council’s decision to extend its discussions on pay, and terms and conditions in the context of the review.

12. The Authority welcomes the inclusion of the fact that fire authorities are currently prevented from offering enhanced voluntary severance terms to fire fighters, which restricts our opportunities for resource planning. It is hoped that the report will prompt DCLG to look again at the issue of voluntary severance terms.

13. The Authority agrees that there would be benefits in greater collaboration and coordination in the commissioning of research. Whether the model suggested in the report is the best way forward is something we would question. The Fire Sector Federation is a relatively new organisation (formed only in mid-2012) and has yet to establish a track record of delivery. It also includes as members a spectrum of fire service product providers who would have a commercial interest in some of the outcomes of this work and so this at least points to the need for more thought about the proposal. An alternative could be a model similar to the one the Brigade has established for the governance of the production of national operational guidance, which has significant support across the service, draws together relevant partners from within and outside the service and is proving to be effective in providing a voice for all stakeholders.

14. The Authority is of the view that the reintroduction of an inspectorate for fire is counter to the localism and accountability agenda and that with ever increasing demands being made on the service any steps towards reintroduction should only be taken if it can be proven that it would deliver improved outcomes. It may also not be a proportionate proposition, given the very small fire brigade sector. A more appropriate and proportionate way of addressing the needs, if and when fully identified, could be through LGA-led peer assessment processes. We are of the view that the recent measures introduced by government for the provision of an annual statement of assurance and the introduction of the intervention protocol are sufficient and proportionate.

15. The Authority would like to have heard more about the opportunities for a more equal and diverse workforce in delivering efficiencies and operational resilience. In the last ten years this Authority has made clear progress in recruiting more women, and other underrepresented groups. We are concerned that the review makes no mention of equality or diversity.

July 2013