Overview
Executive summary
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) proposed to change the way they measure and report incident response performance. This was only about how LFR report attendance, not an operational change to how they attend incidents.
- 173 people responded to the response time reporting survey
- 150 people agreed the proposed reporting was easier to understand. The other respondents disagreed
- 125 people agreed performance was as expected. A smaller majority, but almost three quarters of respondents still represents a clear majority
Concerns about the change related to averages masking actual times, poor performance or even positive response times.
The main impact on people with protected or SHERMAN characteristics was identified as rurality and remoteness in relation to response times. The impact on those with mobility issues is greater because response times are longer. This does not relate specifically to the change in reporting, but the issue of a large, sparsely populated county.
The information was included in an update to scrutiny committee and using the new reporting approach will be implemented. On 21 March 2023, ACFO Stacey reported that average response times were below nine minutes, against the new measurement target of 11 minutes.
Introduction
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue proposed to change the way they measure incident response performance, known as attendance times, to match how the Government reports it. It was important to emphasise that this was only about how LFR report attendance, not an operational change to how they attend incidents. The new proposed standard was:
- The first appliance will attend dwelling fires across the county in an average of 11 minutes
- The first appliance will attend other incidents across the county in an average of 15 minutes
The benefits of changing how we report the statistics:
- in-line with national reporting and comparable with previous years’ data
- easier to compare performance with other similar areas
- easier to understand
The difficulties of changing how we report:
- we currently use maps as part of our reporting, which are visual and some people might think they’re clearer than just using average figures
- people might think our response or targets will also change, but they won’t
Stakeholders
Primary stakeholders were the public and particularly those identified as being at greater risk of fire. Secondary stakeholders included councillors, staff and partner organisations who can help identify and share the opportunity to respond.
Methodology
- A news item was drafted and posted on LCC’s website
- Social media messages were drafted and scheduled to be posted across Twitter and Facebook
- A newsletter item was sent direct to database members interested in fire and rescue
- An article was included in the January town and parish council newsletter
- A project page was created on Let’s talk Lincolnshire. This included a short survey asking for views, reasons for those views and any potential impact because of identified characteristics. The survey was available in alternative formats upon request
- Responses were reviewed at fortnightly intervals throughout the six-week consultation period and corrective action discussed