1 Purpose of the Report
To update the Chief Executives’ Group on North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services, Risk and Resource Model.
2 Background
2.1 North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) has a statutory duty to understand, address and reduce current and future risks. Our assessment of risk across the service area informs where we need our staff and resources to ensure we continue to deliver our services efficiently and effectively. The Risk and Resource Model (RRM) sets out what we currently do and what changes we plan to make over the next three years to mitigate the risks we have identified, helping to deliver against our key priorities set out in the Fire and Rescue Plan 2022-2025.
3 RRM Development
3.1 In March 2022 the Service published its Community Risk Profile (CRP) based on an extensive methodology which underpins the RRM. This was the most comprehensive assessment of risk ever conducted by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, considering not only five years of incident data, but also demographic, socio-economic, infrastructure and partner data, to ensure a robust understanding of risk in our communities.
3.2 NYFRS delivered a data and evidence driven RRM, facilitating resourcing to risk through the CRP transforming and improving service delivery to ensure we provide the right people, in the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment, to reduce risk and vulnerability in North Yorkshire and City of York.
4 RRM Proposals
4.1 The Service developed seven change proposals for its new RRM 2022-25. The proposals were recommended to the Commissioner by the Chief Fire Officer to take forward to consultation. Four of the seven required full consultation as they would change the way NYFRS delivers its services across the area and three did not require full consultation but were included so that respondents were informed about the full picture of change.
4.2 The proposals for consultation:
1. Improving prevention and protection work - permanently increase the specialist staff in our prevention and protection departments and increase prevention and protection activities across the Service.
2. Managing attendance to Automatic Fire Alarms - reduce response to low-risk Automatic Fire Alarms (AFAs) which are often unwanted fire signals (an alarm activated by a something other than a fire).
3. Response resource in the York area - change Huntington to an On-call fire station to rebalance the emergency response resource with the risk that exists in the York area.
4. Response resource in Harrogate and Scarborough - replace the Tactical Response fire engines with Emergency Rescue fire engines, crewed during the time when emergencies are most likely to happen.
4.3 Other service change:
1. Specialist water rescue resource capability in Craven - we are upskilling and equipping firefighters to provide a new specialist water rescue capability in Craven.
2. Introduction of emergency response principles - we are formalising how we respond appropriately, quickly and safely to emergencies so that you know what you can expect from us.
3. Introduction of alternative duty systems - we would like to introduce a self-rostering duty system across all our full-time fire stations and change the timings of our shifts.
5 Consultation
5.1 A consultation document was produced jointly by the Service and the OPFCC forming the basis for a twelve week public consultation including public events across the Service area, local council committee meetings, focus groups and staff and representative body engagement sessions. The consultation also sought public opinion via a survey, from which the responses were collated by an independent company, Opinion Research Services.
4.2 Overall, over 1,400 people were engaged during the consultation across 12 public events; three resident focus groups were held to explore views; the Commissioner met with Councillors, Firefighters, and interested parties; and over 1,300 people and organisations responded through the online consultation survey.
6 Decision and Implementation
6.1 On 27 September 2022, the Service presented its final recommendations and full Risk and Resource Model 2022-25 for decision of the Commissioner at Executive Board. The Commissioner considered the Service’s response to the consultation and approved the RRM for implementation, with additional stipulations on some proposals. The finalised document will be published in due course.
7 Recommendations
7.1 Chief Executive Group Members note the contents of the report.
Jonathan Dyson
Chief Fire Officer
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
7th November 2022
