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The view from the inspectors Inspections of fire and rescue services in England are now complete and the views of HMI Sir Tom Winsor set out in the State of Fire1. When it comes to technology, the inspectors are not shy of pointing out where a lack of investment has hampered its effective use across all areas of fire and rescue services. Words: Catherine Levin “An efficient fire and rescue service should invest in technology and exploit changes in technology to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.” HMICFRS is clear about what fire and rescue services should look like when it comes to using technology but finds that actually, across the 45 fire and rescue services, investment and use of technology varies hugely. The word inconsistent features heavily in HMICFRS reports. The inspectors focus on ‘what good looks like’, which means they want to be able to compare like with like and ideally have a standard on which to base their judgement. “How services use data varies hugely, with no overall national strategy to bring consistency and promote innovation.” HMICFRS acknowledges the digital and data work of the National Fire Chiefs Council. In the State of Fire, Sir Tom Winsor homes in on the use of data in particular, stating, “Work is now under way by the NFCC to enhance how the sector uses data: its collection, use and expansion have the potential to improve the ways services work. I look forward to seeing how this develops.” CFO Lee Howell provides an update on this on page 41.
working with out-of-date or inaccurate information, or were unable readily and efficiently to access this information due to poor technology.” One of the broader themes arising from the inspection reports is the lack of investment in fire protection. The tranche 1 summary report notes that staff complained that resources were not always allocated proportionate to the risk and that often resources (technology included) focused on response and not to support the work of protection teams.
Value of partnerships
Recommended role The State of Fire contains six recommendations for improvement. One of these is about the role of the fire and rescue service, it is a recommendation that will see many in the sector doing some soul searching about what a modern fire and rescue service is all about. Part of that is some consideration about the role of technology as an enabler for transformation. “1. By June 2020, the Home Office, in consultation with the fire and rescue sector, should review and with precision determine the roles of: (a) fire and rescue services; and (b) those who work in them. “As with any public service, the fire and rescue sector need to evolve to reflect changes to how people live and work, as well as capitalise on the opportunities provided by ever-improving technology.”
Investment in technology Some of that soul searching will have to be about how to pay for technology after years of austerity. The State of Fire contains charts showing the extent of financial reserves held by fire and rescue services. In March 2018, 28 out of 45 fire and rescue services held reserves totalling £545.1m, which is 80 percent higher than 2011. “Reserves should be used to manage financial risk, fund major future costs (such as change programmes) and cover unforeseen pressures. They can also be earmarked for a specific purpose, such as investment in technology or estate.” The delay in making efficiencies through investment in technology leads Sir Tom Winsor to conclude that these services are failing in their duty to give the public value for money. “It is surprising that the level of reserves held by most services continues to rise year on year, despite calls from some that the sector is underfunded.” The HMICFRS reports provide an insight into where
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
Virtual reality technology is being used by a number of fire and rescue services.
the inspectors think there has been a lack of investment in technology and the impact it has on efficiency and effectiveness. The first place to look is in the systems used on a day to day basis, whether that’s in a fire station or in one of the important supporting office functions. Using technology to improve productivity is inconsistent across the country. “Nearly half the services we inspected were using broken, dated or unreliable IT systems and had inefficient paper-based systems. Many computer systems that services rely on are slow and do not work together. This was a common source of frustration among staff we spoke to.” HMICFRS makes it clear that an efficient service would: develop online systems, which remove the need for paper forms and remove duplication by updating multiple systems with the same piece of information; invest in MDTs, tablets, laptops and Wi-Fi to support flexible working; and provide access to real time data to help staff to manage and resolve emerging incidents.
Impact on safety Much of the focus here is on how fire and rescue services are managing risk. HMICFRS suggests that a lack of investment in technology has an impact on safety as a result of poor information relating to risk, whether that is about data analysis or how that risk information is passed on to responding crews. The tranche 2 summary report notes, “Access to up-to-date risk information is also vital to enable firefighters to respond to an incident safely and effectively, especially at a site containing risks to firefighters. But in some services, firefighters were
A suggestion for how to improve the investment in technology to deal with some of the weaknesses highlighted here is to join up. Working in isolation is not encouraged. Some fire and rescue services are leading the way in particular technology areas. Leicestershire, Merseyside and Essex fire and rescue services are using virtual reality technology to promote road safety, for example. While Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is leading the fire sector in the use of drones. HMICFRS also highlights 999eye and commends it for improving effectiveness and efficiency. 999eye was the brainchild of West Midlands Fire Service who worked with Capita to develop the idea of accessing, with the caller’s consent, the capabilities of a mobile phone to get a view on an incident in real time and before crews arrive. Since then, many fire and rescue services have started using 999eye to improve situational awareness.
Approach to evaluation Critical to the success of all these innovations is evaluation. HMICFRS notes that there is a lack of evaluation generally in the fire and rescue service, citing examples of debriefing after incidents, assessing the value of partnerships and the effectiveness of approaches to inspecting buildings. Understanding whether an intervention has worked is important if fire and rescue services are to be able to evidence that investments are value for money. National approaches to evaluation would work well to prevent duplication of effort and would certainly make the next round of inspections much easier. HMICFRS is due to start a second round of inspections this year and the State of Fire will be an annual publication from now on. Fire and rescue services won’t be able to change what they are doing with technology overnight, but they do need to have a clear strategy for investing in technology across all parts of the business. Evidence of that and a willingness to take on board what it means to be efficient and effective by learning from those who did well in the first phase of inspections is a good place to start.
www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/ Reference: 1. https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/wpcontent/uploads/state-of-fire-and-rescue-2019-2.pdf
February2020