Our Priorities for the Next Four Years
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Through our CRMP process we have identified a number of areas where we feel improvements can be made to deliver a more efficient and effective service to the communities of Berkshire. We will work on these areas during the lifespan of this CRMP.
Priority 1. We will develop our Integrated Service Delivery Strategy to meet the changing profile of risk in Berkshire due to climate change, societal and technological shifts.
We anticipate that climate change and technological adaption will change the types of emergency incidents we attend. The summer heatwave of 2022, saw RBFRS attend a very large number of fires across the County. Increasingly, wet winters are also predicted and we anticipate more frequent flooding. As society adapts, through increased use of alternative and renewable energy systems in vehicles, homes and businesses, we must adapt what we do to mitigate the risk. The hazards we manage are changing and we must keep pace
with these changes.
We will develop our prevention activities and response model to reduce the impact of wildfires and to support our response to flooding. These changes will improve the resilience of RBFRS and the community.
We will develop our prevention activities and response model to reduce the impact of incidents from alternative fuel sources, both to the Service and the people of Berkshire.
Through our annual review of risk we will continue to monitor developments in new technology.
Priority 2. We will develop a Risk Based Prevention Programme to target those most vulnerable and at risk from emergency incidents.
We will implement a Risk Based Prevention Programme which helps us identify those that are most at risk in the community. This will enable us to carry out early intervention activities, helping to reduce risk. We will ensure that we use our resources and capability in the most efficient and effective way.
We will identify those most vulnerable through our various partnerships such as safeguarding referrals, to ensure that we are targeting our prevention interventions most effectively.
We will better understand our communities by using data and local knowledge to reduce the likelihood and severity of emergency incidents across Berkshire.
Priority 3. We will develop our response model to ensure that we are providing the most effective response to incidents within Berkshire, ensuring that it is sustainable and provides value for money.
We recognise that we are entrusted with public money and have a duty to spend it wisely. We will ensure we provide efficient and effective services and provide good value for money.
We will develop our response model to ensure its effectiveness in responding to incidents. We will match our resources to the risks within the county by ensuring our fire appliances, specialist vehicles and staff, are best placed to respond to incidents.
We will continue to maintain our response standard of the first fire appliance arriving at the incident within 10 minutes on 75% of occasions.
Priority 4. We will review the incidents that do not form part of our core statutory responsibilities, to better understand the implications for the Service in attending these incidents. Notwithstanding the review of our response and the gathering of this data, public safety will remain the primary priority of the Service.
We will work with our partners to develop the most effective approach to resolving incidents that currently are not part of our statutory duties, through our targeted prevention activities and our response model.
We will fully understand the impact and costs of responding to incidents, identified as risks through our detailed risk analysis, which do not currently form part of our core statutory responsibilities. This will support our other priorities, particularly those focused on public value and efficiency.
Better understanding this information will provide the evidence to support our work with the sector to lobby Government for clarity and recognition of the role of Fire and Rescue Services in public safety and the appropriate funding required to resource incidents that currently do not form part of our core statutory responsibilities.
Priority 5. We will develop our Fire Protection service to support the resilience of businesses, to ensure the safety of all people using buildings covered by the Fire Safety Act 2021, Building Safety Act 2022, and Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to ensure that our enforcement role is effective and clear.
We will develop and build upon our Risk Based Inspection Programme to ensure we are targeting those premises with the greatest risks and using our inspecting officers skills to regulate where they are most needed.
We will review our operational response to unwanted fire signals (automatic fire alarms) to reduce the impact on the service and public. We will continue to work with businesses to educate them on their responsibility under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Sprinkler systems within buildings are an effective initial intervention in reducing the impact of fires in commercial buildings, we will strengthen our campaign for introducing these in buildings where it is not currently a requirement.
We will work with the Building Safety Regulator within our capacity under the new Building Safety Act 2022.
We will develop our way of working to be able to enforce the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Priority 6. We will maintain 19 frontline fire appliances, and a baseline service provision of 14 frontline fire appliances, utilising wholetime and on-call staff as effectively as possible, through local management.
We will continue to maintain our response standard of the first fire appliance arriving at the incident within 10 minutes on 75% of occasions.
We recognise that we are entrusted with public money and have a duty to spend it wisely. In order to ensure we provide our services efficiently we will seek to ensure that we deliver good value for money.