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REPORTS FROM the first corporate assessment of fire services by the Audit Commission confirms that almost half of England’s 47 fire authorities are well run, while the performance of seven authorities is judged as poor or weak.
The Comprehensive Performance Assessment – which examined how fire and rescue authorities are managed and how they are implementing the Government’s modernisation agenda, rather than how well they respond to emergencies – classed Kent and
Medway Fire Authority and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority as excellent. Both authorities were praised for the progress they have made with partnership working and improving community safety.
Twenty authorities were classed as good, a further 18
as fair, and five as weak. Meanwhile, the performance of the Isle of Wight and Lincolnshire was declared to be poor, with weak leadership and poor communication cited as
problems in both cases.
Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP congratulated the better performing authorities, urging others to improve. ‘These results are encouraging, showing much innovation and new good practice that we should be proud of,’ he declared. ‘But there is clearly room for improvement.’
‘Those authorities doing well will need to continue to innovate and improve, and we will be offering them new freedoms and flexibilities to help them do so, while others will need to build on strengths and address weaknesses. As a Government, we will support all authorities, but we are already working in particular with those authorities with poor or weak ratings to ensure improvement is rapid and sustained.’
The results of the Fire CPA were welcomed by the Chief Fire Officers’ Association, which said they reflected the ‘hard work and commitment of the service to deliver improvement and modern-isation.’ But the Fire Brigades Union declared that the results ‘missed the real point of what the fire service is here to do’.
‘The public judges us by
how well we respond to emergencies and other incidents. They judge us by how quickly we respond, how many lives we save from fires, and how we deal with other major emergencies, from chemical spills to flooding, or the aftermath of bombings. This is what the public sees as important but this report deals with none of these crucial issues,’ declared the Union’s general secretary Matt Wrack q
EACH FIRE authority was assessed against nine themes:
What is it trying to achieve?
1. Leadership and priorities
2. A balanced strategy
What is its capacity to deliver what it is trying to achieve?
3. Capacity: Governance and management
4. Capacity: Resources and value for money
5. Capacity: People
6. Performance management
What has it achieved and what does it plan to do next?
7. Achievement of objectives
8. Achievement if improvement
9.Future plans
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