Annual Report and Statement of Assurance 2018/19
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Annual report and statement of assurance 2018/19 www.cambsfire.gov.uk 2 Welcome to the Annual Report and Statement of Assurance for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority. The report covers the financial information about how we are Rescue National Framework year 2018/19 and summarises working in collaboration with for England, fire and rescue our performance over the 12 partners to improve our service authorities must provide months, including how we spent to you. annual assurance on financial, your money in delivering priority It incorporates the Fire governance and operational services. It features highlights Authority’s Statement of matters. of the year, case studies and Assurance. Under the Fire and Contents 1. The year at a glance 4 2. Foreword 6 3. Statement of assurance 8 4. Governance arrangements Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority 9 Our structure 10 Our legal responsibilities 11 5. The communities we serve Our community 13 Our built environment 13 Our heritage 14 Our natural environment 14 6. How we serve our community Our service 15 Our values 16 7. Achievements towards our strategic aims Our vision and strategic aims 17 Progress against our IRMP 18 Operational excellence 19 Community safety excellence 21 People 24 Value for money 27 8. Equality and Inclusion 29 9. Partnerships and collaborations 30 10. Financial performance and governance Where our money comes from and how much we spent 32 What we own 34 Financial governance and audit 34 11. How we compare nationally 35 12. Our HMICFRS inspection results 36 13. Planning and future priorities 37 14. Letters of appreciation 38 15. Tell us what you think 39 Annual Report 2018/19 3 1. The year at a glance Here are some highlights from the year 2018/19 April Home Office commissioned inspection We hosted four celebration and information process. The inspection team met with evenings at headquarters for our on-call Crews visited local Asda supermarkets for senior managers, staff and unions to gain firefighters. The events celebrated all a day of action to provide fire safety advice their views and perspectives. that our on-call colleagues do, as well as to shoppers. The national fire safety day, showcasing new equipment, and plans for organised by the National Fire Chiefs Council July the future. (NFCC), saw firefighters from Cambridge, Temperatures soared and there was no sign We held a two-day, multi-agency exercise Peterborough and Wisbech offering advice of any rain during the summer months, working through a pretend major incident to customers to help prevent them having a resulting in unprecedented volumes of calls to test strategic and tactical command and fire in the home. to fires in the open. In June and July more partnership working. Exercise Green Cloud May than 550 incidents were attended by crews involved a chemical tanker colliding with a St Neots Fire Station welcomed more than across the county, involving fires in vast bridge on the A14 and provided a valuable 500 school children for the annual Safety areas of farm land, grass verges, park land testing scenario for local resilience partners. Zone. The week-long event saw youngsters and open areas. Staff from all emergency services, local taking part in various activities to learn about authorities, health agencies, utilities and the keeping safe. Partners from Cambridgeshire August Environment Agency all took part. Constabulary, Cambridgeshire County We supported the first ever Ely Pride, Cambridge Fire Station opened its doors for Council and Wood Green Animal Shelter celebrating diversity and everyone’s right members of the public to come and visit and were on hand to deliver advice to the to be themselves. The vibrant event was to find out what life is like in a fire station and children. attended by local on-call firefighters, support the varied role of a firefighter. Our volunteer More than £200 raised by staff was staff and our Combined Fire Control. community champions were also on hand to presented to a local LGBT charity. The deliver community safety advice. money came from specially commissioned September badges showing the Service badge We led a social media campaign on October combined with the rainbow flag. behalf of our Local Resilience Forum Three new fire engines were introduced Staff and former colleagues got together to partners to educate residents about being to on-call fire stations as part of a trial. The celebrate the 50th anniversary of St Neots prepared for an emergency. The national smaller alternative appliances, along with Fire Station. Visitors brought in photos #30days30waysUK campaign saw a different new battery powered cutting equipment, from over the years and reminisced about theme highlighted every day in September were part of a wider look at different ways the times they spent serving the local promoting a different emergency and of responding to emergency calls. The fire community. how the public can prepare themselves. engines were stationed at St Neots, March Everything from flooding and severe and Ely. June weather to loss of power and highway Firefighters and community safety officers A community project in Huntingdonshire problems were all highlighted during the took part in the fifth annual Restart a Heart saw firefighters help with transforming the campaign. day, joining organisations across the UK lives of a group of vulnerable young people. Residents were encouraged to come and to train as many people as possible in life- Working with the district’s community safety have a go at being a firefighter at two saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). partnership, firefighters delivered sessions events at Dogsthorpe and Huntingdon fire More than 30 operational staff, including at fire stations to help build the group’s stations. The events encouraged women wholetime and on-call firefighters and self-esteem and raise aspirations through and people from a variety of backgrounds officers took part in two days of scenario practical exercises. to take part in firefighter activities to try training at the Fire Service College. They We welcomed Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of and myth bust some of the preconceived faced helicopter, train and vehicle crashes, Constabularies and Fire and Rescue Services opinions of being a firefighter and show that tanker spills and building fires all with actors (HMICFRS) into the Service as part of our it is a career for all. playing casualties for added realism. More 4 dates are planned for 2019/20. are volunteer staff who provide informal, an increase of 46% compared to the two November independent and confidential support to months prior. Of these enquiries, four anyone who may have concerns about people started the application process. We welcomed 21 new recruits to the Service. their relationships at work, and signpost They completed an intensive 11-week colleagues towards more formal avenues of February training course in Cardiff, delivered by South support and advice as required. Having identified an increase in the numbers Wales Fire and Rescue Service, before joining Throughout December our crews were out fire stations around the county. of high structures around the county, the and about around the county raising money Service invested in new equipment and Having taken inspiration from the John for The Fire Fighters Charity. Through their training for carrying out rescues from Lewis Christmas advert, we released our own fire engine pulls, bingo nights, sleigh rides height. Crews at Huntingdon have become Christmas video showing how children can and more, they raised over £6,000 for the be inspired to become firefighters. Taking charity. In addition, Linton Fire Station was rope rescue specialists, receiving specific social media by storm, the video was viewed awarded the regional Christmas fundraising training to be able to perform rescues in a almost 400,000 times across Facebook, prize hamper for the most amount raised safer and more effective way. Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and in December for the charity - a whopping The Service adopted the use of a new attracted hundreds of positive comments. £3,214. location application to help respond to December The Media and Communication team incidents more effectively. What3words is a were awarded ‘Best Comms Team’ unique concept that sees the globe divided As a result of our Christmas video, a very at Peterborough’s annual Athene into three metre squares that have been generous donation of £2,000 was received Communication Awards. They were also given three words to use as an address. The from Terberg DTS for us to deliver toys to top three in the national Comms2Point0 app allows our control staff to pin point local children in need. Sacks of presents UnAwards for Best Low Cost Comms for exactly where someone is, which is useful were delivered to Refuge Fenland and their 2018 wholetime recruitment campaign. Huntingdon, Women’s Aid Cambridge, particularly for incidents around water or Ely food bank and Cambridgeshire and January fires in large fields or outdoor areas. Peterborough Independent Domestic The Service hosted its annual Excellence March Violence Advisory Service. Awards at the Marriott Hotel in Huntingdon. The outcome of our inspection by HMICFRS Staff from across the organisation were We entered into a partnership with national was announced and we were judged to celebrated for their great work and long retailer B&M as part of the Primary Authority be one of the top two fire services in the service achievements. The event was hosted Scheme (PAS). The partnership means that country in the first tranche of inspections, by Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland, with CFRS will support B&M on all fire safety getting Good across the board. More medals for long service presented by Deputy matters across their store portfolio and information about the findings of the Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire John Bridge.