1. Fire & Rescue Service CAA and Improvement Sharon Gernon-Booth Fire and rescue services PIN 23 March 2009

2. Overview CAA Fire Framework: principles & aims The broader CAA framework Organisational assessment Delivering the assessments Reporting

3. CAA Fire Framework: Principles & aims Developed in partnership Focus on outcomes Sector led improvement Use of peers Interlocking frameworks

4. CAA Fire & Rescue Service Framework Published 10 February Effective 1 April Reporting November 09

5. CAA provides an independent assessment of how well people are being served by their local public services. It focuses on how well these services, working together, are achieving improvement and progressing towards long term goals What is CAA?

6. POLICE PCT COUNCIL Area Assessment UoR Policing Rounded Assessment & Police Authority Inspection Annual Health Check Managing Performance FIRE UoR Managing Performance Organisational Assessment CAA Framework Area Assessment

7. Fire framework Area Assessment Triggered improvement support including service inspection Organisational Assessment Managing Performance Use of Resources Managing Resources Governing the Business Managing Finances Sector led operational assessment CAA

8. Area assessment: Key questions How well do local priorities express community needs and aspirations? How well are the outcomes and improvements needed being delivered? What are the prospects for future improvement? Focus on priority outcomes targeted within Local Area Agreements and Sustainable Community Strategies

9. Fire service & area assessment Engaging with communities to build up risk profile Involving communities in prevention protection & community safety priorities Partnership engagement in civil contingency, larger scale emergencies & resilience Delivering fire specific priorities AND Contributing to broader local priorities

10. Arson incidents16 Primary fires13 Road traffic accidents 48 Participation in positive activities77 Perceptions of ASB 56 Young offenders reoffending rate 49 Entrants to youth justice system74 Childhood obesity99 Per capita reduction in CO 2 100 Community safety outcomes in LAAs National Indicator No. of LAAs

11. Organisational assessment Consultation feedback Flagging Judging partnerships Detail of KLOE Proportionality Clarity on OpA interaction

12. Interaction with Operational Assessment OpA and organisational assessment methodology alignment OpA will feed into the organisational assessment Progress assessed since the 2006 OASD Where an operational assessment has not been carried out, we will use our managing performance assessment to carry out a sufficiently comprehensive assessment to meet our public assurance responsibilities

13. Organisational assessment Managing performance How well is the organisation delivering its priority services, outcomes and improvements that are important to local people? Focus on service improvement and operational effectiveness, balancing prevention, protection and response functions

14. Organisational assessment Managing performance Does the organisation have the leadership, capacity and capability it needs to deliver future improvements? Focus on leadership, capacity & drive to deliver and sustain improvement

15. Organisational assessment Use of resources Managing finances Governing the business Managing resources Key evidence - Rising to the Challenge national study and steps taken

16. Range of savings across fire services

17. How well are we performing? How will we meet our share of the £110 million efficiency savings? Can we save money by changing crewing or shift arrangements? Do we match cover and resources to risks? Has our prevention, protection and community safety work reduced the risk in target areas? What activities are we engaged in with local partners? Which provide good value to the community for money we spend? Questions for fire services

18. Delivering the assessments CAA leads Central fire team Fire service peers Range of evidence Web based tools including VfM profile tool and national study benchmarking tool Annual progress with improvement plans

19. Scoring, reporting & improvement activity Single organisational assessment score Flags in area assessment Integrated reporting in November 2009 Focus on sector led improvement activity Triggered inspection

20. Reporting to the public Keeping this real

26. Thank you s-gernon-booth@audit-commission.gov.uk