CRP Quarterly Briefing - Issue 04
Welcome to issue 04 of the Community Risk Programme’s (CRP) Quarterly Briefing – April 2020
Since our last briefing in January, the national and global landscape has changed significantly with the emergence of the coronavirus outbreak. This has placed extra pressures on fire and rescue services (FRS) as they scale back on some activities and take on new activities to maintain effective response and resilience in the face of these challenges. FRSs have taken on these additional activities to support partners such as other blue light services, the NHS and playing a key role in delivering Local Resilience Forums’ activities to keep people safe, while helping to reach the most vulnerable.
In this issue, we update you on the latest developments in the CRP and on how we will be progressing our programme objectives during these unprecedented and uncertain times.
NFCC position on COVID-19
The National Fire Chiefs Council issued a position statement setting out its strategic intentions on the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in March. Â You can read the full statement here.
CRP project updates
We are all exploring and trialling new ways of working whilst we are abiding by the government’s social distancing measures, our Programme and Project Boards are being held digitally to ensure our work continues as much as possible. Below are updates from three projects that are currently running.
Definition of Risk Project
In March, the NFCC issued guidance to postpone or cancel all non-essential meetings and events, government guidance on non-essential travel and social distancing followed this. As a result, the project’s seven national roadshows scheduled to take place this summer have been cancelled. A total of 170 delegates from 47 FRSs had registered to attend, with more expressing interest to be involved. Delegates ranged from FRS Principal Officers to risk managers and data analysts.
Key dates and forward look
Despite this setback, the project team is still working to deliver project objectives to the original timeline. The team has produced a pre-recorded webinar to deliver the content of the national roadshows, to ensure that FRSs are given the opportunity to provide feedback and shape the final documents. The webinar went live Thursday 16 April and all FRS colleagues who registered to attend a roadshow, as well as our FRS single points of contact, have been given access to the pre-recorded sessions. FRSs will have the opportunity to engage with the project team and provide feedback on the draft documents.
To read more about the project and its key milestones, visit: https://nfcc.org.uk/our-services/community-risk-programme/projects/crp-definition-of-risk-project
Review/Produce (I)RMP Guidance Project
Work to deliver phase one of the project is well underway and the team is continuing to deliver this in line with the original timeline.
A methodology for classifying and assessing existing (I)RMP guidance and literature has been developed under the direction of the Project Board. The team is currently populating an interim tool with existing (I)RMP guidance and literature with this methodology applied. This interim tool will be shared with FRSs for comment and feedback in due course. Thanks to all FRS colleagues who have been in touch with the project team, informing them of the guidance and literature their service uses to develop their (I)RMP.
To read more about this project, visit: https://nfcc.org.uk/our-services/community-risk-programme/crmp-guidance-project
Value of the Fire Service Project
In our last quarterly briefing, we advertised Project Board vacancies for this project. We had a fantastic response and all posts have been filled, visit the project’s webpage (link below) to see the full list of Project Board members. The Project Board met for the first time in February.
The project continues to liaise with the Home Office’s Economic Assessment Unit on the Social and Economic Value of the FRS report they are producing. The governance structure for the Home Office report is set to be established in coming weeks. The project team is also in discussions with the Nottingham Trent University economists to produce a scoping document based on the availability of data sets, combined with the benefits of each intervention. The Project Board is currently considering their proposal, with the work expected to take three to four weeks.
To read more about the project and its key milestones, visit: https://nfcc.org.uk/economic-and-social-value-of-the-uk-frs-project
You can find out more about our eight projects here: https://nfcc.org.uk/our-services/community-risk-programme
Stakeholder update
The CRP Programme Executive spoke about our work at the LGA Annual Fire Conference in March. We were really pleased to see growing awareness and support on the direction of the programme from colleagues who were in attendance.
The CRP was due to present at a number of events over the next quarter, however many events have now been postponed or cancelled. The programme continues to engage with stakeholders through all our usual channels, please visit the CRP webpage for further details. For fire service colleagues, please feel free to get in touch with your service’s CRP single point of contact if you’d like to find out more. Alternatively, you can email the programme team – please see the link below.
- A single point of contact in all 50 UK FRSs – these colleagues have been invaluable in our link with FRSs, ensuring the programme is engaging with and acting on feedback from services to shape our work.
- 170 delegates from 47 FRSs registered to attend the roadshows – this demonstrates a huge level of interest and confidence in the programme, thank you!
- Delivering roadshows in an alternative format
- CRP project pages for each of the current projects are now live.
- CRP FAQs page – https://nfcc.org.uk/our-services/community-risk-programme/crp-frequently-asked-questions
- Definition of Risk UK FRS Consultation Pre-recorded Webinar goes Live – 16 April
- Deadline for FRS feedback on definition of risk draft documents – 22 May
- The next quarterly briefing is due in July
General updates on the CRP will be provided through the NFCC website: https://nfcc.org.uk/our-services/community-risk-programme
If you have any questions, comments or would like to be involved in the work of the CRP, please email the Programme Team: CommunityRiskProgramme@nationalfirechiefs.org.uk