CRP Quarterly Briefing – Issue 11

July 2022

Welcome to the latest edition of our CRP quarterly briefing.

Programme Update

The programme is now preparing for this year’s deliveries and are also focusing on the launch of the delivered products which support the CRMP processes.

The launch of the ESV report has now been scheduled for later in the year to allow time for a workshop with Home Office colleagues to be held to discuss the report in detail.

The programme will now begin to document recommendations for the Business-as-Usual ownership and governance state for the programmes deliverables as well as ensuring that dependencies between the CRP programme and other NFCC programmes continue to be documented and managed.

Project updates

Definition of Risk Project

Project Executive: CFO Ian Hayton, Cleveland Fire Brigade
Project Manager: Hannah Begum, NFCC Portfolio Office

April to July has been busy quarter for the Project with an ambitious year ahead as we look to develop further risk assessment methodologies, explore the development of risk frameworks, and support implementation of the Proof of Concept Report in fire and rescue services.

Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) Risk Methodology

This work stream is being led by Dan Quin, Interim CFO Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and national lead for Transport (Roads). A Working Group of FRS experts has been established to support this work and met for the first time in June. The group are drafting a bespoke consequence model as part of the methodology.

Over the last few weeks, the project team have engaged with subject-matter experts in the UK FRS and the wider sector to identify and acquire datasets for this work to begin. The Project has now commissioned ORH to produce the methodology, and modelling and data analysis activities are well underway.

The FRS Working Group members are:

  • Tony Crook, NFCC Lead Officer Road Safety, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service
  • Ian Marritt, UKRO Director for Education and Development, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service
  • James Finch, Assistant Director, Kent Fire and Rescue Service
  • Ian Greatbatch, CRP Lead Technical Analyst, seconded to NFCC from London Fire Brigade
  • Will Doolan, CRP Technical Working Group Chair, West Midlands Fire Service
  • ORH

Once a first draft has been produced, the team will work with the CRP Technical Working Group and several fire and rescue services to quality assure and test the methodology before it will go out for wider UK FRS consultation.

Other Building Fires (OBF) Risk Methodology

ORH have also been commissioned to produce the methodology for assessing the risk of fires in Other Buildings. A Working Group composed Protection and PPRU colleagues from across the UK FRS has been established to support the development of the methodology by providing subject-matter expert knowledge. In July, the project team and ORH presented the proposed approach for producing the risk methodology to the Working Group, who have now been tasked with producing a consequence model for assessing OBFs risk.  The first draft risk methodology will be quality assured and tested by the OBF Working Group, the CRP Technical Working Group and volunteer FRSs before going out for wider UK FRS consultation later this year.

Regional Training Workshops

At the CRP Roundtable events held in March this year, many FRSs told us they had applied the Domestic Dwelling Fires Risk Methodology presented in the Proof of Concept Report and asked for assurance that the process had been followed accurately. The Project has commissioned ORH, who developed the methodology alongside the Project team, to deliver six in-person regional workshops and one online workshop to train FRS practitioners to ensure consistent application across the UK, address any queries, gather user feedback and collate case studies to inform future iterations of the methodology. Workshops will take place in September this year, more information will be shared with CRP SPOCs in due course.

Risk Frameworks

Risk assessment methodologies cannot be produced for all hazardous events due to lack of sufficient and robust datasets. For such hazardous events, the team will work with national leads and subject-matter experts to identify existing work and understand the current context. The team will be conducting a gap analysis over quarter two of this financial year to determine what work is required to produce a full set of nationally approved risk frameworks to support UK FRSs in assessing risk in their area.

ESV Project 

Project Executive: Dan Quinn

Project Manager: Paquita Lamacraft, NFCC Portfolio Office

ESV Phase 1 Report

Home Office Workshop

The ESV team held a workshop July 6th at West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service HQ for the Home Office with attendance by Home Office representatives and the Project Team including NTU consultants.

The outcome was that agreement was reached on all the points raised by the Home Office and the alterations are being made to finalise the report. The matters under discussion fell into three groups: matters not pertaining to the report on the methodology – which were removed; matters that pertain to Business as Usual that were not cause for change; and some new wording to clarify the matter better.

The next steps are for the report to be launched at the NFCC Autumn Conference in September 2022. To support the product, an animated video that explains the methodology has been commissioned with a delivery date of 21st September.

ESV Phase 2

Devolved administration data has been transferred to NTU consultants so the Phase 2 report is underway.

Once Phase 2 has been completed we will marry the two reports for like ‘look and feel’ as one product.

Videos will be made in the same fashion for devolved administrations, if there is significant variance in the methodology – which is not expected at this time but is an option being reviewed for any such need.

Family groups

The Family Group working group is in the final stages of pulling together their draft report, expected mid-August.

Data has been received from all devolved administrations.

How that output will proceed to next steps is to be decided at the next ESV Board Meeting.

Guidance 

Project Executive: Nikki Richards,

Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Corporate Services, Royal Berkshire FRS

Project Manager: Paquita Lamacraft, NFCC Portfolio Office

Videos for approved guidance

Videos have been commissioned, but discussions have been delayed due to the Project Manager having Covid. However, a storyboard meeting is now planned for early August to support the following: Defining Scope, Data and Business Intelligence, Stakeholder and Public Engagement, and EqIA. Following feedback consideration is being made as to how to make the guidance more interactive and discussions on this will also take place at the meeting in early August.

Evaluation Guidance

There have been eight responses from the Technical Working Group to the Evaluation Guidance and due to the weather and holidays, the consultation has been extended until 26 July. After the input has been made responding to these comments, the Evaluation Guidance will go out to wider stakeholder consultation.

Outstanding Guidance

Hazard Identification, Risk Analysis, and Decision-Making Guidance is to start 1 August by the same organisation that delivered the quality product draft for Evaluation.

The three pieces of guidance will be developed sequentially, so that when one product is released to the technical working group for peer review, the next product can start to be developed, with a planned final output 30 November 2022.

Each of these products has significant relevant intersects with other NFCC guidance, National Operational Guidance, and other relevant pieces of guidance or statutory obligations. The scope of work includes tracking all relevant guidance both within and external to NFCC and incorporating into an overall guidance document.

The scope of this overall project – drawing the three pieces of guidance together-will entail creating a guidance document for each that has an overarching context and stepped approach, with relevant signposting to all other sites of appropriate guidance for that specific element of the subject.

Competencies for Risk Managers Project

Project Executive: DCFO Gavin Ellis, Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service

Project Manager: Lucy Cooper, NFCC Portfolio Office

During quarter one the final draft of the Competencies Frameworks was signed off by the Project Board and the formal consultation with the sector was launched. During the consultation period FRS were encouraged to review the framework and provide comprehensive feedback.

During quarter two the Project Board will review and respond to the feedback received and a final version of the frameworks will be published.

Evaluation of Fire Interventions Project

Project Executive: ACFO Niall McKiniry, Humberside Fire & Rescue Service

Project Manager: Lucy Cooper, NFCC Portfolio Office

During quarter one the tender for an Evaluation Gap Analysis was launched and a supplier selected.  Unfortunately delays in the tender process meant that the work, which was scheduled to start in quarter one will not now start until the end of quarter two.