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Thumbs up for operational assessment |
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The Chief Fire Officers' Association has welcomed the Audit Commission Service Assessment for Fire and Rescue Authorities report confirming that England's fire and rescue authorities (FRA) do a good job in planning for, and delivering emergency response to their local communities. The report is the first part of an overall assessment which will be published this month. The Service Assessment for Fire and Rescue Authorities looks at how FRAs assess risks to their communities together with how operational plans are planned and ultimately managed to deliver emergency response to incidents. It also considers the way in which each FRA delivers its service against a set of performance indicators on a range of issues including type of fire, deaths, injuries, false alarms and arson attacks. The second part of the assessment will examine financial accounting and reporting arrangements within FRAs to determine the value for money delivered and also the progress made by FRAs since the initial 2005 Fire Comprehensive Performance Assessment. Phil Toase, CFOA President said: “The latest fire statistics showing the lowest number of accidental home fire deaths since 1959 prove the effectiveness of our prevention work and today’s report clearly demonstrates that our operational delivery remains very effective. “External evaluation provides FRAs with a benchmark to identify strong performance in specific areas in other FRAs and promotes sharing good practice between brigades. We will ensure that these initiatives are shared throughout the Service as well as being adapted to meet local circumstances. Work is already in progress to capture good practice in the Service and to publish this on our CFOA website.”
CFO John Parry, Oxfordshire, commented: “The purpose of performance assessment is to secure continuous improvement. The results of this first part of the 2007 CPA has highlighted some excellent service operations in the Service as a base for future development. “Together, the two parts of the assessment will provide a more complete picture of how each fire and rescue service plans, manages and delivers service and the progress made against areas assessed the 2005 CPA.”
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