OUR PLAN 2023-2026

To support our vision of Making Derbyshire Safer Together, our six Service Priorities set out the areas of work that will meet that vision and ensure we continue to provide a first class effective and efficient emergency service to the communities of Derbyshire:

Running through all our Service Priorities are our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) objectives.

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service is committed to ensuring our Public Sector Equality Duty report informs our day-to-day decision making: because Making Derbyshire Safer Together is about making ‘everyone’ safer.

Service Priorities and PSED Objectives

Service Priority Identifier	Service Priority	PSED Objective Identifier	PSED Objective
SP1	KEEPING OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE FROM FIRE AND OTHER EMERGENCIES	PO1	We will improve our understanding of all our communities to keep them safe from fire and other emergencies
SP2	HAVING A WELL-EQUIPPED, TRAINED, COMPETENT AND SAFE WORKFORCE	PO2	We will improve our understanding of our workforce and create an environment where all can achieve
SP3	PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST TO MAINTAIN AN OUTSTANDING CULTURE OF EQUALITY AND INCLUSIVITY	PO3	We will improve the representation of the workforce to reflect the community we serve; to provide the diversity of thought, skills, and experiences required to make everyone in Derbyshire safer
SP4	DELIVERING AN EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE SERVICE, THAT ADDS VALUE TO OUR COMMUNITIES	PO4	We will identify opportunities to utilise digital technology to create a more inclusive and accessible environment
SP5	PROMOTING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH EFFECTIVE CHALLENGE AND EMBRACING LEARNING	PO5	We will identify opportunities to improve the quality and relevance of data used to inform our decisions
SP6	ENABLING THE ORGANISATION THROUGH DATA AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Throughout this document we have used the above identifiers to show where our work links to our PSED objectives and our Service Priorities.

Welcome

I am pleased to present Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s (The Authority) Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2023-2026 called ‘Our Plan’. Our Plan sets out The Authority’s strategic assessment and long- term approach to mitigating and reducing the risk from fire, road traffic collisions and other emergency incidents within Derbyshire.

Like many authorities, we now face considerable financial uncertainty and new challenges. We will need to explore new and innovative ways of working to ensure we continue to deliver an efficient and effective service to our communities.

In 2024 Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service (DFRS) will be 50 years old.

This is something we will certainly want to celebrate as we reflect on how far the Service has evolved since 1974 working with our people, partners, and our communities towards our vision of ‘Making Derbyshire Safer Together.’

Councillor Trevor Ainsworth Chair of the Fire Authority

Every fire and rescue authority has a statutory duty to produce a CRMP. As the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive for DFRS, it is my responsibility to deliver Our Plan on behalf of The Authority, ensuring DFRS continues to be a forward-thinking fire and rescue service meeting the demands of new and emerging risks.

Our Plan is the golden thread that can be seen running from our business and financial planning, through to the planned programme of work that links to our six service priorities. These priorities enable us to prevent, protect and respond to fires and other emergencies across Derbyshire:

• Keeping our communities safe from fire and other emergencies (SP1)
• Having a well-equipped, trained, competent and safe workforce (SP2)
• Putting people first to maintain an outstanding culture of equality and inclusivity (SP3)
• Delivering an efficient and effective service, that adds value to our communities (SP4)
• Promoting continuous improvement through effective challenge and embracing learning (SP5)
• Enabling the organisation through data and digital transformation (SP6)

I know the next three years will present the Service with many challenges; however, I am assured that through the delivery of Our Plan, DFRS is flexible and agile enough to face any such challenges head-on, while continuing to deliver a first-class service to you, our communities, as we work to

‘Make Derbyshire Safer Together.’

Gavin Tomlinson
Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive

The county of Derbyshire

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service provides a wide range of services to the people who live, work and visit our county.

We cover over 1,000 square miles, which includes a variety of urban and rural communities with a population of approximately 1,060,000. The county contains part of the National Forest and a substantial portion of the Peak District National Park.

We employ over 900 people and have 31 fire stations located strategically across the county. Our headquarters, based in Ripley, is shared with Derbyshire Constabulary (DC).

Our county is divided into three Service Delivery Areas (SDAs). These SDAs are split along council boundaries, aligning us with our partners to provide better outcomes to our communities.    

Statistic	West Area	East Area	South Area
Principle town / city	Buxton	Chesterfield	Derby
Area covered	1,347km2	722km2	558km2
Female	84,000	211,000	245,200
Male	82,000	203,000	239,400
Asian/Asian British	0.7%	1.0%	7.8%
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British	0.2%	0.4%	0.8%
Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups	0.9%	0.9%	2.1%
Other ethnic group	0.1%	0.2%	1.8%
White – English/Welsh/ Scottish/N.I/British	96.3%	96.2%	83.9%
White – Other	1.9%	1.5%	3.5%
High Rise Properties (6+ floors)	5	5	21
Domestic Properties	80,000	200,000	220,000
Non-Domestic Properties	11,000	18,500	15,500

Putting people first (SP3)

• Promoting outstanding leadership and positive workplace culture
• Shaping our workforce
• Developing and rewarding our people
• Engaging our people
• Promoting even greater inclusivity
• Championing the health & wellbeing of our people

Our People are extremely important to us, and our aim is to have a workforce that is diverse, flexible, highly skilled, and agile. To support this, we have a People Strategy which clearly states our values, our commitments, and our priorities to support the delivery of ‘Our Plan 23-26’.

Essential to all of this are our service values. These run through everything we do and are very important to the way we develop our Service. Alongside our values we saw the introduction of the National Fire Chief Council’s Core Code of Ethics in 2021, designed to help us keep improving culture and workforce diversity. We have worked hard as a service to embed a positive culture with employee led service values, synonymous with the national Core Code of Ethics which was reflected in our recent cultural survey and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspection.

During 2021 our Service was awarded People Insight’s Outstanding Workplace award following the latest cultural survey. The survey gathers views and information to help understand the relationship DFRS has with employees as well as how well training, development, career and wellbeing needs are being met. The results are used to inform the People Strategy, Workforce Plan and Inclusion Strategy. We are also very proud that our Service has been placed in ‘Inclusive Companies Top 50’ most inclusive employer awards for the second year running.

Our People Strategy and Workforce Plan is where we identify challenges faced by the Service, for example we know the retirement profile for operational staff, both on-call and wholetime is a huge challenge and without doubt, there will be other external factors which will influence the work the Service does and the funding available to do it.

What we will do

• Undertake a review to identify areas of focus to promote and maintain a positive workplace culture. 
• With effective predictions and planning, the Service will introduce a comprehensive Workforce Plan to include timely recruitment campaigns and succession planning to ensure it continues to have an efficient workforce with the right skills and qualifications in the right place, at the right time, now and in the future.
• Continue to recruit and retain on-call firefighters in new and innovative ways.
• Carry out a People Profile Review (PPR). This review will provide information to underpin the development of the People Strategy, Workforce Plan, Inclusion Strategy and other key decision making.
• Encourage diversity in recruitment, development and promotion and create inclusive teams. (PO2)
• We are now working towards a timely review of key policies and processes, embedding the Core Code of Ethics throughout our recruitment activity, interview process, induction training and subsequently employee development and appraisals.

Code of Ethics (OUR ETHICAL PRINCIPLES)

• Putting our communities first
• Integrity
• Dignity and Respect
• Leadership
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Our Core Values

• Leadership : We listen, develop & champion our people
• Respect : We value the opinions of others
• Integrity : Our actions will always be well intended
• Openness : We won’t hide anything & will share our experiences & knowledge
• Teamwork : We will achieve more together
• Ambition : We will always do the best we can

Supporting and Developing our People

We embraced valuable learning which emerged following the global pandemic, an example being the introduction of an agile working framework for support employees. By enabling employees to work in an agile way, we aim to not only create a more responsive, efficient, and effective service but also continue to be a family friendly employer of choice, providing flexible working to our employees.

What we will do

• Improve our understanding of our workforce and create an environment where all can achieve. (PO2)
• Use our cultural survey feedback to create development opportunities to retain our staff.
• Look at ways of working for our operational employees to support the changing demands on our Service.
• Introduce an apprenticeship programme.
• Further develop our Leadership Programme to enhance management skills.
• When training our staff, we will continue to look at ways to allow growth of individuals in our Service through training, development or assessment and also by making sure our training equipment and facilities adapt to create a more inclusive and accessible environment. (PO4)

Health, Safety and Wellbeing

We are committed to providing a safe environment that promotes the physical, mental and financial health and wellbeing of our people, creating a resilient workforce which can respond positively, effectively and safely to diverse types of emergencies.

What we will do

• Introduce a financial wellbeing/benefits platform.
• Promote a culture where all health, safety and wellbeing issues can be discussed openly.
• Provide access to training, information and resources to support health and wellbeing.
• Assist work/life balance by considering new or alternate ways of working.
• Provide critical incident debrief sessions and signposting to further assistance through our varied support network groups.

If you would like to know more, please visit our People Strategy on our website.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (SP3)

The last couple of years have been significant for a number of reasons: the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Black Lives Matter Movement, Me Too, and a drive to challenge unjust and exclusive cultures; and within the Fire Service, the national ‘State of Fire and Rescue' report clearly highlights how we need to act now to change our culture, making Equality, Diversity and Inclusion more important than ever to the future of our sector and our community.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has both an internal and external focus, making sure we have a service where our people feel valued to perform to the best of their ability, allowing us to provide a fully inclusive, accessible, efficient and effective service to our communities.

We engage with a number of network groups and gather their views on how we serve the communities of Derbyshire and support our people, analyse data to assess any disproportionalities in community safety and employment opportunities, and assess equality of access to take actions that make a positive difference both internally and externally.

We’re committed to connecting groups through engagement activities, communicating regularly, and coordinating information to the right decision makers effective

What we will do

• We will improve the representation of the workforce to reflect the communities we serve; to provide the diversity of thought, skills, and experiences required to make everyone in Derbyshire safer. (PO3)

If you would like to know more, please visit our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy on our website.

How we plan (SP5)

The start of our planning process is to undertake our Service Delivery & Risk Review (SDRR) . This is a review of our risks using a wide variety of data sources, such as census* data, incident data, police Road Traffic Collision (RTC) data, NHS data and much more. We analyse and risk assess this data to then inform intelligence led decision making and the basis of Our Plan, projects, and activity for the next three years.

Our yearly planning cycle as detailed below, shows the stages we go through in developing Our Plan. We hold a number of planning days with members of The Authority, our employees, and partners. Here we consider all fire and rescue related risk which could affect the communities of Derby and Derbyshire, such as changes to most common incident types, population profiles, and how best to staff our stations. We will consider the economic and social value of our activities when planning and also the impact these will have on our communities. We also factor in external influences such as budgets and the results of any fire and rescue service-related reports, such as the HMICFRS, changes to legislation and any approved Fire Standard which may have an impact on us.

Our Planning Cycle

Phase 1

• Horizon scanning, PESTEL analysis, ascertain the direction of travel - commence strategy
• Budget decision

Phase 2

• Identify proposals through planning days, Strategic Leadership Team consider proposals and present to The Authority

Phase 3

• Prepare consultation process, finalise draft strategy and action plan
• Consultation and engagement with The Authority

Phase 4

• Consultation and engagement with the public
• Final strategy and action plan produced
• Medium Term Financial Strategy and budget consultation

* The census results data will be updated once phase 2 & 3 are released early 2023.

The risks faced by our communities are always changing, so as a fire and rescue service we cannot be complacent. We must continue to evolve and adapt to ensure Derbyshire remains a safe place to live, work and visit. The way we operate will look and feel different in the future as we continue to innovate.

Our Plan will ensure allocation of available resources aligned to prevention, protection and response, supported by collaboration and partnership working, and that these are utilised in the most efficient manner to mitigate risk and improve community safety.

Prevention (SP1)

How we keep you safe

Effective, targeted prevention activity plays a fundamental role in ensuring we meet our vision to ‘Make Derbyshire Safer Together’ by reducing the number and severity of incidents we attend daily and by improving the health, safety and wellbeing of Derbyshire’s people and communities.

Our risk reduction activities are delivered by a dedicated team of people, working with partner agencies including the police, social care, adult mental health, and general practitioners.

How we Help our Most Vulnerable

We carry out Safe and Well Checks (SWC) in people’s homes, which involves giving fire safety advice and where appropriate, fitting smoke alarms and additional safety equipment, such as vibrating smoke alarms. We will also carry out a falls assessment to make sure any health and care needs are signposted to our partners.

We will work with our partners and review data to ensure we always target the most vulnerable in our communities.

What is our data telling us?

• Year on year rise in number of fires. This is mostly influenced by a significant increase in deliberate secondary fires.
• Year on year rise in all fatalities.
• Highest casualties of fire are over 80 years old and 18-39 years old and predominantly male.
• 14% of accidental dwelling fires had no smoke alarm fitted.

What we will do

• Using a person- centred framework which puts individuals and communities at the centre of all we do, aim to complete a minimum of 40,000 SWC over the next three years in domestic dwellings in Derbyshire, installing smoke alarms where necessary.
• Continue to review and develop our Risk Stratification Index (RSI) considering equal access to ensure we target our resources to those who need us most.
• Continue to be an active member of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Derbyshire Water Safety Partnership, Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership, ensuring a data led collaborative approach is taken in reducing fatalities in Derbyshire.
• Monitor casualty trends by ensuring resources are targeted to reach these most vulnerable groups. (PO1)
• Continue to work closely with our Safeguarding Adults and Childrens Boards to ensure all of our staff are trained to recognise signs of abuse so that anyone at risk is reported in a safe and timely manner.

Road safety

We currently provide education and risk reduction initiatives through our membership of the Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership.

The Young Driver Education Programme (YDEP) initiative, delivered with partner agencies, aims to reduce accidents involving young drivers through workshops.

The Biker Down campaign targets motorcyclists and aims to reduce the risk of being involved in an accident and provide lifesaving skills to employ when first on scene of an accident.

What is our data telling us?

• During 2021/22, 413 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions on Derbyshire roads. The age range of those involved in most serious incidents was 40-59, with over 75% of these male.

What we will do

• Continue to develop partnership working to reduce the number of RTC incidents. Through analysis of our data, we will ensure the most vulnerable are targeted.

Children and young people

We have seen a rise in the children and young people of Derbyshire becoming increasingly involved in various incident types as casualties or during anti-social behaviour events and understanding that they are likely to become high-frequency service users of the future.

What we will do

Our youth engagement initiatives will:

• Allow equality of access to Youth Engagement Schemes (YES) targeting schools in areas with high levels of anti-social behaviour to reduce deliberate fire incidents.
• Deliver Firesafe interventions managed by youth workers to those identified as being involved in fire play or fire setting, taking into account the complex requirements of those with special educational needs.
• Deliver fire safety education to all year two and year six pupils in every Local Education Authority supported school in Derbyshire, promoting fire prevention messages.
• Ensure equality of access to cadet schemes across the county and promoting the voice of children and young people through the Youth Council allowing consultation on the equality impacts of our processes and procedures.
• Utilise Staywise for our educational delivery, allowing access to those with language, educational and disability barriers.

Protection (SP1)

How we keep you safe

Our protection work is focused on keeping people safe who are in buildings which fall under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO). Whilst we are committed to supporting business growth and success, we will use our powers of enforcement, when they are needed, to keep people safe.

Our protection teams are involved in a range of activities to ensure the safety of our communities. These include:

• Fire safety audits
• Primary authority scheme partnerships
• Monitoring of false alarms and subsequent
• actions as a result
• Business safety advice and campaigns
• Sprinkler initiatives

Our protection team is well resourced, highly trained, and competent. We have increased our number of Fire Safety Inspecting Officers (FSIO) and have been proactive in ensuring staff across our Service have the skills and training required to safely undertake their role.

We deliver our risk-based approach to fire safety inspections and audits in line with our Risk Based Inspection Programme (RBIP). This was re-launched in 2022 to consider a wider range of data to make sure we focus our activity where it is needed. We continually review our delivery of information, education and legislative enforcement for areas of improvement.

We receive and respond to intelligence provided from a wide range of sources that includes our response crews, prevention teams, partners such as Housing Standards & Environmental Health and the wider public through complaints and concerns.

What is our data telling us?

• We are seeing an increase in the severity of action being taken following our fire safety inspections, particularly in care homes.
• There has been an increase in the number of complaints we receive in relation to fire safety standards.
• We have identified an emerging risk in relation to premises where people are sleeping above commercial premises.

What we will do

• Continue to work closely with a range of partners, identifying trends, and putting in place targeted campaigns.
• Aim to inspect, under the RBIP, 2,700 of our highest risk non- domestic premises over the next three years.
• Continually review the effectiveness of the broad and inclusive data sets used in our RBIP for the identification and differentiation of at risk premises. Our RBIP results ensures care homes are audited regularly for compliance with relevant fire safety legislation.
• Continue to respond to all fire safety complaints within 24 hours. (PO5)
• Continue to share information with our partners to increase intelligence and carry out joint inspections when required.
• Continue to develop campaigns to target emerging risks through audit and education.
• Train our crews and managers, so they know what they are looking for when engaging with our communities.

Fire safety law has undergone major legislative change following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

• The Fire Safety Act 2021 has amended the Fire Safety Order 2005.
• The Building Safety Act 2022 establishes a new legislative framework for tall, residential buildings
• The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduce new duties for tall, multi-occupied residential premises.

What we will do

• Make sure any service level recommendations arising from legislation and national reports are enacted as quickly as possible. This will include additional training for our people to ensure they can enforce effectively against such changes.
• Make use of digital technology to improve engagement with responsible persons to deliver fire safety advice and explain their legislative duties. (PO4)

Emergency Preparedness

How we keep you safe (SP1)

Our primary aim is to keep the communities of Derbyshire safe through targeted prevention and protection activity. However, there will always be a requirement to respond to emergency incidents. Over the last decade incident types have evolved to become more challenging and complicated. To ensure that our employees at all levels are safe, competent and effective at all incident types, l  and they maintain a continual commitment to Emergency Preparedness. This enables improved outcomes at both single and multi-agency incidents.

Our preparedness is carefully structured and delivered through the following areas:

• Partnership Working
• Planning
• National Resilience Assets
• Training and Exercising
• Debriefing and Continuous Learning

Partnership Working

We recognise the causes and consequences of fires and other emergencies, cannot be addressed by the Fire & Rescue Service in isolation. To provide more holistic outcomes we actively participate in the Derbyshire Safer Communities Board and remain a key partner within the eight area based Community Safety Partnerships.

In relation to multi-agency incidents, we play a key role in the Derbyshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF - Derbyshire Prepared) with the joint aim of improving our capability to respond to any disruptive challenges, minimise adverse effects on our communities and to keep residents well informed while we also continue to deliver our own critical services at the required level.
Within the forum, we are the lead partner for the Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) sub-group, and have representation on the Risk Assessment, Training and Exercising, Warning and Informing and Flooding sub-groups.

Planning

We plan and prepare to ensure our response to major incidents, large-scale emergencies or other disruptive challenges is informed, efficient and effective. We carry out effective risk-based preparations and emergency planning to meet our duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and to keep our communities safe.

Working closely with other blue light partners and wider public sector organisations, enables us to assess the levels of risk for a range of potential scenarios across the county. These include the threats to human health e.g., “Pandemic Influenza”. We also assess the likelihood of, and potential impacts associated with industrial accidents, flooding, transport accidents, the terrorist threat and serious disruption to the supply of fuel, energy, communications, and other essential services. Our Community Risk Register details 16 hazard categories overall and approximately 75 individual risk assessments to be carried out.

Our strategic leaders undertake Multi Agency Gold Incident Command training (MAGIC). This develops individual confidence, understanding and the capability to perform the role of Gold Commander. Our strategic commanders are proficient at planning, implementing and reviewing a multi-agency strategy to ensure the timely resolution of a major incident or civil emergency.

Our National Inter Agency Liaison Officers (NILO) are conversant with the strategic and tactical priorities of each of the other emergency services and response agencies. They act as FRS tactical advisors at both the preparedness and response stages to ensure effective planning and an appropriately resourced response through critical information flows.

We are also members of other scenario-specific planning groups. A key example being our participation in the Fire Operations Group (FOG), which is a multi-agency group to plan and prepare for wildfires in the Peak District. This work is vital to protect local livelihoods, infrastructure, wildlife and communities.

What we will do:

• Continue to work with our LRF partners to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans to either prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident on the communities of Derbyshire.
• Resource key work streams within the LRF with subject matter experts to develop effective multi-agency responses.
• Gather and share risk information using the hazard management alert and Site Specific Risk Information (SSRI) process. Both processes enable the Service to consider additional risk information related to our communities which supports how we respond to emergencies. (PO1)
• Share risk information, toolkits, policies, and guidance through online platforms both internally with our employees and externally with partner organisations. We make the information accessible and easy to understand. (PO4)

Training and Exercising

The Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Program (JESIP) provides the common operating principles that enables us to work alongside other emergency services to deal with incidents effectively and minimise impact to our communities. We lead on and train Fire and other Incident Commanders in the JESIP principles at our state-of-the-art Fire/Police Training Centre.
The Exercise and Training sub-group considers joint training, exercising opportunities and the associated learning. These exercises are linked to important community risks such as Control of Major Accident Hazard sites (COMAH) and premises or locations that are high on our risk profile.

What we will do:

• Ensure our strategic preparedness aligns to National Operational Guidance (NOG) to ensure we are adopting best practice.
• Undertake exercises and training with other emergency responders with objectives linked to risk. This is to enhance ways of working, interoperability and our operational preparedness.

Debriefing and Continuous Learning

We have in place robust monitoring and debriefing processes which allow us to analyse all aspects of operational work our crews carry out. This provides the assurance that we are continuously improving the safety and effectiveness of our crews. Where appropriate we will share learning nationally through the Joint Organisational Learning (JOL) and the National Operational Learning (NOL) platforms.

What we will do:

• Share and consider NOL and JOL that may enhance future operating practice.
• React to the findings of key reports associated with significant multi-agency incidents to ensure best practice is adopted and procedures are adapted from lessons learnt.
• Gather risk information and learning from incidents and exercises, that informs risk management, decisions, policies, and procedures. (PO5)

National Resilience Assets

Following the terrorist attacks in September 2001, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) enhanced the capability of fire and rescue services by launching its New Dimension Programme. This resulted in the provision of some specialist vehicles, known as National Resilience Assets, training, and standardised procedures to support this. DFRS have the following specialist capabilities available to support local, regional and national incident responses:

• High Volume Pump (HVP) - this provides us with the ability to move large amounts of water from one location to another. Particularly useful as part of flood response.
• Flood Response – this comprises of employees and Team Type C Mod 4 Boat that provide search and rescue capability during large scale urban flood events.
• Hazardous Detection and Incident Management Advisors (HDIMA) - this provides us with the ability to identify chemicals and other substances that may be encountered at incidents involving hazardous materials.
• Waste Fire Tactical Advisor (WFTA) – Large scale waste fires can be particularly challenging incidents to deal with. Our WFTA provides planning advice at strategic, tactical and operational levels for the appropriate waste fire response.

Response (SP1)

Our Response Standard

1st fire engine attendance : 80% of life-risk fire incidents within 10 minutes

• 31 Fire Stations
• 9 Wholetime : Crewed 24 hours a day 7 days a week and 4 of these stations staffed by on-call crews also.
• 19 On-call Stations : staffed by on-call firefighters only.
• 3 Wholetime day staffing & day crewing : Staffed during the day with wholetime and on-call providing night-time cover

How we keep you safe

Operational response is one of the more visible aspects of the Service, and the area of highest exposure to risk for our communities and crews. We respond to a variety of emergencies, which include fires, road traffic collisions (RTC), specialist rescues, flooding and incidents involving hazardous materials. Working as teams and with partners to achieve the right outcome in order to limit damage to life, property and the environment.

To ensure we can respond effectively to these incidents our emergency response is provided through our 31 fire stations which operate a range of duty systems that includes wholetime (full time) and on-call. These stations are strategically located across the county, with a modern fleet of fire engines and a range of vehicles with specialist capabilities, including Aerial Ladder Platforms (ALP) and Water Rescue Units (WRU) to ensure we have the speed and weight of attack to respond to all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks.

The nature and range of emergency incidents we respond to has changed in recent years, as have the risk profiles and needs of our evolving communities. We capture information from places deemed as high risk to determine how an emergency can affect response activities, which helps us keep communities and staff safe.

What is our data telling us?

• We continue to meet our primary response standard of first fire engine to life risk fire incidents within 10 minutes 80% of the time but this is becoming ever more challenging to achieve, particularly in our more rural areas.
  • We have not met our secondary response standard for second fire engine to life risk fire incidents in 13 minutes 85% of the time so this is an important area for improvement.
  • Optimum fire engine availability is not being met during the daytime. Like other fire services, the availability of our on-call staff has steadily declined over the last five years.
• We are experiencing increases in our attendance at a range of Emergency Special Service (ESS) incidents. Linked to this is a 38% increase in fatalities. We have seen increases in:
  • Effecting entry, Rescue/release, Assist other agencies, Animal rescue, Attempted suicide
  • This includes a 274% increase in complex needs incidents over three years.
  • We are seeing a year-on-year increase in our support of partner agencies.
• RTC attendance has increased compared to 20/21 (pandemic year). These are 5% down on 19/20 but otherwise slightly higher than all years since 2011.
• Increase in accidental vehicle fires with car fires being at a five year high.
• Derbyshire is home to nine Upper Tier COMAH  sites.

What we will do

• Continue to analyse and interpret our incident data to ensure our resources are located in the right place, available at the right time with the right skills.
• Ensure the most vulnerable people and places in areas outside the response standards are as safe and prepared as possible through targeted activities by our crews and Community Safety Officers (CSOs).
• Explore flexible ways of working and invest in technology that can improve the time it takes for us to reach incidents, to ensure we continue to meet our response standard.
• Invest in a new state of the art mobilising system.
• Explore innovative and alternative methods of on-call recruitment and retention; working with our people, our partners and the public to identify and remove prohibitive barriers, ensuring an inclusive and diverse workforce, truly representative of the communities we serve. (PO3)
• Ensure our crews receive the necessary training and equipment to deal with the broad range of incidents being attended.
• Our control operators and duty officers will continue to assess our deployment at the time of call.
• Work with our partner agencies to ensure requests for assistance are appropriate.
• Ensure our crews are equipped and trained to deal safely with RTCs and the risks and challenges presented with new vehicle technology.
• Positive interaction and engagement within the heart of our communities allows us to better understand community concerns, aspirations and expectations. We recognise the importance of local knowledge and established relationships, invaluable to achieving our duty, keeping people safe from fire and other emergencies. Combined with intelligent use of data, we will continue to identify and support those most at risk. (PO1)
• Ensure our crews have appropriate knowledge, skills and equipment to deal safely with all incidents attended on our transport infrastructure.
• Visit our COMAH sites annually and conduct exercises with our partners to test our operational preparedness.

Joint Control Room (SP1)

Emergency 999 calls are handled by highly trained fire control operators working in our joint Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire control room.

The 999 mobilising system used by our control operators is a tri-service system that is also used in Leicestershire. This tri-service system allows all three Services to mobilise fire crews to incidents across their county with the ability to call on the fire engine that can respond in the quickest time, irrespective of the county it is located in.

Sharing a control room not only ensures best value for money through reduced operating costs, but the tri-service mobilising system also ensures the most efficient and effective emergency response to 999 emergencies.

What is our data telling us?

• We have seen a 15% increase in the number of calls being handled by fire control over 3 years.
• During the time of increase we have seen 999 calls answered more quickly and the time taken to mobilise our resources reduce.

What we will do

• Continue to identify and invest in new opportunities to utilise digital technology and training for our fire control operators to ensure they are best equipped with the ambition to further reduce mobilisation time. (PO4)

Emerging Risks (SP1)

Emerging local, regional and national hazards and risks

• Climate
• Electric Vehicles
• Wind Farms
• Marauding Terrorist Attacks
• Renewable Energy
• Pandemic
• E-cigarettes
• Waste Fires

We have a duty to ensure we make provision to respond to incidents and emergencies not only in Derbyshire but other areas and for this we have mutual aid agreements.

We work with all UK fire and rescue services and the wider international fire and rescue sector to capture and share learning from incidents and ultimately improve performance and safety. We continuously review and adapt our procedures to ensure we are meeting requirements against  NOG which is a system for sharing good practice across the sector.

The effects of climatic change can be seen with heavier rainfall, and prolonged heatwave events. This has led to increased water related incidents, and more frequent and severe wildfire incidents. We know the skills our operational staff need will change as technological advances and new risks are recognised through the review of our data and this change will ultimately include the way we do our jobs. We will ensure our people are well equipped and trained to deal with new and emerging risks when they arise.

What is our data telling us?

• Our data is telling us we have had the highest level of outdoor fires for 10 years
• Our data has shown a shift in when our peak incidents occur. Prior to the pandemic this would be between 6pm and 8pm at night. Post pandemic we have seen a shift to between 5pm and 7pm
• Our data shows an increase in water related incidents both in rescues and flooding, peaking in July. Highest age group for rescues and casualties is 18-39, highest age group of fatalities is 60-79.
•  LRF have increased the risk level for ‘failure of the national electricity transmission system’ from medium/low:significant to medium:very high

What we will do

• Working closely in collaboration with landowners, the Peak District National Park and Police, our prevention teams will educate residents and visitors to the dangers of wildfires to reduce the number of outdoor fires.
• Identify opportunities to improve the quality and relevance of data used to inform our decisions and target the areas most at risk at the appropriate time. (PO5)
• Continually review our peak incident times and availability of resources.
• We have developed a water risk mitigation plan to address the emerging issues.
• Continue to equip, train and resource according to risks identified.
• Continue to support national water safety campaigns such as ‘Float to Live’ and chair the Derbyshire water safety partnership, educating our communities to reduce harm at water related incidents.
• Continue to play a key part in the LRF, working to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans to either prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident in Derbyshire.

Fleet and equipment (SP2)

We constantly monitor developments and opportunities for improvements in firefighting technologies and ensure our fleet and equipment is meeting our current and future needs. Learning and debriefs from incidents will be an important factor in informing how we best use our resources across the county.

Our fleet and equipment are located in areas across the county based on our assessment of risk, for example we have purchased new boats and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in response to the increase in water related incidents due to climate change.

What we will do

• Ensure that our Service is equipped with vehicles, PPE and equipment that enables us to respond effectively to operational incidents in a safe, timely and environmentally conscious manner. This will include the introduction of ‘clean cabs’ to ensure our firefighters are kept safe from the dangers of contaminated equipment post incident.
• Embrace new technologies to enhance fire fighter safety, operational effectiveness, business continuity and help reduce our impact on the environment. This will include the development of an Electrical Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and a phased approach to electrifying all vans and cars within the Service as part of the Service’s wider Net Zero Strategy.
• Strive to provide best value for money to the public through fair and robust procurement procedures, collaboration, partnership working and with due regard to the Service’s Medium Term Financial Strategy.
• Ensure that all our fleet, equipment and PPE provision considers and addresses the diverse needs of our employees through stakeholder engagement, consultation with the Services Support Networks and a robust Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA). (PO4)
• Focus on maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of our fleet and equipment to deliver the best possible service and outcomes to our communities; whilst observing the NFCC fleet management best practice.

Our building assets (SP4)

Where we locate our fire stations across the county is driven by our risks and the ability to respond quickly to incidents. We review where we locate our fire stations in what we call a ‘fire cover review’, this is to ensure we are still best placed to respond to the communities we serve.

Maximising the space available in our buildings is another way we are reducing our costs. We already share facilities with Derbyshire Constabulary (DC), East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and private sector organisations at several of our fire stations as well as our joint training centre and headquarters. Some of our fire stations have community rooms where local community groups can utilise the space for the benefit of those living in the communities of Derbyshire.

We have an Asset Management Plan (AMP) covering a five-year planning cycle which is reviewed and updated as required. The focus of our AMP is to ensure our buildings are used to fully support the Service needs in the most efficient and effective way and to provide innovative solutions to sustainability and energy efficiency, providing value for money to the communities of Derbyshire.

Fire & Police	Fire & EMAS	Fire, Police & EMAS	Fire & Private Sector	Fire, Police, EMAS and Private Sector
Chapel-en-le-Frith	Staveley	Shirebrook	Buxton	New Mills
Bakewell	Chesterfield	Ascot Drive
Ashbourne	Bolsover	Long Eaton
HQ	Heanor
Joint Training Centre	Swadlincote

What we will do

• Provide a modern, flexible, sustainable and resilient workplace where our partners can co-locate and work together to enhance the quality of service to our communities, through collaborative and effective working.
• Ensure all buildings are efficiently run, well maintained and legally compliant.
• Ensure building improvements promote sustainability and energy efficiency.
• Promote the effective use of land and buildings in order to support service needs.
• Maximise partnership/sharing opportunities and adapt the property portfolio in line with community risks and new operational requirements.
• Seek to reduce the environmental impact of our buildings, in line with the aims of the Net Zero and Sustainable Development Strategy.

Technology and data (SP6)

Technology and data underpin all the aims and objectives of Our Plan. Technology plays a vital role in enabling our Service to work effectively and efficiently. As technology develops and moves forward, we will use it to streamline processes, change our ways of working, reduce duplication and improve access to information.

The decisions we make are data driven. For example, we carry out a Service Delivery and Risk Review which provides details about many aspects of our Service, ensuring key decisions can be made based on accurate and up-to-date information.

We have a systems and information strategy which outlines our approach to using information technology and business intelligence with the aim of supporting and providing more effective and efficient services.

What we will do

• Continue to enable the Service through data and digital transformation.
• Continue to invest in and develop the Service’s technology, communications and data infrastructure.
• Introduce and maintain business systems that meet service requirements and provide value-for-money solutions.
• Together with our partner fire and rescue services implement an updated mobilising system, further enhancing our ability to mobilise the quickest fire engine, providing value for money, and ensuring an effective and efficient fire and rescue service.
• Ensure timely, relevant and accurate information is available to ensure the ongoing improvement of our Service and facilitate intelligence led decision making at all levels.
• Ensure that any gaps identified in the technology and data approved fire standards are addressed.
• Continue to maintain the security of our systems and data. Undertaking regular security assessments and testing. Achieve cyber essentials accreditation.
• Embed awareness about the threat of cyber-attack through ongoing training and exercises.
• Continue to invest in and develop the data and digital skills for all our workforce.
• Identify opportunities to utilise digital technology to create a more inclusive and accessible environment. (PO4)
• Collaborate with our neighbouring fire and rescue services and police colleagues to investigate opportunities to work together.

Partnership and collaboration (SP4)

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 places a duty on Police, Fire and Ambulance Services to collaborate. Collaboration should improve public safety, efficiency and effectiveness providing better outcomes, driving new initiatives to join up services and support the Service’s vision of ‘Making Derbyshire Safer Together.’

Partnership and collaborative working are key to achieving our ambitions, by helping us to use our resources more efficiently and achieve better outcomes. We understand the value partnerships and collaboration are adding and how they are making our communities safer. To help us do this and in accordance with the Core Code of Ethics, we have refreshed our partnership register and introduced a collaboration register which will ensure we record evidence and evaluation of effective partnership and collaborative working.

What we will do

• Continue to consider and review our collaboration activity to ensure we are providing value for money for the communities of Derbyshire.
• We will evaluate existing joint ventures to inform future appetite and decisions

We recognise the huge importance of working in partnership and collaboration and work with a range of partners, most notably Derbyshire Constabulary with whom we share a modern headquarters building and joint training centre and several operational buildings throughout Derbyshire, all of which are managed by a joint Head of Strategic Assets. Our fleet/transport teams co-locate and work with a joint fleet management system.

Our finances (SP4)

The Authority is funded through a combination of income from business rates, central government grants and through its share of council tax, called its precept. The Service also generates other smaller sources of income* through rents, fees and charges, investments, and contributions.

How we spend our money is scrutinised through The Authority and the Governance and Performance Working Group (GPWG) sub-committee to ensure we are providing value for money. External and internal audits are carried out to provide a further level of assurance for the communities of Derbyshire.

The net budget for 2022/23 was £40.5m. How this was spent is shown on the opposite page.

We aim to put every penny of our budget to the best use possible, thinking of innovative ways to provide the same high-level service but with less money. All the time trying to protect our frontline services and aligning our budget to risk.

What we will do

• Continue to review expenditure to ensure value for money.
• We will ensure the decisions we make are consulted on to allow everyone in our community to be heard. The potential impacts on all groups will be properly assessed and reported in a transparent way and financial information will be produced in an accessible and transparent way for everyone to see. (PO5)
• Continue to protect public safety through ‘invest to save’ initiatives.
• Ongoing commitment to collaborative working, delivering value for money for local people and taxpayers, through working together with our partners.
• Review ways of working, through shared approaches to estates, procurement and training, employment arrangements and mobilisation of fire engines.

We produce a Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) which is updated regularly to reflect emerging, local, regional, and national issues. For more information about our financial outlook please see our MTFP on our website.

How we are funded

£45.4m 2022/23

Source	Amount
Council tax	£26.2m
Business rates	£9.9m
Revenue Support Grant (RSG)	£4.4
Net budget	£40.5m
Income*	£(4.5)m
Contribution from reserves	£(0.4)m

What we spend

Item	Amount
Fleet and Equipment	£1.5m
Employee costs	£34.1m
Supplies and Services	£2.7m
Premises costs	£3.8m
Technology	£2.3m
Borrowing costs	£1.0m

How do we know how well we are doing? (SP5)

We will monitor and review the progress of our annual action plans for delivery against Our Plan through a number of ways, some internally driven and some external and from gap analysis against national reports and inspections.

Annual review of our risks

Our data management team will refresh the data in our risk review document.

Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Governance Statement

Provides the necessary accountability and transparency to the communities in Derbyshire that the Service is delivering against expectations and legislation.

Corporate Action Plans developed after national events or organisational learning

Internal bespoke system for recording action plans and progress monitored through Service Management Group and Strategic Leadership Team.

Employee Support Networks 

Our employees have established a number of network support groups, with the purpose of employees being able to meet and raise issues of common interest, share experiences, views and ideas, as well as consulting on Service’s policies and procedures and being able to feedback.

Fire Standards Board (FSB)

As part of the reform for Fire & Rescue Service, the FSB have established professional standards to help drive continuous improvement across the fire sector. These standards are a key component to continuous improvement.

Fit for the Future (FfF)

Fit for the Future (FfF) sets out a proposal for establishing a common picture and vision for the future of fire and rescue services in England. Its purpose is to identify what needs to change, using a sound evidence base and then identify how that change could be delivered, by supporting its implementation across all services.

Governance and Performance Working Group (GPWG) and The Authority

Progress against key areas of work is reported and scrutinised through these member-led groups.

Health and Safety Committee (HSC)

Chaired by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO). This quarterly meeting oversees the internal controls and performance targets put in place to measure how we are doing against the health and safety strategy. The meetings include a review of accident and near hit statistics and the results safety audits and deep dives. The annual review of health and safety is reported to the HSC.

HMICFRS Inspections

HMICFRS assess and report on how well Fire & Rescue Services prevent and protect against and respond to fires and other emergencies.

It also looks at how well the Service looks after its staff. They carry out inspections based on three pillars; Efficiency, Effectiveness and People and examine and report on critical national issues and themes in an annual State of Fire Report.

Independent Community Inclusion Board (ICIB)

The ICIB represents the various protected characteristics including but not limited to race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion/ belief, age and gender. (PO1)

Inclusion and Equality Forum (I & E)

The Forum acts as the scrutiny panel for Members and is pro-active in ensuring that inclusion is real throughout the Service. (PO2)

Key Performance Measures (KPM)

Reviewed and approved by The Authority each year.

Learning from incidents and other events to ensure continued improvement to Service Delivery

• Internal debrief process to share learning.
• JOL (Joint Organisational Learning) - JESIP (Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles)
• NOL (National Operational Learning) – (NFCC (National Fire Chiefs Council)

Our Year

Infographic document used to update communities of Derbyshire on the achievements of the previous year ‘Making Derbyshire Safer Together’

People Performance Board (PO5)

Chaired by the Director of Corporate Services. We will identify opportunities to improve the quality and relevance of data used to inform our decisions. (PO5)

Programme Board

Monitors progress against ‘Our Plan 2023-26’ projects and programmes of work, chaired by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer.

Service Delivery Performance Board

Monitors progress against KPMs, chaired by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer and reports to The Authority.

Have Your Say

Our Service values the views and opinions of its communities and invites you to have your say on what you think about Our Plan 2023-26 and our priorities for the next three years.

Please visit our website to answer a short survey to inform Our Plan.

Glossary

Term	Description
AFA	Automatic Fire Alarm
ALP	Aerial Ladder Platform
AMP	Assets Management Plan
BA	Breathing Apparatus
CBRN	Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear
COMAH	Control of Major Accident Hazard sites
CRMP	Community Risk Management Plan ‘Our Plan’
CSO	Community Safety Officer
DC	Derbyshire Constabulary
DCFO	Deputy Chief Fire Officer
DCLG	Department for Communities and Local Government
DFRS	Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service
EMAS	East Midlands Ambulance Service
ESS	Emergency Special Services
FOG	Fire Operations Group
FSB	Fire Standards Board
FSIO	Fire Safety Inspecting Officers
FSO	Fire Safety Order. Fire safety legislation the Authority has a duty to enforce
GPWG	Governance Performance Working Group
HDIMA	Hazardous Detection and Incident Management Advisors
HMICFRS	His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Service
HVP	High Volume Pump
ICIB	Independent Community Inclusion Board
I & E	Inclusion and Equality Forum
JESIP	Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles
JOL	Joint Organisational Learning
KPM	Key Performance Measures
LFRS	Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
LRF	Local Resilience Forum
MAGIC	Multi Agency Gold Incident Commander
MTFP	Medium Term Financial Plan
NFCC	National Fire Chiefs Council is the professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service
NFRS	Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
NHS	National Health Service
NILO	National Interagency Liaison Officer
NOG	National Operational Guidance
OCCST	On-Call Community Safety Team
On-call firefighters	On-call firefighters are members of the community who are paid to respond to emergencies. They do not staff the fire station 24 hours a day like full-time firefighters but respond using personal pagers
PESTEL	Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Economic, Legal – A process that examines the effect that events or influences from outside may have on the performance of a company or organisation
PPE	Personal Protective Equipment
RBIP	Risk Based Inspection Programme
RSI	Risk Stratification Index. Our method to identify a relative risk score for residential properties
RTC	Road Traffic Collision
SDA	Service Delivery Areas
SDRR	Service Delivery & Risk Review
SWC	Safe and Well Checks
The Authority	Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Authority
WFTA	Waste Fire Tactical Advisor
Wholetime Firefighters	Full time firefighters working a variety of shift systems
WRU	Water Rescue Unit
YDEP	Young Driver Education Programme
YES	Youth Engagement Scheme

Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service Butterley Hall
Ripley Derbyshire DE5 3RS

Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive
Gavin Tomlinson

T 01773 305305

www.derbys-fire.gov.uk