Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Item 5

Performance Review Committee

4 February 2004

National Public Opinion Survey:

Report of Findings for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Contact:

Philip Webb, Performance Review Manager

Tel: 023 8064 4000 Ext 3951

1

Introduction

1.1

The Local Government Act 1999 Section 3(2) requires local authorities to consult representatives of those liable to tax, precept or levy to establish satisfaction with the levels of service they provide.

1.2

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority commissioned Opinion Research Services (ORS) to conduct the survey. ORS conducted the previous survey in 2000.

1.3

The survey was sent to 4,000 randomly selected Hampshire households and looked at a variety of aspects associated with the Service and the influence on householders. In line with ODPM guidance, two reminders were sent to each non-respondent. A total of 1,674 questionnaires were returned yielding a 42% response rate (described as excellent by ORS). The postal returns were supplemented by an additional 44 forms completed online.

1.4

The findings of this survey will be a useful supplement to the public consultation exercises carried out as part of the Integrated Risk Management Planning process.

1.5

This survey was conducted within months of the recent industrial action in the fire and rescue service and this may have had an impact on public perceptions of the service and overall satisfaction levels.

1.6

Where the 2003 survey questions are consistent with those asked in the 2000 survey, comparisons are included.

1.7

This same survey was carried out by ORS on behalf of 29 other fire and rescue authorities. Where summary data is available HFRA's results will be compared with them.

1.8

The 2003 Public Opinion Survey questionnaire and full report are attached as Appendix A.

2

Survey Highlights

2.1

Satisfaction with Fire Authority

66% of respondents were very or fairly satisfied with the way the Authority performs compared with 72% in 2000. A further 31% were neither satisfied or dissatisfied (27% in 2000). Only 3% recorded themselves as dissatisfied. Those `very satisfied' dropped from 47% to 27% and this is likely to be due to the impact of industrial action in 2002/03.

2.2

Response Times

45% of respondents felt that a fire engine should attend urban incidents within 9 minutes, (Note: IRMP target times are for 80% of all incidents attended within 8 minutes) with less than half expecting the same response to rural incidents; this indicated a welcome understanding of the extra difficulties in attending rural incidents.

2.3

Value for Money

96% of respondents felt that the Authority provided good value for money although the 43% feeling the Authority offered `very good' value for money dropped from the Year 2000 total of 61%. Those feeling the Authority offered fairly good value for money increased to 53% from the 2000 total of 36%. Again, it is likely that the recent industrial action played a part in the change of public perception.

2.4

At Risk From Fire

Age was an important factor in the degree to which people felt themselves at risk. 62% of older respondents (60+) felt they were not at risk from fire as opposed to only 8% of 18-24 year olds. Renting tenants felt more at risk than owner occupiers.

2.5

Smoke Detectors

An average of 9 out of 10 households reported having a smoke detector and over two thirds had them on every level of their home. Interestingly, 23% of private tenants had no detectors compared to 6% of Council or Housing Association tenants, but disturbingly 9% of all homes still lack any form of smoke alarm.

2.6

Home Fire Safety Advice

73% of respondents would welcome home fire safety advice, and of these 85% said they would prefer the Fire and Rescue Service to provide such advice.

2.7

Public Priorities

Given a choice of three possible priorities, Hampshire residents demonstrated clearly that they felt keeping costs down was their third choice behind speed of response to incidents, and prevention of fires.

2.8

Targeting Fire Prevention

92% of respondents agreed that the Fire Service should target more of its existing resources to providing better fire prevention advice and education.

2.9

Recruitment of Women / Minority Groups

A slight majority of respondents (52%) considered it important to recruit ethnic minorities but a slight minority (49%) felt it important to recruit women. Female respondents believed the recruitment of such groups was more important than their male counterparts.

3

European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998

3.1

The proposals within this report are compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 and considered in the light of the Race Relations (amendment) Act 2000.

Recommendations

That the report be noted.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report.

None

NB The list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act