Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Item 2

Performance Review Committee

21 April 2004

Best Value Review - Draft Terms of Reference for HFRS Vehicle Workshops

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Contact:

Alan House, Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Tel: 023 8064 4000 Ext 205

1

Summary - Aim and Scope

1.1

To identify opportunities and action plans for improving the way the Service provides vehicle maintenance and repair at its central workshops located at Winnall, Winchester.

2

Approach and Methodology

2.1

This functional area will be reviewed by a team comprising 10 core members.

· 3 x HFRA Member representatives

· Workshop's Manager

· Workshop's Chargehand

· Workshop's Technician

· 3 x User/customer representatives (one Wholetime, one Retained, one Officer)

· Representative from the Performance Review Department.

2.2

This team will be accountable to a Steering/Consulting Group comprising:

· Chairman of the Performance Review Committee

· Deputy Chief Fire Officer Alan House

· 2 x external challengers

· HFRS Fleet Manager

· A Trade Union representative

· Performance Review Manager

2.3

The Steering/Consulting Group's role will be to:

· Provide guidance and support to the review team to ensure consistency in approach/methodology;

· Provide a robust external and internal `challenge' to the way these support services are provided now and in the future;

· Identify common issues in each review as they emerge and recommend any key overarching actions to address them.

· Ensure that the review is completed on or before 31 August 2004.

2.4

As with all Best Value reviews, the aim will be to establish a process of continuous improvement in the way these services are provided and delivered. The review team will be expected to:

· Describe how the vehicle workshops are currently provided and the typical annual operating costs.

· Assess the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

· Challenge why and how the individual functions are being provided and what conclusions can be drawn for vehicle workshops as a whole.

· Consult with users/customers (and other stakeholders) and analyse satisfaction ratings being achieved.

· Compare how the various functions are performing across a range of relevant indicators.

· Consider the scope for exposing the vehicle workshops to competition and/or the potential for (further) collaboration with other partners where this might have a positive impact on service quality and cost.

· Make recommendations for improvements and develop, the for approval by the Performance Review Committee, a vehicle workshops improvement action plan with specific targets and a set of appropriate performance indicators against which the future delivery of the service will be monitored.

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.

Recommendation

That the Committee adopts the Terms of Reference

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

File ref: Secretarial/WP/Word/Corporate/HFRA: HFRA Perform Rev 21 4 2004 Vehicle Workshops AH/JMW/25/3/2004