Archived decisions
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Appendix 3
14 September 2005 Item 8
Regional Management Board Update - Regional Control Centre Project
What is the FiReControl project?
Currently there are 46 fire control rooms in England, based at local fire brigades. The FiReControl project is working to move from the existing system of control rooms into nine new amalgamated Regional Control Centres (RCCs).
Where did it come from?
In 1999, the government commissioned Mott MacDonald to carry out a review of fire control rooms, resulting in a report which was published in April 2000. Following this, in December 2002, Sir George Bain carried out a further independent review of the fire service, entitled `The Future of the Fire Service: Reducing Risk, Saving Lives'.
In 2003 the government published their White Paper `Our Fire and Rescue Service' and Mott MacDonald updated their report `The Future of Fire and Rescue Service Control Rooms in England and Wales'. The outcome has been the recommendation that the Fire and Rescue Service move to a network of Regional Control Centres.
Why is it happening?
The reasons given for the move to Regional Control Centres by the ODPM are as follows:
"1. The resilience argument
We are living in a changed environment and facing an increased level of threat post September 11th. We need to make sure, therefore that our fire controls are equipped to be able to handle any kind of large-scale incident ranging from environmental disaster to a terrorist attack. Our fire controls, since they are part of the country's Critical National Infrastructure, must fulfil a robust set of criteria to demonstrate that they meet the required security and resilience requirements which are now necessary. Each new RCC will therefore need to be security accredited.
2. Building on best practice
Existing control rooms operate in very different ways from each other. There is disparity in everything from brigade management standards, operational protocols, shift patterns, resource availability, conditions of service and financing. This therefore prevents our current fire controls from offering a common national response capability. Regional Control Centres will operate using the best practice we find in existing controls. They will use the same state-of-the-art technology, systems, processes and methods as each other. All Regional Control Centres will have the same organisational structure, and roles and responsibilities will be clearly defined to make sure that career development is a real possibility. This will be supported by a national training curriculum which will be coordinated on a national basis.
3. Fallback and networking
We need our Regional Control Centres to operate as a resilient network, which has the capacity to provide fallback support should any RCC cease to be operational. RCCs will require effective inter-working between brigades on a national scale to provide the necessary levels of service."
Who is involved?
A large national project team has been set up within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and is based in ODPM offices in Victoria, London. The team is a mixture of Civil Servants, consultants and seconded Fire and Rescue Service personnel.
However, there is a large commitment for work to be carried out within FRAs by existing personnel. This work includes;
· Produce, review and comment on products produced by the central team.
· Convergence - to deliver national standards for the RCC working practices. These standards include a wide variety of working practices and will have far reaching effects within individual FRAs. For example national callsigns for resources will be agreed and introduced. The change to the resource callsigns is just one of the `convergence' items ODPM have said will need to change prior to the RCC go-live.
· Gap analysis - FRS control rooms perform support functions that are not within the scope of the RCC. For example in HFRS the Control room manages the officer's duty system and leave which automatically updates the current Command and Control system with availability of officers for operational incidents. The RCC will not perform this function. HFRS will need to continue to manage officer availability to inform the RCC. FRS's in the South East have been working together to identify all GAP issues and still need to determine who will do the work which is out of scope for RCCs in the future.
The South East Project Office maintains a record of the time and expenses incurred within individual FRAs on RCC work.
When will it happen?
FiReControl: Regional Rollout Order and Timing - Published 10th November 2004
Background
This section describes the regional rollout order and timings for the FiReControl project. However in June the ODPM issued a statement that the award of contract for the Firelink national radio project will be delayed until October 2005. Subsequently FiReControl issued a statement saying that the FiReControl timetable will be effected by the delay to Firelink and also that FiReControl will not issue an updated timetable until after Firelink award of Contract. So, we know the current published timetable for FiReControl will slip but the extent of the delay will not be known until later this year. However, in an ODPM Q&A document published on 19 July 2005, the last question asks when will the first regional control go-live and the answer given is that transition will take place in 2008 and 2009, not 2006 as in the ODPM's published dates below.
· ODPM has determined the rollout order based on detailed information obtained from the regions, national programme requirements and interfaces with Firelink.
· Although this is the best solution from a national perspective, HFRS will need to consider implications around maintaining existing operational continuity.
· Any potential changes to timescales in the future are not expected to affect the order of regional rollout.
Rollout Order and Timing
· Dates given indicate the expected point at which calls are cutover from the existing control to the RCC for the first FRS to move into the RCC in that region.
· The nine regions will roll out in two trenches. At least two regions in Tranche One must start service at the same time. Regions in Tranche Two will be staggered, with full service expected by Quarter One 2009.
· The development of the RCC buildings will also be staggered in line with the rollout order.
Tranche One:
South West (Nov 2006)
North East (Nov 2006)
East Midlands (Nov 2006)
Tranche Two:
West Midlands (Q3 2007)
South East (Q4 2007)
North West (Q2/3 2008)
Yorkshire and Humberside (Q2/3 2008)
East of England (Q3 2008)
London (Q1 2009)
South East RCC Location:
The locations of seven of the new RCCs were announced on 10th August by Fire Minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP.
The locations announced are:
· North East: Belmont Business Park, Durham
· North West: Lingley Mere Business Park, Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire
· Yorkshire and Humberside: Paragon Business Village, Wakefield, West Yorkshire
· East of England: Cambridge Research Park
· East Midlands: Willow Farm Business Park, Castle Donington, Leicestershire
· West Midlands: Wolverhampton Business Park
· South West: Blackbrook Business Park, Taunton, Somerset.
London was not part of this accommodation procurement process.
The ODPM made the following statement about the location of the SE Regional Control:
"Discussions with developers in the SE are not at a stage where we are likely to be able to make an announcement at exactly the same time as the rest of the country. Instead, we expect that we will be able to make an announcement shortly after. We are sorry that this is the case and will work hard to ensure that staff have as much notice as possible about any future changes. We understand that this will be particularly difficult for staff in the SE."
The current Fire Authority position:
It has been the view of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority that any future mobilising arrangements must be capable of supporting the Hampshire IRMP in full and there is an expectation that the service provision of any future control room must be at least as efficient as is now experienced. However, in view of the high investment in the project, there is also an expectation that service provision will be considerably improved. The HFRS has written to the ODPM to express concerns over the published Outline Business Case, the lack of information regarding the future costs which will fall to the Authority and the outstanding issue of governance.
Concerns and issues:
Improving service delivery:
The ODPM maintains that regional controls will improve service delivery and build on best practice. Hampshire's existing Control answers 98% of emergency calls within 10 seconds. In the last quarter the average call handing time was 55 seconds and the service is constantly seeking to improve this. The performance standards for the RCC have not yet been agreed although the ODPM have said that service will be at least as good or better.
Additional costs incurred due to FiReControl/Firelink delay:
A recent risk assessment of HFRS Command and Control hardware and software highlighted some items which were at the end of their operational life within the current timescales of the Firelink and FiReControl projects. Any delays to the delivery of Firelink and FiReControl will have cost implications for HFRS. The current Firelink and FiReControl timescales are widely believed to be unachievable and as a result of the recent delay in awarding a Firelink Contract the ODPM have said that the FiReControl timescales will also be adjusted in the Autumn.
Governance and costs:
The governance of the Regional Control is still to be resolved with the ODPM preferring a lead Authority. We have no indication of the on-going running costs of the RCCs.
HR issues - maintaining service delivery:
Once the location of the SE RCC is known current Control personnel will begin to make decisions about their future. The current indication is that, regardless of location, personnel remain uncommitted to applying for jobs in the new RCC. As well as concerns over skill shortages in the RCC HFRS also has concerns regarding the crewing of the current Control until the RCC becomes operational. The regional HR leads are currently working on Retention and Redundancy packages, and you will note Hampshire's Policy endorsed by the HR Committee is for a single project completion bonus.
Secretarial/WP/HFRA/Corporate HFRA 14 9 05 RMB Update Appx 3 JB/CEM/6/9/05