Archived decisions

COUNCIL MEETING, 29 SEPTEMBER, 2005

REPORT OF THE

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

FIRE AND RESCUE COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT (CPA) 2005

1. The Authority has received a `good' rating in the first Corporate Performance Assessment by the Audit Commission of fire and rescue authorities in England. It is one of the 48 Fire and Rescue Services in England who were assessed on how well they perform and are managed. Each was rated as either `excellent', `good', `fair', `weak' or `poor'. The assessment did not examine and determine how well fire authorities respond to emergencies.

2. The Authority was found to be performing particularly well in the following areas:

a. Clear and consistent leadership from both senior officers and Members


b. A clear long-standing commitment to preventing emergencies


c. Good at managing people


d. Robust future plans to continue to improve services for local communities

3. The Commission noted that the Authority were already working on two priority areas for improvement. Namely, internal communications and the engagement of staff and development of a culture of performance management and improvement. The CPA process showed that the 48 fire and rescue authorities in England are largely providing good services to local people. There were three times as many `good' or `excellent' authorities than there were `weak' or `poor'. Only two authorities achieved an `excellent' rating, and only two were assessed as `poor'. Hampshire was one of 19 authorities that achieved a `good' assessment.

4. The Authority has welcomed the results of the first assessment and congratulated the Chief Officer and all HFRS staff involved for their part in the result. Members have also been thanked by the Chairman for their valuable co-operation and support. As part of its improvement process, the Authority will be making a positive response to the detailed findings of the assessment.

M.F. CARTWRIGHT

Chairman

4IR1160905