Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item 14

Performance Review and Scrutiny Committee

15/03/200527 February 2009

National Audit Office Report - National New Dimension Programme

Report by Deputy Chief Officer Alan House

Contact: Deputy Chief Officer Alan House, 023 8062 6831, [email protected]

1

Background

In November 2008 the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report following their audit of the Government sponsored `New Dimension' programme.

The report examined how effectively the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) was delivering the programme and how the programme has enhanced and supported fire and rescue service capacity for preparing for and dealing with terrorist related or other large scale incidents.

The audit included a census of all Fire and Rescue Services in England, visits to six selected Fire and Rescue Services, CLG departmental interviews and document review, procurement case studies, financial management review and an examination of emergency planning.

2

Recommendation

2.1

The Committee notes the findings of the National Audit Office Report, and endorses the management and development of New Dimensions assets within Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

3

Summary of main findings of the NAO report

The report highlighted the Fire and Rescue Services capacity before and after the New Dimension programme as follows:

Before New Dimension programme

After New Dimension programme

Mass decontamination

No specialist equipment.

Some Fire and Rescue Services had dedicated hazardous material officers to manage emergencies involving hazardous substances.

73 incident response units carrying erectable decontamination showers for decontaminating up to 400 people per hour.

47 clothing (dis-robe and re-robe) modules.

17 detection, identification and monitoring vehicles (mobile labs).

Over 7000 trained firefighters.

206 specialist transport vehicles (prime movers).

Urban search and rescue

12 Fire and Rescue Services offering limited search and rescue capability; usually deployed to overseas disasters on behalf of UK Government on an ad hoc basis.

Teams consist of voluntary full time firefighters undertaking work outside of normal work hours.

20 fully trained urban search and rescue teams of 30 firefighters each.

Five standardised modules of high specification equipment, containing many hundreds of state of the art items.

New local and national training facilities.

Prime movers.

High volume pumps

One larger capacity pump based in Shropshire.

14 other Fire and Rescue Services have larger diameter hoses able to transport a high volume of water.

`Green Goddesses' have some pumping capacity, otherwise fire engines used.

46 larger capacity pumps capable of pumping seven times more water than normal fire engines.

46 hose boxes with larger diameter hoses and many kilometres of extra hose length.

Over 2000 trained firefighters.

Prime movers.

Command and control

Local control rooms.

Some Fire and Rescue Services have low tech mobile command units.

Local control rooms.

National Co-ordination Centre dedicated to New Dimension response based at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Nine enhanced command support vehicles with high tech capacity to be rolled out in late 2008, none of which have yet been delivered.

Overall, the National Audit Office has been critical of the New Dimension programme as managed by the CLG, highlighting in particular poor procurement practice, delayed deliveries due to poor project management and some over-ordering of assets. Criticism was also made of the extensive reliance on consultants to manage and deliver the programme resulting in high costs and no systematic evaluation of the performance of those consultants set against value for money principles.

Further comment was made in respect of the roll-out of vehicles and equipment, with late deliveries and over-ordering resulting in unnecessary additional costs.

The report makes comment on the training and the maintenance of skills in the use of the vehicles and equipment and the need to test response by regional/ national exercises followed by systematic dissemination of lessons learnt. The report recognises that maintaining skills in the use and deployment of New Dimension vehicles and equipment is expensive, particularly where retained firefighters are used.

4

National Audit Office Report recommendations

The recommendations contained in the report are as follows:

(1) The CLG needs to learn lessons from the procurement of new Dimension equipment:

(a) There has been significant risk to value for money from some poor programme, project and financial management with a consequent lack of financial discipline. Both avoidable costs and delays have been incurred.

· Programme management techniques should be embedded from the outset including clear objectives, a detailed implementation plan, proper whole life cost budgets, the use of milestones and sound monitoring arrangements.

· Project managers should be trained and well supported by suitably qualified financial staff. They should also carry out competitive tendering unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so. Both appropriate indicators for assessing performance in contracts and penalties for inadequate performance should also be specified.

· Strong financial control, such as supervision, authorisation and separation of duties controls, should be installed.

(b) Consultants have been more costly than expected and there is a lack of benchmarks for judging whether spending on their services has been good value for money.

· When employing consultants to work in programme and project management, evaluative mechanisms, such as Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators, should be established from the outset to assess performance and value for money.

(2) The CLG needs to maximise the operational effectiveness of the New Dimension programme:

(a) With Fire and Rescue Services facing increasing costs and competing demands for funding priorities, firefighters New Dimension skills may not be maintained to adequate standards.

· In carrying out its assurance work, the New Dimension National Team should assess training and crewing against the Department's model requirements regularly, and also work with the Fire Service College to better utilise New Dimension facilities, for example, by providing more flexibility in scheduling of courses.

· The paucity of large scale exercising should be addressed by developing a strategy for national and regional scale multi-agency practices exercises.

· To make the most of existing knowledge, the Department should consider ways, for example, by developing an interactive online portal, for sharing of lessons learned from exercises, use of equipment and other good practice.

(b) There are some weaknesses in operational arrangements which hamper the maximisation of New Dimension effectiveness. The main areas of concern are Command and Control and major emergency planning.

· Local commanders need to know what to deploy, how to deploy it and to understand their powers. The Department should address any uncertainties with regard to national co-ordination arrangements, by setting out clear frameworks with respective roles and responsibilities of the Fire and Rescue Service National Co-ordination Centre and the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Emergency Room, and make this widely available.

(c) The CLG should ensure response documents are fit for purpose.

· The CLG should systematically identify the gaps between actual and their desired Fire and Rescue Service capability. They should update agreed response documents in the light of the most recent assessments of risk and the experience of responding to actual incidents. Data available nationally regarding major incident risks should be translated into a practical form to inform Fire and Rescue Services planning.

· The CLG should also develop and promulgate standard operating procedures for Urban Search and Rescue, High Volume Pumps and Detection, Identification and Monitoring vehicles where these are not already in place.

5

Possible impacts on HFRS

5.1

Whilst no further engagement has taken place with Fire and Rescue Services since publication of the report, the possible impacts on HFRS are:

· Ongoing assessment of skills and competence of those who have received initial training in the use of assets.

· The likelihood of an increased emphasis on regional, national and multi agency exercises and the dissemination of lessons learned at regional or national exercises.

· The likelihood of revised national modelling to gauge and test national response levels and effectiveness.

· The likelihood of difficulties with the delivery of the Enhanced Command Support vehicles and delays in them being placed in service. (This is a satellite communication unit and the final vehicle to be issued under the current programme).

· The likelihood of a review of the National Co-ordination Centre (NCC) and its role. This may have impacts in terms of our procedures and communication links.

· The likelihood of revised guidance being given to regional emergency planning to improve regional risk awareness, including regional and national exercises.

· The likelihood of an audit(s) aimed at identifying/testing actual response capability and compliance with national expectations and modelling. Particular attention being paid to multi agency and cross border standard operating procedures.

· The likelihood of revised thinking about national training facilities and, in particular, the current high costs of the Fire Service College.

· The likelihood of assessments for those attending central training courses.

· Further consideration of a national register of non New Dimension assets for mutual aid mobilisation to national scale incidents. The CLG do not currently feel it is the responsibility of the NCC.

· Further audit of how we integrate New Dimension assets into our major incident and risk response planning.

6

Future actions by HFRS

6.1

Generally the HFRS have earned the reputation of giving excellent support to the New Dimension programme and have introduced many standard operating procedures that are recognised as best practice.

6.2

Having identified the possible impacts on HFRS, arising from the report we will use the report as a basis for reviewing how we are currently working within the New Dimension programme.

6.3

This work has been identified as part of the Medium Term Plan for the Strategic Projects and Specialist Response Directorate.

Background Information (Section 100D of Local Government Act 1972)

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:

New Dimension - Enhancing the Fire and Rescue Services' capacity to respond to terrorist and other large scale incidents - National Audit Office report to the House of Commons (29 October 2008)

Note: The list excludes: (1) published works; and (2) documents that disclose exempt or confidential information defined in the Act.