Performance assessment

The London Fire Brigade is regularly assessed by the Audit Commission.

The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone. It works in partnership to assess fire and rescue services in England and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for people.

With the move toward the citizens’ agenda and local area agreements, the way that the fire and rescue service is assessed will change in 2009. The Brigade is working with the Audit Commission and Communities and Local Government (CLG) to develop a way of assessing the performance of fire and rescue authorities and for improvement planning.

Our assessments

Choose from the following:

• 2006/07
• 2007/08
• 2008/09
• 2009 onwards

Assessing performance 2006/07

As part of the performance assessment in 2006/07, the CLG carried out an operational assessment of service delivery (OASD) which assessed how we planned, organised and delivered our operational service.

The OASD was in two parts. A self assessment was completed using a standardised template against five areas:

• risk analysis
• preventative and protection services
• operational preparedness
• call management
• incident support and emergency response

This was supported by a context statement outlining particular issues impacting on London. There was also a visit from a CLG review team which was undertaken over three days in November 2006.

The overall judgement we received was that we were performing strongly, the highest mark awarded. Read the Audit Commission’s summary in our final report- Operational Assessment of Service Delivery.

Assessing performance 2007/08

The fire and rescue performance framework for 2007/08 was made up of three elements:

• A use of resources assessment - assessing the Brigade across a broad range of financial issues and providing a scored assessment including whether we are providing value for money.
• An assessment of improvement, or deterioration, in performance measured through a scored direction of travel assessment. This draws together other assessments on the Brigade.
• A scored service assessment comprising the OASD and a performance information element.

Each element is scored on a 1-4 scale. The three elements are drawn together into a ‘scorecard’ which shows the fire and rescue authority’s comprehensive performance assessment (CPA) category and the outcome of the three assessments.

The 2007 assessment of the Brigade resulted in an overall judgement of improving strongly, made up of a scorecard showing:

• direction of travel (DoT): 4 (improving strongly)
• use of resources (UoR): 3 (performing well)
• service assessment: 3 (performing well)

More information can be found on the Audit Commission’s website - Fire and rescue performance assessment.

Assessing performance 2008/09

The 2008 service assessment will remain largely unchanged from 2007 - see above. The Audit Commission will not be making any changes to this year’s assessment process but will include the most up-to-date data available for each best value performance indicator.

Assessing performance 2009 onwards

The assessment regime is changing, with the move to the comprehensive area assessment (CAA) which will be introduced in 2009. The CAA will provide the first holistic independent assessment of the prospects for local area and the quality of life for people living there.

It will put the experience of citizens, people who use services and local tax payers at the centre of the new local assessment framework, with a particular focus on the needs of those whose circumstances make them vulnerable. It will recognise the importance of effective local partnership working, the enhanced role of sustainable community strategies and local area agreements.

Discussions continue on how the fire and rescue service will be assessed. The current view is that the assessment will have three main strands: service assessment, organisational assessment and area assessment.

Service assessment will be conducted by the fire and rescue service, and will include an assessment along the lines of the OASD which took place in 2006/07.

The organisational and area assessments are both parts of the CAA which will be conducted by the Audit Commission.

The organisational assessment will include an assessment on how resources are being used and how performance is managed by the fire and rescue authority.

The area assessment will assess how organisations within a local community work together to benefit the citizens of that area. In London, each borough will represent an area.

The outcomes of the assessment process will trigger improvement and support activity.

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