Performance Measures for the Irish Fire Services

1. Performance Measures for the Irish Fire Services Presentation to Chief Fire Officers Conference - May 2005 by Finian Joyce, Chief Fire Officer, Leitrim County Council B.E., M.B.A., HDip, Chartered Engineer

2. Farrell Grant Sparks – Review of Fire Safety and Fire Services in Ireland 2002 • Performance Management. • Paragraph 2.74 “There are few performance indicators, if any, for the Irish Fire Services. In recent times with the advent of information technology, different aspects of the operational service are beginning to be examined……….It is proposed over a period of time to consolidate this information to establishing operational norms against which the efficiency of the service can be measured”.

3. Introduction • “It is essential that modern and appropriate performance and accountability systems are in place, at individual, team and organisational levels to ensure that the full contribution of all those who work in the public service can be realised and to ensure that resources are used effectively in line with defined national priorities. Robust performance and financial management systems are essential in this regard”. Sustaining Progress (2003).

4. DOEHLG Performance Indicators • Better Local Government (1996) • Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (2000) • Customer Service Group established (May 2003) • Report ‘Delivering Value for People: Service Indicators for the Local Authorities” January 2004 • 42 National local authority service indicators • Independent Assessment panel (LGMSB) to report annually • 3 national fire service indicators included

5. Existing Irish Fire Service National Performance Indicators • 2 operational, 1 fire safety • E3 – Average mobilising time(Output) • Time from alert to mobile to incident • E4 – Turnout times(Output) • Time from alert to in attendance • <=10 minutes • >10 and <=20 minutes • >20 minutes • E5 – Number of fire safety certificate applications received / processed annually(Output)

6. Results (based on returns of 19 fire authorities) • E3 – Mobilisation times • Range from 3.94 to 6.34 minutes • E4 – Turnout times • <=10 Range from 30% to 71% • >10 and <=20 Range from 79% to 97% • >20 Range from 3% to 21% • E5 – Fire safety certs received annually • Range from 59 to 750 • Fire safety certs processed annually • Range from 68 to 715

7. Comments on Existing Fire Performance Measures • Too few measures and no consultation with end users! • Measures do not relate to any national strategy • No context given • Not comparable from one authority to another • All output measures and do not tell managers how they were achieved • No efficiency or effectiveness measures included • Fires only taken into consideration in calculating E3 & E4? • No reward system or incentives aligned to performance measures

8. Performance Measures in Context • E5 – Fire safety certs received • Assumption - apply comparison per 10,000 population • Indicator then ranges from 13.9 to 29.5 / 10,000 population • Fire safety certs processed • Assumption – apply comparison per total number of fire officers employed by fire authority • Indicator ranges then from 21.25 to 63.13 per fire authority • Better indicators for comparison purposes

9. UK - National Performance Indicators 7 in total BV 142 Number of calls to fire attended • BV 143 Number of deaths and injuries • BV 144 Accidental dwelling fires confined to room of origin • BV 146 Number of malicious false alarms • BV 149 False alarms caused by automatic fire detection apparatus • BV 150 Expenditure per head of population • BV 206 Number of deliberate fires • Local performance measures by each fire authority under Best Value Plans

10. Likely Impact of Current Performance Measures? • Tunnel vision • Suboptimisation • Myopia • Convergence • Ossification • Gaming • Misrepresentation

11. So How Can We Improve the Performance Measures for the Fire Service?

12. Reasons for Measuring Performance • Ensure customer requirements are being met (Customer service) • Justify the use of resources (efficiency) • Provide visibility and a mechanism for people to monitor their own performance levels (accountability) • Highlight quality problems (quality control) • Provide feedback for further improvement (continuous improvement) • Provide standards for establishing comparisons (benchmarking)

13. Role of Performance Indicators • Satisfy two Control schemes • External • Internal • Conclusion • Emphasis at present is on ‘external’ rather than ‘internal’ control. • We are moving to the ‘internal’ with the implementation of the PMDS system

14. Types of Performance Measures • Strategic – are we doing what needs to be done? • Effectiveness – are we doing what we set out to do? • Efficiency– how efficiently do we use resources to produce our outputs? • Activity / outputs – how busy are we? • Inputs - what resources are being used to deliver a service?

15. Types of Performance Measures • Inputs – what resources are being used to deliver a service? • Staffing / Costs / Equipment / Supplies / Other tangible goods / Commodities • Fire service examples • Firefighters / Officers per thousand population • Number and type of fire appliances used • Cost of equipment used • Number of employee hours worked • Equipment / supplies on an appliance • Number of personnel assigned to an appliance • Number of emergency telephone calls received per incident

16. Types of Performance Measures • Outputs – what is our level of activity? • Important when it is desirable to measure efficiency • Measure whether something is being done right • Fire service examples • Number of emergencies responded to • Number of licences issued / inspections carried out • Number of appliances dispatched to an incident • Number of people trained / welfare issues managed • Number of complaints / queries answered • Number of public education events held • Number of personnel required to complete a job

17. Types of Performance Measures • Outcomes – what has changed for our customers? • Measure the effectiveness / quality of a service • Describe whether the programme goal is being achieved or not • Measure whether the right thing is being done • Intermediate or end outcome • Fire service examples • Number of fires kept to the room of origin after the arrival of the fire brigade • Reduction in the cost of fire loss in a fire authority

18. Policy Programme Policy-makers Directorate Section Individual Inform policy decision Improve programme performance Make staffing and operational decisions Articulate individual contribution to goals and objectives Outcome Measure Intermediate Outcome Output Measure Performance Expectation e.g. Reduction in number or reported fire fatalities Number of fire safety legislation breaches Number of owners trained in fire safety Number of fire safety seminars conducted Hierarchy of Performance Measures Outcomes relate to policy objectives Outputs relate to work programme objectives

19. Performance Measures – Quality and Quantity Quantity Quality Output Outcome

20. Example of Fire Performance Quality / Quantity Measures Quantity Quality Output Outcome

21. Types of Performance Measures • Efficiency – how are our resources being used? • Indicates the amount of work performed in relation to the amount of resources used • = Outputs or Outcomes / Inputs • Cost • Productivity - staff • Work Processes

22. Types of Performance Measures • Cost efficiency - expressed as a unit-cost ratio • e.g. ‘cost per application processed’ or as ‘units produced per €1000’ • Productivity – refers to staff time as opposed to cost • e.g. units produced per labour hour, forms processed per hour, number of customers receivng service per member of staff • Process efficiency – looks at work processes • e.g. average number of days to process an application, average customer wait time, number of rings to respond to a telephone call

23. Types of Performance Measures • Effectiveness – are the right things being done and to what extent are the expectations of our customers / stakeholders being met? • A measure of the quality of the service - reliability, accuracy, competence, courtesy, responsiveness and completeness • Depends on having clearly stated goals and objectives • Cost effectiveness measures - what are we achieving for the money spent? • Combine elements of efficiency and outcomes in a single indicator • e.g. cost per fire recruit passing probation, • cost per percent reduction in chimney fires • cost per local authority housing fire incidents not reoccurring

24. Types of Performance Measures • Equity – addresses the notion of providing services to the public without favouritism or bias • Not always possible to provide exactly the same service to everyone in the community because resources lag behind want, need and requirements • Provide a method of examining the needs of citizens • Some hierarchy of needs coupled with a rational approach to service provision must be used to allocate resources based on equity • Many decisions to provide services are politically driven

25. Characteristics of Good Performance Measures • Appropriate • Accurate • Comprehensive / Consistent / Reliable • Cost-effective • Relevant / Useful • Timely • Verifiable • Valid Source: Management Information Framework – Performance Indicators A Users Guide published by the Department of Finance 2001

26. Mission Customers & Stakeholders Customers/Citizens Objective Measure Target Initiative Organisation Capacity Internal Business Process Financial / Budget Measure Target Initiative Objective Budget Measure Target Objective Internal Business Processes Learning & Growth Objective Measure Target Initiative Need a Balanced Scorecard Approach Strategy Source: Kaplan and Norton 1993

27. Balanced Scorecard Performance Measures Measurement Categories Achievement of Strategic Results Business Impacts Customer/ Stakeholder Internal Business Processes Financial / Budget Organization Capacity Changes in Process Efficiency Return on Investment (Work Programme /Service Effectiveness) Or Input Measures (Resource Adequacy) Changes in Employee Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Behavior, and Abilities Service Efficiency / Effectiveness Measures Infrastructure Capacity Gain Measures

28. Vision: Be The Best Local Authority Fire Service Step Eight Align The Corporate View With Department And Local Units Strategy Objectives Measures Authority Fire Department Team / Individual

29. Strategic Planning Model for Fire Authorities What is our legislated mandate? Enabling Legislation Legislated public purpose; legislated functions Mission Statement of fire authority’s purpose What is the public purpose of our mandate? What are we supposed to accomplish? Internal / External Assessment Analysis of environment and capabilities Policy statements of public purpose; the ends to be achieved Strategic Goals Specific outcomes that measure progress towards these goals Outcome Objectives Methods for achieving objectives How are we going to accomplish it? Programme Strategies Indicators of success in providing services How do we know if we are successful? Performance Measures

30. Performance Measures for the fire service Customers / Stakeholders Financial / Budget Internal Business Processes Organisation Capacity Increase Satisfaction Lower Waiting Time Reduced Costs Resource Adequacy Reduce Procurement Steps Improve process efficiency Lower Processing Time Increase Infrastructure or Network Capacity Improve Knowledge / Skills

31. Fire Service Example Serve Customer by Helping to Improve Fire Safety in their Lives and Community Mission Customer Driven; Providing Quality Services Countywide Vision Citizen Needs & Desired Outcomes S1: Increase VFM by providing more cost-effective services S2: Reduce fire fatalities through community partnerships S1 S2 Strategy S1-01: Optimize organisation processes (Internal) S1-02: Identify service & resource gaps (Employee) S1-03: Survey customers (Customer) O1 O2 O3 Objectives S1-O1-M1: % Processed in 2 months S1-O2-M1: Cost per unit service S1-03-M1: Customer satisfaction rating M 1 M 1 M 1 Measures T 1 T 1 T 1 S1-O1-M1-T1: % Processed = 80% in 2004 S1-02-M1-T1: 10% improvement above baseline S1-03-M1-T1: 90% in 2004 Targets S1-I1: Business Process Reengineering S1-I2: Communications plan I 2 I 1 Initiatives

32. ‘Pitfalls’ to Avoid • Performance measurement systems must be set within a particular context • Lack of commitment from leaders • Employees must have the capacity to develop performance measures

33. ‘Pitfalls’ to Avoid • Performance measures must not be used as punishment • Stakeholder feedback required • Link between performance measures and resource allocation • Avoid bureaucratic uniformity

34. Next Steps • High level user group required with representation from all levels in the fire service to consider meaningful performance measures for the fire services in Ireland • Greater consultation required with end users • Performance measures should be linked to strategic objectives (national / local) • A ‘balanced’ set of Performance Measures should be produced as an outcome of Change Management Project at national level

35. Next Steps • ‘Balanced’ measures should also be linked to Corporate Plan / Customer Service Action Plan / Annual Service Plan at fire authority level • Need direct feedback mechanism to Customer Working Group and Change Management Group at national level • Performance measures should be established on a statutory basis • Audit of performance measures • More reliable measurement systems • Benchmarking and best practice