33rd Meeting of the
Fire & Rescue Statistics User Group
held on
17th October 2011 1.30 pm in
Eland House, Victoria St, SW1
Ms Sheila Pantry |
Fire Information Group |
Ms Kirsty Bosley |
Scottish Government |
Mr Gavin Sayer |
Communities and Local Government |
Ms Sylvia Williams |
Communities and Local Government |
Mr Jon Gamble |
Communities and Local Government |
Mr Tony Paish |
World Centre for Fire Statistics |
Mr Steve Emery |
English Heritage |
Mr Mike Coull |
Historic Scotland |
Mr David Sibert |
Fire Brigades Union |
1. Chair’s Introduction
Kirsty Bosley welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. Apologies
Mr John Curtis |
Merseyside FRS |
Mr Rob Gazzard |
South East England Wild Fire Group |
Mr David Rae |
Fire Service College |
Mr Simon Bird |
Fire Protection Association |
Ms Lindsay Bennison |
Scottish Government |
Ms Claire Davis |
Welsh Assembly Government |
Mr Dennis Davis |
FOBFO |
Graeme Ellicott |
FIA |
Graham Simons |
FIA |
Simon Hunt |
3. Minutes of the 32nd Meeting
The minutes of the 32nd Meeting were accepted with minor amendments as an accurate record of the meeting.
4. Matters Arising
Gavin Sayer reported that he had passed on Tony Paish’s comments regarding the publication of the Economic Cost of Fire 2006 research to the relevant parties within DCLG.
Gavin Sayer agreed to provide FRS Northern Ireland contact details to Tony Paish.
Gavin Sayer agreed to send the link to Cost of Fire research to David Sibert.
5. European Fire Statistics
Gavin Sayer reported that the Greenstreet Berman report on European fire statistics was anticipated in the near future. He agreed to circulate the link to the FRSUG once it was published. Gavin has notified the ISO standard board with respect to the proposed new standard that has been circulated.
Action: Gavin to circulate link to European fire statistics report once it is available.
6. Statistics User Forum
Tony Paish explained the benefits of having the FRSUG officially represented at future meetings of the ONS-led Statistics User Forum. It was an opportunity for the group to become aware of developments of related statistical areas that could impact on fire statistics, e.g. the health statistics user net.
Action: Sheila Pantry and Gavin Sayer agreed to prepare a draft report on the work of the FRSUG for the Statistics User Network.
Action: The FRSUG to be proactive in seeking volunteers to attend the SUF. Jon Gamble to continue to circulate SUF meeting dates.
7. FRSUG Constitution – feedback
The Group discussed and agreed amendments to the Constitution.
Action: Gavin Sayer to prepare and circulate final version of the Constitution
8. LIMU Presentation
(deferred to a future meeting)
9. Fire Futures – statistics thread update
(cf. to next meeting)
10. Fire Service Reform in Scotland
Kirsty Bosley updated the Group about the developments concerning Fire Service reform in Scotland. A Bill would be presented to the Scottish Parliament by January 2012. An outline business case had been published in May 2011 which discussed the options for reform and a paper outlining more detail around the planned reforms was on the Scottish Government website as part of the current consultation process. The proposed changes were informed throughout by statistics and analysis.
Action: Kirsty Bosley to circulate the link to the reform proposals on the
Scottish Government website.
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/public-safety/fire-and-rescue-services/fire-reform
11. Fire Community Partnership
(cf. to next meeting)
Action: Jon Gamble to contact Dennis Davis to ask him to circulate a summary of their deliberations.
12. FRSUG website update
Sheila Pantry agreed to circulate the remit of the Fire Information Service. Sheila reminded the Group to send relevant news items, events, etc. of interest for the website.
13. Fire Statistics User Feedback
Sylvia Williams distributed an analysis of responses (to-date) of the Fire Statistics Feedback form. Several suggested new topics were being actively considered for inclusion in our future publications.
14. Any Other Business
Steve Emery mentioned his work with Sylvia Williams and Stefan Raue at Glasgow University geographically matching incident data with individual buildings.
Tony Paish advised the meeting that he would be unlikely to attend the next meeting for unavoidable circumstances.
15. Date of Next Meeting
Date of the next meeting: February 2012; Location – TBA