West Midlands Fire & Rescue Regional Management Board

Fire Fighters

Fire Service

Flood Rescue

Client Assigment: Development of Regional Peer Assessment Model

Duration: 3 Months for each assignment

Location: West Midlands

EiB Role:

Management Consultants and Trainers

Project Overview:

The aim of the West Midlands Regional Management Board is to deliver the co-ordinated organisation, direction and implementation of a portfolio of projects and activities that together achieve the outcomes and realise the benefits of a modernised and reformed fire and rescue service.  Following our successful approach to supporting local authorities and other public bodies in preparing for and managing inspection we were asked to develop a regional peer assessment programme on behalf of the 5 West Midlands Fire & Rescue Authorities in 2005.  The aim of the project was to train serving officers as peer review team members based on the highly successful West Midlands Peer Assessment and Improvement Scheme model and facilitate the peer review of each Authority in the lead up to the first round of CPA for Fire & Rescue.

Similarly in 2006 Excellence in Business were commissioned to support the WMRMB in preparing for and assessing the respective position of each authority against the new Operational Assessment of Service Delivery Framework following the Communities and Local Government toolkit which we had also developed.

Project Outcomes/Impact: 

1. All of the assessors trained were either very satisfied or satisfied with the training we provided;
2. Each FRA immediately improved their approach to communication, using their self-assessment documents as a tool to do this;
3. The use of case studies was proven as a critical success factor in preparing organisations for external inspection;
4. Key improvements were identified and actioned enabling each FRA to demonstrate their real capacity to improve when assessed by the Audit Commission and CLG inspectors/assessors;
5. Each FRA was awarded a first CPA rating of Good - the only region to be recognised as such;
6. We were able to replicate this model across the Country and supported a third of the English Fire & Rescue Authorities with peer review services - 14 of which were recognised as good and 2 at excellent;
7. Excellence in Business continue to support Fire and Rescue Authorities in their preparation for and follow up of CPA Direction of Travel, Use of Resources and Operational Assessment.

CONSULTANCY SERVICE LINKS:

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