Click here to return to the contents page

Our corporate strategies provide direction and guidance to our organisation. They drive change and improvement and provide a clear picture of how we intend to achieve our objectives.

The People Strategy supports our staff to become the best they can be, creating a workforce that can deliver an efficient and effective service to our communities on behalf of the Fire Authority, and to manage all foreseeable Fire and Rescue related risks that could affect the people of Berkshire.

The People Strategy supports our workforce planning. We take a proactive approach to workforce planning, looking ahead and at previous trends to assess the overall health of the organisation. Pressures on the workforce remain due to the rising cost of living, pension agreements and staff turnover. We forecast staff turnover and look at skills mapping to ensure we have the right skills in the right places.

Our commitment to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff and volunteers extends beyond our legal obligation. We recognise the economic benefits of establishing a healthy workforce and working environment and that paying attention to wellbeing is morally the right thing to do.

The three core aims of our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Strategy are safe and healthy people, safe and healthy places, and safe and healthy processes. Each of our planned activities will contribute towards those aims, and our key objective, which is to continually improve the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff and reduce work related injuries, physical and mental ill health, which will in turn improve employee engagement and performance. We recognise that the health and wellbeing of our staff is of equal importance as their safety so we take an integrated and holistic approach to our activities.

Every RBFRS employee is expected to behave in a professional manner and to offer the highest standards of service to the public. The way we carry out our duties must promote and maintain public confidence and trust in our Service. Our Employee Code of Conduct provides a framework for the behaviour, decisions and actions of employees. It is based on the national Core Code of Ethics for Fire and Rescue Services in England and supports a consistent approach to ethics and behaviours across RBFRS.

The link between our People Strategy and Employee Code of Conduct is the RBFRS Behavioural Competency Framework (BCF). This is a tool which allows us to easily identify the behaviours that drive successful performance. The BCF builds on the NFCC Leadership Framework and defines how, as a team, we can work together to ensure that we deliver an outstanding service to the communities we serve. The BCF ensures we all understand the organisations goals and can identify ways to improve and embrace change.

The economic backdrop presents significant challenges for RBFA. The increased inflationary pressures are pushing up the cost of supplies and services. The Authority is one of the lowest precepting fire authorities in the country and those authorities in the lowest quartile of precepts face the greatest challenges in addressing immediate pressures. The Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) sets out how the Authority intends to manage its finances. It provides clarity on how RBFA is funded, how it makes efficiency savings though the efficiency plan, generates income and explains where we face budgetary pressure. The MTFP sets out the overall impact of funding and how RBFA will prudently manage its finances to ensure the best possible service to the public.

Our Strategic Asset Investment Framework (SAIF) sets out how we will maintain and renew the vital capital assets, necessary to support our service delivery. Our capital assets include:

• Our buildings, which includes 16 fire stations and our headquarters.
• Our fire appliances, equipment and support fleet.
• Our ICT infrastructure and systems.

Together, these assets represent a major capital investment. The efficiency of these assets can also have a significant impact on our revenue budget as older stations, fire appliances and ICT require additional maintenance and are often more expensive to run.

The Property Asset Management Strategy (PAMS) provides a statement of the overall approach to providing property to meet the needs of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority. It considers property as just one of the many corporate resources needed by the Service to deliver its essential emergency response to the people who live and work within the county of Berkshire. This Strategy identifies the extent of the property portfolio owned by the Authority, our approach to property management, what we have and its condition. Through the adoption of best practice and collaboration in everything we do, the Service seeks to make best use of the assets and investment available to achieve its objectives.

This strategy sets out how we design and implement an efficient, reliable and resilient, fit-for-purpose vehicle fleet that supports effective delivery of services across RBFRS. It enables the infrastructure we need to provide our technical and operational capability. This strategy also facilitates the design and implementation of delivery plans that support the CRMP, Corporate Plan, Strategic Commitments and Strategic Asset Investment Framework.

People and Information are the two key resources available to RBFRS. The ICT strategy exists to enable the provision of technology that enhances, amplifies and accelerates the capabilities of the organisation. It helps us to make access to information secure, fast, simple and intuitive. The ICT Strategy supports our staff to become the best public servants they can be, by providing tools that enable an efficient and effective service on behalf of the Fire Authority. It is critical in our management of all foreseeable fire and rescue related risks that could affect the people of Berkshire.

Read the next page.