Service performance

How we performed against our standards in 2006/7

1.  To work in partnership with other emergency response organisations locally, regionally, and nationally.

2006/7 saw increased partnership working within the Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum (BLLRF)| (opens in new window).Key projects that emerged were the shared website, and initial work on the training programme.

2.  To make effective use of resources.

The focus on efficiencies and Value for Money increased this year as part of the Making Bedfordshire Thrive priorities for Bedfordshire County Council. Key projects included:

• Electronically distributing publications, including newsletters and emergency plans
• Training funded by BLLRF and learning shared by the member organisations of the Forum
• Increasing the GIS capabilities for assisting vulnerable people in flood-prone areas
• Auto-distributing key weather/flooding messages to Council services
• Joint purchases with our partners – sandbags, handheld radios, and refurbishing a storage facility

3.  To promote emergency planning awareness to customers and partners.

The team has proactively raised awareness of emergency planning issues during the year. This included:

• parish presentations
• attendance at the Bedford River Festival
• extended distribution of the Resilience Review
• staff training development for Emergency Centre Managers and the Emergency Support Team

4.  To support BLLRF in the creation/modification of emergency plans and procedures to mitigate the effects of an emergency.

Several emergency plans were reissued this year, including the Flood plan. The BLLRF Register of Plans was redesigned and the Plan Development Guide was put into place to audit the progress of plans.

5.  To train key staff how to effectively participate in emergency management and ensure competence of key role players.

We ran several foundation courses on emergency planning and recruited members of the Emergency Support Team and Emergency Centre managers.  

Work is being done to establish a more effective and comprehensive training programme in summer 2007/8.

6.  To exercise plans to ensure the effectiveness of our emergency response, as and when they are required.

• 1 internal exercise
• 2 multi-agency exercises 
• 2 training sessions

The Civil Contingencies Unit participated in 3 internal exercises, 7 multi-agency exercises and 6 training sessions.

7.  To provide an out-of-hours emergency activation service 365 days a year.

The Civil Contingencies Unit continued to participate in the Duty Emergency Planning Rota during 2006/7.

8.  To provide advice on the management of key emergencies to key stakeholders.

Advice was provided to stakeholders for 11 different events in 2006/7. Flooding was the most prominent local issue.  

9.  To ensure that the Council’s Emergency Operations Centre is adequately equipped for a major emergency.

Exercise Boot Up, an internal exercise testing our Emergency Operations Centre procedures, ran three times in 2006/7.  The exercise saw continual improvement in set-up times.  Staff were also trained in the supportive Message Handling role in Emergency Support Team.

10.  To ensure that the County Council is able to assist the vulnerable in Bedfordshire.

Regionally, work is being done to compile the location of vulnerable people lists. Bedfordshire County Council is working with our utilities partners to raise awareness for vulnerable customers. In addition work done on the GIS system will allow the Council to provide a rapid response to known vulnerable people in a flooding incident.

11.  To distribute 75% of minutes to our partners within 5 working days.

We achieved a delivery of 66%, missing the target by 1 meeting.  We have renewed this target in 2007/8.  Distribution times have improved and so far during 2007/8 we have achieved this 75% of the time.

12.  To achieve 80% attendance at our Local Resilience Forum meetings.

This target was met. We achieved an attendance rate of 86%.

14.      To complete 90% of plans according to the agreed planning framework.

 This standard was met. The Plan Development and Review Guide was implemented in January 2007.

15. To achieve a satisfaction rate of 75% or higher from annual customer satisfaction surveys.

This target was met. We achieved an overall satisfaction rate of 86%.

16. We will answer 80% of your phone calls within 3 rings.

This target was met. We achieved an overall target success rate of 97%.