ICT SERVICE PLAN

Head of Department: Tim Bevington/Graham Foster

Plan Start Date: 1 April 2016

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1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Service Plan for ICT.

The Service plan will outline the direction the department will take over the coming year to ensure continuous improvement and build on the substantial success of last year.

The Department plan links directly to the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP 13). All key activity identified in this plan contributes to our three strategic aims which are:

1. Protect our communities and reduce local risks2. Respond promptly and effectively to emergencies3. Develop and excellent organisation accountable to our communities

Individual activity within this plan also aligns to our nine corporate objectives Corporate Objectives

DEPARTMENT STRATEGYThe ICT department is a support function which exists to enable and assist departments of Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service to adopt and exploit information technologies, to define and refine business processes, maximise efficiency and effectiveness in pursuit of organisational objectives and give departments and the Service as a whole, the flexibility to deliver efficient and effective services while increasing staff satisfaction and output.

This coherent strategy enables future development of systems and infrastructure and a planned approach to investment in support of delivery of:

fast resilient networks reliable and appropriate equipment improves access to data for informed decision making, and drives change through future technology.

During 2016 the ICT department will be heavily involved in a number of high profile projects and programmes relating to Emergency Response 1 & 2 and the transition of ICT through the Blue Light Collaboration Programme. as well as supporting implementation of the national Emergency Services Network programme. A number of key projects will also be planned or require ICT delivery.

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KEY OBJECTIVES FOR 2016-17:

1. Ensure the new station build projects are delivered to plan 2. Explore further collaboration/shared services across partners3. Ensure transition of ICT in the BLC programmes runs to plan4. Provide System, Network and Infrastructure availability & resilience5. Continue to develop in-house software for fire specific applications6. Continue developing and improving on customer service function

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PESTELO and DRIVERS

This section should outline the key drivers and challenges which the plan seeks to address or that will have an impact upon delivery. These should include Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Legal, Environment/ethical and Organisational challenges – as well as any key Equality inclusion issues.

Please refer to the PESTELO document or contact the Policy and Executive Support Manager or Equality and Inclusion Officer for additional guidance related to this section:

POLITICAL:The 2015 General Election provided greater certainty about the political and financial agenda facing the UK, in the medium to long term. This includes a new four year financial settlement for the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and fire and rescue services – which is less severe than anticipated, but still challenging. The transfer of the Service to the Home Office might have an impact on the overall funding envelope, including the risk that the sector could face additional savings.

A policy priority for the new Conservative majority-Government is to increase the pace of transformation and collaboration among public bodies, particularly blue-light emergency services. From a prevention and partner perspective, this will also increase the scope of programmes such as Complex Dependency and prompt reviews of the Service’s estates and buildings.

While the outcomes of the Government’s consultation to enable closer working between the emergency services stops short of compulsion, various other levers to encourage organisations to explore collaboration options will be deployed including a recent decision to transfer responsibility for fire and rescue services from DCLG back to the Home Office.

The Home Office’s Fire Reform Programme will introduce new requirements on local services to be much more accountable, transparent and efficient, as well as reintroducing national standards around prevention, protection and response activities, as well as workforce and community engagement which will be assessed through the reintroduction of an independent inspectorate.

Locally, the Blue Light Collaboration programme has received political approval from the Fire Authority to proceed. This will present issues for partners and stakeholders, as well as significant internal issues for the operation of CFRS Departments as the plans to bring together support functions and move to Clemonds Hey progress. The current Police and Crime Commissioner (Conservative) is up for re-election in May 2016 – three other candidates have declared (Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP).

Devolution will also continue to have an impact on the structures and governance of fire and rescue services, with Greater Manchester and London providing the most radical models (unlikely to be replicated elsewhere). The confirmed Liverpool City Deal will not include fire and will

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not have an impact on Halton’s inclusion as part of Cheshire Fire Authority. The Cheshire devolution bid will also be mostly limited to economic activity, with public service transformation managed through other sub-regional bodies and agreements – although there is an ambition to create a Combined Authority.

Relationships and engagement with national, regional and local political stakeholders will also be critical in 2016-17 as the Service embarks upon its major consultation exercise for the proposals that will be included in the second Emergency Response Programme. All-out elections will take place in Warrington in May 2016, following a major boundary review, meaning that many issues in the borough will become more politicised. No elections are due to take place in Cheshire East or Cheshire West and Chester (CW&C). However, there are new Leaders and administrations in both these Councils, making broader sub-regional relationships less certain than there were before the election.

One year on from local elections, the Labour administration in CW&C retains the smallest of majorities (1 seat), creating a degree of political uncertainty around its policies to alter the council’s direction towards a more people-centred approach, while a new Leader, Cllr Rachel Bailey was recently elected in Cheshire East, following the resignation of Cllr Michael Jones.

LEGAL:The department has a number of legal commitments in relation to compliance to the Equality’s Act and ensuring that the Service complies with the Delivering Good Governance and National Frameworks to produce the Annual Statement of Assurance.

There will be new Emergency Services legislation, following the publication of the response to the consultation on enabling closer working between the emergency services. The Fire Reform Programme will introduce a requirement to develop national standards around prevention and community safety activities and reintroduce a statutory, independent inspection regime that Services will be measured against.

The Prevention and Protection teams have a number of legal and statutory commitments in relation to:

Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Civil Contingencies Act 2004 Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 Fire and Rescue Services (Emergencies) (England) Order 2007 Localism Act 2011 Fire and Rescue National Framework for England

EQUALITY and DIVERSITY:

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Industrial action has tested the culture and relationships within the organisation across the sector and introduced tensions between different parts of the workforce. The next year will see a period of rebuilding and re-engagement and there is expected to be a strong national focus on diversity, culture and values in the Service prompted by the release of the Thomas Review. This will look at diversity and recruitment, bullying, culture and pay and remuneration and the Service will want to be seen addressing those areas.

The Equality and Inclusion team will coordinate activities in 2016-17 to ensure that CFRS is in apposition to re-apply for the Excellent rating of the Equality Framework for Fire & Rescue Services - working with individuals from all service areas, in particular helping to collate evidence from all areas of the business.

Protected characteristics such as disabilities, particularly hidden disabilities such as mental health and dyslexia, will be focussed upon internally, as will issues around multiple identifies and continuing to build links with external communities. In line with the Equality Act 2010, equality impact assessments (equality analysis) will be coordinated and processes implemented across the team to ensure that they are completed and documented as appropriate.

Positive Action:

As concerns recruitment, and in particular firefighter recruitment, the Service is actively encouraging applications from diverse groups, such as women and members of the LGBT and BME communities, as part of an ongoing programme of positive action. All departments and crews shall support and/or facilitate positive action events together with HR and the Equality and Inclusion Team, as and when appropriate.

ENVIRONMENTAL:The department takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and aligns where practical to the Environmental Strategy 2014-20 with a target of 40% Carbon reduction by 2020.Planning Performance & Communications has a number of areas that will contribute to the corporate target in terms of :

Reducing the amount of paper used in the Service year on year Promoting energy efficient printers and not printing in colour Using recycled paper for corporate documents Ensuring all projects undertake a Environmental and Sustainability Impact Assessment More use of social media to obtain corporate information rather than printing out key messages

The following is a list of environmental considerations aligned to the Environmental Strategy published in 2014:1. Energy – Reduce & promote sustainability (use less, use better, switch off)2. Waste – Reduce & promote sustainability (implement waste hierarchy: REDUCE, REFUSE, RECYCLE)3. Fleet & Transport – Reduce & promote sustainability (reduction of journeys, car sharing, planned routes

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4. Water – Reduce & promote sustainability (use less, use better)Behaviour change – Reduce & promote sustainability (energy, carbon, water, mileage reduction)

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PERFORMANCE AND INTELLIGENCE

Performance indicators and intelligence

Intelligence is produced each quarter for service management (at PMG) and service delivery (at UPG). Performance Management Group reports on the corporate scorecard and focuses on the most important performance issues facing the service. Unitary Performance Groups centre on the unitary objectives and provide intelligence and recommendations for local areas of priority. There are also monthly, cross-departmental meetings at HQ to deliver intelligence led campaigns in accordance with a calendar of planned events.

The following are the corporate performance scorecard indicators for ICT:

Corporate Performance Scorecard Indicators:

Corporate Scorecard Indicator Target

Service availability of the ICT service to users during core working hours 99%

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2. DELIVERY PLAN

KEY ACTIONS LEAD OFFICER PRIORITY START DATE

DELIVERY DATE

OUTCOMES/TARGET

Deliver IRMP Projects Ensure the new station build projects are resourced from an ICT perspective and that all technical Infrastructure/and fit out requirements are in place for Go live for each fire station.

TBC High Jan 15 March 17

Emergency Services Network Communication Programme. ICT will support implementation locally and work in partnership with other NW FRS to implement regionally.

TBC High Jan 15 March 17

Blue Light Collaboration Programme Co-ordinate ICT transition programme – Phase 1Preparation - Physical Server Consolidation – P2VData Footprint Reduction / Streamline Storage (Backup and Replication Timeframes)

Graham Foster High April 16 March 17

System Development & Integration Continue to support and enhance FireCore (SSRIs, Hydrants, IMS, IRS, Gazetteer) for both Cheshire and Cumbria in accordance with business needs.

TBC High March 15 March 17

Upgrade aging FireCore Technologies to stay on top of the latest trends.

Note: specific technical details have been redacted under section 24, national security. As CFRS forms part of the nation’s critical national infrastructure in

TBC Low March 15 March 17

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KEY ACTIONS LEAD OFFICER PRIORITY START DATE

DELIVERY DATE

OUTCOMES/TARGET

case of emergencies it is necessary for us to ensure the integrity and security of our systems to allow us to meet our statutory obligations. It is our view that the disclosure of specific details of our systems has the significant potential to compromise our hardware and systems, and so hinder our operational response capabilities. With the current threat level in the UK being listed as Severe any interference with our operational effectiveness is likely to place lives at risk. Given this real risk we do not feel that there is a public interest in disclosing this information.

Develop and Deliver Corp Docs Phase 2. TBC Medium March 15 March 17

Redevelop the software in which Home Fire Safety inspections and Technical Fire Safety audits are recorded by replacing the CFRMIS system with a new module within FireCore System.

TBC Low March 15 March 17

System, Network and Infrastructure availability & resilience

Ensure all infrastructure & end user hardware is updated and replaced as part of the 5 Year Asset Management Replacement Programme

TBC Low April 15 March 17

Achieve compliance required codes of connections

Achieve PSN (Public Service Network) accreditation to allow CFRS to connect and improve sharing and collaboration with partner organisations

TBC Medium Jan 15 March 17

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KEY ACTIONS LEAD OFFICER PRIORITY START DATE

DELIVERY DATE

OUTCOMES/TARGET

Continue improving on customer service

Undertake staff satisfaction survey for ICT Melissa Butler Low March 16 2017-18

Listed below are the current departmental risks. Identify any new threats/barriers/opportunities that need to be managed to ensure achievement of departmental objectives. Record risks in the log below and populate on the Cheshire Planning System. For further guidance on the process and risk assessment and scoring contact your Departmental Risk Champion Darren Skirven or download the Risk Management Practioners Guide 2015 from Corp Docs or Project Toolbox in CPS

CPS REF Departmental Risk

Likelihood of risk

occurrence(1 to 5)

Impact on objective(1 to 5)

Calculate current risk

rating (Likelihood x

Impact)

Mitigation/Response Risk Owner

817Unauthorised Access to Comms Equipment on Station

1 2 2

Access to stations is controlled via swipe system centrally controlled by facilities and station personnel are required to challenge unauthorised people on station and protect access to all ICT equipment.

Head of ICT

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3. RISKS

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CPS REF Departmental Risk

Likelihood of risk

occurrence(1 to 5)

Impact on objective(1 to 5)

Calculate current risk

rating (Likelihood x

Impact)

Mitigation/Response Risk Owner

816Air Conditioning Failure in Main Comms Room Out of Hours

3 4 12

Temperature and humidity monitoring are in place in the room which emails both ICT management and facilities managers, however, neither are contracted to respond out of hours to reset the air conditioner or begin shutting servers down.

Head of ICT

814Unauthorised Changes by 3rd Party impacting on information assurance or system availability

2 3 6

All 3rd party access is granted on an individual basis and the 3rd party must state why they want access and what work / changes will be carried out.

Head of ICT

806Uncertainty of the future funding model for CFRS with the introduction of the outcome of the ESMCP

3 4 12 Monitoring through BMB Head of ICT

216 Malicious actions by CFRS employees which impact on information assurance or system availability

1 4 4 All logon activities to systems and PCs are logged to identify the user, date and time.

All data is backed up to

Head of ICT

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CPS REF Departmental Risk

Likelihood of risk

occurrence(1 to 5)

Impact on objective(1 to 5)

Calculate current risk

rating (Likelihood x

Impact)

Mitigation/Response Risk Owner

multiple locations to ensure recovery is possible in the event of data loss.

Access to systems and data is limited via user access controls, and while ICT staff could potentially access the raw data. Data could be recovered from backups

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4. INTERNAL DEPENDENCIES

List here any additional resources required from other internal departments which you may need to commission to deliver your departmental objectives:

Department For what When Workshops MDT Replacement. Logistics for fleet movement Select Date

Planning, Performance & Communications ICT Staff satisfaction Survey Select Date

Service Delivery

Review of on-call duty system if changing how we are alerting crews then there is likely to be an ICT impact Select Date

Prevention Cardiac Arrest Response – If appliances need to be

changed then ICT effort will be needed Select Date

Service Delivery

Crewe change of pump from whole-time to on-call – there is a 7 day ICT impact that hasn’t yet been included in the forecasting Select Date

5. RESOURCES and COSTS

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DEPARTMENTAL RESOURCES

StaffList of departmental resource Scale Numbers FTEHead of ICT Head of

Department 1

Software Development Manager PM1 1ICT Operations Manager SO2 1Service Desk Manager Scale 6 1Software Developer SO2 2ICT Tier 2 Analyst Scale 6 4ICT Tier 1 Analyst Scale 3 2

BUDGET COSTS

CAPITAL COST £

TOTAL COST £

REVENUE COST CENTRE COSTICT Operations 1400 541,300

ICT Communications 1405 740,300

ICT Software 1408 350,200

TOTAL COST £1,631,800

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6. WORKFORCE PLANNING

People – Workforce Planning Considerations

Workforce planning has a significant role in delivering improved services and helping to achieve priorities.

What is workforce planning? – It is a key planning tool for ensuring the right number of people with the right skills, experiences and competencies are in the right jobs, at the right time, at the right cost.

Why consider workforce planning? – It demonstrates a more planned approach and allows Managers to anticipate change rather than being surprised by events, as well as providing strategic methods for addressing present and anticipated workforce issues.

Please use this tool to record any workforce planning considerations 16-17 identified for your departmentSelect the guidance document to provide you with more detail in how to complete this tool but if you need further help please Contact your HR Business Partner in People and Development

Age Profile The age profile of the department is relatively young with all staff under the age of 50 and no FTE are eligible for retirement.

Skills DevelopmentA skills matrix for each role has been developed which informs the annual appraisal and training forecast for every member of staff. A number of training bids have been submitted for 2015/16 training which is supplemented by complementary training from Microsoft for ICT staff

Delivering Services

ICT support will be vital in the delivery of new stations as part of IRMP; in addition the service will be under going a review of Service Wide ICT systems which will require resources from ICT.

Nationally, there will be a requirement for ICT to be involved in the replacement of Airwave network and look to gain accreditation to Public Sector Network, and the structure proposed by the ICT VFM will be able to deliver against these demands.

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Workforce Planning Guidance

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Job Roles All job roles were redeveloped during the last value for money review and the new structure is working well. It is not expected for job roles to be re-evaluated during 15/16

TurnoverStaff turnover since the VFM review has been very low and is expected to remain low, however, it is also expected for some staff who wish to develop their career will inevitably leave if positions are not available for them to apply for with CFRS.

LegislationThe ESMCP project to replace the Airwave network will have an impact on the department and will require resource to feed into the project on a national level and it is expected the security levels of CFRS will need to be increased as a result of the project and may result in CFRS requiring PSN accreditation.

Recruitment All roles and job descriptions have been re-evaluated as part of the ICT VFM

Sickness AbsenceDuring 20xxx a total of 51.5 days were lost due to absence with an average of 4.29. The high number of absences were due to one long-term sickness. The individual is now back in full time work and has been supported by the Service to ensure the absence does not reoccur

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