This report looks at the £2 billion of public money spent on the fire service in England and encourages fire services to improve their value for money.
It acknowledges the improvements in performance that the service has delivered in recent years, contributing to a declining risk of fire nationally.
However it points to the £200 million of potential savings that the service could make without compromising safety, if the majority followed the example of the pioneering few. With substantial budget increases from government about to stop and pressure on effective use of public money mounting, those services that are lagging behind have no choice but to follow the example set by the best.
Data tool
The Microsoft Excel-based data tool is primarily designed for fire services to identify where they are placed in the comparative charts published in the national report on fire service efficiency, Rising to the challenge. Fire services can also compare where they are placed with the other services in their best value family groups.
The tool also enables fire services to examine additional relevant local and comparative data to help them ask questions about their service. The tool does not intend to provide a fully comprehensive dataset, but focuses on the data used in the national study.
We welcome feedback you may have on this data tool. If you have any comments or suggestions for improvement, please email nationalstudies@audit-commission.gov.uk.
Please note: This tool uses macros to run its analysis; on opening the tool, please select 'Enable Macros' in the dialog box.
Licence agreement
If you wish to use this tool for any purposes other than private study you will need a licence from the Audit Commission. We will licence free use to public sector bodies, auditors appointed under Section 3 (1) (b) or 3 (1) (c) of the Audit Commission Act 1998 (as amended) or bodies listed in Section 3 (7) Audit Commission Act 1998, provided the use is in exercise of their functions and duties.
Applications can be sent to us at: licence-requestforms@audit-commission.gov.uk.
Where third party copyright material is identified you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.