Data Management

A fire and rescue service must:

1. have a strategic approach to data that recognises data as a key asset to inform decision making;
2. have a data governance framework or equivalent in place, and policies and procedures that includes, but is not limited to the following content:
   1. collection;
   2. management (data and records);
   3. storage and retrieval;
   4. disposal;
   5. security;
   6. protection;
   7. publishing;
   8. ethics;
   9. sharing (internally and externally);
   10. quality assurance; and
   11. audit;
3. understand its data-related organisational risks and put in place controls to manage them;
4. use national guidance where appropriate;
5. designate a senior leader who is responsible and accountable for developing and enacting the strategic approach to data management within the service;
6. have a nominated data owner accountable for the quality, integrity, and protection of each designated dataset;
7. collaborate and partner with Others , as and when appropriate;
8. create a level of data literacy across the organisation, to enable employees to input, access, and use data proportionate to their role with confidence;
9. provide tools and systems to enable employees to use, collect, interpret and analyse data, converting that data into meaningful business intelligence to allow it to:
   1. make data available in an accessible format to those who need it, both internally and externally;
   2. inform the development and maintenance of its community risk management plan;
   3. remain compliant with legislation and recognised data standards for the public sector;
   4. provide national reporting and data submissions in line with government requirements and national data definitions, as and when they become available;
   5. adhere to the NFCC data entry conventions;
   6. operate and use its resources effectively;
   7. identify improvements to existing practices or to inform new ways of working;
   8. inform effective business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements and processes; and
   9. identify trends, emerging risks, issues or intelligence that might impact service delivery or the public directly and feed them into local, regional and national organisational learning arrangements and systems;
10. recruit, train, develop and/or maintain a competent and technical data capability to enable it to manage, interpret, analyse and exploit data, in line with its governance framework by:
    1. ensuring those that provide the data capability have relevant skills, knowledge and experience in line with NFCC and other data related competency frameworks;
    2. embedding the appropriate ethical codes of practice and conduct into local policies, procedures, tailored guidance, and training materials; and
    3. monitoring and managing the competence of those who work with data and who are directly employed by the service, and support their continued professional development.

A fire and rescue service should:

11. present data and intelligence in a way that is meaningful for the intended audience;
12. establish and manage data sharing arrangements or agreements where beneficial to the community, to the service, and Others ;
13. unlock improved and accessible ways of working and embrace innovation by:
    1. maximising opportunities gained from supporting the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) network by sharing learning and experiences, and attending events;
    2. identifying and accessing data outside of the service, which may enhance and contribute to continual improvement of service delivery; and
    3. staying informed of innovations in data technologies and trends;
14. consider ways to maximise the use of data available to services by utilising geospatial data to enhance decision making and analysis.

A fire and rescue service may:

15. explore opportunities to enhance its technical data capability by investing in advanced analytical techniques;
16. engage with education and training providers to identify collaboration opportunities.

1. Better documented, high quality and robust local, regional and national data and information, used effectively to deliver improved:
   1. understanding of the community and risks;
   2. quality of service provided to the public;
   3. safety, health and wellbeing of employees, volunteers and communities;
   4. trust in and reputation of the service;
   5. local, regional and national evidence-based reporting and data submissions;
   6. efficiencies in local processes; and
   7. resource management.
2. Improved competency in the data capabilities in fire and rescue services.
3. Improved consistency in approach to data management across fire and rescue services, contributing to improved collaboration, joint working and sharing of learning.

It is recognised that fire and rescue services must comply with a broad list of legislation to undertake their duties. This Fire Standard reflects only the most appropriate legislation to this topic and should not be regarded as exhaustive.  Much of the legislation that relates to this Fire Standard can be found on the webpage that describes legislation which applies to all Fire Standards.

Some of the of the most pertinent legislation to this Fire Standard can be found below:

• Data Protection Act
• General Data Protection Regulation
• Freedom of Information Act
• Environmental Information Regulations

Fire Standards:

• Code of Ethics
• Community Risk Management Planning
• Digital and Cyber
• Emergency Preparedness and Resilience
• Emergency Response Driving
• Fire Investigation
• Leading and Developing People
• Leading the Service
• Operational Competence
• Operational Learning
• Operational Preparedness
• Protection
• Prevention
• Safeguarding

• NFCC Digital, Data, and Technology
  • NFCC Data Quality Assessment Methodology
  • NFCC Data Entry Conventions
  • NFCC Data Management Framework
• Data Ethics Framework
• Information Commissioners Office guidance and Codes of Practice
• Code of Practice for Statistics
• ONS classifications and harmonisation
• ONS harmonised ethnic group, national identity and religious affiliation questions
• GDS Data Standards
• Publishing accessible document
• Government security classifications
• Government Data Quality Framework
• Open Standards for Government
  • Identifying Property and Street Information
• Local Government Transparency Code
• Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework
• ICO Re-use of Public Sector Information
• LGA Data Learning Modules
• Incident Recording System (IRS) Help and Guidance