We are grateful for all the feedback we received through the working group on the Data Management Fire Standard, all of which has been considered. We have provided an explanation and rationale for the changes made to the final version of the Fire Standard in the table below.
Approved Standard
Take a look at the Fire Standard that was published following the working groups feedback.
DESIRED OUTCOME
| You Said | We Did |
|---|---|
| Legislation is an important element of effective data management. | The opening paragraph has been updated to explicitly reference the need to 'comply with relevant legislation'. |
| Collaboration should be emphasised to encourage the sharing of resources and improve efficiency. | The third paragraph has been revised to highlight the importance of 'collaborating where appropriate'. |
| Data quality is as important as data management and should be clearly reflected within the outcome. | Paragraphs two and four have been amended to incorporate references to data quality alongside data management. |
WHAT IS REQUIRED TO MEET THE FIRE STANDARD
| You Said | We Did |
|---|---|
| Most other Standards begin with a statement relating to strategy. | A new point was added to 'have a strategic approach to data that recognises data as a key asset to inform decision‑making'. |
| National guidance should be encouraged to support greater consistency across the sector. | A new requirement was included stating that fire and rescue services must 'use national guidance where appropriate'. |
| Point 6, “have a nominated data owner,” lacked clarity. | The point was expanded to specify ownership of each designated data set to provide clearer direction. |
| Point 8 also required further clarification. | The point was revised to 'create a level of data literacy across the organisation, to enable employees to input, access, and use data proportionate to their role, with confidence'. |
| Tools and systems are essential to enable employees to work effectively with data. | Point 9 was amended to 'provide tools and systems to enable employees to use, collect, interpret and analyse data, converting that data into meaningful business intelligence'. |
| New NFCC tools are available that support consistency across the sector. | A new subpoint was included under point 9 to 'adhere to the NFCC data entry conventions'. |
| Point 9.I could be strengthened to better reflect how data is used within the sector. | Point 9.I was amended to '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'. |
| Managing the competence of employees working with data is as important as monitoring it. | Point 10.C was amended to explicitly include managing competence. |
| The increased use of geospatial data to support decision‑making should be reflected in the Standard. | A new point 14 was added: 'consider ways to maximise the use of data available to services by utilising geospatial data to enhance decision making and analysis'. |
| Services should actively seek opportunities to collaborate. | A new point was added: 'engage with education and training providers to identify collaboration opportunities'. |
EXPECTED BENEFITS OF ACHIEVEING THE FIRE STANDARD
| You Said | We Did |
|---|---|
| Using data to support community risk management planning is important to improve understanding of communities and their associated risks. | Benefit 1 was revised to reference both information and data, and a new sub‑point was added to emphasise the 'understanding of the community and its risks'. |
GUIDANCE AND SUPPORTING INFORMATION
| You Said | We Did |
|---|---|
| Several NFCC guidance documents have been published since the Standard was first issued and should now be included. |
The following guidance documents were added to the Standard: o NFCC Data Quality Assessment Methodology o NFCC Data Entry Conventions o NFCC Data Management Framework |