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e-fire is a national project, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, under the Local Government Modernisation Programme.
With the active involvement of Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) and other stakeholders, a range of exciting interactive services and products will be produced to be delivered over the Internet, for citizens and business.
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Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is working towards implementing electronic government in line with the national E-Fire projects. The following is taken from the introduction to our IEG Statement.
Shropshire and Wrekin Fire Authority and its Fire and Rescue Service have one clear and unambiguous mission: 'Putting Shropshire’s Safety First'.
Our vision is of a well equipped and efficient organisation that works in partnership with others to deliver modern, effective services to the people of Shropshire.
By embracing e-government we will support this vision and a vision that by January 2006 our services will be:
In ways that make sense to the customer.
Services will be more integrated and coherent, built upon a shared infrastructure under joint control, where possible, using our extensive partnerships with other organisations, partners and suppliers. Communication will be improved, information shared and business processes more joined-up and cost-effective. Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service provides services to citizens in an area covered by Shropshire County Council and five district councils and the Borough of Telford and Wrekin.
At times and places most convenient to the customer.
Customers will have more choice over the way in which they contact and receive services. We will attempt to reflect customer needs and wishes by regular consultation and by building services around citizen choices, whether they are citizens, community groups, businesses, suppliers, other emergency services or other public sector organisations. Our channel strategy will build on traditional access channels, reflecting the changing community and technological environment. Our services will be available initially via 24 hour web site access, via Community Information Points for traditional face to face or electronic access or via kiosks for geographical coverage by working with our partners.
| Delivered or Supported Electronically |
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Facilitating faster, more reliable and better value services.
Where citizens wish to receive services electronically there will be ease of access to reliable, electronic services. Interactive electronic forms will be available to speed up the process of, amongst others, recruitment and opinion surveys and registration of licensed premises. Fire safety information will be accessible via the Internet with links to local or national websites giving further associated information e.g. on building control, health and safety or the Environment Agency.
Web cam access to Fire Authority meetings could avoid the necessity to travel in a rural area. Improvements in back-office processes will also improve traditional and electronic service delivery. Personnel at retained stations could benefit from a number of changes e.g. submission of on-line forms for pay, travel and subsistence and fast access to accurate Intranet-based information. Improved speed and efficiency of processes for retained stations could be achieved by, for example, placing orders directly on the outsourced partner for uniform or protective components.
Data collection for Community Fire Safety home visits or Fire Reports could be handled using hand-held devices for speed and efficiency. Core business systems and processes will be efficient, providing effective support for customer-facing services and where cost-effective, e-business services to the business community. Appropriate home-working will be contributing to work-life balance whilst increasing productivity. Internal documents including Brigade Orders will be easily accessible on the Intranet, avoiding the need for multiple paper copies. Members will be using email with electronic document attachments instead of posted paper documents and newsletters and notification of meetings to the press will be available on the web site.
Where appropriate, by local and regional partnerships, and connected to a national infrastructure.
Given appropriate support, our extensive involvement in partnerships will mature, delivering joined-up multi-agency, partner and supplier electronic information where there is commonality of citizen; commonality of delivery and commonality of data between partners. Agencies will be sharing risk-based information to improve the safety and efficiency of operational crews. Wherever possible, our partnerships with local authorities, other brigades and other agencies will also have optimised infrastructure investment and two major projects: radio replacement and relocation of the administrative headquarters will be complete, marking a milestone in the development of the Brigad infrastructure. The County Council and 5 District Councils in Shropshire have formed a partnership to implement e-government, with a single shared vision and collective solutions. We would hope to be part of this group in order to jointly deliver services to shared citizens.
| Delivered seamlessly |
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So that customers are not asked to provide the same information more than once.
Life events will be noted once and the change notified to all partners. Brigade information will be ‘corporate’ and without boundaries. It will include customer information in supporting the needs of internal service units and increase the effectiveness of operational crews. The value of information will be understood and made easily accessible to the community, business, partners and other stakeholders.
| Open and accountable |
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So that information about Brigade objectives, standards and performance will be freely and easily available via the Internet.
Traditional methods of consultation with the community will be enhanced using interactive website technology, providing ease of local decision making and consultation for
Best Value and access channel strategy. Complaints, and comments will be monitored and responded to quickly and effectively and tracked.
– by the promotion of available, accessible technologies and the necessary skills to take advantage of the Internet, reflecting culture changes.
Use of technology will be explored for innovative ways to reach specific community groups. Our access channel strategy will reflect the community desire to use the Internet, the potential of digital TV, hand-held Internet and other technology that becomes more widespread. The skills to use these will be supported in our collaboration with schools and other community groups where initiatives combining fire safety and IT skills will be explored.
The above seven factors form Shropshire and Wrekin Fire Authority’s vision for local e-government, embracing the seven critical tests of future public services.
In developing this IEG and in communicating with Shropshire County Council and the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, we would hope to deliver citizen services in partnership. Shropshire County Council’s strategy is based upon the principle of enabling the simplest activities to be completed to the satisfaction of the citizen in a single transaction or episode, many of which will be enabled as ‘self service’ electronic transactions.
Public aspirations will become clearer as our access channel strategy is developed in partnership with local authorities.
Further information
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