Incident statistics for 2019-20

The request was successful.

Dear West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service,

I will be grateful if you can provide me with the following statistics for 2019-20:

1. Total incidents attended in West Sussex by type
2. Total incidents attended on each station ground
3. Fire fatalities and casualties by station ground
4. Retained (On Call) Duty System availability per appliance (including those crewed by wholetime personnel during the day)
5. Total mobilisations from each station
6. Total mobilisations to incidents for each appliance
7. Number of mobilisations to each of the other Fire & Rescue Services
8. Number of mobilisations from each of the other Fire & Rescue Services in to West Sussex
9. Number of incidents reported in West Sussex that were not attended

To avoid jumbled data, I would be grateful if any data from tables or spreadsheets can be supplied as Word or Excel attachments.

Yours faithfully,

A.C. Morris

westsussex@infreemation.co.uk, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

Dear A.C. Morris

Thank you for your request which has been assigned reference FOI/1088

Freedom of Information request - Incident statistics for 2019-20

If you have submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), we aim to
respond within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, i.e. by or on
29/07/2020.

However, please note that due to operational pressures caused by the
Covid-19 pandemic, it is currently likely that responses will be delayed
beyond the 20 working day timescale. The Information Commissioner has
recently published guidance accepting that local authorities will have to
prioritise other matters during this period.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please reply
to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely,
West Sussex County Council

 

Did you make your request via our online form at
[1]https://foi.infreemation.co.uk/westsusse... If not, why not use it
in future for a simple and convenient way to make FOI requests.

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westsussex@infreemation.co.uk, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

Dear A.C. Morris,

Our Ref: FOI/1088

 

On 01/07/2020 you made the following request for information, which has
been dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

FOI Re: F&R Service incidents attendance statistics for 2019-20

 

We have now completed a search for the information which you requested and
confirm that this Authority holds some data relevant to your request.

The Response to your request is as follows:

The Authority declines to disclose the information you have requested and
has applied the exemption in Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act,
as the information is intended for future publication.  At present this
report, has not been approved for final publication to the public as the
data is still in a draft format and therefore could damage the reputation
of the WSCC if this information was disclosed and when published differ to
what has been forwarded to you.

The West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (WSFRS) data 2019-20 will be
published in line with WSCC constitutional procedures in the Autumn of
2020. The Fire Authority will publish the data in WSFRS Annual Statement
of Assurance and Annual Report following national statutory requirements. 

If you have any queries about any of this information please contact me
 by responding to this email. Please do not amend the Subject line.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision  by responding to this email.
Please do not amend the Subject line.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our internal
review procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
 

[1]www.ico.org.uk; or

The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

 

References

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1. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Dear West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service's handling of my FOI request 'Incident statistics for 2019-20' (Your ref: FOI/1088).

I do not accept that your refusal to disclose the information is legitimately covered by Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act for the following reasons:

1. It is unreasonable to withhold the information until the Autumn. Councillors will make important decisions about the fire & rescue service before then, and the public should be able to lobby councillors before those decisions are taken. To do so the public needs up to date information, which includes the incident statistics which WSCC hold for 2019-20.

2. The information requested is more detailed than the summary that is published in the Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Report.

3. The excuse offered for refusing to disclose on this occasion, if valid, would also have applied to my Freedom of Information requests for this data in previous years. Yet, even though an Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Report was published in those years, WSCC properly provided the data, when requested, in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

4. The claim that the data is in draft format is misleading. The data is captured electronically at the time of the incidents, so it is not draft data. The way WSCC intend to publish some of the data in the Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Report may well be in draft, but I have not requested a draft of that document, I have requested the incident data.

5. The suggestion that the data, which should be provided to me now, may differ from that in the Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Report raises concerns. Any difference would suggest that the data recording system is unreliable, which is unlikely, but if it is, then that would be a matter of public concern. The only way to allay or confirm that concern would be to publish the data now, as provisional data, and as confirmed data in the Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Report.

6. Your 2019-20 incident data has already been provided to Government, so I cannot believe that you would have provided unreliable data.

7. The simple way of removing any possibility of reputational damage to WSCC, resulting from differences in the data provided now and that published later, is to release the data now and qualify it as ‘provisional’. In the unlikely event of a significant difference, WSCC could also provide an explanatory note in the Annual Statement of Assurance and Annual Report.

8. The greater risk to the reputation of WSCC is yet another attempt to frustrate the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. This decision will also damage WSCC’s reputation as it ignores the Government requirement, and HMICFRS guidance, that fire & rescue authorities must be more transparent.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...

Yours faithfully,

A.C. Morris

westsussex@infreemation.co.uk, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

Dear A.C. Morris

Thank you for your request which has been assigned reference FOI/1192

Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Incident statistics
for 2019-20

If you have submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), we aim to
respond within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, i.e. by or on
28/08/2020.

However, please note that due to operational pressures caused by the
Covid-19 pandemic, it is currently likely that responses will be delayed
beyond the 20 working day timescale. The Information Commissioner has
recently published guidance accepting that local authorities will have to
prioritise other matters during this period.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please reply
to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely,
West Sussex County Council

 

Did you make your request via our online form at
[1]https://foi.infreemation.co.uk/westsusse... If not, why not use it
in future for a simple and convenient way to make FOI requests.

References

Visible links
1. https://foi.infreemation.co.uk/westsusse...

westsussex@infreemation.co.uk, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

Dear Mr. Morris

 

Our ref: Re: FOI 1192 - Internal Review

 

I have been asked to carry out a review of the way in which your Freedom
of Information Request was dealt with.  My findings are as follows:

 

You made a request dated 31^st July 2020 requesting the following
information:

 

1. Total incidents attended in West Sussex by type
2. Total incidents attended on each station ground
3. Fire fatalities and casualties by station ground
4. Retained (On Call) Duty System availability per appliance (including
those crewed by wholetime personnel during the day)
5. Total mobilisations from each station
6. Total mobilisations to incidents for each appliance
7. Number of mobilisations to each of the other Fire & Rescue Services
8. Number of mobilisations from each of the other Fire & Rescue Services
in to West Sussex
9. Number of incidents reported in West Sussex that were not attended

The Authority provided a response and declined to provide the information
requested having applied the exemption under Section 22 FOI (future
publication).

On 31^st July you sought an internal review of the way in which your
request was dealt with.

I have had regard to the representations made by you numbered 1-9.

It is acknowledged that such information has been provided in respect of
previous similar requests, however this year, the Service moved Control’s
and transferred to a different data collection provider.  The data was
being collected at the time of the incident, but the Service did not have
access to instant data and was not therefore able to check for accuracy
until much later in the year. Therefore, for this year, the data is still
very much in a draft format as the Authority is still finding some errors
with the database, which is connected to the way it was constructed.  The
Service has therefore been in the process of amending the data to ensure
that it is accurate when it is released to the public. Such data is due
for publication and given the concerns over the accuracy of the requested
information I am satisfied that it was appropriate to apply the exemption
under Section 22.

However, I note that the response did not have regard to the public
interest test and I therefore address that aspect now.  There is always a
public interest in the ability of the public to participate and contribute
to debates about public services and to support openness and
transparency.  However, there is a strong argument in favour of
maintaining the exemption as it is not in the public interest to have
erroneous or incomplete information, which has arisen through the transfer
of provider platforms.  It is right that the Service has an opportunity to
scrutinise and validate the data. The public interest is properly served
by the duty to publish the requested information in due course.

 

The Statement of Assurance summarises key information for the public and
for the Home Office. As such, it is critical that all data released into
the public domain is accurate for assurance and also ongoing benchmarking
of journey, progress, milestones and performance.

 

At the time of the request, it was not possible to validate the
information and it was not therefore considered to be appropriate to
release data.

 

Due to the data issues and the issues with transition to the new reporting
systems and performance and assurance frameworks, the Service is still
finalising the Annual Statement of Assurance 19/20.  It is anticipated
that this will be approved and available for disclosure by sometime in the
Autumn.

In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the Section 22 exemption was
properly applied, although it is accepted that there was not an
appropriate consideration of the public interest test.

I therefore uphold the application of the Section 22 exemption but confirm
that any requested information that’s falls outside of the report will be
provided to you within 2 weeks of publication.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints
procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

 

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire

SK9 5AF. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Garry Collins

Area Manager – Strategic Risk & Improvement, Fire & Rescue Service

.

 

 

 

A.C. Morris left an annotation ()

The information has not been provided and the matter is with the Information Commissioner.

A.C. Morris left an annotation ()

With the assistance of the ICO, I have now received the information via email.

westsussex@infreemation.co.uk, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

1 Attachment

Dear A.C. Morris,

Our Ref: FOI/1192

On 31/07/2020 you made the following request for information, which has
been dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

We have now completed a search for the information which you requested and
confirm that this Authority holds data relevant to your request.

The Response to your request is as follows:

Please see attached spreadsheet.

 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most
documents supplied by us will be copyright of West Sussex County Council.

Information you receive which is not subject to WSCC continues to be
protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the
information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission
before reproducing any third party (non WSCC) information.

If you have any queries about any of this information please contact me
 by responding to this email. Please do not amend the Subject line.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision  by responding to this email.
Please do not amend the Subject line.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our internal
review procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

[1]www.ico.org.uk; or

The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/