Events
during the recent period of austerity in the UK. During
this time of shrinking budgets, he said, some local authorities
have had little option but to drastically cut back-office
spending in order to focus on the frontline. This has led to
a situation where there are no resources left to help
develop new technology, either in terms of expertise or
capital expenditure.
Going back to the topic of organisational structure,
another model described by professor Allen is governance
of some fire and rescue services by police and crime
commissioners. “According to the feedback,” he said, “some
problems with this approach was that fire and rescue services
often felt like a ‘small fish in a big pond’.
“Where a small fire and rescue service was placed with a
large police service, the needs of the police – both regarding
ICT and support – took priority over the FRS. Or at least
that was the perception.”
Little or no difference
As well as the environments into which the Emergency
Services Network is being deployed, professor Allen also
discussed services’ attitude to it as a technology. As with his
overview of the general ICT landscape, there was both
good news and bad news for those invested in the future of
the network.
Giving an overview of this portion of the presentation,
he said: “Although some people were very enthusiastic – and
we did get some very positive responses, particularly from
some of the larger FRSs – on the whole, respondents were
very sceptical about the benefits of ESN for the Fire and
Rescue Service.”
He continued: “The benefits and motivations for engaging
with ESN products were at best seen as being ambiguous. I
believe that this is linked to the organisational culture of the
fire and rescue services, something which is in turn connected
to the idea of getting things done and resolving problems.
“At the same time, the culture is also averse to risk and
would prefer to use tried-and-tested, reliable technology on
the fireground, rather than anything leading-edge. As one
respondent said in an interview: ‘We’re conscious that if we
take risks, people normally die.’”
As mentioned, attitudes to the proposed business
and operational benefits of dedicated emergency services
broadband were also mixed (or, indeed, “heterogeneous”).
This was reflected in the fact that more than half – 60 per cent
– of services only recognised five technological areas as likely
being affected by ESN in a “significant manner”.
These included partnering systems, alongside incident
management, control infrastructure, records management and
remote working.
Regarding expectations around coverage – and in-vehicle
coverage in particular – meanwhile, professor Allen said:
“We’re seeing some quite large services saying that they
anticipate no change at all, while some are saying that they
don’t know how it will change.”
Continuing on the subject of coverage and availability
later on in the presentation, he said: “Respondents indicated
that they would continue to develop and deploy services
using commercial bearers on the assumption they could just
transition to ESN when it became available.
“Some of them were actually writing into contracts that
When a small fire and rescue service
was placed with a large police
service, the needs of the police took
priority over those of the FRS
the purchased technology would be ESN-compliant, even
though there was a lack of clarity about what that actually
meant. The burden was then being passed onto the suppliers.”
One final challenge identified by professor Allen was what
he referred to as the “fluidity and diversity” of collaborative
relationships when it came to work taking place between
different fire and rescue services. This was pointed to as
creating uncertainty within the process, which often involved
“constantly moving goalposts”.
Explaining this further, he said: “I really can’t stress enough
this issue of fluidity – in other words, the renegotiation
of collaborative agreements, abandonment of existing
agreements, and/or creation of new relationships when it
comes to delivery.
“This causes problems in terms of strategic planning; it
has the effect of robbing organisations of a solid base on
which to move forward as part of a network of fire and rescue
services for England, rather than as individual fire and rescue
services organisations.”
Professor Allen finished his presentation by summing up
the recommendations that had come out of the research, for
instance in relation to the aforementioned ‘local authority’ fire
and rescue services. This was followed by questions, addressed
to Steve Whatson and Ian Taylor.
Asked if ESMCP was concerned about some of
the findings, Whatson said: “They are concerns of the
programme, which is why we’re working very closely with Ian
and his team to address those very issues.
“For ESN to be taken up and used in the right way, it
really does rely on the user organisations to embrace that
opportunity. But in order for them to do that, they do need
the programme to provide them with guidance. It may well
be that to really maximise the benefit, the programme will
have to do more centrally.
“At the same time, we have to recognise that every FRS is a
unique entity which has complete responsibility for delivering
services in its own area. We can’t just ride straight over the top
of how they work.”
Taylor said: “We need to learn these lessons and feed them
in. Not just at the early phases of the Emergency Services
Network, but also when it comes to other programmes that
we’ve run in recent years.
“At the same time, there’s a risk that if you do too much
centrally, it could impact innovation. In a sense you’d have
to work to a particular ‘low denominator’ which would
stifle those who are pushing at the edges and really moving
things forward. ESN should really be seen as a springboard
for innovation.”
If the University of Leeds report is accurate, there is clearly
still plenty of work to do in convincing fire and rescue services
of the value of the Emergency Services Network. There is also
work to be done in terms of the structures of those services,
and their ability to become involved with the roll-out of new
and innovative communications/ICT infrastructures.
October 2020 @CritCommsToday 57