The Annual Report sets out the results the New Zealand Fire Service Commission (Commission) has achieved against its annual plan (Statement of Intent). The annual report describes some of the key events that have occurred during each year, sets out the key results and the financial performance of the Commission against its intended performance.

The Commission's annual report is formally tabled in Parliament each year and is analysed by select committees to judge whether the Commission has delivered value to New Zealand communities.

Featured below is the table of contents and a short overview from the report. If you would like to read the report click on the download pdf link in the blue box to your right.

Table of Contents

Chairperson’s Letter 2
Commission Overview 4
Reducing the Incidence and 6
Consequences of Fire
Fire Service Governance 11
Fire Service Management and Operations 13
National Rural Fire Authority 18
Fire Service Levy 20
Outcomes 21
Statement of Responsibility 28
Report of the Audit Office 29
Statement of Accounting Policies 30
Statement of Financial Performance 34
Statement of Financial Position 35
Notes to the Financial Statements 38
Statement of Objectives and 46
Service Performance
Organisation Structure 54
Directory 56

Commission Overview

Commission Strategic Direction

In June 1999, following the changes to the membership of the Commission referred to earlier, the Commission decided to take stock and develop a Statement of Strategic Direction. This was communicated to all staff and volunteer brigades on 7 July 1999. The Statement is made up of four high level elements.

• Focus on Fire Prevention, Fire Safety and Fire Outcomes;
• This places greatly increased emphasis on fire prevention and fire safety while also working to improve the outcomes from traditional emergency response activities.
• Resource Re-allocation and ‘Value for Money’ Expenditure;
• This aims to resource appropriately the increased fire prevention and fire safety work. It also requires all resourcing decisions to pass a risk-based, “best value for money” test consistent with the Government’s overall goal of ensuring a cost effective Fire Service.
• Best Practice Organisation;
• This aims to achieve a culture of continuous improvement and reform in the Fire Service through constant exposure to best practice in external organisations.
• Strong Fire Service Governance and Management;
• This is to enable the Fire Service to:
• deliver on its statutory mandate;
• respond to the needs of all stakeholders;
• become resilient to shocks through good risk management; and
• support the Government’s emergency management reforms.
  

The Statement of Strategic Direction is intended to guide decision making in the medium term. It is not a work programme for achievement in the short term.

Commission Statutory Functions

In addition to its role as the Crown’s principal manager of fire risk in New Zealand, the Commission has four main statutory functions:

• overall co-ordination of fire prevention and fire safety as required by section 20 and section 21 of the Fire Service Act 1975 and section 12(2) of the Building Act 1991
• governance of the New Zealand Fire Service as required by section 14 of the Fire Service Act 1975
• exercise of the role of the National Rural Fire Authority as required by section 14A of the Fire Service Act 1975 and Section 18(2) of the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977
• and collection and audit of the Fire Service levy as required by section 47B and sections 48 to 53A of the Fire Service Act 1975.
  

The remainder of this Annual Report discloses:

• the Commission’s performance of its four main statutory functions
• the operations of the NZ Fire Service
• the financial performance of the Commission’s operations for the year
• and the financial position of the Commission at 30 June 1999.
  

Comission Membership Changes

The Commission has four members - three are appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Internal Affairs. One of these three is appointed by the Governor-General as Commission Chairperson. The fourth member is the Secretary for Internal Affairs. The year under review saw several changes to the membership of the Fire Service Commission.

• In July 1998 Mr Roger Estall was reconfirmed as Chairperson of the Commission on a four days per week basis.
• On 10 December 1998 Mr Douglas Martin resigned his position as Deputy Chairperson and member of the Commission.
• On 16 December 1998 the Commission appointed Mr Brian Stanley as the new Deputy Chairperson.
• On 1 April 1999 Mr Neville Young was appointed to fill the vacancy created by Mr Martin’s resignation.
• On 20 May 1999 Mr Roger Estall resigned from his position as Chairperson and member of the Commission.
• On 21 May 1999 Margaret Bazley was appointed to the position of Chairperson and member of the Commission.
  

The Minister of Internal Affairs’ letters of appointment for new Commission members continued to focus on the Government’s strategic goals. These include:

• development of the Fire Service in support of Government’s comprehensive emergency management strategy;
• reform of the Fire Service within set financial parameters, to achieve increased efficiencies in the delivery of fire safety and fire suppression services;
• settlement of the firefighters’ employment contract consistent with current state and private sector employment best practice;
• increased investment in the fire safety and fire suppression needs of volunteer fire brigades;
• maintenance of the investment in fire safety and fire suppression needs of rural fire authorities and high recognition of the Commission’s responsibilities as the National Rural Fire Authority;
• delivery of the outputs purchased from the Fire Service by both the Crown and the Commission as required by the Fire Service Act 1975.