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 Transmittal Letter 2
Commission Overview 5
Chief Executive Overview 10
Supporting the Government’s Goals 14
Fire Outcomes — 2000/01 Summary 16
Fire Outcomes — Education and Advice 17
Fire Outcomes — Preparing for and Supressing Fires 22
Statement of Responsibility 27
Report of the Audit Office 28
Statement of Accounting Policies 30
Statement Specifying Financial Performance 35
Statement of Financial Performance 38
Statement of Movements in Equity 38
Statement of Financial Position 39
Statement of Cashflows 40
Statement of Commitments 41
Statement of Contingent Liabilities 41
Notes to the Financial Statements 42
Statement of Objectives and Service Performance 55

Commission Overview

Commission Membership

Until 25 September 2000 the New Zealand Fire Service Commission comprised four members. Three were appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the fourth was the Secretary for Internal Affairs, ex officio. From 1 July 2000 to 25 September 2000 the members of the Commission were:

Dame Margaret Bazley, DNZM, chairperson

Mr Brian Stanley, deputy chairperson

Mr Neville Young, member

Dr Roger Blakeley, Secretary for Internal Affairs.

The Fire Service Amendment Act 2000 came into force with effect from 26 September 2000. This Act increased the number of members appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Internal Affairs from three to five and disestablished the ex-officio position of the Secretary for Internal Affairs. Membership of the Commission remained as noted above until appointments to give effect to the Fire Service Amendment Act 2000 were made on 14 November 2000. From that date the members of the Commission were:

Dame Margaret Bazley, DNZM, chairperson

Mr Terry Scott, deputy chairperson

Mr Neville Young, member

Ms Angela Foulkes, member

Dr Piers Reid, member.

Statutory Functions of the Commission

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 safety as established by sections 20 and 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 the role of the National Rural Fire Authority as set out in sections 14A of the Fire Service Act 1975 and section 18(2) of the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977.
• Receive and audit the proceeds of the Fire Service levy as established by sections 47B and 48 to 53A of the Fire Service Act 1975.
  

Overall co-ordination of fire safety

The Commission discharged this responsibility during the year in a number of ways. The Commission:

• Considered and endorsed the National Fire Safety Promotion Strategy prepared by the Fire Safety Functional Group of the New Zealand Fire Service
• Entered into memoranda of understanding with many fire safety partners to formalise the previous informal relationships
• Progressed codes of practice for special occupancies including:
• The homestay industry (2,500 homes)
• Schools and other educational facilities (2,700 schools)
• Correctional facilities
• Healthcare facilities
• Housing Corporation residential units
• Met the Building Industry Authority once in formal session and liaised regularly with technical staff from the authority on matters of mutual interest
• Funded a lectureship in fire engineering at the University of Canterbury and provided scholarships to five students to study for post graduate degrees in fire engineering
• Awarded $500,000 of fire safety related research contracts across a diverse mix of disciplines and providers
• Published and disseminated the results of the research contracts let in previous years
• Hosted evening functions in Waitakere City,Wellington City and Auckland City for stakeholders from local government, business and commerce, the engineering and architectural professions, sister emergency services and non-governmental fire safety partners to foster close and harmonious working relations
• Funded the development of a national standard and code of practice for a low cost residential sprinkler system
• Commenced research on fire protection for historic and heritage buildings.
  

Governance of the New Zealand Fire Service

The Commission discharged its principal governance responsibilities through:

• The appointment of a Chief Executive. Alison Timms served as chief executive (acting) until 24 May 2001.Mike Hall, formerly commissioner, south eastern region with the Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority commenced employment with the New Zealand Fire Service Commission on 14 May and took up the position of chief executive with effect from 24 May.
• The Performance Agreement. The Commission negotiated a performance agreement with Alison Timms that set out the Commission’s expectations with respects to standards of behaviour, strategic priorities and performance measures. That agreement remained in place until Ms Timms’ retirement. Similar performance standards, priorities and measures have been agreed with Mike Hall.
• The Purchase Agreement. This document establishes the quantity, price, quality and timeliness of the outputs to be purchased and must be consistent with the estimates of expenditure approved by the Minister. An interim purchase agreement was in place between the Commission and the chief executive (acting) on 1 July 2000 and this was subsequently confirmed following the Minister’s approval of the estimates of expenditure on 3 October 2000.
• The Instrument of Delegation. This document gives the chief executive authority to exercise certain of the Commission’s statutory powers subject to relevant policy direction. The instrument of delegation dated 18 June 1998 (as reconfirmed by the Commission on 5 December 2000) remained in force until 20 June 2001 when the Commission issued new delegations to the chief executive.
• The Audit Committee. This committee advises the Commission on risk management, policy compliance, the annual audit programme and statutory reporting. Following the appointment of members to the expanded Commission on 14 November 2000, the members of the committee were Neville Young (chairperson), Piers Reid, and Malcolm McCaw (co-opted). In April 2001 Angela Foulkes replaced Malcolm McCaw. The Commission has appreciated Malcolm’s long and distinguished service as an external adviser to the Commission.
• Statement of Strategic Direction. The reconstituted Commission issued a revised statement of strategic direction that has been incorporated in the statement of intent for the year ending 30 June 2002.
  

The National Rural fire Authority

Responsibility for the delivery of rural fire prevention, suppression and extinction services rests with rural fire authorities — mostly territorial authorities but also the Department of Conservation, the New Zealand Defence Force, private forest plantation owners and other special purpose entities. The Commission, through the New Zealand Fire Service chief executive and the national rural fire officer, is responsible for rural fire policy at a national level. This includes establishing national standards and codes of practice, auditing compliance with those standards, co-ordinating rural fire authorities and reimbursing the costs incurred in fighting rural fires. Highlights of the year ended 30 June 2001 were:

• Publication of the second National Rural Fire Authority Strategic Plan. This plan was agreed after extensive consultation with all stakeholders in rural fire and covers the years 2001 to 2006.
• Implementation of a new Fire Incident Reporting system. This national system provides for the first time the capacity to capture and report rural fire statistics.
• Deployment of New Zealand rural fire managers to the United States. A team of 11 New Zealand fire managers responded to requests for assistance from United States wildfire agencies to manage a series of major wildfires during August and September 2000.
• Deployment of National Incident Management Teams. National incident management teams were sent to large rural fire incidents in Marlborough and Canterbury during December 2000 to March 2001. The Commission appreciates the ongoing support and contribution of the National Rural Fire Advisory Committee.
  

Levy Receipt and Audit

Section 48 of the Fire Service Act requires insurance companies and certain other entities to collect a levy on all fire insurance contracts and to send the proceeds of the levy to the Commission. The proceeds of the levy are applied to the:

• rural fire fighting fund
• actual net expenditure of the Commission.
  

The levy is reviewed annually by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Following the review in September 2000 the rate of levy was increased from 6.2 cents to 7.3 cents per $100 of insured value to take effect from 1 March 2001. The Commission continued a comprehensive audit programme of insurers and brokers.Whereas the audit programme for the previous two years targeted major insurance companies and brokers dealing with owners of significant amounts of insurable property the focus for the year ending 30 June 2001 was on:

• insurance brokers in provincial centres dealing with smaller property owners
• insurance companies who also act as brokers
• individual corporations known to be placing insurance business offshore.
  

The 2000/01 audit programme assured the Commission there were no significant non-compliance issues in these sectors of the industry. The audit programme was supplemented by requests to corporations for statutory declarations of their insurance arrangements. Through this exercise the Commission identified off shore insurance placement arrangements and collected additional levy.