Table of contents

Title	Page
Overview	5
The Commission and its Operating Environment	7
Introduction	7
The Fire Environment	8
Operating Environment	8
Challenges and Opportunities	9
Strategic Priorities	10
Resources and locations	11
Incident Trends	11
Impacts, Outcomes and Key Measures of Future Performance	12
Evaluation Framework	12
Impacts and Outcomes	14
Key Measures of Future Performance	16
Functions and Operations	18
Introduction	18
Functions	18
Operations	21
Organisational Health and Capability	22
Introduction	22
Human Capital	22
In-Service Training	23
Volunteerism	24
Grants to Volunteer Brigades	24
Non-uniformed Employees Superannuation	24
Capital Equipment	25
How others view the Organisation’s Health	26
Station Management System	26
Contribution to Review of Fire Legislation	26
Evaluation Framework	26
Strategic Review	27
Home Sprinkler Campaign	27
Other Matters	28
Consultation with the Minister	28
Stakeholder Consultation	28
Implementation of the Building Act 2004	28
Evacuation of Buildings Regulations	28
Implementing the National Rural Fire Authority’s New Roles	29
Equal Employment Opportunities	29
Organisational Risks	29
Forecast Financial Statements and Assumptions	32
Forecast Financial Statements	32
Statement of Accounting Policies	36
Significant Financial Assumptions	41
Forecast Performance for 2006/07	42
Introduction	42
Fire Outcomes	42
Intermediate Outcomes	48
Organisational Outcomes	49
Non-Fire Outcomes	50
Statement of Forecast Service Performance	51
Organisation Structure	71
Governance Structure	71
Commission Membership	71
Fire Service Management Structure	72
Map of Fire Region Boundaries	73
Map of Regional Rural Fire Committee Areas	74

Overview

The New Zealand Fire Service Commission (Commission) is the Crown’s principal fire risk management agency. It provides a comprehensive range of risk reduction, fire safety and emergency response services and coordinates Fire Authorities to protect New Zealand’s 4.1 million people, $240 billion stock of buildings and 27 million hectares of forest and grasslands from fire.

This Statement of Intent (SOI) describes the:

• Environment within which the Commission operates.
• Broad fire outcomes the Commission aims to achieve.
• Principal statutory functions and operations of the Commission.
• Measures the Commission will employ to sustain the organisation’s health and capability.
• Programmes the Commission will run to meet its EEO and good employer obligations.
• Stakeholders the Commission will consult in determining its strategic direction.
• Means by which the Commission will monitor, measure and assess its future performance.

The Commission contributes to the Governments priorities by reducing the incidence and consequences of fire and by targeted programmes designed to improve the fire outcomes for:

• People
• Property
• Communities
• The environment

The Commission is especially pleased that it is achieving world class performance for avoidable residential fire fatalities with a rate of just 0.33 fatalities per 100,000 population.

During 2006/07 the Commission will undertake a major new initiative promoting the use of affordable home sprinkler systems. This initiative is a logical follow-on from the Commission’s successful campaign to encourage the installation of smoke alarms and will further enhance the long-term improvement in fire outcomes.

The Commission’s has developed six strategic priorities (objectives for the purposes of the Crown Entities Act 2004) to guide overall service delivery. National goals (outcomes) have been established for each of the six priorities.

The six strategic priorities are:

• Improve community fire outcomes through fire prevention, fire safety and better response.
• Foster integration of urban and rural service delivery.
• Contribute to enhanced community security.
• Support regional, national and international security.
• Develop and protect our people and promote internal stakeholder partnerships.
• Improve service performance, accountability and resource utilisation.

The Commission delivers a range of services (outputs) covering fire safety education and technical advice, emergency preparedness and response, and rural fire leadership and coordination. This document describes the outputs and detailed performance measures the Commission will deliver in 2006/07.

The Commission will undertake a number of initiatives in 2006/07 as part of its continuous improvement focus. A formal evaluation framework has been adopted with two pilot evaluations planned in 2006/07. A high-level review of the Fire Service resource allocation methodology is being carried out. Both of these initiatives place the Commission in a strong position to review and update its overall strategic approach to managing New Zealand’s fire risk. The Commission will conduct a major review of its strategic priorities and framework during 2006/07.

The Commission is committed to ensuring the capability and health of the Fire Service and in particular the volunteer sector is maintained and enhanced over time. This document sets out how it intends to do this in 2006/07 and beyond. It also sets out the Commission’s commitment to sound public sector practices.

Output classes

• Output Class 1: Fire prevention and other forms of fire safety resulting in reduced frequency and impact of fires.
• Output Class 2: Firefighting and other Fire Service operations.
• Output Class 3: Rural fire leadership and coordination.

Included in this document are the costs of providing the services for 2006/07. These costs and the forecasts for each of the subsequent two years are also presented in the statement of financial performance, statement of financial position and statement of cash flows.

Signed of behalf of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission

Piers Reid
Member

Angela Foulkes
Member