Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is working with local partners to develop a customer segmentation model using aggregated data from various sources to better understand community needs and vulnerabilities. This will be used to identify individuals at high risk and prioritize fire safety visits while also connecting people to other social services. The goals are to empower citizens, reduce accidental dwelling fires, and help people live independently for longer through improved data sharing and coordination across organizations.

1. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service – Fire Incident Reduction Partnership Project Update Using Customer Insight to Understand Complex Issues Event 10 th March 2011 John L Curtis – Director, Knowledge and Information Management Emma Higgins – Customer Insight Project Manager

2. SETTING THE SCENE: Merseyside is a metropolitan district covering the council areas of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) operational area covers a resident population of over 1.4 million For some time, MFRS has moved from being purely an emergency response service to engagement in proactive Community Safety initiatives Since the introduction of the Home Fire Safety Check in 1999: Reduction of Accidental Dwelling Fires by nearly 40% Reduction of related injuries by almost 75% Reduction in related fatalities by nearly 40%

3. SETTING THE SCENE: Reduction in incidents from 1997 - 2010

4. THE CHALLENGE… Liverpool is one of the most deprived districts in the country. MFRS have been proactive in reducing the risk of accidental dwelling fires and fatalities, however, there are a small number of fatalities occurring in ‘out-of-context’ locations The most deprived area in the country is in Speke, which is within the Merseyside area An increasing ageing population approx 20% are of pension age or over Declining population Population outflow exceeds inflow by nearly 8% Source: Northwest Pocket Databank April 2010 www.geograph.org.uk

5. FIRE RISK REDUCTION PARTNERSHIP Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is working in partnership with other local authority departments, police, health, voluntary sector and other key partners to deliver initiatives to help reduce the risk of fire and improve the quality of life of those most a risk/most vulnerable in our communities We will utilize the positive image of the fire service to proactively signpost our partners initiatives when carrying out our own initiatives within the community Working with:- Wirral Adult Social Care Services Wirral Revenue and Benefits Wirral PCT Liverpool John Moores University Merseyside Police

6. FIRE RISK REDUCTION PARTNERSHIP: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Reduce the number of accidental dwelling fires and related injuries and fatalities Improving signposting to early intervention services, giving our residents more choice and control and also enabling them to live independently in their own homes Improve data sharing across organisations to create a ‘ vulnerable person profile’ and agree a generic definition of vulnerability Improve understanding of the communities need through a customer segmentation model

7. SEGMENTATION MFRS has engaged with partners to create data sharing agreements - Data is now being shared and exchanged for Housing Benefit Claimants, DWP Benefit Claimants, Known to Social Care Services… nearly 40 agreements in place across Merseyside In addition, approx 30 aggregated datasets identified Shared data will be aggregated and combined with other aggregated data sets to create a ‘rich picture’ of community need(s) Segmentation process will be completed using a statistical software package – it is expected that between 10 – 15 segments will be created giving an insight into community need(s)/Risk Data Transfer Report through AVCO. Benefits Data held by Local Councils Partner Name First Transfer Date Last Transfer Date All Transfer Dates Number of Records Liverpool Direct 11/12/2008 13:09 16/02/2011 11:16 11/12/2008 13:09 6951 17/12/2008 08:37 6843 10/11/2010 12:25 662 Wirral Finance 10/11/2010 12:29 14/02/2011 09:52 10/11/2010 12:29 3468 01/12/2010 14:18 3741 01/12/2010 14:19 3605 01/12/2010 14:19 3700 Sefton Council 16/12/2010 13:53 14/02/2011 09:55 16/12/2010 13:53 1645 TOTAL NUMBER 30,615 Please note ISA signed by both Knowsley and St Helens Benefits teams. Awaiting Information to be sent. This data received by MFRS is data held by a Local Council Benefits Team eg Housing Benefit. It is not DWP data.

8. MERSEYSIDE FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE ONTOLOGY We need to understand “risks” associated to a “person” as well as the “risks” associated to a “property”. By doing so we will make Merseyside “safer, stronger, healthier”. Ontology = An Ontology is more specific in defining a concept and its relationships. People © Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Property Risk

9. IDENTIFYING DATA Incident Data MOSAIC HFSC Data Police Data British Crime Survey Incident Stats Sport England Profiling CUSTOMER INSIGHT Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service NHS Wirral Wirral MBC Health & Lifestyles Data Perception Studies Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Housing & Benefits Perception Studies

10. VULNERABLE PERSON PROFILING Vulnerable person is likely to be known by other departments or agencies but may live in an area typically defined as low risk – i.e. Not linked to deprivation Living Alone Elderly Known to Social Care Claims Benefits Disability Lone Parents Vulnerable Person

11. NEXT STEPS... Detailed segmentation of our community will be created in addition to the vulnerable person profile - Pilot will commence in April to test this methodology Community Safety Advocates will use the vulnerable person profile to identify individuals who may need priority visits from the fire service, other information in the segmentation profile will assist the user in understanding the needs of that segment in the community Example – if known to MFRS, a Home Fire Safety Check can be made, may reduce risk of injury in a fire, therefore reduce service demands for hospitals and A&E…can also signpost to ensure individual is accessing services relative to need(s) The aim is to roll out Merseyside wide and use the methodology for joint decision making between MFRS and key partners

12. OUTCOMES Some outcomes of this project will include: Empowerment and Personalisation – the citizen will have more choice and control and the ability to access services relative to need(s) Assist in helping NHS Wirral reduce the number of smokers by half by 2020 Allowing people to live independently for longer Localism – will support the need(s) of local communities relative to their local wants and expectations Will promote the purpose of MFRS – to make Merseyside a Safer, Stronger and Healthier place to live Reduce accidental dwelling fires by 15% (3 fires from total of 22 in 2009-10) in Birkenhead and Tranmere and 33% Heswall (1 fire from a total of 3 in 2009-10) Reduce moderate accidental dwelling fires by 20% (1 fire from a total of 5 in 2009-10) in Birkenhead and Tranmere. Keep number of moderate accidental dwelling fires at 0 in Heswall.

13. Any Questions? John L Curtis – [email_address] Emma Higgins – [email_address]