The Budget Proposal Belonging to the Rescue Authority and Greater Manchester Fire - Report Example

Greater Manchester Fire and rescue fire There is a very good reason as to why most of the governments must cut down the expenditures in the country and this is mainly done by most governments after a general election. This paper entails a detailed report of the budget proposal belonging to the rescue authority and greater Manchester Fire for the year 2011. The report contains a critical assessment as well as appraisal for the structure of finance, control as well as systems and the effect upon implementation. It also entails a critical review as well as appraisal of the existing practices that are related to the control of finances as well as their relevance in terms of the indicators in the context of the management of public service. Finally it contains an interpretation of the supplied financial data to make effective, logical recommendations to aid the strategic and decision making process. This is a fire as well as rescue service provider company that is located in England Manchester in specific. The company has a total number of forty-one stations that serves the citizens. The company is on a mission to reduce the expenses or the cost of production in terms of the finances needed to sustain the company. This means that there is a need for a proposal to the company director expressing how well the goal will be executed and reached at. Due to a number of changes that will be done in the system of operation it is expected that the operation of the system will gradually change. The company is expected to consider some cut of 5% in areas like the staffing, equipments and premises. Each of them will have some expenses and costs reduction to ensure there is a great cut off in the total expenditure by about 5%. Staff How Impact Reduce the impact Increase hours Cut wages Pensions Training lose morale>>strike>>lose of service increase morale increase the quality y of services produced Motivation and rewarding the most hardworking workers reduce hours cut promotion non-replacement sub-contract/ temporary Consider coverage Employee turn over Employee turnover Poor quality of service production Division and specialization of work The issue of equipment, the company is intending to sell off some of the old equipments so that it can be able to purchase new ones. This is because some of the new ones that will be purchased will be of a very sophisticated technology and they will also have the advantage of fuel savage. The new technological equipments will be in such a way that they will not consume so much fuel to run or to function. This will help in cutting down the costs of production. The main problem will be that some of the employees will lose their job because the new technology will require very well trained employees to operate it. The issue of premise will help in the cost reduction by the fact that the company will get premises for their offices where the rent is much cheaper (Paauwe, 2009). In addition, the company will ensure the premises will be located in the highly risky areas as well as in the areas where the raw materials of their services like water and carbon dioxide will be readily available. Setting of operational boundary and authorised limits In order for a company to experience unusual movement of cash, the Authorised limit calculations must be able to provide headroom above as well as below the operational boundary. The authorised limit will therefore provide for the 5% variation needed for the company to achieve its objective. The main aim for the proposal is to ensure the cost is reduced by 5% of all cost. The figure is rounded off to a figure that is near to £0.5million of the operational boundary so that the headroom can be available (Finlay, 2000). The treasury policy of management is then determined by the authority, which will govern how the finances will be borrowed as well as invested in the company. This activity must be done before the beginning of any financial new year. There a number of indicators, that must be taken into consideration when setting the operational boundary limit and the authorised limit namely Code of practice for the treasury management adopted by the management. The main authority code to be adopted must be decided b the authority for the management of all the services concerning the management of the treasury especially in public services. Exposure of the interest limits. The authority is expected to set both the upper and lower limits of its exposure to the changes and effects of rates of interest for the variable loan rates and the fixed rates of interest. Below is an example The maturity of the borrowing structure. This is whereby the authority is expected to set the upper and the lower limits of the following year with reference to the maturity of the company’s rate of borrowing. It should be noted that all the company’s borrowing to be made must be taken out for about ten years but they should not be less that the percentage of fifty. Then fifty percent of the company’s new borrowing must be taken for periods between the years of two and ten. Finally, there should be no borrowing for a period that is less than two years (David, 2002). The author should be aware of the fact that the maturity profile considered for the new borrowing will only depend on the factors or the conditions that are in existence in the market. The principle total of the invested sum for a period of more than one year. This is because the envisagement is that the company will not have made any investment for a period of longer than one year. For the investment that has been made for more than one year, the authority must set a limit to be on the safe side. Characteristics of the FRS The system is a mixed one. This is because it is designed to serve both in the rural and in the urban areas. The fire and rescue services will be offered to the people in the rural areas as well as the people in the towns. This is because the company is aimed at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the process of community risk analysis as well as management. It is characterised by very much improved training of the employees, more trainers for the communities, increased safety resources for the community like technicians for home safety, a juvenile post of fire setters and one post for the trainers or the educationists. Six risks areas and the relevance of the risks to the FRS In any venture there are risks that must be expected. This means that for a company to be able to deal with the risks, it is very important to have a high return or rather to compare two projects and run the one that has lower risks. Risk management as far as the business is concerned very important. This is because some of the risks cannot be predicted and so the participants must be fully equipped to deal with any risk that may arise during such moments of operations. This means that it is very important for the authority to sit and come up with a list of risks that are predicted to arise with in the process of operation or any time. There are a number of risk areas as far as the fire and rescue service provision is concerned. The first risk area is in the community. This concerns the manner in which people are living, their housing, the health of the community as well as the factors they are deprived of. Strategic risks refers to factors like some of the risks which may occur as a result of industrial malfunctioning, transportation, future risks includes some of the risk which may come into existence due to the upcoming projects like building construction, road constructions as well as the population that is projected to be aging. Environmental risks includes some events like flooding due to heavy rains, then there is a risk of people drowning and dying or even extensive damage of properties (Hill & Jones, 2007). The issue of climatic changes where by the sea levels as well as glaciations may be some of the risks projected since they are able to affect the lives and properties of people. In addition, the issue of landslides or even earthquakes may fall under this kind of category. Operational risks may be due to industrial faults like an outbreak of fire in a company or even an accident like death of the employees on the process of working. Emergency risks are those that may occur like diseases outbreak. The risks are very important because they will enable the company focus on the ways in which it can offer the community protection. It is also very because the company will be able to come up with the best way of resource distribution. It will also enable the company to involve the relevant governmental departments to take care of the risks before they occur like the road accidents, overcrowded settlement which may enhance spread of disease and infections, construction of the buildings to ensure the best building codes are followed s well as the meteorological department to ensure the issues of climate do not pose any danger to the community. Through the analysis, also the department is able to involve the ministry of finance to get the financial aid needed to be equipped to face the challenges as well as avoid so many damages that may be caused by the risks. For GMFRS = £11.698M = Operational Boundary For GMFRS Authorised limit = £12.5M So proportion of authorised limit used = operational boundary/authorised limit = 11.698/12.5 = 0.935 Therefore the safety margin = 100% - 93.5% = 6.5% The recommended safety margin is 5% Therefore, GMFRS operates within recommended safety margins If number at 6.5% is less than 5 – FRS is not operating in recommended limits. The extent to which the fire and rescue service system has accommodated risk areas Risk management entails the process of defining and planning for the accommodation of the risks in the system. The company has greatly taken responsibility especially in terms of financial risks and their implications. These have been properly weighed and measured so that proper consideration will be taken before any decision is made. The authority has taken the initiative of maintaining enough balances of revenue for the purposes of ensuring proper long-term stability and planning as well as smooth running of the company (Boxall & Purcell, 2003). The company has to ensure the returns are increase in comparison to the costs or the expenses. One of the ways through which the fire and rescue service has used to accommodate the risks was the use of the probability or the expected values. This is calculate by the following formulae This is formulae has some limitations like the expected value not being the possible outcome, the value could also be used for the one off project and finally the spread of the most possible outs may be completely lost. The company is very aware of the rate at which some risks like the fire and other accidents are occurring in the vicinity. This is why the company is trying to do more than enough to ensure it deals with the effects. The company is also very much aware of the risks of fire that are increasing due to the fact that many people are moving to live in very congested areas within the communities whereby in case of any fire outbreak (Peter, 2007). This is why the fire and recue service has taken the risk of working with the housing providers to curb the risks. There is a prediction that in a few years to come the traffic in the area will be greatly increased. This has led the company to take the risk of joining hands as well as effort with the traffic police to ensure the accidents are reduced in the areas. There is another very serious risk, which is due to the fact that the construction materials are changing like the increase of wood framing. This is increasing the risk of fire outbreaks and serious damages due to the fact that the construction is made of wood. The company has taken the risk of working with the developers and the planners to ensure the risks are minimised. The area is greatly affected by flooding due to some of the weather issues like great storms as well as rise in the sea level causing destruction as well as damages caused by the rise on the sea level. This is why the company has taken the risk of also working alongside the environmental agency whereby they are providing equipments to reduce the impacts of the floods. One of the responsibilities the company has taken is ensuring they are raising the awareness to the community in the issues of flood. The company has also taken the responsibility of getting equipments to curb the effectives. The equipments of the company have also been upgrading the training as well as upgrading them to ensure the water related issues are dealt them. Some of the activities they are involved includes the rescue of the people from the cars, also rescuing the people who are stuck in the incidents that are water related. In addition, the company works closely with the coastguards who are affected by the tidal rivers and the sea. One of the challenges the company has been experiencing is the fact that the rescue group has not received specific duties to do during the seasons of floods; it is very evident that due to public demand their services are greatly needed and highly demanded. This has given the company the responsibility of analysing the risks that are expected in the areas to be ready to deal with them (Salder & Craig, 2003). The company is also working very hard to get to understand the environmental trends or rather the climatic effects and changes to ensure they also reduce the impact the technologies they will use towards the environment. The company is also ensuring that as it does that it is reducing the use of resources and fuel for the purpose of cost effectiveness. It is also ensuring that through its great involvement in the issues of fire the use of carbon is reduced for the purposes of ensuring environmental sustainability. The company is also very careful withy the use of water during the process of fire extinguishing to avoid negative impacts. There is a problem or a challenge that the company is facing because there is economic recession in the area meaning the people are not in position to help in their safety like in the construction of new buildings, which are enabling them to be free of the risks. It is a great risk for the company since it is at some point forced to use its own resources. It is also very important to note that the company has been involved legislations, policies and laws that are involved in risk management. Some of these involve the management of the site while others are involved in taking care of the life and safety of the participants. The most important factor as far as this is concerned is for everyone to take responsibility in ensuring the laws and the regulations are adhered to (Thompson & Martin, 2005). Some of the laws include the environment protection to ensure some of the risks do not occur; there is also the issue of life safety whereby the site management should prioritize the issue of human and property safety. There is also the aspect of personal responsibility. All the people involved in the outdoor activities must be informed that their greatest responsibility is to take care of their safety and to ensure that in all that they do. They should ensure they avoid any impeding risks with in the site as well as be on the look out to ensure also the lives of other people are put at risk due to the activities they may be involved in. Reference David, F. 2002. Strategic management: concepts (9th Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. 2003. Strategy and Human Resource Management. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Finlay, P. 2000. Strategic management: an introduction to business and corporate strategy. New York: Pearson Education. Hill, C. & Jones, G. 2007. Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach (8th Ed.). California: Cengage Learning. Paauwe, J. 2009. HRM and Performance: Achievements, Methodological Issues and Prospects, Journal of Management Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 129-142. Peter, F. 2007. The practice of management. New York: John Wiley & sons. Salder, P., & Craig, J., 2003. Strategic management (2nd Ed.).London: Kogan Page Publishers. Thompson, J. & Martin, F., 2005. Strategic management: awareness and change (5th Ed.). California: Cengage Learning EMEA. Read More