Evaluate and improve response and recovery capabilities, arrangements and plans

This standard is about evaluating and enhancing response and recovery capabilities. It involves structured evaluation, assurance, and continuous improvement of all aspects of a capability including equipment, facilities, skills, as well as emergency and business continuity policies, plans, procedures and protocols.

The standard enables those responsible for evaluating and improving capabilities, arrangements and plans to select the purpose of the evaluation, testing, validation, assurance or post incident review and choose appropriate methods to gather evidence such as exercises and debriefs.

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1. apply governance processes to review or audit the organisation's evaluation approach, ensuring alignment with legislation, guidance, and best practices
2. identify and collaborate with partners and stakeholders in capability evaluation, updating partnership, engagement, and accountability strategies as necessary
3. analyse legislation, duties, codes of practice and guidance to identify responsibilities, priorities and approaches
4. define a comprehensive programme for evaluating capabilities, recording the rationale for capabilities selected and methods used
5. define and document post-incident evaluation processes, including structured debriefs to capture insights and lessons
6. contribute to planning capability evaluation programmes, including resource allocation, managing resource gaps and associated risks
7. define the scope, objectives and suitable evaluation frameworks and tools
8. determine the suitability and cost-effectiveness of exercise types for capability evaluation
9. develop exercises that are aligned to the evaluation purpose and objectives
10. support the delivery of exercises and debriefs as methods to evaluate and improve capabilities
11. test, using trained personnel against planned arrangements, to confirm capabilities can be implemented as intended
12. validate, using trained personnel, to confirm capabilities perform as expected across a range of risk scenarios and contexts
13. assure, using benchmarks and standards to verify capabilities quality, performance, and outcomes
14. record evidence of good practice and limitations revealed during incidents and evaluation activities
15. examine evidence to determine the root cause of success, limitations or errors
16. define evidence-based lesson statements that clearly articulate the problem as it occurred, its root cause(s), and recommended actions for improvement
17. communicate lessons for accountability and collective learning, escalating safety critical issues to a strategic or national level if required
18. assign ownership of lessons and actions to individuals, teams or organisations
19. specify implementation requirements for actions, including timeframes, reporting, and evidencing change and impacts
20. meet implementation requirements in line with legal and organisational policies and procedures
21. implement processes to review and improve capability evaluation, in line with legal and organisational standards and lessons learned
22. undertake continuing professional development and share evidence based good and innovative practice in this occupational area

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1. legislation, regulations, policy, guidance and good practice relevant to capability evaluation
2. principles of programme and project management relevant to planning and delivering capability evaluation workstreams
3. methods for engaging partners and stakeholders in capability evaluation and improvement processes
4. response and recovery capabilities commonly developed
5. governance, standards, lessons and evidence based good practice that support continuous improvement of response and recovery capabilities
6. common steps and activities involved in capability evaluation
7. criteria and considerations for setting priorities, timelines, and objectives in capability evaluation
8. how to test, validate, and assure capabilities using exercises, performance assessments, and audits
9. the difference between training scenarios and exercises used for capability evaluation, and the risks of involving untrained individuals in evaluation exercises
10. strengths and limitations of different exercise types for evaluating capabilities, arrangements, and plans
11. the characteristics of effective evaluation criteria for use in evaluation exercises
12. the purpose, formats, and application of post-exercise and post-incident debriefs in capability evaluation
13. techniques for collecting and recording evidence during capability evaluations
14. approaches for conducting root cause analysis to identify capability gaps and areas for improvement
15. the characteristics of an effective and transferable lesson statement
16. principles and best practices for managing, tracking, and implementing lessons and improvement actions
17. the responsibilities of individuals, teams, and organisations assigned to act on lessons and improvement actions
18. why and how lessons may fail to be learned, and the risks associated with not improving response and recovery capabilities
19. governance structures and oversight mechanisms for evaluating and enhancing response and recovery capabilities
20. the role of reflective practice in evaluating performance, identifying areas for improvement and professional development

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Capability Evaluation and Assurance Programme
Capability Evaluation and Assurance Programme: A structured and integrated schedule for assessing, validating, and assuring the effectiveness of readiness, response, and recovery capabilities. It includes exercises, audits, reviews, and continuous improvement.
Post-Incident Evaluation Processes
Structured activities conducted after an emergency or exercise to review performance, capture insights, and drive improvements. Can include hot and cold debriefs, structured reviews, after-action reports (AARs), and independent evaluations.
Capability Evaluation Frameworks
Predefined structures and criteria used to assess capabilities. They guide what should be measured, how, and why, covering performance, quality, outputs and outcomes.
Exercise (in Capability Evaluation)
A method to practice, test, validate and assure capabilities and improve performance, alongside other methods such as audits, real-time performance assessments, and post-incident reviews.
Debrief
A systematic process for reviewing performance, impact and outcomes after an exercise or incident. Debriefs may take the form of: Hot Debrief (immediate reflections post-incident), Cold Debrief (delayed, more structured review), and Structured Debrief (detailed analysis based on collected data).
Root Cause
Root cause refers to the primary contributing factors that result in observed issues or outcomes, often during incidents or exercises. Failure to identify the root cause of why results occurred means relevant recommendations for change cannot be defined, and the issues are likely to reoccur.
Root Cause Analysis
Root cause analysis is the systematic follow-up investigation of issues and outcomes, often identified during incidents and exercises, to determine the primary contributing factors. Without identifying the underlying cause, evidence-based lesson statements that clearly articulate the problem, its root cause(s), and recommended actions for improvement cannot be defined.
Lessons
Lessons are statements that articulate the issue or outcome observed, often during an incident or exercise, evidence of the root cause and recommended actions formulated to enable positive changes.
Practice
Repeated activities aimed at improving individual and collective response proficiency.
Test
An evaluation method that determines whether planned arrangements, procedures or protocols can be implemented as specified in documentation, under controlled conditions (i.e. using trained personnel).
Validation
An evaluation method that determines whether the capability and associated plans, procedures and protocols perform as expected, meeting objectives, operational needs and achieving intended outcomes under a number of different scaled risk scenarios and contexts.
Audit
A formal review process to assess compliance, effectiveness, and areas for improvement.
Assurance
An evaluation method that determines whether the capability and associated plans, procedures and protocols meet specified benchmarks and quality and performance standards to ensure they will function at the standard required when needed.

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SFJCCAE2, SFJCCAE3

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3

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2030

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Current

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Original

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Skills for Justice

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SFJCCAE1, SFJCCAE2, SFJCCAE3

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Health Professionals, Policy Officer, Public Service and other Associate Professionals, Public Services, Public Services and Care, Resilience and Emergencies Professional: Fire Officer

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Develop; exercises; validate; training; emergency plans; emergency; emergencies; emergency management

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