FRS inspections 2018/19 – tranche 3 - service press release

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service:

• ‘requires improvement’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• ’requires improvement’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Matt Parr said:

“I know Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service will be disappointed with the grades we have given, but in large part this is due to circumstances beyond their control, and we found much to admire in the way the Service is run. Ultimately, the service is operating in a tough financial environment and cannot afford the firefighters it says it needs. To its credit, it has developed and implemented an innovative resourcing model, but funding does not sustain this model in the medium or long term. As a result, we found it unable to properly resource its prevention, protection and response activities.

“It carries out a lower rate of home fire safety checks than many other services, and isn’t auditing its high-risk premises in the most effective manner. The service also has much lower overall fire engine availability than other services and is missing targets in its response times and standards.

“But I think this is a well-run service. It has a good understanding of its local risk profile which draws on a wide range of data. This understanding is informed by site visits, collaboration with third parties and use of geographical software.

“And the service is to be commended for its resilience in the face of these challenges. Our main concern is that it does not have enough resources to meet demand. It needs to better prepare for present and future financial constraints, which includes developing contingency plans.

“On a more positive note, the service looks after its workforce well. It provides a range of wellbeing programmes, including counselling and physiotherapy. Recruitment is generally good, with fairness, transparency and respect for diversity enshrined in its recruitment processes. It does, however, need to refine its leadership development programmes.

“We will inspect Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service again in due course to see what progress it has made.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Cleveland Fire Brigade. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that Cleveland Fire Brigade:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Cleveland Fire Brigade

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Phil Gormley said:

“I am pleased to report that Cleveland Fire Brigade performed well in each of the main areas of our inspection. This is also impressive given that the brigade has faced some of the largest cuts to its government funding.

“The brigade thoroughly assesses the risk to the community and its average response time to primary fires is faster than other fire and rescue services in England.

“We found that Cleveland has taken an innovative approach to staff working patterns, which has improved flexibility and productivity of the service.

“As with many other services however, Cleveland does need to do more to ensure its workforce reflects the diversity of the residential population it serves.

“This is an excellent performance from the brigade – the people of Cleveland can be confident that they are being well-served.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ‘requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Phil Gormley said:

“Most aspects of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service’s performance are good. However, the service requires improvement in how it looks after its workforce.

“Prevention activity is prioritised in a clearly laid out community safety strategy. To ensure it can better direct prevention activities, it has refined its information management systems to identify individuals at greater risk of harm. Staff also showed a good understanding of safeguarding procedures.

“As part of its prioritisation of prevention work, the service promotes community safety through a variety of initiatives. It participates in several communication and outreach campaigns, including an annual ‘safer futures’ event that reaches over 7,000 schoolchildren.

“However, although the service’s prevention activities are good, there is no clear risk management strategy. The service’s integrated risk management plan is unclear and uncoordinated, and it needs an improved understanding of the general local risk profile.

“We found that emergency response was good. The service has a quicker response time to primary fires than other predominantly rural services by about two minutes.

“It manages its budget and makes savings effectively. We were encouraged to see that, despite having made about £3 million worth of savings in the last few years, it has never used financial reserves to balance its revenue budget and it has never had any external debt.

“We found evidence the service’s approach to its workforce requires improvement. There are gaps in its workforce plan, leading to questions over staff numbers and engine availability. In addition, we have concerns over the fairness and transparency of its recruitment processes, as well as its leadership development schemes.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ‘requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Phil Gormley said:

“I am pleased with most aspects of the performance of Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure. However, it needs to improve how it looks after its people to give a consistently good service.

“Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service is good at providing an effective service, in particular in relation to its prevention, protection and response functions. It has allocated response resources following a thorough assessment of risk of the local environment.

“The service has a strong track record of achieving savings. We found it to be good at making the best use of resources, and at making its services sustainable now and in the future.

“Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement to the way it looks after its people. Some staff are not aware of the service’s values and feel the service’s senior management could do more to adequately respond to their concerns. More could also be done to manage staff performance. However, it is good at training its staff and providing them with the right skills.

“I am encouraged by the positive aspects identified in the report and look forward to seeing what improvements are made when we next inspect.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

We found that Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at efficiently; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Zoë Billingham said:

“Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is doing a very good job of keeping people safe from fire and other risks, like flooding. I am extremely pleased to report that the services is performing well across the three areas of our inspection. This is an excellent result and testament to the hard work of the all the people working for the fire service.

“The service is good at keeping people safe from harm. It carries out a wide range of prevention activities, including safe and well visits, fitting fire alarms and providing health and safety advice.

“Emergency response is generally good, with the service meeting its standards on response times for the first fire engine that arrives at an incident. The service recognises the need to improve times for the second engine arriving in rural areas and ensuring that firefighters have access to the most up-to-date risk information.

“I am particularly impressed by the way Derbyshire Fire and Rescue service supports its staff and promotes the right values. It is one of only four services in England to be graded as outstanding in this area. The service excels at instilling a positive and respectful culture for which they can be proud. Staff can access comprehensive information on wellbeing via the service’s intranet and a 24-hour phone helpline. They also benefit from clearly defined health and safety policies.

“The service allocates its resources efficiently. It has a good understanding of its financial climate and pressures, including how to use reserves. It uses some of these funds to invest for the future, such as in improved IT systems.

“The people of Derbyshire can be proud of their fire and rescue service. I am confident that the service will also further improve and look forward to seeing how it has progressed in a years time.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• ’requires improvement’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ’requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Wendy Williams said:

“We are satisfied with some aspects of the performance of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. But there are several areas where it needs to make improvements.

“Devon and Somerset is good at understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies and preventing fires and other risks. It is also good at protecting the public through fire regulation and responding to national risks. It does, however, require improvement in how it responds to fires and other emergencies, not least as it is failing to meet its response standards. That said, it works well with Hampshire and Dorset & Wiltshire fire and rescue services so that the quickest resource will be mobilized to an incident.

“The service needs to improve how efficiently it operates. Resources are not currently aligned to current risk. The service also needs to establish if operational crews are productive and used efficiently to support prevention, protection and response activities.

“The way that Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service looks after its people also requires improvement. At the time of our inspection, it hadn’t tested the fitness of its operational staff for over three years so could not assure itself that all members of operational staff met the minimum fitness levels required to perform the role of a firefighter. We also saw behaviours that were not aligned to the service’s values.

“While we saw some good practice, I hope to see improvements in the year ahead. I am confident that the service will work hard to build on the strengths and address the areas for improvement we have identified in this report.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

We found that East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service:

• ’requires improvement’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ’requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Dru Sharpling said:

“Our inspection of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service revealed a mixed picture. Although we did identify several areas in which the service is performing well, others require improvement.

“The service understands local risk well. It engages with the public to build up its understanding of risk, which it uses to help keep its integrated risk management plan profile updated. However, we are concerned that this profile doesn’t match with the service’s operational work in a comprehensive way. We also identified issues regarding training on site-specific risk information.

“There are also issues surrounding prevention methods. For example, last year the service failed to meet its target to complete 12,000 home safety visits (although it is important to note that the service still carries out a higher rate of visits per 1,000 population compared to the rate for England).

“Emergency response is more positive. It has the fastest response time to primary fires out of any significantly rural fire service in the country. We were also pleased to see the service’s effective use of evaluation and debrief procedures after each incident, which help to refine its overall response process.

“I am also pleased with how the service manages its resources. It has realistic and robust financial plans in place, including business continuity plans. A dedicated programme management office oversees project progression to ensure benefits are realised.

“However, the service needs to improve how it manages and looks after its workforce. It doesn’t adequately promote its values and culture throughout the organisation. Workforce planning needs to be better outlined, with performance management a particular issue.

”I look forward to seeing what progress is made when we next inspect”.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published its first report into the performance of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and have now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that Essex County Fire and Rescue Service:

• ‘requires improvement’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• ‘requires improvement’ at efficiently keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks; and
• ‘requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Essex Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Zoë Billingham said:

“Essex County FRS requires improvement overall in each of the three areas of ‘effectiveness’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘looking after its people’. We found a very mixed picture – but within this there are good areas of performance. Importantly the service is good at responding to emergencies, and to national risks. Response times are in line with other significantly rural services and the service works well with other fire services and agencies to deal with major incidents.

“I am pleased to see that the FRS understands the needs of its local communities. It works hard to identify risk and does so with some success – it’s targeting of visits to elderly and disabled people, who are often at greater risk from fires, is above the national average. To improve further, the service needs to develop how it stores and manages this information.

“However, the way that Essex County FRS manages fire prevention and protection is a concern. Its level of prevention activities is low, and staff are not guided by any central plan. The FRS’s approach to the enforcement of fire safety legislation, making sure buildings are safe for the public, is incoherent. The service has not invested enough resources in this important area.

“The new leadership team in Essex County FRS inherited a very poor cultural legacy with unacceptable levels of bullying and pockets of toxic behaviours. Much commendable work has been done by the new Chief Fire Officer and her team, supported by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, to address these deep seated issues. But cultural transformation will take time. The service has been graded as inadequate in terms of promoting the right values and culture. It still has a long way to go before inclusive and ethical behaviours are the norm across the organisation.

“My inspectors visited the fire service again in November 2019 to check on how much progress had been made since the initial inspection. I was pleased to find a suitable action plan was in place, supported by strong governance arrangements to oversee the work. A good start had been made on addressing my concerns with positive feedback from staff on visible improvements. Staff told us that they welcomed the new approach of senior managers, and the service is good at developing leaders. Vital posts in the fire safety team have now been filled, and improved fire safety checks are underway.

“Overall, this is a service with challenges to address, some of which are deep rooted and will take time to resolve. I welcome the work of the new senior leadership team to tackle them, which is already proving positive benefits. I expect to see further improvement in due course.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service:

• ‘requires improvement’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• ‘requires improvement’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ‘requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Wendy Williams said:

“Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is in need of improvement in a number of significant areas.

“We were especially concerned to find that the service lacks a coherent fire protection strategy. It also doesn’t have the resources it needs to ensure building owners are complying with fire safety regulations. Because of these concerns, we revisited the service in November 2019 and I was encouraged to see real progress being made.

“Emergency response is also an area requiring attention and the service needs to ensure it sends the quickest resource to an incident. It also needs to quicken its implementation of national operational guidance.

“The service should make better use of its resources. While it is to be commended for the savings it has made over the past five years, these savings have sometimes come at the expense of operational capability. The service’s overall financial sustainability is uncertain.

“We rated the service as ‘inadequate’ in its promotion of values and culture. The service’s values are not evident in practice and we have recommended that they be refreshed. In our staff survey, 41 percent reported that they felt bullied or harassed at work in the past 12 months and 32 percent felt discriminated against. These results are concerning and need to be addressed without delay.

“We were pleased, however, to note that the service has made good progress in recruiting female members of staff. Indeed, it has the greatest proportion of firefighters who are female in the country – the service is to be congratulated for this.

“There are clearly many challenges that the service needs to overcome. I am encouraged by some early signs of progress, and will continue to monitor the service to ensure improvements are made.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of London Fire Brigade. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that London Fire Brigade:

• ‘requires improvement’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• ’requires improvement’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ’requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – London Fire Brigade

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Matt Parr said:

“This is a disappointing report: there are too many areas where London Fire Brigade needs to make improvements.

“Criticism should be balanced, however, by the things the Brigade does well: it is good at understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies, and preventing fires and other risks. It also responds well with other emergency services to national risks. But it should improve the way it protects the public both through fire regulation, and how it responds to fires and other emergencies. It is well-resourced and exceeds its own standards on response times. But its operational policies don’t reflect national operational guidance, even for risk-critical areas such as incident command. And its incident commanders and emergency drivers are not as well trained by the Brigade as they should be. This is something that needs to be urgently addressed.

“We have concluded there is a long way to go before London Fire Brigade is as efficient as it could be. We have criticised both the way it uses resources and makes its services affordable now and in future. In some areas it is wasteful. While it has made savings, these are not of the level made in other services.

“Worryingly, the Brigade is inadequate at getting the right people with the right skills. It also needs to improve how it promotes the right values and culture, ensuring fairness and promoting diversity as well as managing performance and developing leaders.

“The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 was one of the biggest challenges London Fire Brigade has ever had to face. The incident has had a profound effect on how the Brigade now performs. Although our findings are broadly consistent with those of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, it must be emphasised that this was an inspection of the Brigade in 2019. We found that while the Brigade has learned lessons from Grenfell, it has been slow to implement the changes needed. This is unfortunately typical of the Brigade’s approach to organisational change.

“I expect to see improvements in the year ahead.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and published its first tranche of inspections in 2018.

HMICFRS found that North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• ’requires improvement’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• ’requires improvement’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Phil Gormley said:

“Some aspects of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s performance are good. Others, however, require improvement.

“The service is generally effective at keeping people safe and secure from fires and other risks. Its emergency response is good with arrangements in place to always deploy the quickest vehicle. After larger incidents, the service has an effective debriefing process to identify lessons learned. However, the service doesn’t have a publicly agreed response standard agreed and its average response times to primary fires have increased since 2010.

“The service’s understanding of risk requires improvement. It doesn’t use a sufficiently wide range of data to identify risk, instead relying too heavily on historical risk data, which may not take into account recent changes to the built environment.

“We also have concerns around its financial sustainability. The delayed introduction of tactical response vehicles has contributed to an estimated budget deficit of £2.5 million. More generally, the service’s current financial plans rely on using reserve funds, which is unsustainable.

“The recent transfer of governance to the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner should improve the service’s efficiency, including increasing its collaboration activities.

“The service takes the wellbeing of its staff seriously, offering a range of mental and physical wellbeing programmes. It promotes a system of positive values, though it could do more to make sure all staff understand these. More is also needed to embed diversity across the service and increase the diversity of the workforce. Leadership development procedures should also be refined.

“I look forward to seeing how the service implements the improvements contained in our report.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

We found that Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Wendy Williams said:

“I am very pleased with the results of our first inspection into Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, which revealed that the service is performing to a high standard.

“Our inspection showed that the service has a good understanding of local and regional risks. It uses information from a wide variety of sources, including partner organisations. Working with other county bodies, it uses this information to compile a comprehensive community risk register and corporate safety plan.

“This risk profile is used to carry out a range of risk-based operational preventative measures, such as safe and well visits. Emergency response is also generally good, although the service does not always meet the standards it has agreed with the public for how quickly it will respond to incidents.

“The service makes good use of its resources. Its understanding of the local risk profile allows it to direct resources to risk in an appropriate and efficient manner. We were also pleased to see that the service manages its funding well and has solid budgetary controls in place.

“It also looks after its workforce and takes their wellbeing seriously, with a range of support programmes available. What was most impressive, however, was the way it promotes its values and culture, which I graded as ‘outstanding’. Its core values, which were refreshed and restated in 2018, are easily accessible to all staff via the service’s intranet. In our staff survey, over 90 percent felt that they were treated with dignity at work. Staff also think that their leaders demonstrate and embody the values of the service.

“The service is to be commended for these significant achievements.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

We found that Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at efficiently keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Zoë Billingham said:

“Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service is doing a very good job of keeping people safe from fire and other risks. I am pleased to report that the services is performing well across the three areas of our inspection. This is an excellent result and testament to the hard work of the service.

“The service has a good understanding of the nature and level of risk it faces. It collates information from a variety of sources and uses this to improve its understanding of the regional risk profile. It has in place a comprehensive integrated risk management plan.

“Emergency response is also good. Using an effective system of dynamic mobilisation, in addition to well-trained control room staff, the service is able to quickly send the most appropriate response to any emergency.

“However, the service does need to improve its approach to fire prevention. While it carries out a range of preventative measures such as safer home visits, it needs to do more to ensure that these are all properly evaluated and quality assured.

“We found that the service is generally efficient in its management of resources. It has a medium-term financial plan, driven by its integrated risk management plan, in place. The service has improved efficiency through collaboration arrangements with external organisations, as well as better use of technology.

“I was pleased to find that the service is also good at looking after its workforce. It has a range of policies to guide and assist members of staff. It takes the wellbeing of its staff seriously, and is committed to improving even further

“The people of Suffolk can be proud of their fire and rescue service. I am confident that the service will also further improve and look forward to seeing how it has progressed in a years time.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Phil Gormley said:

“I am pleased with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s performance, which we have rated as ‘good’ across the board.

“The service has a sound understanding of local and community risk. It collates a wide variety of data to build up a local risk profile, which is used to model groups of people and areas at higher risk. The service then prioritises its prevention activities towards these groups.

“Response is also generally good, although we would like to see a formally published response standard. Control room dispatch is well-organised, with collaboration with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service maximising efficiency. The service is in the process of fully adopting national operation guidance, which should improve response still further.

“I am concerned about the financial sustainability of the service. I recognise that the service is operating in a tough financial climate and anticipates a budget deficit of £4.3 million by 2022. It does not currently have an agreed plan to address this shortfall which is a concern.

“The service promotes the wellbeing of its staff. We heard positive feedback from those members of staff who have accessed the service’s occupational and welfare support programmes. However, it could do more to make sure all staff are fully aware of how to access these programmes.

“Recruitment is transparent and fair, with respect for diversity throughout the process. However, the service should refine its grievance procedures to ensure that, when there are issues, these are properly addressed.

“I look forward to seeing the service build on its already impressive performance by implementing the areas for improvement in our report.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report into the performance of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. HMICFRS took on responsibility for inspecting fire and rescue services in 2017 and has now inspected every fire and rescue service in England.

HMICFRS found that West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service:

• is ‘good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
• is ‘good’ at how efficiently it manages its resources; and
• is ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2018/19 – West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Phil Gormley said:

“We rated West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service as ‘good’ in all three aspects covered by our inspection process. This result is a credit to the service.

“The service’s integrated risk management plan is based on a good understanding of risk. Drawing on a wide variety of data, it effectively maps the current local risk profile, as well as anticipating future risks resulting from demographic changes and changes to the built environment. This plan also directs its prevention activities.

“Emergency response is good. Control room staff place ‘markers’ on particular incident types and addresses; this means that staff can quickly dispatch the most appropriate response. Incident command is generally effective, though we did find that some commanders are not always aware of how to employ operational discretion.

“I was impressed with the service’s understanding of its financial climate. It has made savings of over £25 million since 2010 and has future financial sustainability plans in place. However, we would like to see a more clearly defined business continuity plan.

“I was pleased to identify a culture of support for staff wellbeing, with trained welfare officers providing a variety of support. In addition, the service maintains a staff wellbeing fund, which offers a bursary towards projects designed to promote good mental health.

“While recruitment processes are generally fair and transparent, we were concerned by the lack of black and minority ethnic staff. As of 31 March 2018, only four percent of staff identified as BAME, compared to a BAME residential population of 18 percent.

“Overall, the people of West Yorkshire should be proud of the service they receive from their fire service.”