Agenda item

The Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer presented the report.  Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspection of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) was due to be conducted in April/May 2020. This was suspended due to the recall of staff within HMICFRS returning to their own Fire and Rescue Services to plan and manage the implications of the Covid-19 outbreak.

During this period the Service’s Liaison Officer, Charlene Johnston had maintained contact with Service Liaison Lead (SLL), Jo Hayden by having two weekly conversations to update on how the Service was managing the pandemic in Lancashire and to inform her understanding on how the Service operated.  Jo Hayden returned to HMICFRS on 29 June this year, however there would be a period of time during which the HMICFRS would continue work to re?populate their inspection teams and a full inspection was not expected to take place until far into 2021.

Covid-19 Thematic Inspection

HMICFRS were legislated to report on Fire and Rescue Services annually and announced, as expected, that they would be conducting a Covid-19 Thematic Inspection of all Fire and Rescue Services. This would be an ungraded sub-diagnostic under the forthcoming but delayed round 2 inspection programme.

The inspection of LFRS took place over two weeks commencing 28 September and involved a data return and self-assessment survey followed by digital interviews with key staff members. The HMICFRS Service Liaison Lead met, via Microsoft Teams, with the Group Manager Prevention and Protection, Group Manager Response and Emergency Planning, Director of People and Development, Director of Corporate Services, Group Manager Training and Operational Review, and Head of Safety, Health and Environment as well as the Chief Fire Officer and Combined Fire Authority Chairman.

The inspection was light touch and looked at how Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service delivered its functions safely and how it worked for the greater good of the community alongside partners.

It was noted that the inspection of other Fire and Rescue Services would conclude in December, at which point the Service would receive a letter from HMICFRS detailing results with a full thematic report covering all Services expected in January 2021.

As yet there were no indications as to when the round two inspections would commence which would depend on the Covid-19 situation nationally.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Hennessy, the Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the data return was similar to those submitted on a biannual basis (in spring and autumn) which focussed on the Service’s ability to deliver some of its duties (to understand the impact of the pandemic).  Throughout the pandemic the Service had dynamically assessed the consequences of both Government and NHS Public Health guidance to ensure a balance between delivering an effective Service (using different technologies and methods where appropriate) and the protection of staff wellbeing.  He confirmed that broadly the data set spanned those topics.  Since then the autumn data had been submitted which assessed staffing, types of facilities and services offered and looked to assess the impact of covid over the last 12 months when compared with data submitted the previous year. 

In addition, the Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the data return provided was factual in terms of what the Service had undertaken (including the delivery of thousands of PPE items to care homes and 3,500 vulnerable visits to people in the community who were shielding on behalf of the NHS). He confirmed that the informal feedback received had been positive however, all the data returns were yet to be compared.

The Chief Fire Officer also advised that the difficulty at this time was that HMICFRS would not yet have formed a view on what levels of service were being delivered by any particular Fire and Rescue Service which included: staff wellbeing, links into the Local Resilience Forum to deliver additional activities and whether there were any barriers.   He confirmed that the narrative feedback at the end of the inspection and the subsequent report, as expected at the end of the year, would show broadly how the Service had looked after its staff (by keeping staff well engaged and well informed) and how the Service had provided significant additional response to the Lancashire Resilience Forum (which included having over 40 officers detached into the forum to deliver its core structures) well beyond traditional fire and rescue service activity. 

RESOLVED: - that the Planning Committee noted the report.