Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer updated Members regarding the inspection methodology and framework for His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and LFRS planning arrangements.

Round 2 gradings summary

Since the previous meeting, the Services in tranche 3 (of the current round of inspections) had received their reports.  A summary of the gradings awarded from the completion of round 2 inspections for each pillar was detailed in the report.  Whilst some more ‘outstanding’ grades were awarded in round 2, the greater detail and scrutiny in assessment meant that most fire and rescue services lost grading against the 11 diagnostics.  This was likely to continue to be the approach going forward, which meant that to maintain the same gradings in the next round of inspections it was expected that a demonstration of progress would be made.

Round 3 Overview

Members noted that the next round of inspections, known as ‘Round 3’ would start in February 2023.  HMICFRS would continue to inspect how effective and efficient Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) were at carrying out their principal functions of fire safety, firefighting, and responding to road traffic collisions and other emergencies.  All 44 FRSs in England would be inspected in round 3 over a two-year period, using a similar methodology to the Round 2 inspections. It was noted that HMICFRS had moved away from grouping services in to three tranches, to a more rolling approach. It was anticipated that this would ensure that publication of the reports was sooner after the inspection had concluded, which would enable FRSs to be able to react to feedback in a timelier way. Whilst it was still not certain, planning assumptions were that Lancashire would likely be inspected either late 2023 or early 2024.

HMICFRS had stated they wanted to maintain the focus of the sector on the areas that had been identified for improvement through the inspection process, therefore, moving forward they would continue to inspect the effectiveness and efficiency of FRSs and how well they looked after their people.  However, to identify more precisely where it was considered improvement was needed, and how FRSs should achieve it, HMICFRS would move to a common grading approach throughout both FRS and Police inspections.

The 5 judgement categories would be: i) Outstanding (the FRS had substantially exceeded the characteristics of good performance; ii) Good (the FRS had substantially demonstrated all the characteristics of good performance); iii) Adequate (the FRS had demonstrated some of the characteristics of good performance, but areas had been identified where the FRS should make improvements); iv) Requires improvement (the FRS had demonstrated few, if any, of the characteristics of good performance, and a substantial number of areas where the FRS needed to make improvements had been identified; v) Inadequate – HMICFRS had cause for concern and had made recommendations to the FRS to address them.

In the previous rounds of inspections, HMICFRS assessed and provided summary judgments for the three principal questions of the inspection methodology (efficiency, effectiveness, and people) and for 11 diagnostic questions. They would now assess and give graded judgments only for the 11 diagnostic questions only. This better served the aims of promoting improvements in fire and rescue and highlighting where a FRS was doing well and where it needed to improve.

In future reports, HMICFRS would comment on progress made by the service since its last inspection. However, these changes meant it would not be possible to make direct comparisons between the grades in Round 3 inspections with those in previous rounds of inspection.

The assessment of effectiveness would continue to consider how well each FRS was performing its principal functions of preventing fires from happening, making sure the public was kept safe through the regulation of fire safety and responding to emergency incidents. They would continue to provide the public with clarity on how well FRSs were prepared to respond to major incidents with other FRSs and partner agencies.

The assessment of efficiency made a clear distinction between the way each FRS used its resources to manage its current risks and how well it was securing an affordable way of managing its risks in the future. During Round 3, there will be a greater focus on assessing how productive a service was and what productivity improvements it had made since its last inspection. HMICFRS would also continue to improve how they inspected value for money.

The assessment of how each FRS looked after its people would remain focused on leadership at all levels of the organisation. HMICFRS would continue to look closely at training, values and culture, and there will be a particular emphasis on diversity and how services were trying to overcome inequalities.

State of Fire 2022

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services’, Mr Andy Cooke was required to report to the Secretary of State under section 28B of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 on an annual basis. The State of Fire and Rescue Annual Report 2022  contained HMICFRS’ assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of fire and rescue services in England during the second full round of inspections, which were carried out between February 2021 and August 2022.  This report drew on findings from inspections of FRSs in England, to provide an overall view of the state of the fire and rescue sector.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer drew Members’ attention to Mr Cooke’s first annual assessment of England’s fire and rescue services since being appointed in 2022, where he found that:

i) only two of the inspectorate’s previous six recommendations for reform of the fire service had been implemented, which he described as extremely disappointing; ii) the Home Office, the Local Government Association, the National Fire Chiefs Council and trade unions should work together to consider reforming structures for negotiating pay, terms and conditions, which would reduce the risk of industrial action; and iii) many services needed to improve their culture, and there were still some unacceptable levels of bullying, harassment and discrimination.

Mr Cooke said:  “I am continually struck by the dedication of firefighters and other staff, and I know the public feel the same – they are enormous assets to our communities.  The fire service faces a difficult year ahead against the backdrop of industrial action. Some may see these challenges as a reason not to risk further change. On the contrary, reform of the fire service is still urgently needed – and until all our recommendations are addressed in full, fire and rescue services won’t be able to provide the best possible service to the public.  “I am frustrated at the lack of progress since we first started inspecting fire and rescue services in 2018. Only two of our six recommendations for national reform have been completed.  I expect to see further commitments from the Government – including timescales for completion – very soon. Both the public and fire and rescue services deserve better.”

The Inspectorate’s 4 remaining recommendations were:

1.    the Home Office should precisely determine the role of fire and rescue services, to remove any ambiguity;

2.    the sector should remove unjustifiable variation, including in how they define risk;

3.    the sector should review how effectively pay and conditions were determined; and

4.    the Home Office should invest chief fire officers with operational independence, whether through primary legislation or in some other manner.

In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy regarding the above national recommendation 2 “that the sector should remove unjustifiable variation including how they define risk” the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that LFRS was working with colleagues in the sector towards a definition of risk to enable HMICFRS to compare Service performance effectively. 

In response to a question from County Councillor Rigby regarding the above national recommendation 4 “the Home Office should invest chief fire officers with operational independence, whether through primary legislation or in some other manner” the Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that he understood that HMICFRS would like to see a response to the ‘Reforming our Fire and Rescue Service’ White Paper from the Home Office by the end of March 2023, part of which considered the operational independence of chief fire officers and the potential for different governance models.  The Authority had responded to the consultation on the White Paper the previous year (resolution 12/22 refers) that “the Fire Authority remained resolute that the current governance arrangements represented the best for Lancashire, evidenced by an excellent Fire and Rescue Service”. 

Members noted that the Inspectorate had also confirmed that it would produce a new report on values and culture in England’s fire and rescue services, which would be published later this year.

In response to a query from County Councillor O’Toole the Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that LFRS had been graded ‘good’ in 10 areas and ‘outstanding’ in one area.  He advised that the summary (on page 101 of the agenda pack) was of the round 2 gradings from the 44 Services inspected.  This showed that 2 services were ‘inadequate’ for efficiency and 2 services were ‘inadequate’ for people.  He confirmed that each of those Services would receive a detailed report that set out where HMICFRS found them to be inadequate.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Hennessy the Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that a report could be presented to Members at a future Strategy Group meeting on progress made towards areas of improvement identified by HMICFRS. 

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted and endorsed the update.