Agenda item

Area Manager (AM) T Powell presented the report to Members regarding His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) activity.

HMICFRS 2025-27 Inspection: 

The 2025-27 HMICFRS inspection process was well underway; there was a greater focus on governance arrangements and their effects on services. HMICFRS would not evaluate the governing authority itself; instead, they would assess how CFA governance directly influences Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS). The people assessment would consider whether governance and oversight frameworks promoted a positive organisational culture, as well as whether established code of conduct standards effectively supported workforce health and well-being. Leadership at all levels, values and culture, and a more detailed review of major incident preparedness would also be examined by HMICFRS. HMICFRS planned to share key insights from the fire and rescue services (FRS) inspected so far during their next External Reference Group (ERG) meeting, scheduled for 24 February 2026. The inspection timetable for Phase 1 and Phase 2 had now been published: Phase 1 would include inspections of 14 FRSs, and Phase 2 would cover another 15, making 29 in total. LFRS would be included in Phase 3, with dates yet to be confirmed.

Changes at the Inspectorate:

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) Sir Andy Cooke would leave office in March 2026, HMICFRS had assured the sector that the inspection programme would continue without disruption during the process to appoint his successor.  

Digital and Cyber Thematic Inspection:

His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) Michelle Skeer wrote to all Chief Constables and Chief Fire Officers to announce that the HMICFRS would be conducting a joint thematic inspection examining police forces’ and FRSs’ response to increasing areas of cybersecurity risk. Three FRSs had already been chosen for this process. Although Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) volunteered to participate in the inspection to help refine its procedures and identify both strengths and areas needing improvement, HMICFRS clarified that the selection of the three FRSs was already complete. Nevertheless, they expressed interest in holding engagement sessions with LFRS and reviewing documentation related to its cyber security practices. As this was a thematic inspection, the evidence would be used to inform the HMICFRS’s understanding of the management of cybersecurity in FRS’s generally. The HMICFRS would not be publishing reports on individual services or making graded judgments but would highlight positive practice when identified.

National HMICFRS Report Themes:

The Organisational Assurance Team would continue to monitor national patterns and insights from all HMICFRS reports, adding essential findings to the theme tracker. The tracker would provide the Executive Board, Service Management Team (SMT), and Department Heads with a “real-time” overview of sector-wide key themes that were emerging from the HMICFRS inspections. The Organisational Assurance Team were anticipating the first reports to be published around April 2026 having been delayed from February. 

Characteristics of good:

The HMICFRS had updated the characteristics of good performance. These characteristics described the levels of performance a Fire and Rescue Service needed to achieve to be graded ‘good’. They helped the HMICFRS to make consistent assessments across all services and show services what they were being graded against. 

Round 3 Area for Improvement (AFI):

The Service received one AFI in the report concerning Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs). The service should make sure it had robust processes in place to carry out Equality Impact Assessments and review any actions agreed as a result.

AFI Update:

1. The EIA Form and Guidance had been updated and published on the intranet. 
2. The mechanism for administering EIAs had been built into a SharePoint site, this was currently being tested and should make it easier from a quality assurance and tracking of actions perspective.

Forward Look:

HMICFRS required quarterly updates on progress against this AFI through their online portal, and progress would also be reported into the SMT Performance and Assurance meeting for review. While LFRS only received one AFI, the report included several recommendations and observations for ongoing development. The Organisational Assurance Team had identified 13 actions from these suggestions, which they would monitor and track. 

The Organisational Assurance Team had conducted engagement sessions with a number of departments to review the areas highlighted within the report and clarify expectations for future actions. After the engagement sessions concluded, the Organisational Assurance Team entered the actions into the Assurance Monitoring System and assigned them to the appropriate stakeholders for updates.

Service Liaison Lead (SLL) Visit to Lancashire:

Phil Innis, the services HMICFRS SLL, conducted a session with the Organisational Assurance Team on 26 November 2026, to highlight the changes and expectations regarding the 2025-2027 inspection. A presentation had been prepared to capture some of this essential information. This had been forwarded to the SMT along with a copy of the updated characteristics of good.  Phil Innis had also attended the SMT Development Day on 29 January 2026.

In response to a question from Councillor J Hugo in relation to the three areas taking part in the Digital and Cyber Thematic Inspection, AM Powell confirmed that this had not been announced but it was anticipated it would be a range of different geographic areas and governance models, he would provide an update at the next meeting. The DCFO added that the service had engaged with the HMICFRS team in relation to a Digital and Cyber Inspection last week and the service appeared to be in a strong position.

Councillor J Hugo asked a further question relating to the improvements made to the EIAs, AM Powell confirmed that the detail of the improvements made could be shared.

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted the report.