Agenda item

Area Manager Tom Powell presented the report to members.

2025-27 Inspection: 

The 2025-27 His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services inspection process was well underway; there was a greater focus on governance arrangements and their effects on services. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services would not evaluate the governing authority itself; instead, they would assess how Combined Fire Authority governance directly influenced Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. The people assessment would consider whether governance and oversight frameworks promoted a positive organisational culture, as well as whether the 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.

Change in Leadership:

Michelle Skeer OBE QPM had been appointed as His Majesty's interim Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, following approval by His Majesty the King. Michelle took up the role on 1 April 2026, succeeding Sir Andy Cooke, who left office at the end of March. Michelle brought 36 years of experience across policing and fire and rescue and would become the first woman to hold the post.

Northern Region His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and Chief Fire Officer Roadshow

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service would host a Northern Region His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and Chief Fire Officer Roadshow on Monday, 20 July 2026.

The purpose of the roadshow was to provide an opportunity for members of the His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and Chief Fire Officer team to meet with Chief Fire Officers and their Deputies from across the North. This engagement aimed to support constructive dialogue, explore current challenges, enhance transparency around the inspection approach and strengthen working relationships. Early feedback and insight from services would also be gathered in order to shape the development of the 2028-2030 inspection programme.

2025– 27 Inspection Activity Update:

A total of fourteen inspections had now been completed with ten reports published. The Organisational Assurance Team continued to monitor national trends and learning from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services reports.

Department and Service Delivery Visits:

The Organisational Assurance Team had developed and implemented the new reality?testing station visit for Service Delivery. The visit content had been systematically aligned to both the His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services characteristics of good and the Fire Standards Board criteria, ensuring that assurance activity was focused on the most relevant and appropriate areas. The reality?testing visit covered 33 His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services characteristics of good performance and 43 Fire Standards criteria. The primary objective of the visits was to provide assurance to the organisation regarding crew knowledge and understanding across a range of critical topics. The station visits went live on 1 April 2026, and to date 6 units had been completed.

Annual Spring Data Collection:

The annual data collection was submitted on Thursday 4 June 2026. This data collection would form key lines of enquires during the services round four inspection.

Round three Area for Improvement:

The Service received one area for improvement in its round three inspection concerning Equality Impact Assessments.

Update actions included;

1. The Equality Impact Assessments Form and Guidance had been updated and published on the intranet.
2. The mechanism for administering Equality Impact Assessments 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. The SharePoint site was now live.
3. An “on the menu” session was held on Friday 6 March 2026 to raise awareness for staff on the completion of the Equality Impact Assessment process.
4. A further “On the Menu” session was scheduled for 26 June 2026, focusing on providing staff with step-by-step guidance on completing an Equality Impact Assessment.
5. Quarterly meetings were held with the Organisational Assurance Team and Human Resources to track progress and submit updates to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services portal.
6. The Organisational Assurance Team were working with Human Resources to ensure that Equality Impact Assessment quality assurance processes are robust and embedded.
7. All actions and evidence relating to the area for improvement were being managed and tracked via the Assurance Monitoring System.
8. Further Equality Impact Assessment training scheduled for 02 July 2026.

Service Liaison Lead

The Service had been appointed a new service liaison lead, Andy O’Brien who had formally spent some of his early career at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service would be inspected in early 2027 and was the last service to be inspected on this round of inspections.

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted the report.