Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Zoe Billingham, HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services, to the meeting.

Zoe updated members on emerging findings from the tranche 1 & 2 Inspections of fire & rescue services and some initial observations from tranche 3:

·         The emergency response function was generally very good.

·         Understanding of risk, and development of Integrated Risk Management Plans, was patchy.

·         Protection measures were generally a concern.

·         Response to national incidents needed to be looked at much more thoroughly in future inspection rounds.

·         Efficiency – fire and rescue services were struggling financially much more in tranche 2 compared to tranche 1.

·         Modernisation and transformation of the way services are delivered also needed greater attention in the second round of inspections, in particular, learning from best practice.

·         Values – diversity, inclusion, leadership and treatment of staff were all major concerns in tranches 1 and 2.

·         No significant surprises have emerged from tranche 3.

Zoe said that HMICFRS had made 2 recommendations as a result of the inspections so far:

• Consistent standards regarding performance in key areas (identification and determination of risk, and consistency of definitions related to emergency responses and high-rise buildings) should be established for fire and rescue services.
• At the next spending review, the Home Office should address the deficit in the fire sector’s national capacity and capability to support change.

Zoe explained that tranche 3 reports would be published in December 2019 alongside the Inspectorate’s first State of Fire and Rescue report which would summarise the key national themes. These would include:

·         National infrastructure

·         Standard of Leadership

·         Consistency of approach – tackling the ‘postcode lottery’ including financial disparity

·         Barriers to delivering a fire service for the future.

·         NJC negotiating machinery as a barrier to change

·         Complexity of resourcing rural areas

Zoe explained that the next cycle of inspections of the 45 fire & rescue authorities would start sometime between April and September 2020. She said that they would be broadly similar to the first cycle but a Direction of Travel Statement may be introduced. She added that the Inspectorate may use smaller tranches of inspections which would lead to faster publication of the results.

Zoe said that she was anxious to get more expertise in for the next cycle of inspections and, to that end, she would be looking to recruit secondees from the fire & rescue services on a longer term basis than had been done for the first inspections.

Zoe concluded her presentation by stating that the Inspectorate was in the process of updating methods for corporate governance inspections and until this work had been completed, there would be no inspections of this aspect of fire & rescue authorities’ work.

The following comments and questions were raised by members:

·         It was vital that the Government recognised the serious financial difficulties being faced by fire & rescue authorities. Extra resources were being directed at the Police service and the NHS but not at fire services. Zoe said that they had only found two authorities that were in serious financial difficulty during their inspections but funding was a political issue and not within the Inspectorate’s remit to lobby Government on.

·         In respect of modernisation of services, the Inspectorate needed to be sensitive to the difficult decisions that would need to be made by authorities that might have very specific issues. Zoe agreed with this comment.

·         When would the data gathering phase start for the next cycle of inspections? Zoe said that it was difficult to say until she had been given a firm date for the start of the second phase but she would let authorities know as soon as she knew.

·         Would it be possible to move to a five-year cycle for inspections? Was it necessary to inspect all authorities on such a regular basis as is currently happening? Zoe said that it was likely after the second cycle that they would move towards more of a risk-based system and concentrate inspections on the poorer performing authorities.

·         Could the Inspectorate look at how effective different duty systems were as some authorities struggle to recruit staff for the retained system? Zoe said that she wasn’t aware of other viable alternatives at the present time.

·         Does the Inspectorate recommend a preferred method of governance? Zoe said that they look at each authority and how effective its individual governance arrangements were but don’t recommend a particular model.

·         There seems to be a misunderstanding in the Home Office that Fire & Rescue Authorities can spend capital funding on revenue.

The Chair thanked Zoe for her presentation.

Decision

Members of the Commission noted the presentation.