Agenda item

To consider item 10

The Head of Covid 19 Preparedness and Response advised Members that this paper introduced the latest HMICFRS report to the Authority. The inspectorate published the Authority’s latest report on 15 December 2021, as part of the first tranche of reports, following its inspection during the spring/summer of 2021. The report judged the Service to require improvement across the three pillars and identified 22 areas for improvement, and two causes of concern, accompanied by eight recommendations. Additionally, the previous cause of concern arising from the first round of inspections had been closed, and the Inspectorate recognised the work undertaken to address key areas from the last report against the difficult landscape of a global pandemic and over a short timeframe.

Although the closure of this efficiency Cause of Concern could be seen as progress, this inspection had revealed an improvement to the resourcing performance during a time of various lockdown periods during the global pandemic. Over this period, many staff were either furloughed from their primary employment or not necessarily taking their leave until later in the year, which had a positive impact on crewing levels across the immediate response and resilience capabilities. The improvement had not been fully maintained in the longer term and resilience of frontline services remained a key area of focus and priority for the Service.

The Head of Covid 19 Preparedness and Response advised Members that the first cause of concern from round two was issued to the Service by letter on 6 August 2021 and related to Prevention activity, under the effectiveness pillar. The Service provided an improvement plan to Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) Matt Parr before the September deadline, setting out how the issues identified would be addressed. Officers had since met HMICFRS, who were planning to revisit the Service in 2022, with an opportunity to close-off this cause of concern if sufficient progress was demonstrated. This was confirmed in a follow up letter to the Chairman and Chief Fire Officer on 12 January 2022.

The Head of Covid 19 Preparedness and Response advised Members that the second cause of concern from round two was issued under the people pillar on 15 December 2021. Much of the work required to meet the recommendations was included within the Authority’s EDI objectives for 2020-2025; including the year-one update presented to the Fire Authority on 16 June 2021. Owing to the deadline of addressing these recommendations by the 31 January 2022, a progress meeting was held on 7 January 2022, where HMICFRS were assured that there had been continued and significant progress in this area.

The Head of Covid 19 Preparedness and Response advised Members that Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services, Sir Tom Winsor had published his annual assessment of fire and rescue services in England. Notably within his annual assessment, Sir Tom Winsor recognised this Service to have made significant progress in increasing the numbers of fire safety inspectors, developing risk-based inspection programmes and ensuring that protection activity was a main strategic priority. The report also recognised that this Service had been ‘creative and flexible’ in its approach to using on-call firefighters and by introducing a flexi-firefighter contract which enabled staff to work more flexible shift patterns.

An updated HMICFRS improvement plan had been prepared and would be presented to the 16 March 2022, Overview and Audit Committee meeting, and thereafter to all Overview and Audit Committee meetings. Furthermore, as per requirements set out in the report covering letter to the Chairman and Chief Fire Officer on 14 December 2021, a copy of the action plan would be sent to HMI Matt Parr within 56 working days of the report publication; no later than 7 March 2022.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services advised Members that he understood the Chief Fire Officer and his team were disappointed with the report, but Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service was not one of the fire services that he was concerned about. There were things that needed improving, but the way the Service was run was not of concern. The cause of concern was particularly specific.

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services advised Members that the inspection was carried out in July 2021, nearly seven months ago, and he recognised that a lot of work had been undertaken since then, although the report was just a snapshot of what was seen in July. He also recognised that things would have changed since then and recognised the impact of Covid-19, which had impacted all inspections and also this Service had less time to recover back to something approaching normality after the pandemic.

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services advised Members that second time around, the inspectorate knew more about fire and rescue services and the standards were much higher. With regard to the two causes of concern and the general grading report, he wanted to reassure Members that the inspectorate had a very rigorous way of determining whether the grades were fair, and they were also moderated against a range of other inspected fire and rescue services. The Inspectorate also had lawyers check the report to confirm that what was said was fair and justified, and backed up by evidence.

HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services advised Members that the model of response in Buckinghamshire was unusual, verging on unique. It was very impressive, but what their report reflected was a doubt whether it was sustainable in the long term. The fundamental question facing the Authority was is the model of response the right one and was it sustainable in the long term.

Members discussed the HMICFRS Inspection Report with the HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services. Members put questions and received responses.  This can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7IeYPXI9y0&t=163s (18.10 minutes approximately)

RESOLVED –

That the BFRS HMICFRS round 2 inspection report be noted.