Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service told it 'requires improvement' following inspection
The government has issued a letter of concern after ratings for preventing fires and other risks dropped
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service has seen its ratings for preventing fires and affordability drop after a visit from Government inspectors.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has issued a letter of concern to the fire service following its inspection earlier this year.
It is the second time that the fire service has been inspected and while inspectors found that there had been improvements made in some areas there were also concerns in other areas.
The inspection published today (Dec15) covers three overall broad areas – effectiveness, efficiency and people – and then gives them one of four ratings – outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) has been rated as “requires improvement” for each of the three areas.
Under each category are a number of other measures – in efficiency these are understanding fires and other risks; preventing fires and other risks; protecting the public through fire regulation; responding to fires and other emergencies; and responding to major and multi-agency incidents.
For all of these CFRS was given a rating of “requires improvement” apart from responding to major and multi-agency incidents which was rated as good.
Compared to the last inspection in 2018 CFRS had improved on responding to fires and other emergencies but had dropped a rating for preventing fires and other risks.
In the efficiency category inspectors rate services for making best use of resources and future affordability. CFRS was rated as “requires improvement” for both.
And in the people category CFRS was rated for promoting the right values and culture; getting the right people with the right skills; ensuring fairness and promoting diversity; and managing performance and developing leaders.
It had previously been rated “good” for the first three, but this time was rated as “require improvement”.
Wendy Williams, HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services, in her introduction to the report praised the tri-service safety officer collaboration describing it as “innovative” and also said that she was “pleased the culture in the service has improved”.
She states: “I am pleased that I can discharge the cause of concern we found in our 2018 inspection. But it is disappointing that the service has been slow to respond to some areas for improvement identified in our last inspection. And we identified one new cause of concern.”
And she concludes: “I am satisfied with some aspects of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service’s performance. But there are areas it still needs to improve.”
The wider report finds that the fire service’s “overall effectiveness requires improvement”.
It states that a cause for concern is that the service does not have systems in place to manage risk-critical information.
The report says that CFRS needs to improve preventing fires and other risks and says it should “make sure it allocates enough resources to meet its prevention strategy”.
It also highlighted that reduced staff and the covid-19 pandemic had led to a backlog in prevention work – it found that there were 237 high-risk referrals waiting to be completed.
The inspection did find that the service has improved its response to safeguarding concerns and also collaborates well with other organisations to improve community safety.
Inspectors said that CFRS does need to improve responding to fires and other emergencies, highlighting that it was not meeting its own response targets.
The service introduced a new response standard in April 2020 for an 11-minute response for full time firefighters and 16 minutes for on-call fire engines and aims to do this for 70% of calls.
However in 2020/21 it only met that standard on 63.4% of occasions for fulltime and 65.1% for on-call.
Yet inspectors also found that fire engine availability is good, with the service beating its target; and that incident commanders are well trained.
The report also notes that at the last inspection in 2018 there were “notable shortfalls” in some areas but inspectors said there has been “sufficient progress in these areas for the original cause for concern to be lifted”.
CFRS was also praised for responding to major and multi-agency incidents and given a “good” rating. The report highlights work done in preparation for events such as the G7 summit.
Responding to the report Chief Fire Officer Kathryn Billing said that the report showed the significant progress which has been made since the last inspection.
She said: “We have come a long way since the previous report three years ago and although there is still work to be done, I am really proud of the progress we have made particularly during these unprecedented times.
“Throughout the pandemic our crews have and continue to provide support to our blue light colleagues and stepped up to support local communities across Cornwall. We are incredibly proud of our fire service, but we also recognise that there are areas where further improvements are needed, and we are committed to addressing those issues.”
Martyn Alvey, Cabinet member responsible for CFRS at Cornwall Council, said: “This report is very encouraging, and it is fantastic to see that the Tri-Service Safety Officers, who are unique to Cornwall, have been recognised for their efforts in supporting our local communities.
“I have confidence in our new Chief Fire Officer, and we are committed to ensuring that the service can continue to make the improvements that are required to keep both our crews and our residents safe.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our Fire & Rescue Service staff for their hard work in striving for continuous improvement since the last inspection and for everything the service has done to support the fight against Covid, helping to protect vulnerable people throughout these very difficult times.”