By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
The hard work and commitment of Gloucestershire firefighters has been commended as inspectors say the fire and rescue service has made significant progress.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has graded Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s performance across ten areas and found the service was good in five areas and adequate in five areas.
The inspectorate found the service had improved its approach to the development of its community risk management plan, fully informed by appropriate data and risk. There were also effective governance and scrutiny arrangements in place.
Inspectors found the service had improved its approach to ensuring fairness and diversity since its last inspection in 2023, showing a strong and proactive approach to equality impact assessments. It also had an open, fair and honest recruitment process for existing staff or those wishing to work for it.
The service has made improvements to its culture, including introducing a new workplace charter that sets out well-defined values, which staff fully understood. It promotes a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organisation with leadership and training programmes in place, encouraging staff to learn and develop.
However, inspectors found there were some areas of the county where the service wasn’t always carrying out prevention activities. It should make sure it resources its prevention work appropriately to meet risk, including in rural areas, they said.
The service also needs to make sure staff are familiar with the high-risk sites in their local area, so they are better prepared to fight fires and carry out rescues safely.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Kathryn Stone said: “I am pleased with the performance of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks. It has also worked hard to improve its culture, as well as its approach to ensuring fairness and diversity across the service.
“The service has strengthened their approach to workplace investigations, including through a dedicated professional standards unit, which uses data to identify trends, inform organisational learning, and target improvements.
“However, it needs to improve in some areas to provide a consistently good service. While work has been done to improve its prevention activity, there were some areas, specifically those that were rural, that weren’t being targeted for home fire safety visits.
“The service should assure itself that leaders at all levels are acting as role models to promote a positive culture.
“The service has done a lot of work to improve itself. Overall, I commend the service on the changes it has made and expect it to continue working to further improve in the areas we have identified.”
Temporary Chief Fire Officer Nathaniel Hooton said: “This report shows how far Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service has come and recognises the hard work and commitment of our firefighters, support staff and volunteers.
“I would also like to thank former Chief Fire Officer Mark Preece, whose leadership helped drive many of the improvements highlighted in this report.
“While we’re pleased with the progress that has been made, we know there is more to do. We will continue building on these improvements so that we provide the best possible service for the people of Gloucestershire.”
Public health, communities and fire cabinet member Paul Hodgkinson said it is a very positive report for the county and for everyone who works in the fire and rescue service.
“It’s encouraging to see independent inspectors recognise the improvements that have been made and the commitment staff have shown to making the organisation stronger,” he said.
“Most importantly, this work is helping us deliver a better service that keeps people safe and supports communities across Gloucestershire.”
Fire and rescue scrutiny committee chairman Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said he is really pleased with the progress made.
“That is definitely an improvement from what it was before when the new administration,” he said.
“We will be getting a report in detail to go to the next fire scrutiny committee and have a good discussion about it there and then.”