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Durham and Darlington 2021/22

Read more about Durham and Darlington

This is HMICFRS’s third assessment of fire and rescue services. This assessment examines the service’s effectiveness, efficiency and how well it looks after its people. It is designed to give the public information about how their local fire and rescue service is performing in several important areas, in a way that is comparable with other services across England.

The extent to which the service is effective at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks is good.

The extent to which the service is efficient at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks is good.

The extent to which the service looks after its people is good.

Roy Wilsher

Roy Wilsher, HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services

HM Inspector's summary

It was a pleasure to revisit County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, and I am grateful for the positive and constructive way that the service engaged with our inspection.

Although the service is performing well, it needs to improve in some areas to provide a consistently good service.

I am pleased with the service’s performance in keeping people safe and secure from fires and other risks. For example, the service has the quickest response times to primary fires among all predominately rural services across England. We were encouraged to find that the people identified as highest risk from fire receive a home fire safety revisit within 12 months, and that the service has a dedicated arson reduction team to tackle fire-setting behaviour.

We were pleased to see the service’s progress since our 2019 inspection. Most of the areas for improvement identified have been addressed. We are pleased with the progress the service has made in the way it looks after its people, but there is still more to do in protection.

My principal findings from our assessments of the service over the past year are as follows:

  • the culture of the service has improved;
  • staff have been continually productive;
  • the service has further developed its apprenticeship programme; but
  • the service needs to improve in protection.

The service continues to have well-defined values that are understood by staff. It has developed several ways to engage with staff on issues and decisions that affect them. For example, the chief fire officer has visited every watch this year. We have identified an innovative practice with the service developing a new breathing apparatus washing facility which removes the products of combustion from the breathing apparatus equipment. This further supports the aim of keeping operational staff safe.

We are impressed with the service’s productivity. A large proportion of activities are completed by firefighters. The service’s rates of home fire safety visits and fire safety audits is much higher than the England rate.

The service has an effective and successful apprenticeship programme which we have identified as an innovative practice. The apprentices have been recruited to roles across the service, including firefighters, fire control and in workshops. We were told this has helped positively change the organisation’s culture. In the last cohort, 50 percent of firefighter apprentices were women and 25 percent from an ethnic minority background.

Despite the many positives, the service can still improve in some areas. We found that it doesn’t always have the ability to investigate alleged fire safety offences with a view to prosecution. We were also surprised to find that once prohibition notices are served, most aren’t followed up regularly to check compliance.

Overall, the service has improved since our last inspection, which is reflected in the gradings. We look forward to seeing how the service builds on this improvement in our next inspection.

Effectiveness

How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure?

Last updated 20/01/2023
Good

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service’s overall effectiveness is good.

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service was good in its 2018/19 assessment

We are encouraged with the overall progress that County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service has made since our last inspection in effectiveness, but more could be done in some areas. The service has published its new community risk management plan (CRMP) 2022–2025 and its community risk profile document. It describes how prevention, protection and response activity is resourced to mitigate or reduce the risks and threats the community faces, both now and in the future.

Prevention activity is clearly prioritised using a risk-based approach towards people most at risk. We were pleased to find that the highest risk people receive a revisit within 12 months and that the service has a dedicated arson reduction team to tackle fire-setting behaviour.

As of 31 March 2021, the service’s response time to primary fires was 8 minutes and 34 seconds. This is the fastest among all predominately rural services across England. For operational learning, we were impressed with the ‘talking heads’ videos the service produces following significant incidents to ensure lessons are learned for future response.

Despite the many positives, we identified areas where the service can further improve. The process to obtain site-specific risk information (SSRI) could be further enhanced as we found inaccuracies in some records we sampled. We found that it doesn’t always have the ability to investigate alleged fire safety offences with a view to prosecution. We were also surprised that when the service serves prohibition notices to restrict or prohibit the use of a building because of significant fire safety concerns, most aren’t followed up regularly to check compliance.

View the five questions for effectiveness

Efficiency

How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure?

Last updated 20/01/2023
Good

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service’s overall efficiency is good.

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service’s overall efficiency was good in its 2018/19 assessment

The service has made good progress in efficiency since our last inspection and has maintained its good grading. We are impressed with the service’s productivity. A large proportion of prevention and protection work is completed by firefighters. The service’s productivity rates of home fire safety visits and fire safety audits is much higher than the England rate.

The service successfully collaborates with others and has formal arrangements with other fire and rescue services. It shares several of its properties with other emergency services. The service has good business continuity arrangements in place, which were tested during Storm Arwen.

The service makes sure it gets value for money. The incident command support unit was due to be replaced at an approximate cost of £500,000. The service instead opted to have a formal arrangement with other services to use their incident command support unit when required. The service leadership team has been restructured since our last inspection, saving £250,000.

We found that the service has a successful apprenticeship programme and by using the apprenticeship levy to its full potential, it will make an approximate saving of over £1m. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the trading arm generated £100,000 which has been paid into the fire and rescue authority.

View the two questions for efficiency

People

How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

Last updated 20/01/2023
Good

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is good at looking after its people.

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service required improvement in its 2018/19 assessment

We are pleased with the progress the service has made since our last inspection in how it looks after its people, which has improved.

The service continues to have well-defined values that are understood by staff. It has developed several ways to engage with staff on issues and decisions that affect them. The chief fire officer had visited every watch this year and we were told by most operational staff that they received feedback on issues raised.

The service continues to have well-understood and effective well-being policies in place that are available to staff, including trauma support volunteers and access to occupational health and counselling services. Health and safety is managed well. We have identified an innovative practice, with the service developing a new breathing apparatus washing facility which removes the products of combustion from the breathing apparatus equipment. This further supports the aim of keeping operational staff safe.

The approach to workforce planning has improved. The strategic workforce plan sets out the service’s main objectives, including making sure the right people, with the right skills and values, are in the right roles. This makes sure skills and capabilities align with what is needed to effectively deliver the community risk management plan (CRMP).

The service has an effective and successful apprenticeship programme. The apprentices have been recruited in diverse roles across the service including operational roles, fire control and in workshops. We were told that recruiting apprentices has helped positively change the culture of the organisation. In the last cohort of firefighter apprentices, 50 percent were women and 25 percent from an ethnic minority background. We have identified the service’s apprenticeship programme as an innovative practice.

We were encouraged to find the promotion process was managed well. Many staff told us it is transparent and they knew what is expected of them to progress in their roles.

View the four questions for people

Key facts – 2022/2023

Service Area

938 square miles

Population

0.64m million people people
up2% local 5 yr change

Workforce (FTE)

70% wholetime firefighters
30% on-call firefighters
0.66 per 1000 population local
0.54 national level
down8% local 5 yr change
down4% national 5 yr change

Assets

15 stations
26 fire engines

Incidents

11.4 fire incidents per 1000 population local
10.4 national
2.0 non-fire incidents per 1000 population local
3.5 national
4.0 fire false alarms per 1000 population local
4.3 national

Cost

£32.63 firefighter cost per person per year
£26.96 firefighter cost per person per year (national)

Judgment criteria