Leicestershire 2021/22
Read more about LeicestershireThis 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 requires improvement.
The extent to which the service looks after its people is good.
Roy Wilsher, HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services
HM Inspector's summary
It was a pleasure to revisit Leicestershire Fire and Rescue service, and I am grateful for the positive and constructive way that the service engaged with our inspection.
I am pleased with the performance of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue service in keeping people safe and secure from fires and other risks, although it needs to improve in some areas to provide a consistently good service. For example, the service has a large backlog of home safety checks (HSCs) from partner referrals. We found no effective plan to deal with this.
Across all areas of the service, evaluation is limited, and the service should identify ways to ensure more effectively the benefits of the service’s work.
I am pleased to see that the service has made progress since our 2018 inspection. The service took our recommendations seriously and produced a comprehensive improvement plan to monitor progress. It has made improvements in all the areas we identified, with 20 out of 24 areas for improvement from the first round being resolved. This is a good example of what improvements can be made when a service focuses on the main findings of our inspection. Areas we have seen the greatest improvement in are protection and how the service looks after its people.
My principal findings from our assessments of the service over the past year are as follows:
- introduction of new values and behaviours, with improved culture;
- increased provision for staff well-being;
- improved focus on equality, diversity, inclusion, and fairness;
- improvements in protection and operational response; and
- improved work with the community and partners to drive efficiencies.
Culture is improved and there are new values
The service has made improvements to its culture, with staff telling us directly and through our staff survey that this has improved since our last inspection. The service also has its own strong set of values that is underpinned by the Core Code of Ethics.
Equality, diversity and inclusion is improved
The service has excellent governance arrangements for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Staff networks are valued and listened to, and we found evidence that staff have a good understanding of EDI. Nevertheless, the service is aware that it has more to do to reflect the diverse communities it serves.
Overall, this is a good performance by Leicestershire Fire and Rescue service, for both the communities it serves and its staff. It should now continue to make progress with the remaining areas for improvement whilst maintaining performance in other areas and we look forward to seeing how it builds on this success by our next inspection.