Warwickshire 2021/22
Read more about WarwickshireThis 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 requires improvement.
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 requires improvement.
Wendy Williams, HM Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services
HM Inspector's summary
Before I provide my assessment of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, I would like to pay tribute to the late Chief Fire Officer Kieran Amos, who sadly died in November 2021.
Kieran retired earlier that year after 30 years of service in the fire and rescue sector. He joined Warwickshire FRS in April 2019 and much of his service in Warwickshire was spent leading the service’s response to the pandemic. During this time, the service worked steadfastly with other organisations to support the communities of Warwickshire.
Kieran is much missed by all those who knew him and we are indebted to him for his service.
It was a pleasure to re-visit Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, and I am grateful for the positive and constructive way that the service engaged with our inspection.
I want to thank the service for working with us by accommodating the virtual approach of this inspection. These inspections would normally be conducted using a hybrid approach but inspecting against the backdrop of the pandemic meant we had to inspect virtually. I also want to recognise the disruption caused by the pandemic. This has been considered in our findings.
We are satisfied with some aspects of the performance of the service. For example, we are pleased to see that the service is contributing to its local community by operating a hospital-to-home scheme on behalf of local health trusts. The scheme transports patients who are ready for discharge from hospitals and helps people who might be vulnerable. We are also pleased to see that the service is good at tackling fire-setting behaviour and responding to national risks.
However, we are disappointed that the service has not made the progress we expected since our 2018 inspection. We identified three causes of concern:
- the service hasn’t got better at detecting who are the people most at risk from fire and doing prevention work with them to reduce the risk posed to them;
- the service hasn’t done enough since 2018 to identify high-risk premises; and
- although the service has tried to improve diversity and inclusion since our 2018 inspection, its approach to this has made its staff disengage.
Moreover, in our last inspection we found the service’s ICT systems were unreliable. Regrettably, the service still hasn’t improved them, and this is hindering its work.
We also found that parts of the service don’t have enough trained people to do the work needed. This means that the service can’t work towards achieving its priorities.
Finally, we found that the service doesn’t do enough to check how long staff have worked on shifts, which means that it doesn’t always know if firefighters are fit for duty.
This year, we identified three recommendations. The service should:
- develop a prevention plan which makes a priority of people most at risk from fire;
- do better at identifying high-risk premises; and
- take a proportionate approach to equality, diversity and inclusion.