Overall summary

Our judgments

Our inspection assessed how well Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service has performed in 11 areas. We have made the following graded judgments

In the rest of the report, we set out our detailed findings about the areas in which the service has performed well and where it should improve.

Changes to this round of inspection

We last inspected Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service between March and May 2021. And in December 2021, we published our inspection report with our findings on the service’s effectiveness and efficiency and how well it looks after its people.

This inspection contains our third assessment of the service’s effectiveness and efficiency, and how well it looks after its people. We have measured the service against the same 11 areas and given a grade for each.

We haven’t given separate grades for effectiveness, efficiency and people as we did previously. This is to encourage the service to consider our inspection findings as a whole and not focus on just one area.

We now assess services against the characteristics of good performance, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement. We have also expanded our previous four-tier system of graded judgments to five. As a result, we can state more precisely where we consider improvement is needed and highlight good performance more effectively. However, these changes mean it isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between grades awarded in this round of fire and rescue service inspections with those from previous years.

A reduction in grade, particularly from good to adequate, doesn’t necessarily mean there has been a reduction in performance, unless we say so in the report.

This report sets out our inspection findings for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.

Read more about how we assess fire and rescue services and our graded judgments.

HMI summary

It was a pleasure to revisit Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, and I am grateful for the positive and constructive way in which the service worked with our inspection staff.

I have concerns about the performance of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service. In particular, I have serious concerns about how the service ensures fairness and promotes diversity. In view of these findings, I will be in regular contact with the chief fire officer as I don’t underestimate how much improvement is needed.

We were disappointed to see that the service hasn’t made the progress we expected since our 2021 inspection. For example, it has yet to develop a consolidated workforce plan to show how it will maintain enough staff with appropriate skills and experience to meet the objectives in its community risk management plan (CRMP). And its computer systems can be slow and inaccurate, which is hampering staff productivity.

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

• The service hasn’t done enough to ensure fairness and promote diversity. It hasn’t made enough progress in providing suitable, gender-appropriate, welfare facilities for staff at its fire stations. It isn’t providing adequate facilities to support and maintain the dignity of its staff.
• Limited capacity is affecting its ability to improve and deliver change at a reasonable pace. We found several areas where progress wasn’t as we would have expected, particularly in how it manages and looks after its people. It has worked hard with its parent authority to better understand its costs and forecast future requirements. However, this work is very recent, and it isn’t yet clear if funding for current and future years is sufficient to meet the objectives of its CRMP.
• There has been positive progress in how the service identifies, records and manages information about sites that present a specific risk to firefighters and the public. The service has a well-planned and suitably resourced programme to support this. As a result, firefighters have access to up-to-date information to help keep themselves and the public safe when dealing with emergencies.

The service has made some improvements since our last inspection. However, other areas have deteriorated or are unchanged.

We recognise the service has faced challenges over recent years. And there is a clear commitment from staff and senior leaders to improve. There are some good foundations in place, but it is important the service now gains momentum and moves ahead, building on the foundations it has in place.

Given the nature of some of the problems we have identified, we will keep in close contact with the service to monitor its progress. We will also revisit within six months to review its improvement plans.

Wendy Williams

HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services

Service in numbers

Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who are female as at 31 March 2022

Percentage of firefighters, workforce and population who are from ethnic minority backgrounds as at 31 March 2022

References to ethnic minorities in this report include people from White minority backgrounds but exclude people from Irish minority backgrounds. This is due to current data collection practices for national data. Read more information on data and analysis in this report in ‘About the data’.

Understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at understanding risk.

Each fire and rescue service should identify and assess all foreseeable fire and rescue-related risks that could affect its communities. It should use its protection and response capabilities to prevent or mitigate these risks for the public.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

A wide range of information is used to identify risk, but more local community engagement is needed

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service has assessed a suitable range of risks and threats using a thorough community risk management planning process. In its assessment of risk, it uses information it has collected from a broad range of internal and external sources and datasets. It uses internal information such as incident response and casualty data, information about the buildings it inspects and sites for which it holds specific risk information. The service adds further detail to its risk analysis by using data from external organisations. It uses information such as indices of multiple deprivation, two commercial datasets and the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) framework to better understand risks related to people, their lifestyles and living arrangements. Information from the Department for Transport and Devon and Cornwall Police is used to better understand road risks. Regional and national information is used to understand broader risks such as terrorism and flooding.

However, the service has held limited consultations with its communities and other relevant parties to inform the design of its community risk management plan (CRMP). For example, the service has had limited engagement with local and hard-to-reach communities to identify and understand specific risks in their areas. Despite promoting the consultation on its CRMP proposals widely online and in the community, the service received a disappointing number of responses from just 136 people. This limited the additional level of public, stakeholder and community feedback the service could use to inform decisions about the suitability of its proposals to manage community risk. The service recognises it could do better and is considering how it can improve coverage, engagement and response in the future.

The CRMP has improved

Once it has assessed risks, the service records its findings in an easily understood CRMP. This plan describes how the service intends to use its prevention, protection, and response activities to mitigate or reduce the risks and threats the community faces both now and in the future. For example, the service includes objectives related to the prevention, protection and response risks it has identified. It outlines the specific work it intends to do to meet these. We were pleased to see that the service has made progress with an area for improvement that we identified at our last inspection. The CRMP now includes measures that can be used to assess performance, review progress and show how risk is being managed.

The service is better at collecting and managing risk information

The service routinely collects and updates the information it has about the highest-risk people, places and threats it has identified. This includes information about high-rise residential buildings, large events such as Armed Forces Day, high-risk commercial and industrial sites such as Thanckes Oil Fuel Depot and heritage sites such as Scorrier House.

We were pleased to see that the service has made notable improvements in the way it collects, reviews and updates this information. There is now a suitably resourced programme in place to make sure records are up to date and reviewed when required. New and amended risk information is uploaded promptly to computers on fire engines. We identified this as a cause of concern during our last inspection, which will now be discharged.

We sampled a broad range of the risk information the service collects, including information about NHS hospital and care facilities, historic buildings, commercial manufacturing sites and wholesale fuel distributors.

The service also collects information about short-term risks such as home oxygen users. Reviewing and amending the information is the responsibility of the person who initially provided it, but the service doesn’t have clear oversight arrangements for this. The service should make sure it introduces an effective review and oversight system for these records to make sure they are reviewed when required and are up to date.

The service has introduced an exchange of risk information system, which it uses to share risk information between prevention, protection and response staff. This means these teams can identify, reduce and mitigate risk effectively. For example, prevention staff who may recognise a building safety risk while on a visit can use the system to refer this to the protection team. The protection team can then arrange to inspect the building and take appropriate action to reduce any risks. Where appropriate, the service shares risk information with other organisations, such as the Care Quality Commission, local council building safety departments and Devon and Cornwall Police.

Staff at the locations we visited, including firefighters and emergency control room staff, were able to show us that they could access, use and share risk information quickly to help them resolve incidents safely.

Local and national information is used to change the risk profile

The service records and communicates risk information effectively. It also routinely updates risk assessments and uses feedback from local and national operational activities to inform its planning assumptions. For example, its community risk profile and related operating context document include reference to national trends, such as flooding and wildfires, which it has considered during its planning. During this inspection, the service was in the process of reviewing the number and type of fire engines it sends when it first receives a call to an emergency to make sure this is still relevant and appropriate.

Preventing fires and other risks

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at preventing fires and other risks.

Fire and rescue services must promote fire safety, including giving fire safety advice. To identify people at greatest risk from fire, services should work closely with other organisations in the public and voluntary sectors, and with the police and ambulance services. They should share intelligence and risk information with these other organisations when they identify vulnerability or exploitation.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The prevention strategy has improved, but resources remain limited

The service’s prevention strategy is aligned with the risks and objectives it has identified in its community risk management plan (CRMP). It includes activities such as home fire safety checks and road safety education. These are intended to contribute towards the service’s risk management objectives, which include protecting vulnerable communities, reducing risk and improving safety.

The service has narrowed the focus of its prevention work because it has limited resources. We weren’t assured that the scope of the service’s prevention strategy and the volume of work it is planning to do is sufficiently determined by risk rather than being based on the available resources. This was an area for improvement we identified during the last inspection. As the service needs to do more work on this, this area for improvement remains.

The service’s teams work together and with other relevant organisations on prevention, and they share relevant information when needed. The service works hard to use this information to inform its prevention work. It also shares information with other departments in the service using the exchange of risk information system. This allows protection inspectors who identify someone who may benefit from a home fire safety check to pass this information to their prevention colleagues who will organise a visit.

Safety visits are targeted but can be delayed in on-call areas

The service uses a risk-based approach to clearly prioritise its prevention activity towards people most at risk from fire and other emergencies. For example, it prioritises its home fire safety checks or the more comprehensive living safe and well visits based on research undertaken by the NFCC. The service included this in its analysis when developing its CRMP.

It uses a broad range of information and data to target its prevention activity at vulnerable people and groups. This includes information about a resident’s:

• age;
• residential status (living alone);
• smoking;
• disability or long-term health condition; and
• family make up.

However, it carries out a limited range of interventions, including:

• home fire safety checks, completed by wholetime firefighters;
• living safe and well visits, completed by specialist prevention staff; and
• domestic risk reduction checks, carried out by tri-service safety officers (a joint safety role between the three local emergency services).

The speed of these visits can depend on the location. A large proportion of fire stations in Cornwall are crewed by on-call staff who have other occupations but respond when there is an emergency call. People living near a regularly crewed fire station will often receive a quicker response than those who live in an area near an on-call station. This is because wholetime firefighters can complete a visit close to the station almost straight away. But specialist prevention staff will need to arrange to complete a visit in an on-call area or request a tri-service safety officer to arrange a visit.

This was an area for improvement we identified in our last inspection. The service has made some progress towards addressing this. It has produced plans for on-call firefighters to complete proactive visits in their areas. However, the service needs to do more development work to get the plans ready to introduce and has yet to agree funding for the new work. As a result, this area for improvement remains.

The service has plans to introduce an online system, which will help to make requests for home fire safety checks more efficient. During our inspection, the service was piloting a system that was developed by the NFCC and a commercial company that allows people to complete an online home safety questionnaire. The questionnaire includes information that is used to determine their risk level. People at higher risk will be referred for a home fire safety check, while those at lower risk will receive a safety information package. Much of this will be automated and integrated with the service’s home safety recording system. We look forward to seeing this initiative develop.

Staff are suitably trained to complete home fire safety checks

Most staff we spoke to were confident in their ability to undertake appropriate prevention work. Firefighters are trained to complete home fire safety checks, while specialist prevention staff are trained to complete living safe and well visits. Some on‑call firefighters are trained to do home safety checks, although the checks are only made after a fire in their area rather than in response to a request received by the service.

These checks and visits cover an appropriate range of hazards that can put vulnerable people at greater risk from fire and other emergencies. Home fire safety checks focus on fire safety and include smoke detection, escape routes, cooking and electrical safety. Living safe and well visits cover the fire safety elements and broader safety issues including healthy living, well-being and reducing the risk of falls.

Safeguarding concerns receive an appropriate response

Staff we interviewed told us about occasions when they had identified safeguarding problems. Most told us they feel confident and trained to act appropriately and promptly. The service uses a safeguarding flow chart, which provides clear guidance for staff so they understand the appropriate actions and contacts to use when they are making a safeguarding referral.

We were pleased to see that the service has consolidated the collaborative safeguarding officer role. This role is jointly funded by Devon and Cornwall Police and was being piloted when we last inspected. The safeguarding officer can deal with more complex safeguarding cases and has simplified the sharing of safeguarding information between the service, their police colleagues and Cornwall Council.

Some on-call staff we spoke to hadn’t recently received safeguarding training. The service was refreshing all on-call staff safeguarding training during our inspection. This was being delivered by the service’s collaborative safeguarding officer and the prevention manager. We look forward to seeing this programme being completed.

The service collaborates to improve community safety and make the most of limited resources

The service works with a range of other organisations to prevent fires and other emergencies. These include housing associations (some of which are trained by the service to undertake home fire safety checks), Devon and Cornwall Police and Cornwall Council where information is shared about vulnerability and safeguarding. The service also works with Great Western Railway, which organises and runs junior life skills courses to promote safety for young people and the Vision Zero South West road safety partnership, which funds and facilitates road safety initiatives.

Collaborative working is an important way for partners to work together towards a common objective of making people safer. However, some of the service’s partnerships are driven by its own lack of capacity and the need to undertake work with limited resources. It also undertakes some collaborative work, which allows it to generate income by completing home fire safety checks on behalf of Cornwall Council for some families. The service should make sure this doesn’t create a conflict, where a lower-risk visit is prioritised over a higher-risk visit because it is part of the collaboration.

We found good evidence that it routinely refers people at greatest risk to organisations that may better meet their needs. These organisations include GP surgeries, Age UK, and the Cornwall Council access team. Arrangements are also in place to receive referrals from other organisations including the Cornwall Council social care team, health partners such as GP surgeries, the Southwest Ambulance Service and housing association partners. The service acts appropriately on the referrals it receives. For example, referrals are prioritised and allocated for a home fire safety check or living safe and well visit. High-risk domestic abuse cases receive a joint visit with Devon and Cornwall Police and Cornwall Council. Interventions provided include arson prevention letter boxes, safe rooms and flagging the address on the control turnout system so firefighters know of the risk.

The service routinely exchanges information with other public sector organisations about people and groups at greatest risk. It uses this information to challenge planning assumptions and target prevention activity. For example, demographic data provided by Cornwall Council has been used to develop the system for prioritising referrals; vulnerability information received from Devon and Cornwall Police is used to generate a living safe and well visit or home fire safety check.

More work is needed to tackle fire-setting behaviour

The service has limited involvement in targeting and educating people who show signs of fire-setting behaviour. We were disappointed to find that the service’s plans to develop an initiative with the tri-service safety officers to do this work hadn’t yet progressed. This was due to difficulties with organising the training required.

The service’s prevention strategy included a proposal to develop a fire-setter programme in 2022/23. This work has been put back to 2023/24 because of limited capacity in the department.

The service doesn’t routinely exchange information with other relevant organisations, such as Devon and Cornwall Police, to support the prosecution of arsonists.

There is still no routine evaluation of prevention work

We found limited evidence that the service evaluates how effective its activity is or that it makes sure all its communities get appropriate access to prevention activity that meets their needs.

This was an area for improvement we identified during our last inspection. The service has made little progress in introducing a consistent approach to evaluating its collaborative work. For example, the service doesn’t have the capacity to routinely undertake evaluation of its initiatives and collaboration. Nor can it complete quality assurance of prevention work that is done on its behalf, such as home safety checks delivered by partners.

Although it has limited resources, the service has increased its reach by working more with partners and commissioning services from other organisations. But without systematic and effective evaluation of this work, it can’t be assured the expected outcomes are being achieved or the work is to the standard it would expect.

Protecting the public through fire regulation

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at protecting the public through fire regulation.

All fire and rescue services should assess fire risks in certain buildings and, when necessary, require building owners to comply with fire safety legislation. Each service decides how many assessments it does each year. But it must have a locally determined, risk-based inspection programme for enforcing the legislation.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

There is a clear protection strategy, which is aligned with the community risk management plan (CRMP)

The service’s protection strategy is clearly linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP.

Staff across the service can recognise protection risks and effectively exchange information as needed. For example, some firefighters are trained to complete protection hazard audits. When they identify a fire safety problem, such as a blocked escape route, through these audits or visits to buildings for any other reason, they pass this information on to the protection team. They either use the service’s exchange of risk information form or the phone if the safety concern is urgent. The protection team will then arrange to visit the building, complete a fire safety audit and take appropriate action to make sure the building is safe.

Protection audits are focused on the highest-risk buildings

The service’s risk-based inspection programme is focused on its highest-risk buildings. The programme was developed with a consultant using the service’s data and other data provided by the consultant. It focuses on the types of buildings it believes are at highest risk, many of which are related to the tourism industry and include:

• hospitals
• residential care homes
• hotels
• bed and breakfast accommodation
• hostels.

The service also prioritises audits for buildings where there has been a fire or a fire safety complaint has been received.

The service had planned to review the programme in 2022/23 to take account of new and emerging risks. This work was pushed back due to a shortage of analytical resources. We look forward to seeing this work progress and the introduction of a revised audit programme.

Audits are completed to a satisfactory standard

We reviewed a sample of audits that the service had carried out at different buildings in its area. These included audits that were part of the service’s risk-based inspection programme and where enforcement action had been taken.

The audits we reviewed were completed to a satisfactory standard in a consistent, systematic way and in line with the service’s policies. The service can make relevant information from its audits available to operational teams and control room operators using the exchange of information process.

We saw some examples of audit correspondence with building owners that wasn’t sent promptly. This was because of limited resources in the protection administrative support team. The service should assure itself it has enough capacity to send audit correspondence in a timely manner.

There is still no routine quality assurance of protection work

The service carries out limited quality assurance of its protection activity. There is still no procedure for the regular review and quality assurance of work completed by its inspection staff.

The service has developed a new approach to quality assurance, but this hadn’t been introduced when we inspected. Without this, the service can’t assure itself of the consistency and quality of the work its inspectors do. It will also miss opportunities to identify learning and good practice to share with its protection staff.

This was an area for improvement we highlighted in our last inspection, which will remain.

The service uses its enforcement powers appropriately to make sure buildings are safe

The service consistently uses its full range of enforcement powers and, when appropriate, it prosecutes those who don’t comply with fire safety regulations. Protection staff told us that the service has an increased focus on enforcement and prosecution. We reviewed recent fire safety audits that had resulted in enforcement action to make sure the buildings were safe.

The service also prosecutes fire safety failings when required. Staff feel supported to investigate and prepare for prosecution. They have received additional training, equipment and legal support. The service told us that it completed three successful prosecutions in the year ending 31 March 2023. These included a commercial site that provided unsafe sleeping accommodation for staff.

In the year ending 31 March 2022, the service issued 155 informal notifications, 28 enforcement notices, 14 prohibition notices and undertook 1 prosecution. It completed three prosecutions in the five years from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2022.

Staffing in protection is insufficient and lacks resilience

Staff get the right training and work to appropriate accreditation. The service is working towards full implementation of the NFCC competence framework for fire safety inspectors. Protection staff are trained in line with the requirements of the framework. It is also introducing accreditation for its inspecting staff. Some already have membership of the Institute of Fire Engineers, while others are working towards an engineering technician qualification that also links to institute membership.

We were disappointed to find the service still didn’t have enough qualified protection staff to support its audit and enforcement activity. There have been some improvements and it told us that performance is getting better. However, the service also told us that it didn’t achieve the target set in its CRMP. In 2022/23, it completed 653 audits against a target of 750. This means it hasn’t been able to audit all the high‑risk buildings it had planned to. It also has fewer enforcement officers, which means there is limited support available for staff who are taking enforcement action.

Limited support capacity means that inspectors are required to complete additional administration tasks. This reduces the time they have available to inspect buildings. Some of the protection team’s roles don’t have permanent funding. For example, transitional funding from the council has been provided for some inspector roles. The roles are expected to become self-funding, but it isn’t clear how this will happen. As a result, there is uncertainty about their future. The service is trying to increase capacity, but this is taking time to achieve.

The service has prepared well for the introduction of new legislation

Since our last inspection, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Fire Safety Regulations 2022 have been introduced to bring about better regulation and management of tall buildings.

The service is supporting the introduction of the Building Safety Regulator. It introduced a project team to undertake training and work with a private sector housing partner to review safety in buildings taller than 18 m and address any issues. It is planning to extend this partnership approach to jointly reviewing buildings that are taller than 11 m. As there are few tall buildings in Cornwall, it expects these arrangements to have a limited effect on its other protection activity.

The Fire Safety Regulations 2022 introduced a range of duties for the managers of tall buildings. These include a requirement to give the fire and rescue service floor plans and inform them of any substantial faults to essential firefighting equipment, such as firefighting lifts.

We found the service has good arrangements in place to receive this information. And it updates the risk information it gives its operational staff accordingly. It does this through its site-specific risk information records and by using the exchange of risk information system.

The service works effectively with partners to inspect and enforce safety standards

The service works closely with other enforcement agencies to regulate fire safety, and it routinely exchanges risk information with them. For example, it works with a private sector housing partner, the local council environmental health department, Border Force and local food hygiene inspectors.

There were examples of information about building risks being shared both ways between the service and its partner agencies. They carry out joint inspections, and the appropriate agency takes enforcement action when required.

Building consultations aren’t always completed on time

The service doesn’t always respond to building consultations on time. In 2021/22 it responded to 83.8 percent of consultations within the required time frame. This is a notable reduction from 97 percent in 2020/21. This means it doesn’t consistently meet its statutory responsibility to comment on fire safety arrangements at new and altered buildings.

The service told us this was due in part to an IT system problem, which meant the incorrect time for completing consultations was being reported. It was also partly due to the length of time some complex consultations were taking. The service should review its arrangements for responding to building control consultations to determine the extent of the system issues. And it should put in place a plan to make sure responses are completed on time.

More could be done to support businesses

The service has some arrangements to work with local businesses and other organisations to promote compliance with fire safety legislation. It provides information for businesses on its website. It also manages several primary authority partnership schemes, giving advice to large and small businesses about compliance with fire safety legislation.

However, despite its limited resources, the service could do more to proactively engage with businesses and business representative organisations. It should consider how it can better engage with and support businesses so they understand the actions they need to take to keep themselves and the people who use their buildings safe.

Unwanted fire signals are starting to reduce

We were pleased to see the service has made progress towards reducing the burden of unwanted fire signals. This was an area for improvement we identified during our last inspection.

It provides advice to managers of sites and buildings that produce large numbers of unwanted fire signals. This is to help them understand what they can do to prevent repeated calls. It uses a call challenge to help filter out unwanted calls and, as a result, it sends fire engines to just over half of the automatic fire alarm calls it receives. It has set a target in its CRMP for reducing the number of unwanted fire signals from commercial and residential buildings. It has plans to introduce a charge when it is called to sites that don’t take effective action to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals they produce.

The service told us that in 2022/23, it achieved its target for reducing unwanted fire signals from commercial and residential buildings. It told us it received 423 calls, which was better than its target for 2022/23 of 480 and a reduction on the previous year’s figure, which was 491. Fewer unwanted calls mean fire engines are available to respond to a genuine incident rather than responding to a false one. It also reduces the risk to the public if fewer fire engines travel at high speed on the roads.

We look forward to the service maintaining this improvement and introducing its new unwanted call policy.

Responding to fires and other emergencies

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at responding to fires and other emergencies.

Fire and rescue services must be able to respond to a range of incidents such as fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies in their areas.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

The updated response strategy is linked to the community risk management plan (CRMP)

The service’s response strategy is linked to the risks it has identified in its CRMP. Its fire engines and response staff, as well as its working patterns, are designed and located to help the service respond flexibly to fires and other emergencies with the appropriate resources.

To validate this, the service commissioned a consultant to complete a comprehensive review of station locations and crewing systems in 2021. The review looked at how well the service responded to the risks in its area and if it could meet its response standards. It included modelling alternative locations for certain fire stations and changes to crewing systems. This work was undertaken as part of the research for developing its 2022–2026 CRMP. The review is comprehensive and provides a rationale for the location of its fire stations and crewing systems.

The service has committed to building on the findings of this work by reviewing the number and type of fire engines it sends to emergency incidents (pre-determined attendance) and the location and type of its specialist fire engines. We look forward to seeing this work progress and any resulting changes.

The service doesn’t meet its response standards

There are no national response standards of performance for the public. But the service has set out its own response standards. It introduced these in 2020 as part of its CRMP. The service’s current response standard is 11 minutes for wholetime and 16 minutes for on-call, and it aims to achieve this 70 percent of the time.

The service doesn’t always meet its standards. It told us that for year ending 31 March 2022, it achieved them 62.5 percent of the time. Home Office data shows that for the same period, the service’s response time to primary fires was 12 minutes and 27 seconds, which is slower than the average for rural services.

Despite changes to communication technology on stations and a focus on improving performance, the service recognises it isn’t making reasonable improvements in achieving its response standards. This is mainly due to some extensive travel distances in Cornwall. In its CRMP, it has committed to identifying more appropriate response standards. We look forward to seeing this work progress.

Fire engine availability is good

To support its response strategy, the service aims to have 85 percent of fire engines available, and it consistently meets this standard. Overall fire engine availability for the year to 31 March 2022 was 87.8 percent.

The majority of fire stations in Cornwall are crewed by on-call staff who have other occupations but respond when there is an emergency call. The service has experienced challenges making sure it has enough on-call staff to keep its fire engines available when they are needed. It has recognised that the contracts it uses to employ on-call staff can be a barrier to recruiting more and to retaining existing staff. It will shortly trial new and more flexible contracts, which it hopes will be an improvement. We look forward to seeing this progress and the effect it has on improving availability of on-call fire engines.

Incident commanders are appropriately trained and assessed

The service has trained incident commanders, who are assessed regularly and properly. In line with national guidance, the service revalidates the skills of its incident commanders every two years. This helps the service safely, assertively and effectively manage the whole range of incidents it could face, from small and routine ones to complex multi-agency incidents.

As part of our inspection, we interviewed incident commanders from across the service. They were familiar with risk assessing, decision-making and recording information at incidents in line with national best practice, as well as the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP).

Work to introduce national operational guidance has stalled

The service needs to restart its programme for introducing national operational guidance (NOG). It has made some progress with adopting the incident command and breathing apparatus elements, and it has updated many of its operational information notes to reflect NOG.

However, we weren’t assured that the service has the necessary plans, resources and oversight arrangements to fully introduce NOG. The service’s gap analysis is a list of completed actions and areas where further work is needed. However, there is no associated project or action plan showing the additional work the service needs to complete, how this is to be resourced and managed and how appropriate corporate oversight will be provided. Staff we spoke to told us that the NOG project work hadn’t gained enough momentum following disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources have been diverted to other work and there is no governance or quality assurance.

Control staff aren’t consistently included in service exercises and debriefs

We were disappointed to find that the service’s control staff weren’t always included in its command, training, exercise, debrief and assurance activity. Staff we spoke to had mixed experiences of being included in wider service training, exercising and debriefing.

There were some examples of control staff being included in exercises and debriefs, but this wasn’t consistent. Staff described “being forgotten about” or not being able to take part because they couldn’t be released from the control room.

As the service redefines the role of its critical control, it should make sure there are consistent arrangements for control staff to be included in command, training, exercise, debrief and assurance activities.

Risk information is current and easily accessed

We sampled a range of risk information for residential and commercial risks, including the information in place for firefighters responding to incidents at high-risk, high-rise buildings and the information held by fire control.

The information we reviewed was up to date and detailed. Staff could easily access and understand it.

Encouragingly, it had been completed with input from the service’s prevention, protection and response functions when appropriate.

There is regular debriefing, but it needs to be more robust

As part of this inspection, we reviewed a range of emergency incidents and training events. These included fires in domestic and commercial premises and road traffic collisions.

The service has a clear process for debriefing operational incidents, identifying learning and sharing this with staff. However, there are areas where it should be more robust in recording the information it has considered during the debrief and linking this to the learning it identifies. For example, debrief reports don’t show how incident messages and risk assessments have been considered when completing the debrief. The service should assure itself that its debriefing arrangements are comprehensive enough to make sure all relevant learning can be identified.

Staff we spoke to had a good understanding of the debriefing and operational assurance systems. Most knew how to contribute to debriefs and access any learning shared afterwards. However, they told us some incidents aren’t always debriefed in line with service requirements. Operational effectiveness audits don’t take place at night. Control staff are routinely invited to debriefs but don’t regularly attend. The service should make sure that all incidents are debriefed in line with policy and that relevant staff are routinely involved in debriefs.

The service does have a robust tracking system for the debrief process. It uses this to track debrief progress and make sure that learning is shared with staff through operational assurance bulletins, the operational assurance hub and information notes. It also uses the system to make sure that information received from debriefs and operational learning is used to update internal risk information, such as site-specific risk information records and operational safety general memoranda. It exchanges this information with appropriate organisations, such as the local resilience forum (LRF), Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and Devon and Cornwall Police.

We were encouraged to see that the service is contributing towards and acting on learning from other fire and rescue services and operational learning gathered from emergency service partners. The service showed us examples of learning from the incidents that it shared nationally. These included providing a safety system for a member of a partner service while negotiating with someone and an incident where the airbags in a car had operated unexpectedly in the later stages of the incident.

The service could improve the way it keeps the public informed about emergency incidents

The service doesn’t have good systems in place to inform the public about ongoing incidents and help keep them safe during and after incidents. For example, messages to the public about ongoing and recent incidents are only issued using social media. This is managed centrally during normal business hours. Outside these times, this is taken on by control or local stations. If there is a particularly large incident, communication and safety messaging is managed by Cornwall Council.

The service should consider how it can increase availability and resilience of its arrangements to update the public about ongoing incidents.

Responding to major and multi-agency incidents

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at responding to major and multi‑agency incidents.

All fire and rescue services must be able to respond effectively to multi-agency and cross-border incidents. This means working with other fire and rescue services (known as intraoperability) and emergency services (known as interoperability).

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

There are plans for major and multi-agency incidents but not all staff are involved in exercises

The service has effectively anticipated and considered the reasonably foreseeable risks and threats it may face. These risks are listed in both local and national risk registers as part of its community risk management planning and include, for example, wide area flooding and wildfires.

However, there is limited practical major and multi-agency exercising for all operational staff to test procedures. Most training is done as part of incident command revalidation, through the LRF or is organised locally without effective central oversight. As such, staff on stations and in control don’t regularly get the opportunity to practise the service’s major and multi-agency response procedures. Planning for exercises doesn’t have effective central oversight to make sure all staff are involved.

The service is also familiar with the significant risks that neighbouring fire and rescue services may face and which it might reasonably be asked to respond to in an emergency. These include the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport and high-rise residential buildings in Plymouth.

More work is needed to prepare and train for incidents in high-rise buildings

In our last inspection, we focused on how the service had collected risk information and responded to the Government’s building risk review programme for tall buildings.

In this inspection, we have focused on how well prepared the service is to respond to a major incident at a tall building, such as the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

The service has developed a range of new policies and procedures in preparation for a major incident at a tall building. These include:

• amending the number of fire engines it sends to a call;
• providing additional guidance and procedures for control staff taking calls from people trapped in a tall building (fire survival guidance); and
• a procedure for recording details of people trapped in a building and sending these to firefighters at the incident to help them locate and rescue people.

The service’s arrangements to access additional control staff capacity to manage a high volume of calls are now consistent with other fire and rescue services. This was an area for improvement we identified in our last inspection, which will now be discharged.

Not all staff at all levels properly understand the policies and procedures the service does have in place. We found a good level of understanding among control staff, incident command officers and some firefighters. However, firefighters who don’t have a tall building in their immediate area have limited knowledge.

Training and exercising at tall buildings is limited to staff from nearby stations and incident command officers. There has been some very limited desktop exercising for the immediate building evacuation procedure, but there have been no on-site practical exercises. The service should arrange practical training and exercises for all staff who would reasonably be expected to use the immediate building evacuation procedure. This will fully test the procedure and allow staff to learn how to use it in practice.

The service relies too heavily on paper-based systems when transferring information about people trapped in a tall building between the control room and firefighters at the incident. These systems are too open to operator error. They also mean that staff in the emergency control room, at the incident and in assisting control rooms can’t share, view and update actions in real time. These systems could compromise the service’s ability to safely resolve a major incident at a tall building.

There are arrangements for responding to the neighbouring fire and rescue service and nationally

The service supports other fire and rescue services responding to emergency incidents. It has reviewed its cross-border, incident command and breathing apparatus policies with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, which is its only neighbouring service. This is to make sure that the services can respond safely in each other’s areas and are interoperable.

The service hosts national resilience assets, including a mass decontamination unit. It has used national assets such as a high-volume pump when it needed additional pumping capacity to deal with an extended flooding incident.

The service needs to do more work to make sure staff exercise effectively with its neighbouring fire and rescue service

The service recognises its cross-border exercising arrangements with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service are limited. It doesn’t have a cross-border exercise plan. Training and familiarisation visits are organised locally rather than being part of a structured approach overseen centrally. The service told us it is working with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service to formalise a cross-border exercising and training programme. But this work is in its early stages.

Incident commanders are experienced in JESIP

The incident commanders we interviewed had been trained in and were familiar with JESIP. They clearly knew about and were confident in using the principles to work effectively with other agencies.

The service could give us strong evidence that it consistently follows these principles. This includes:

• knowledge and use of the joint decision model;
• aide-memoirés and guide cards provided for incident commanders; and
• use of decision recording.

The service works well with partners and the LRF

The service has good arrangements in place to respond to emergencies with partners that make up the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LRF. These arrangements include the chief fire officer representing the service at a strategic level, tactical representation by the resilience officer and appropriate operational representation from service staff.

The service is a valued partner and sits on various subgroups including risk assessment, communications, training and exercising. The service takes part in training events with other members of the LRF and uses the learning to develop planning assumptions about responding to major and multi-agency incidents.

Use of national learning is established in the service

The service makes sure it knows about national operational updates from other fire services and joint organisational learning from other organisations, such as the police service and ambulance trusts. It uses this learning to inform planning assumptions that it makes with partner organisations.

More work is needed to prepare staff for responding to terrorist incidents

The service has arrangements with the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service for a team of specially trained firefighters to attend incidents in Cornwall if there is a marauding terrorist attack. However, there is very limited training for staff in Cornwall who may arrive at a terrorist incident before the specialist response team. Nor is there a co-ordinated programme of exercises for staff to practise non-specialist marauding terrorist attack response procedures. We weren’t assured that firefighters will know about or be able to take appropriate measures to keep themselves and the public safe if called to a terrorist incident.

Making best use of resources

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at making best use of its resources.

Fire and rescue services should manage their resources properly and appropriately, aligning them with their risks and statutory responsibilities. Services should make best possible use of resources to achieve the best results for the public.

The service’s revenue budget for 2023/24 is £23.017m. This has increased by 12.6 percent from the previous financial year.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

Budgets are better aligned with the community risk management plan (CRMP), but it isn’t clear if they fully meet the objectives in the plan

The service has worked extensively with its parent authority to improve understanding of its costs, likely future demand and risks. It is getting better at using its resources well to manage risk, but there remain weaknesses that need to be addressed. For example, rather than being genuine growth, the recent uplift is more of a correction to address a base budget that didn’t meet its needs and so led to significant overspends in recent years. The service is making progress in this area, but it recognises it is in the early stages of a new approach to budget forecasting and management. It is too early to assess if the current medium-term financial plan is adequate to meet its needs now and in the coming years.

There have been recent improvements in the service’s financial plans. There is a better alignment of prevention, protection and response resources with the risks and priorities it has identified in its CRMP. However, it is clear the level of resourcing, particularly in prevention and protection, continues to be determined more by available resources than an assessment of the work required to manage risk identified in the CRMP. For example, prevention work, particularly home fire safety checks, has been scaled back. The service isn’t currently meeting its target for protection audits, and some posts don’t have permanent funding.

The service has evaluated its mix of crewing and duty systems. It commissioned a consultant to help it complete this analysis as part of its research for the 2022–2026 CRMP. The analysis included modelling the impacts of alternative station locations and crewing systems. As a result, the service can show that it currently deploys its fire engines and response staff to manage risk efficiently.

The service’s work on improving its financial planning has included better scenario planning. It is now better at recognising pressures and future risks. For example, Cornwall Council’s financial sustainability reserve includes provision for cost pressures already identified by the service for 2023/24. There is a separate operational contingency reserve, which will help the service manage the effect on its budget from periods of increased operational demand.

The service is also improving its financial controls, with budget holders having regular review meetings with finance managers from Cornwall Council. This is adding to the growing understanding of funding and budget management in the service.

More work is needed to manage productivity

The service has limited arrangements for managing performance and linking this to its CRMP and strategic priorities. Work has started, although this is more apparent at a strategic level and in departments such as prevention and protection.

The service recognises it needs to do more to develop command and station plans, which link performance expectation and management to the objectives in its CRMP and prevention, protection and response strategies. There were some examples of this work starting, but they were in the very early stages and need more central co‑ordination and direction. There isn’t yet a consistent link between service priorities and objectives in staff personal development plans.

The service doesn’t fully understand how it uses its wholetime firefighters. It doesn’t collect data on how they spend their time across day and night shifts. It doesn’t make the most of its capacity. For example, on some stations we visited, almost 25 percent of the day shift was taken up with refreshment breaks and stand-down periods. Planning systems and approaches were inconsistent, with a mix of paper-based and IT systems. There was no central planning framework, and staff productivity was dependent on the initiative of the individual manager or the watch.

There were examples of the service taking some steps to make sure its workforce is as productive as possible. These include considering new ways of working. For example, by introducing the tactical organisational reserve, the service has been able to reduce its staff costs by supporting fire engine crewing with a central team rather than having additional staff on every fire station.

However, more could be done to improve the productivity of another initiative. During the summer months when visitor numbers significantly rise, the service changes the staffing model at Newquay fire station to meet the increased risk in the area. While this is a sensible response to a changing risk, there are occasions when providing the additional staff has been done at the expense of other departments, such as prevention and protection. Expected improvements in the amount of prevention work completed in the area haven’t always occurred.

The service continues to collaborate but has yet to introduce a systematic approach to evaluation

We were pleased to see that the service met its statutory duty to collaborate. It routinely considers opportunities to collaborate with other emergency responders. It has a range of collaborative arrangements. These include:

• tri-service safety officers – Devon and Cornwall Police/South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust;
• ambulance co-responders – South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust;
• joint safeguarding officer – Devon and Cornwall Police;
• control resilience – North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service; and
• property sharing/accommodation – Devon and Cornwall Police/South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust.

Initiatives such as the tri-service safety officers and joint safeguarding officer align with the priorities for prevention in the service’s CRMP. Others relate to efficiency and effective emergency response.

The service has completed some evaluation of its collaborations. For example, evaluation of the tri-service safety officer scheme has led to its expansion. Additionally, a review of arrangements to respond on behalf of the South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust to gain access to casualties behind locked doors has seen this initiative end, due to its effect on emergency response. However, the service doesn’t routinely review and evaluate the benefits and results of all its collaborations. It recognises this is an area where it can do more. This was an area for improvement from our last inspection, which will remain.

Business continuity arrangements are adequate

The service has continuity planning arrangements for a range of scenarios, including industrial action. We were pleased to see it had made improvements in this area since our last inspection. However, there are some gaps which the service should address.

A new business continuity planning framework has been introduced. The service was consulting on a comprehensive business continuity policy update during our inspection. This was expected to be published in April 2023.

Continuity plans for stations have been reviewed and updated in the past year. Plans are held in a shared online platform and can be accessed easily. Two testing exercises took place in September 2022 as well as additional desktop and familiarisation sessions. The main plan was updated based on learning from these exercises.

While the immediate fall back arrangements in control are practised regularly, the full continuity plan for control hasn’t been tested. The plan was last reviewed and updated in 2020. The service should make sure it has up-to-date and tested continuity plans for all areas, which are important to the effective running of the organisation.

There has been some progress, but more work is required to consistently demonstrate value for money

There have been some improvements in reducing non-pay costs, but these aren’t part of a systematic, organisation-wide approach to demonstrating value for money. This was an area for improvement from our last inspection, which will remain.

There were examples of reducing the service’s costs for fuel, renegotiating IT contracts to manage inflationary increases and purchasing new vehicles to reduce fuel and maintenance costs.

Areas where the service has found it harder to manage costs and value for money include utility pricing and management of its private finance initiative (PFI) maintenance service. It also has very limited arrangements to assess the productivity of firefighters and so struggles to demonstrate how it is achieving value for money from its workforce.

This work isn’t part of a co-ordinated approach by the service to reduce non-pay costs. It isn’t supported by regular reviews focused on achieving value for money or scrutiny. It doesn’t routinely use benchmarking or value-for-money comparisons.

The service is improving its approach to budget management. This includes regular meetings between budget holders and finance managers from the parent authority to review budgets and manage spending plans. As this develops and becomes better established, it should give the service an opportunity to introduce a systematic approach to managing non-pay costs and demonstrating how it achieves value for money.

Making the FRS affordable now and in the future

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at making the service affordable now and in the future.

Fire and rescue services should continuously look for ways to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. This includes transforming how they work and improving their value for money. Services should have robust spending plans that reflect future financial challenges and efficiency opportunities, and they should invest in better services for the public.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

More work is needed to understand and plan for future challenges

Despite recent improvements, the service still has more work to do to make sure it fully understands its future financial challenges and plans its budget effectively to meet these.

The service has worked closely with its parent authority over the past year to better understand its costs and develop an improved funding model. This resulted in a revenue budget increase of £1.504m (12.6 percent), although this appears to have redressed previous overspends rather than being genuine growth. Additionally, the council’s risk analysis recognises the potential for unexpected fire service expenditure arising from increased operational demand. Provision has been made for this in the general reserve fund.

The analysis was completed in Autumn 2022, with the budget increase being introduced from April 2023. The service recognises that it is now consolidating its new funding model and budget management arrangements. As such, it isn’t yet clear if the new funding model properly meets the service’s current and future needs.

Future budget forecasts in the medium-term financial plan show only incremental increases. The service has identified some budget pressures for the 2023/24 year through its demand management work with Cornwall Council. But there were limited examples of longer-term scenario planning to cover areas, such as the:

• effect of future savings beyond those already identified; and
• need to make comprehensive rather than incremental improvements to welfare facilities on stations.

The service recognises it can approach the council for additional funding to meet genuine budget pressures, but these need to be supported by robustly evidenced business cases. It is starting to develop experience in making these submissions. This will improve the service’s ability to objectively review its future requirements and make appropriate adjustments to its funding on a temporary or permanent basis.

While it is in a better position than it was when we inspected in 2021, this remains an area for improvement for the service.

The service has better access to reserves

Closer working with the council has led to improvements in the provision and use of reserves since our last inspection. These include access to the:

• general reserve fund, to meet unplanned operational expenditure resulting from periods of exceptionally high operational demand (spate conditions) as experienced in summer 2022; and
• financial sustainability reserve for budget pressures (including control room staffing and loss of income) forecast by the service for 2023/24.

As a council department, the service can apply to a specific reserve for ‘invest to save’ projects. The service received money from this to fund analysis that was part of the efficiency review of the service’s critical control room.

The council holds an earmarked fire PFI reserve. This is used to manage any risks and unexpected expenditure relating to fire service buildings that are currently maintained through a PFI contract.

The council has taken over several financial risks, including staff pay increases, previously held by the service.

These changes have helped bring stability to the service’s budget and insulate it against significant changes, often outside the service’s control, which made it difficult to plan.

The fleet and estates strategies are aligned with the community risk management plan (CRMP)

When we inspected the service in 2021, we identified an area for improvement as its fleet and estates strategies weren’t aligned with the CRMP. We were pleased to see the improvements the service has made since then. This area for improvement has now been discharged.

New estate and fleet strategies have been produced, which have clear links to the risks and service priorities in the CRMP. Arrangements in the strategies include:

• assessing any new build or refurbished station proposals to make sure they support work to manage current and emerging risk;
• providing suitable accommodation on stations for essential equipment needed to tackle fatal special service calls, such as car collisions and fatal and serious injury fires;
• supporting the co-responder scheme with South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust by providing space for vehicles;
• providing office space that can be used by prevention and protection teams and shared space for the service’s emergency and other partners;
• a four-year forecast, identifying vehicles due to be replaced in that time and where these align with the risks identified in the CRMP;
• commitment to identify where new fire engine and firefighting technology can improve the service’s response to incidents and/or effectiveness when dealing with fires and rescues;
• recognition of the need to maintain flexibility in the capital replacement plan so purchase and replacement decisions continue to be aligned with the risks the service has identified in its CRMP; and
• a commitment to invest in modernising the service’s fleet to include more environmentally conscious alternatives.

The service also looks at how it can improve efficiency through its provision of estates and fleet. Actions it is taking include:

• using collaborative procurement and purchasing frameworks where appropriate for vehicles;
• looking at whole-life costings, including maintenance, when making vehicle purchasing decisions;
• improving the management of its PFI contract so its properties are better maintained and ready for exit from the PFI partnership; and
• exploring cost-sharing arrangements through the blue light property integration board, which is a collaboration between the three local emergency services.

IT systems still aren’t reliable

We highlighted issues about the provision of appropriate and reliable IT systems during our last inspection. We were disappointed to find that the service still didn’t have effective provision of IT systems to support its staff. This is affecting staff productivity and the availability of accurate management information.

We identified the following issues that affect the usability and reliability of IT software, systems and support in the service:

• IT network connections to stations can be very slow, taking up to 45 minutes for staff to log on.
• Some staff find the systems on stations difficult to use.
• A recent technology improvement programme, the ‘tech refresh’, wasn’t properly overseen, which resulted in some stations not being provided with the latest equipment.
• The system that records sickness absence produces inaccurate reports.
• Lack of clarity about whether cloud-based systems are revenue or capital expenditure has delayed procurement of new systems.
• There is still no permanent solution to an issue where the mobilising system doesn’t reliably send risk information to firefighters. There is an interim ‘workaround’ for this, but it has taken too long to resolve.

There is an improving working relationship between the service and the Cornwall Council IT department, which provides and supports most of the service’s systems. However, more work is needed, and quickly, to make sure the service has access to appropriate and reliable systems that meet its needs and help staff to work effectively.

A lack of capacity is limiting progress

The service continues to operate a lean staff model. Many managers, particularly at middle manager level, have several responsibilities beyond their core duties. In some areas, one person is the service lead for multiple and important work areas.

With limited capacity, the service isn’t able to bring about sustainable change at a reasonable pace. For example, since our last inspection, it has made limited progress in important areas such as workforce planning and establishing effective equality impact assessment. It is still resolving the national scheme to change titles from ranks to roles. This was completed in most services over ten years ago. Some staff we spoke to felt that the management of change in the service could be better. This was reflected in our survey where 61 percent (125 out of 206) of respondents disagreed or tended to disagree that change was managed well in the service. It should objectively establish what additional capacity and skills it needs and make sure it has access to appropriate temporary and permanent resources to provide this.

Promoting the right values and culture

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is adequate at promoting the right values and culture.

Fire and rescue services should have positive and inclusive cultures, modelled by the behaviours of their senior leaders. Services should promote health and safety effectively, and staff should have access to a range of well‑being support that can be tailored to their individual needs.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

Workplace culture continues to be positive

The service continues to have well-defined values, which staff understand. Of the staff who responded to our survey, 91 percent (187 out of 206) said that they are aware of the service’s statement of values. We found staff at all levels of the service demonstrated behaviours that reflect service values. Staff we spoke to were respectful, open and proud of their organisation and the service they provide to their communities. The vast majority, 93 percent (174 out of 187), felt that their colleagues and their managers model and maintain the service’s values.

The service has started to introduce the Core Code of Ethics. It has appointed a manager who is working on this and providing presentations to staff throughout the service. Most staff we spoke to knew of and were positive about the code, although some had yet to receive the presentation. Some staff were confused by the relationship between the service’s and council’s values and the Core Code of Ethics. The service should assure itself that its work to introduce the code makes this relationship clear.

Most staff see senior leaders as positive role models. For example, most staff we spoke to described the service’s senior leaders as open, inclusive and engaging. However, our staff survey showed this wasn’t reflected across the whole organisation. In our survey, 35 percent (65 out of 187) of respondents felt that senior managers don’t consistently model and maintain the service’s values. The service should take steps to understand and address the cause of this disparity.

There is a positive working culture throughout the service, with staff empowered and willing to challenge poor behaviours when they come across them. Staff we spoke to were confident to challenge inappropriate behaviours and felt they would be supported by their managers to do so. The vast majority, 93 percent (191 out of 206), felt they are treated with respect by the people they work with.

Better support for staff and improved awareness of well-being arrangements are needed

The service continues to have a range of well-being policies in place, which are available to staff. There are provisions to support both physical and mental health. These include:

• post-incident defusing to help process the emotional effects;
• a mental health resilience programme;
• workplace medicals and occupational health support;
• a range of well-being information on SharePoint; and
• access to the firefighter’s charity, Mind Blue Light, and an external mental health support provider.

However, the service’s well-being strategy is limited. It doesn’t clearly show how staff can access support or have links to related procedures and guidance to support well-being. We found that not all staff understood how to get to the well-being information and facilities that are available. As a result, not everyone is able to access support for their physical and mental well-being. To improve in this area, the service has started to draft a new well-being strategy and procedures.

We also saw that increased workloads were having an effect on well-being of some staff. There were some examples of workloads being better managed by the service. But we weren’t assured that the service is taking enough action to assess the effect of high workloads on staff and provide appropriate, timely support for their mental well‑being and to help them manage these workloads.

Recent changes have meant that not all staff and managers know how to access the occupational health service. Staff told us it is increasingly difficult to contact occupational health or make a referral. It can also be difficult for staff to be assessed as fit for work following ill health or injury, despite approval from a GP. Physiotherapy is no longer available through occupational health, and, as a result, the service has sought other ways to access this for staff.

There is effective health and safety management, but some areas could be better

The service continues to have effective and well-understood health and safety policies and procedures in place. It has a health, safety and well-being policy that sets out the organisational arrangements for managing health and safety. This is complemented by specific policies such as secondary employment and absence management. The service maintains ISO 45001 accreditation for its health and safety management arrangements. As a department of Cornwall Council, the service receives additional advice and support from the council’s health and safety team.

Staff we spoke to and those who responded to our survey knew about and were confident in the service’s policies and approach to health and safety management. In our staff survey, 91 percent (186 out of 204) agreed or tended to agree that they understand the policies and procedures that are in place to make sure they can work safely, and 93 percent (189 out of 204) agreed or tended to agree that the service has clear procedures for reporting all accidents and near misses. The staff representative body, which responded to our survey, agreed that the service manages staff health and safety well.

Firefighters we spoke to were less confident about the service’s arrangements for managing dirty firefighting clothing. While there were some local arrangements in place, we weren’t assured that there is a co-ordinated, service-wide approach to managing this and limiting firefighter’s exposure to contaminants. The service should make sure it introduces effective, service-wide arrangements to manage dirty firefighting clothing.

The service requires staff who have other jobs to make sure they don’t work excessive hours, which may affect their fitness. However, it doesn’t effectively monitor staff who have secondary employment or dual contracts to make sure they comply with the secondary employment policy and don’t work excessive hours. The service recognises this is an area where it needs to improve.

Absence management is good, but managers need better support

We found there are clear processes in place to manage absences. However, these are only for staff on firefighting contracts. There is clear guidance for managers. Most staff and managers we spoke to knew about the policies and were able to use the process.

Staff reported feeling supported while they were absent. However, managers felt they would benefit from additional training and access to support and guidance so they could manage absence better. The service should assure itself that there are appropriate support arrangements so all staff absence is managed consistently.

Getting the right people with the right skills

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at getting the right people with the right skills.

Fire and rescue services should have a workforce plan in place that is linked to their community risk management plans (CRMPs). It should set out their current and future skills requirements and address capability gaps. This should be supplemented by a culture of continuous improvement, including appropriate learning and development throughout the service.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

There has been slow progress on workforce planning, which still needs improvement

Although it has made some progress, the service still doesn’t have a consolidated workforce plan that sets out its future skills and capability requirements and aligns these with the objectives in its CRMP.

Some processes, such as succession planning and training plan development, were described to us. However, there was limited documentation to support this. We weren’t assured that the service has the necessary information and planning arrangements it requires to make an accurate assessment of its current and future needs.

By linking its workforce, training and succession plans, through a single document, to the CRMP, the service would be in a better position to demonstrate the ability of its funding model to meet its current and future staff requirements.

Critical skills are prioritised, but more time is needed to maintain competence

The service makes sure staff complete risk-critical skills training and revalidation on time. Staff who don’t requalify within the required time frame are prevented from undertaking the role until they have requalified. Progress on incident command and breathing apparatus revalidation is monitored quarterly at service management team meetings. We reviewed a sample of training records for risk-critical skills and found they were up to date.

Local managers are responsible for planning training sessions to make sure their staff maintain competence and remain up to date. Staff at some on-call stations told us that they don’t have time to complete training in all areas. They also said the volume and frequency of training aren’t matched to their roles and the risk in their areas. The service told us that it hasn’t completed a detailed assessment of the training time required for on-call staff, but there is additional time available should it be needed.

There are some facilities to increase training time for control staff. However, staff we spoke to told us that they don’t have enough time and capacity to undertake enough maintenance of competence training. The service recognises it needs to improve the availability of training time and is starting to plan for this.

Most staff told us that they can access the training they need to be effective in their roles. In our survey, 76 percent (157 out of 206) of respondents agreed or tended to agree that overall, they have received enough training to effectively do their jobs. Training isn’t just focused on operational skills. Protection staff receive development training in line with the competency framework for business fire safety advisers, and prevention staff receive additional safeguarding training. Leadership development training is also available both through the service and Cornwall Council.

There was some evidence that the service is starting to review the skills and capabilities of staff and expected changes in the workforce profile alongside the requirements of the CRMP. This should help the service identify gaps in workforce capability and resilience and to plan accordingly. We look forward to seeing this work develop.

Learning and development are improving, but not all staff have equal access

There were some examples of how the service is promoting continuous improvement. For example, it uses an online tracker to share learning from operational debrief and feedback processes with all staff. It also offers staff the opportunity to take on project roles and policy development work in addition to their regular roles. This gives staff the chance to learn new skills and develop their management experience. It also allows the service to progress work that it doesn’t ordinarily have enough staff for.

These are early steps. The service recognises it is still developing and maturing in this area. There is more it would like to do. For example, it is planning work to link the learning and development needs of staff to its succession planning and CRMP. We look forward to seeing this progress.

There is a range of learning available to staff, directly from the service and through Cornwall Council. Some learning is available on a self-service basis, with staff expected to take responsibility for their own learning and development. Other opportunities need line manager approval through the appraisal process. Members of corporate and professional staff told us they aren’t always able to access specialist role or career development training.

Ensuring fairness and promoting diversity

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is inadequate at ensuring fairness and promoting diversity.

Creating a more representative workforce gives fire and rescue services huge benefits. These include greater access to talent and different ways of thinking. It also helps them better understand and engage with local communities. Each service should make sure staff throughout the organisation firmly understand and show a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). This includes successfully taking steps to remove inequality and making progress to improve fairness, diversity and inclusion at all levels of the service. It should proactively seek and respond to feedback from staff and make sure any action it takes is meaningful.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

Improvements are needed in responding to staff feedback and challenge

Staff aren’t confident in the effectiveness of the service’s feedback arrangements.

The service has a variety of arrangements to seek staff feedback and challenge from staff. These include:

• senior leadership visits to stations;
• monthly online ‘sitrep’ updates;
• chief fire officer communications via email; and
• the chief fire officer encouraging staff to speak up about issues following publication of the Independent Culture Review of London Fire Brigade.

During our last inspection, we found that staff weren’t always confident in providing feedback and challenge to senior leaders and managers as they felt it may affect their future careers. This was an area for improvement in our previous report.

In this inspection, we were pleased to see that this has improved. Most staff we spoke to felt it was safe to challenge and provide feedback. Additionally, 55 percent (114 out of 206) of respondents to our survey agreed or tended to agree that it is safe to challenge the way things are done in the service. This area for improvement has now been discharged.

Staff were less confident that anything would happen in response to their comments and feedback. We heard many examples of questions and issues being raised with senior leaders and managers but with no feedback being received and nothing happening as a result. And some staff felt that the reception their feedback received depended on whether it aligned with the views of the managers or senior leaders they were talking to. This was reflected in our staff survey where 43 percent of respondents (89 out of 206) disagreed or tended to disagree that their ideas or suggestions would be listened to.

The service holds regular online meetings where the chief fire officer and senior leaders talk with staff and share news and information about what is happening in the service. These meetings also include question-and-answer sessions. Some staff, particularly those on-call, felt that these ‘sitrep’ updates aren’t accessible. The meetings are usually held during the day, which means on-call staff often can’t join. While the meetings are recorded for staff to view later, they can’t ask questions and discuss points ‘live’ with managers.

The service has experienced considerable change over previous years. However, we heard from some staff who felt that change in the service isn’t well managed. This was reflected in our staff survey where 61 percent (125 out of 206) of respondents disagreed or tended to disagree that change is well managed in the service.

Recently, the service has made some changes to improve feedback to staff. Senior leaders visiting stations have started to record any issues and questions raised in a station log. This is then updated to give staff feedback on their questions or share progress on any issues. At the time of this inspection, the service was in the process of agreeing an internal whistleblowing policy to support staff to raise issues, particularly in relation to unacceptable behaviour. We look forward to seeing these initiatives develop.

There are clear procedures for tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination, but staff aren’t always confident to use them

Staff have a good understanding of what bullying, harassment and discrimination are and their negative effects on colleagues and the organisation. Most staff we spoke to were confident to challenge inappropriate, offensive and discriminatory behaviour. They felt they would be supported by their managers in doing this.

The senior leadership team has clearly set out its position regarding bullying, harassment and discrimination and that poor behaviour won’t be tolerated. Following a complaint about bullying and harassment, the service investigated and dismissed several members of staff. Staff who spoke about this saw it as setting a clear standard for the future.

Disappointingly, not all staff are confident to report bullying, harassment and discrimination. In our survey, 9 percent (19 out of 206) of respondents told us they had been subject to bullying or harassment and 12 percent (25 out of 206) to discrimination over the past 12 months. Of these, 55 percent (24 out of 44) hadn’t reported the bullying, harassment or discrimination. The main reason given for not reporting was the belief that nothing would happen. The service should make sure that staff are confident to report bullying, harassment and discrimination and that effective action will be taken where appropriate.

There are mixed views about the grievance procedure. Some staff felt the service’s approach to grievance is improving, time frames are being followed and complaints are investigated objectively. In other areas, there was a continued lack of confidence in the procedure. This related mainly to confidentiality of the investigation and the knowledge and experience of the person completing it. The service should assure staff of the value and integrity of the grievance procedure and make sure those who manage grievance complaints are well trained and supported to complete investigations in a timely way.

More work is needed to address disproportionality in recruitment and retention

The service has made limited progress since our last inspection in addressing disproportionality in recruitment and retention.

It states its commitment to increasing applications from under-represented groups in its EDI strategy. However, this isn’t supported by a clear plan or recruitment strategy that links to these objectives or the community risk management plan (CRMP). While there have been some improvements in the number of female firefighters the service has recruited, it isn’t clear how the service plans to systematically address disproportionality in recruitment for all roles.

We reviewed several recent recruitment campaigns and found they were open and transparent. The service advertises most vacancies both internally and externally to increase its reach. However, there was limited evidence to show how advertising was tailored to contact a wider audience and attract a more diverse pool of candidates.

Recruitment material we saw includes a commitment to positive action. It states that the service welcomes applications from all and particularly encourages applications from under-represented groups. The service told us that it guarantees to interview any applicant with a disability who meets the minimum requirements for the role. Arrangements for diverse recruitment panels are sometimes limited due to a lack of availability of appropriate staff from the service. The service makes limited use of exit interviews to understand the reasons for staff leaving the service.

The service needs to do more to increase staff diversity. While it has made some progress in increasing the number of female firefighters, the number of firefighters from a minority ethnic background has decreased. In the year ending 31 March 2022, no new joiners self-declared as being from an ethnic minority background. The proportion of firefighters from an ethnic minority background decreased from 4.5 percent (19 people) in 2020/21 to 1.6 percent (6 people) in 2021/22. The proportion of female firefighters increased from 4.5 percent (27 people) to 6 percent (35 people) over the same period.

For the whole workforce, in the year ending 31 March 2022, 3.9 percent were from an ethnic minority background compared to 6 percent in the local population and 8 percent throughout all fire and rescue services. And 11.3 percent were women, compared to an average of 18.6 percent throughout all fire and rescue services.

A clear and systematic approach to EDI is needed

We were disappointed to find that the service had made very little progress in how it promotes and manages EDI. In many respects, the service is in the same position as it was when we inspected in 2021.

There continues to be senior leadership commitment to the principles of EDI. The chief fire officer is an advocate and leads for the NFCC on EDI. EDI is a theme that runs through the CRMP and supporting strategies. The service sets out its equality objectives in its EDI strategy. The strategy links to the equality objectives of Cornwall Council and the NFCC people plan.

However, the service lacks a clear, coherent and robust plan to turn the equality objectives into actions. There has been very limited progress to develop policies and procedures to support the service’s EDI aspirations. For example:

• The service doesn’t have policies to support all staff with protected characteristics.
• It has limited data about its workforce, so it isn’t able to assess the need for reasonable adjustments or test the effectiveness of its work to promote EDI.
• It doesn’t have a recruitment strategy that shows how it plans to increase workplace diversity.

We were pleased to see that there has been improvement in one area we highlighted during our last inspection. Most staff we spoke to had a good understanding of the importance and benefits of an inclusive, diverse and equal workplace. There is increased confidence in discussing EDI, which is seen as positive. They felt the environment in the service regarding EDI is also improving.

There are concerns about welfare facilities and uniform provision

One area that gave us particular concern during this inspection was the lack of gender-appropriate welfare facilities at all fire stations. We commented on the lack of a plan to address this during our last inspection. The service has made some improvements, but these are being completed on an ad hoc basis. It told us there are difficulties negotiating with the PFI contractor who maintains most of the fire stations and that it has a limited budget for the work. The effect of this on staff is unacceptable.

Welfare and hygiene provision for firefighters attending emergency incidents also lacks resilience. The service has a purpose-built vehicle that it uses for this. However, the vehicle was unavailable for most of the last year. The service made some alternative provisions for catering but was unable to cover the hygiene arrangements. The service told us it was due to take delivery of additional welfare and hygiene trailers to provide future resilience, but its staff were left for too long without appropriate support during incidents.

We also found that female firefighters weren’t always provided with uniform and personal protective equipment that were an appropriate fit for them. Some staff told us that they prefer male-fit uniform as the female fit is too short. Others wore male-fit uniform and accepted it.

These issues are a very real concern. The service should take prompt and robust action to address them.

Equality impact assessments must be improved

The service needs to improve its approach to using equality impact assessments. It needs to be able to clearly demonstrate it has considered and mitigated any negative effects from the work of its departments and its policies and procedures on people with protected characteristics.

It has recently changed to a ‘decision wheel’ process, which is provided by Cornwall Council. The service is still developing its understanding of the new process and how it is applied.

The new process is yet to be fully established so impact assessments aren’t completed routinely for all functions or during policy development. Actions are assigned to the person completing the assessment. However, there is no formal process to make sure they are completed and that the expected improvements are achieved. Staff completing assessments have had limited training and experience in using the process.

The procedures for corporate oversight of the assessment process weren’t clear. We were told about planned arrangements for oversight through the community engagement, equality and diversity group, which would then report to the senior leadership team. These arrangements were still in development.

The service recognises it has more work to do to show that it has properly assessed the effects of its policies on people with protected characteristics and taken appropriate action to mitigate any negative consequences.

Managing performance and developing leaders

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service requires improvement at managing performance and developing leaders.

Fire and rescue services should have robust and meaningful performance management arrangements in place for their staff. All staff should be supported to meet their potential and there should be a focus on developing staff and improving diversity into leadership roles.

We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the service’s performance in this area.

Main findings

More work is needed to clearly manage individuals’ performance

The service continues to have an inconsistent process in place for performance and development. We highlighted this as an area for improvement during our last inspection. The service has made limited progress since, so this area for improvement will remain.

The systems the service uses to record and monitor individual staff performance are inconsistent. Wholetime staff use an online system that is linked to the staff recording system run by Cornwall Council. Staff at on-call stations use a paper-based system. This is in part due to IT connection issues. As a result, the service isn’t easily able to monitor completion of annual development reviews for all staff. It hasn’t provided this data for the 2021/22 data collection.

Some staff we spoke to and 45 percent (93 out of 206) of those who responded to our survey said they hadn’t received a performance review in the past year. The performance review process isn’t seen as meaningful, with some staff telling us it is seen as a ‘tick box’ exercise.

Objectives in the performance review process don’t clearly align with the community risk management plan (CRMP). The service has started to develop a performance management system that links the objectives in its CRMP to command and team plans and then to individual performance objectives. However, more work is needed to complete this so that staff can see how their work supports the service’s objectives.

Fairness and consistency in promotion and progression processes need to be clearly demonstrated

The service has limited promotion and progression processes. These aren’t always seen as fair and transparent by staff.

The service is currently using a promotion policy that was drafted in January 2022. However, it is still an interim policy as the service has been unable to reach agreement with staff representatives to adopt it formally. We reviewed a sample of recent promotions made using the policy and found that the process was being applied according to the policy.

Not all staff think the promotion process is being applied consistently. In our survey, 52 percent (108 out of 206) of those responding disagreed or tended to disagree the promotion process is fair. Staff also told us that the process is applied inconsistently, with examples of changes being made once a recruitment process had been started. They felt there is a lack of transparency, particularly with sharing the outcomes of interviews and who had been successful in getting into the ‘development pool’.

The service hasn’t defined clear development pathways. This means staff are unclear about what skills are required and what they need to do to demonstrate their suitability for promotion. Nor has it completed the national rank to role transition. This exercise commenced in 2007 and was completed by most services over ten years ago. The service should make sure it introduces a range of development pathways for all its staff and take action to conclude the rank to role transition.

There is some succession planning in place. The service is developing a better understanding of its workforce profile and forecasting future gaps. This is allowing it to understand what its future staff and training needs are likely to be. It recognises it has more to do to link this to training and development and its workforce plan.

Diversifying leadership in the service needs to be better

The service needs to encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds into middle and senior-level positions. It doesn’t always advertise and fill these positions externally as well as internally, so it isn’t making the most of opportunities to make its workforce more representative.

The service has used positive action to encourage staff from different backgrounds to seek promotion. However, we heard examples of this being misunderstood and having a negative effect. Some staff see it as unfair and discriminatory. Some female staff are put off applying for leadership positions as there is a perception they would progress because they are female, rather than on their merits and ability to fulfil the role. The service should assure itself that staff understand the reasons for and benefits of positive action.

There is still no process for developing leadership and high-potential staff at all levels

The service needs to improve the way it actively manages the career pathways of staff, including those with specialist skills and those with potential for leadership roles. This was an area for improvement that we identified during our last inspection, but it has made little progress.

It provides some opportunities for staff who are seeking promotion and for those with potential. These include experience through temporary promotion and undertaking project work, policy review work and training in specific areas.

However, it doesn’t have any formal talent management schemes or arrangements to develop leaders and high-potential staff.

The service should consider putting in place more formal arrangements to identify and support members of staff to become senior leaders. There is a significant gap in its succession planning.

In December 2022, the fire standards board published two new standards – leading the service and leading and developing people. These provide useful leadership and staff development frameworks for fire services. The service should make sure it has effective plans to implement these standards in a timely manner.

Further information

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Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service 2023-2025

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Concerns about Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service’s performance

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Useful links

Fire and rescue national framework for England 
National Operational Guidance website
National Fire Chiefs Council website