Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service praised for good performance

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is performing well and has been congratulated for its performance, the fire inspectorate has said.

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Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023/25 – Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has graded Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service’s performance across 11 areas and found the service was ‘good’ in ten areas and ‘adequate’ in one area.

HMICFRS said Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is good at understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies, and that it considers a wide range of learning to support its ability to do so. This includes the Manchester Arena Inquiry report, with the service making improvements, such as the introduction of its new terrorist response capability.

Inspectors also said they were encouraged by the service’s commitment to improve organisational culture, with staff at all levels showing behaviours that reflect the service’s well-defined values.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Michelle Skeer said:

“I am pleased with the performance of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks.

“The service has improved how it targets and evaluates its fire prevention work and continues to provide an effective response to incidents. The service has also successfully implemented its new terrorist response capability, ensuring that all stations and fire engines are now equipped and ready to respond to terrorist attacks.

“Overall, I commend the service on the changes it has made and expect it to continue working to resolve the further areas for improvement we have identified.”

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Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023/25 – Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service

Notes

  1. For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
  2. 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 11 areas and given a grade for each.
  3. 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.
  4. We have expanded our previous four-tier system of judgements to five. These changes mean that it isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between grades awarded in this round of inspections with those from previous years.
  5. A reduction in grade, particularly from good to adequate, doesn’t necessarily mean that there has been a reduction in performance, unless we say so in the report.
  6. Read more information about the 2023-25 assessment framework for fire and rescue service inspections.