Surrey Fire and Rescue Service requires further improvement
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service has made improvements in some areas, but further changes are needed, the fire inspectorate has said.
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Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023/25 – Surrey Fire and Rescue Service
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has graded Surrey Fire and Rescue Service’s performance across 11 areas and found the service was ‘good’ in one area, ‘adequate’ in three areas, and ‘requires improvement’ in seven areas.
HMICFRS said the service needed to improve its protection work, including the accurate identification of how many high-risk premises it has, and continue its improvement work to make sure it is getting value for money.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Roy Wilsher said:
“I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of Surrey Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks, but the service needs to improve in some areas.
“Despite a significant change in leadership and workforce transfers to London Fire Brigade, the service’s culture has improved. But I was disappointed to find that the service wasn’t doing enough to make sure its protection work was effective, and I have given a new cause of concern. We found that the service isn’t recording the risk level of fire safety audits it carries out, which means it can’t be sure it is targeting the highest-risk buildings.
“Although the service is not adequately allocating its resources to meet its prevention and protection priorities, it is well funded and has a sustainable financial position. But it needs to continue its improvement work to make sure it is getting value for money.
“We will keep in close contact with the service to monitor its progress and revisit to review its improvement plans.”
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Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023/25 – Surrey Fire and Rescue Service
Notes
- For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- Read more information about the 2023-25 assessment framework for fire and rescue service inspections.