Terms of reference: Home Secretary’s commission for a thematic inspection of the handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services

Published on: 19 July 2023

Publication types: Ethics and accountability, Fire & rescue services, Integrity and corruption, Professional standards, Terms of reference and Thematic inspection

Fire and Rescue Services: Avon, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon and Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, Durham and Darlington, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Hereford and Worcester, Hertfordshire, Humberside, Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Relevant to fire and rescue services, Royal Berkshire, Shropshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne and Wear, Warwickshire, West Midlands, West Sussex and West Yorkshire

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services will carry out an inspection of the handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services in England.

We will examine the extent to which services have taken steps to implement the recommendations we made in our spotlight report Values and culture in fire and rescue services.

This will include examining:

  • the extent to which services are identifying and investigating misconduct;
  • the effectiveness of misconduct processes and how consistently they are applied;
  • how confident fire and rescue service staff are in raising concerns and in misconduct processes; and
  • the role of fire and rescue authorities and other organisations in handling misconduct.

We will report our findings to the Home Secretary.