Thematic inspections
Our Thematic inspections are an examination of a particular service-wide theme, and generally seek to understand how the Service as a whole is managing the subject under scrutiny. The inspection reports are laid before the Scottish Parliament.
The SFRS has an internal process for considering our reports, and their recommendations or observations. Officers of the Service compile an action plan for each report we produce, and these action plans are submitted to either the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee or the Service Delivery Committee of the SFRS Board for consideration and scrutiny.
The Chief Inspector is invited to attend and contribute to specific agenda items at both of these committees thus providing the Inspectorate with oversight of progress and assurance that recommendations have been considered and relevant action taken.
All inspection reports are published in the Publications area of our website
Current and ongoing Thematic Inspection Programme
Operational Training and Development
A significant component of firefighter safety within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is the provision of appropriate Operational Training and Personal Development (OTD). In recent years, there has been a substantial turnover of staff and associated promotions within the SFRS, with the consequential impact of the need for greater focus on training and development of operational staff. Our decision to focus on OTD was also influenced in some part by the findings from our Service Delivery Area (SDA) and Thematic inspections conducted between 2022 to 2025. Consequently, an inspection was commissioned to examine the delivery of training and personal development of operational staff in the SFRS. Specifically, it will consider the Training Vision and Strategy and how it is applied in relation to skill acquisition, skill maintenance, training delivery and training asset provision. In addition, the inspection will also consider the People aspect of Talent and how this is applied in relation to talent development, talent acquisition as well as Modern Apprenticeships and SVQ’s. The purpose of conducting this inspection is to understand whether the Service is delivering its vision of developing people as its most important asset. It is also the intention to examine the relationship between operational training and people development, to understand how these two facets interact to support employees in all aspects of their role within the Service from point of entry to exit. In doing so, we hope to assess how effectively and efficiently both training and development support the Service vision as well as continuous improvement. This Thematic inspection started in April 2025 and is due to be completed by March 2026.
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Organisational Culture (Volume Two)
Our inspection of organisational culture in the SFRS commenced in 2024. This inspection theme is split into different sub-themes. Our first inspection report, focusing on policies, procedures and the corporate elements of culture, was published in June 2025.
The second of these inspections will consider issues around employee behaviour, grievance, conduct and discipline. The detailed terms of reference for this inspection will be published in due course and will be influenced by the findings of the first sub-theme inspection.
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Operational Assurance
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is committed to firefighter safety, of which the provision of Operational Assurance (OA) is a key element. It is incumbent upon the SFRS to ensure there are suitable OA processes in place to review performance at operational incidents, as well as training events, in order to provide effective feedback and to influence future practice, enhance performance and improve firefighter safety. As such, the Chief Inspector’s programme 2024-25, indicated the intention to carry out an inspection of the SFRS Operational Assurance policy and the associated procedures, which are intended to support this concept and ensure commitment to the continuous improvement of operational response. This decision was influenced in some part by the findings of our Service Delivery Area (SDA) inspections conducted between 2022 to 2024. To date, fieldwork, analysis, report development, engagement and consultation have all been completed for this inspection process. The inspection is in the final stages with the report due to be published September 2025.
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