Inspection of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service: East Service Delivery Area

How effective is the Service in the East SDA at managing and supporting its workforce? We consider that there is an opportunity for improvement.

Recent changes to firefighters' pensions have brought about a significant spike in the number of retirements with a consequent reduction in staff numbers and loss of experience.

Developing and promoting leaders has not shown the desired consistencies that staff would like or expect. The officer turnover also has a consequential negative impact on staff managed and to a lesser degree engagement with partners.

There is an appraisal process but there was limited use of this for On-Call staff.

A lack of assessors and verifiers was said to be hampering the development of trainee firefighters.

There are encouraging signs that On-Call recruitment is getting more efficient with a degree of flexibility in how initial training course requirements are achieved, though there remain issues regarding lengthy recruitment timescales in some areas.

Training is said to be under-resourced with shortages of instructors leading to the cancellation of courses and non-delivery of some specialist skills.

The Service's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure is a barrier to the delivery and recording of training, particularly for On-Call staff.

There is not equitable access to Continued Professional Development opportunities.

There are systems and processes in place for personnel to access support from occupational health professionals.

Staff were mainly complimentary about the mental health support available to them.

Gender balance and workforce representation from minority ethnic groups continues to be disproportionate.

There is mandatory Professional Behaviours and Equality training for staff.

The Service has a Positive Action Strategy to improve workforce diversity, but we feel it requires a review and refresh.

The SFRS was awarded the Stonewall LGBTQ+ Inclusive Employer Silver Award for 2023. Whilst this is a welcome development there has been limited improvement in overall workforce diversity.