Inspection of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service West Service Delivery Area

HMFSI WSDA Ratings Matrix

Prevention and Protection

How effective is the Service in the WSDA at keeping people safe? We consider this to be satisfactory.

Understanding fire and other risks - Satisfactory

There is a good understanding of risk and the area has strong examples of Local Fire and Rescue Plans (LFRP) as well as supporting documents, working with partners to achieve this. Staff are generally able to articulate the risks most relevant to them and how it linked to their role. There is also some evidence of managing Operational Intelligence (OI) and Business Continuity (BC). Although not exhaustive, issues with governance, planning, the demountable tablet use, specific hazard operating procedures and operational exercising are areas of improvement identified and contributed to the overall grading.

Preventing fire and other risks - Good

There is a good understanding of prevention and the area has strong examples of Local Prevention Delivery Plans (LPDP) as well as supporting documents, working with partners to achieve this. There is also many positive examples and success stories of delivering innovative initiatives within the community. Although not exhaustive, issues with local station involvement, funding for intervention, fire investigation involvement and home fire safety targets are areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Protecting the public through fire regulation - Satisfactory

There is a good understanding of protection and the area has strong examples of Local Enforcement Delivery Plans (LEDP) as well as supporting documents, working with partners to achieve this. Although not exhaustive, issues with staff turnover and subsequent development, support from the national function, target setting, high rise flat workload and the continued issues with Prevention and Protection Enforcement Database (PPED) are areas for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Response

How effective is the Service in the WSDA at responding to incidents when they do occur? We consider that the Service’s response is satisfactory.

Preparing to respond to fires and other emergencies - Satisfactory

There is strong evidence to demonstrate the Service has historically assessed the local risk and has developed response plans accordingly. In general, the Service has the resources in locations within the WSDA commensurate with these historic plans and that training and exercising are all being delivered to a greater or lesser degree. There is evidence of proactive management of operational guidance and procedures, the Target Operating Model (TOM) and management of staffing levels, personnel skills and appliance availability. Although not exhaustive, issues with detached duties, skills availability, On-Call staffing levels, On-Call appliance availability, Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) panelling, Safe Working at Height (SWaH) provision, structured debriefing as well as modernisation processes were all areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Responding to fire and other emergencies - Satisfactory

There is strong evidence to demonstrate the Service can respond effectively to fires and other emergencies. In general, the Service has effective call handling and response performance. Operational staff are also supplied with the maintained assets of equipment, fleet, property, personal protective equipment and uniform to be able to do their job effectively. Although not exhaustive, issues with provision and maintenance of these assets, station condition and suitability, operational exercising as well as modernisation processes are all areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Partnership

How effective is the Service in the WSDA at working in partnership with others to improve community safety outcomes? We consider that partnership working is good.

Actively supporting partnership working to identify and protect the most vulnerable in the community - Good

There is excellent partnership working across the area, both at formal and informal levels. The statutory community planning partnership structures are supported extremely well by management teams within the WSDA. There are formalised referral pathways between partners to share information regarding those who are deemed to be at greatest risk. The style and content of scrutiny committee performance papers is valued by local authority partners. There is also good evidence of proactive involvement in assessing community risk, managing resilience, as well as seeking collaboration opportunities. Although not exhaustive, issues of capacity invested in partnerships balanced against that invested in operational preparedness, as well as the continued underuse of the Community Asset Register (CAR) are areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

People

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

Managing performance and developing leaders - Opportunity for improvement

We found that the Service had taken proactive measures to modernise and address staffing issues. This resulted in the observation that the TOM for Wholetime is relatively healthy and that teams generally had the correct complement. We found good examples of local management developing supervisory and middle managers in an attempt to address identified leadership issues. We also found that recruitment of On-Call staff had been assisted with changes to the recruitment process by providing more information and support as well as delivering some elements of training in a modular format. Although not exhaustive, issues surrounding On-Call availability, On-Call staffing levels, leadership and manager development, staff appraisal, engagement, autonomy, centralisation and recruitment and retention are all areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Ensuring people have the rights skills and training - Opportunity for improvement

We found that the Service had taken proactive measures to modernise and address training and development issues with the introduction of an innovative vision and strategy. Some aspects of core skills training and refresher training are positive with the Service closely meeting the attainment standard in some areas. There is also very positive feedback regarding local training teams with operational personnel generally very engaged with them. There was also good evidence of the training function reviewing feedback and adapting, with the modular task and task management course being a good example. Although not exhaustive, issues surrounding the use of training officers for non-training logistics, well documented Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) issues, low levels of core and refresher skill attainment in some areas, problematic driver training, tactical ship firefighting and other specialist skill acquisition as well as some negative feedback in relation to the national training centre are all areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Supporting mental health and wellbeing - Satisfactory

We found that the Service had taken proactive measures to modernise mental health and wellbeing issues with the publication of its strategy and related processes. We found positive examples of the use of the post incident support process, marketing posters, improving culture at hot debriefs, the use of health and safety workplace audits and positive comparable absence rates with other areas in the Service. Although not exhaustive, issues surrounding the recent recommendations made in our mental health and wellbeing thematic audit, acts of violence and the return-to-work management system are areas identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.

Promoting equality and diversity - Opportunity for improvement

We found that the Service had taken proactive measures to make the workforce more representative of the community it serves. The Service has a positive action strategy that assists with the recruitment of under-represented groups. There is also mandatory professional behaviours and equality training for all staff, which supports this issue. Long-standing issues surrounding the disproportionate gender and ethnic minority workforce balance continue and are issues identified for improvement and contributed to the overall grading.