Operational Training and Development in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Good Practice

Good Practice 1: The development of a clear vision and strategy for training within the SFRS is a positive development and staff should be commended for providing this strong leadership.

Good Practice 2: The training function has worked hard to develop innovative staffing solution for ‘hard to fill’ geographical posts and should be commended for this. They should continue to look for opportunities to ensure quality training is delivered to all parts of the organisation.

Good Practice 3: The training function has worked hard to develop relationships within the UK FRS. They have proactively used these relationships to benchmark aspects of training to identify continuous improvement and should be commended for this. They should continue to look for opportunities to benchmark training for all aspects of operational training.

Good Practice 4: The development of the knowledge applied training and assessment system would seem to be a positive innovation and is going some way to filling a potential gap in training delivery. The innovation should be commended and applied consistently to all areas of the Service.

Good Practice 5: It is pleasing to note that the training function are developing innovative solutions to course delivery, which will allow a more flexible approach for On Call course attendance. The development should be commended and used as a future model for improvement.

Good Practice 6: The Service has ploughed considerable resources into the breathing apparatus recovery plan, probably at the expense and prioritisation of other training projects. Although there is a degree of criticism surrounding elements of the plan it should be recognised for providing a high level of comfort that most staff have been assessed to an agreed standard over a relatively short period of time. Those staff involved should be commended for the excellent work which brought about the course development and delivery.

Good Practice 7: The development of the training strategic asset management plan utilising cross-directorate collaboration, is a strong example of good practice. It provides a clear roadmap for facility improvement and investment, supporting effective strategic planning.

Good Practice 8: The cyclical innovative appliance allocation approach delivers clear benefits, hopefully improving training efficiency, effectiveness and continuous improvement.

Good Practice 9: The innovative personal protective equipment allocation approach delivers clear benefits, improving staff welfare, training efficiency, effectiveness and continuous improvement.

Good Practice 10: There is a clear need for stronger strategic direction and a defined development pathway to guide the effective allocation of capacity, funding and resources. The creation of the leadership and management development taskforce and the forthcoming leadership and management development framework is a positive step toward achieving this and should be completed as soon as possible.

Good Practice 11: Recent inspections identified several effective local service delivery area development initiatives created to compensate for the absence of a national system. This innovation and use of local capacity are commendable, and capturing these approaches to inform the leadership and management development framework is a positive and constructive step forward.

Good Practice 12: In previous inspections, and to some extent in this one, the modern apprenticeship and Scottish vocational qualification system received significant criticism. However, the Service has invested in additional resources and capacity, resulting in clear and measurable improvements. The Service and staff involved should be commended for this turnaround.

Area for Consideration

Areas for Consideration 1: The Service should consider reviewing the training function framework to better demonstrate the link between the training vision and strategy and training policies, processes and procedures.

Areas for Consideration 2: The training function should review its governance process to ensure there is robust communication and engagement processes between middle management, supervisory management and the teams below them in the structure.

Areas for Consideration 3: The training function should ensure that the new software system currently being procured can interface with the new people software system to guarantee that effective and efficient coordination of development, competencies, skills and subsequent workforce planning can be achieved

Areas for Consideration 4: The training function should consider the review of its instructor terms and conditions to identify where changes could be made that will ensure more efficient and effective training delivery balanced against staff welfare.

Areas for Consideration 5: The training function should consider reviewing its policies and guidance to ensure that all staff are aware of their full responsibilities and that they are developed to understand and deliver on this.

Areas for Consideration 6: The training function should consider reviewing and reinvigorating the audit processes to ensure that they are receiving maximum information for continuous improvement.

Areas for Consideration 7: The training function should continue to review training for operational competence content to ensure that it is fit for purpose and in particular that it is appropriate for staff constrained by the terms and conditions and duty pattern of being retained or volunteer On Call.

Areas for Consideration 8: It is clear that capacity will continue to be an issue for the training function moving forward. The training function should consider accelerating the drive to up skill station-based watch commanders and linked training processes as this will hopefully spread the burden wider and release more functional capacity.

Areas for Consideration 9: The training function should consider how it utilises other sources of evidence to prove competence, which would hopefully encourage a better balance to the perceived culture of compliance over competence.

Areas for Consideration 10: The Service should review arrangements for appliance strategic reserve to provide a consistent system allowing staff to maximise training, balanced with operational commitments.

Areas for Consideration 11: There would seem to be a potential gap of facility provision within the ESDA, which may be affecting efficient delivery of training. The Service should continue to review service delivery across its training estate and considering enhancing provision should resourcing and finance permit.

Areas for Consideration 12: There are significant concerns that incident command courses focus too heavily on passing assessments rather than developing real command capability. The training function should continue to review incident command training and assessment methods to ensure a better balance between demonstration of genuine competence and simple compliance.

Areas for Consideration 13: It is understood that the interim contamination control measures for breathing apparatus training have been in place for a long time and appear to have become normalised. The training function should consider reviewing and reprioritising these issues and invest in permanent, long-term solutions.

Areas for Consideration 14: The training function should consider reviewing the provision of PPE for FGT to ensure a consistent allocation and issue across every training site.

Areas for Consideration 15: There is a need for a clear, coherent people strategy that defines how the Service will deliver talent management and develop as a true learning organisation. The People Directorate should progress this work to completion as it should be the foundation for all related future people initiatives.

Areas for Consideration 16: The People Directorate should continue to engage proactively with the training system project, confirming that both systems can interface to ensure that effective and efficient coordination of development, competencies, skills and subsequent workforce planning can be achieved.

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: In the absence of a formal Service career pathway document, we recommend that the Service should consider reviewing guidance and support provided to managers that would proactively encourage the retention and development of staff, to promote continuity within training.

Recommendation 2: We recommend that the Service continue to review its training capacity in line with organisational requirements in order that it can redirect any future additional resources to training delivery and its performance management.

Recommendation 3: We recognise that the Service has several quality management systems and assurance systems intended to support continuous improvement. However, we found they do not operate cohesively and are not delivering the required improvement anticipated. We recommend the training function should review these systems to ensure they work together as intended.

Recommendation 4: It is understood that the training function is moving towards a more blended approach for training with increasing reliance on digital applications. We would recommend that the Service review the information and communication technology infrastructure available at station, particularly On Call to ensure that the model can be delivered in the way it is envisaged.

Recommendation 5: We found driver training to be one of the most concerning aspects of our operational training assessment and can understand the overwhelming sense of concern throughout the Service. We recommend that the Service review its driver training provision to enhance instructor capacity, improve training processes and increase driver levels.

Recommendation 6: We recommend that the operation control training model and structure be reviewed following the implementation of the new mobilising system project to identify where improvements could be made and whether the current systems and structure provides enough capacity to support watch-based teams in operations control.

Recommendation 7: We recommend that the Service should develop clear talent development policy, procedures and governance frameworks to complement any strategy and guide the day-to-day delivery and management of people initiatives.

Recommendation 8: We recommend that the Service review its development team capacity to ensure organisational needs are met, prioritising any future resources for talent development and its performance management.

Recommendation 9: We believe that there is poor performance management for talent development and we would recommend the People Directorate strengthen its management by implementing more robust systems for measurement, monitoring, quality assurance and audit to improve scrutiny and oversight.

Recommendation 10: We are concerned that the learning needs analysis is being used primarily for compliance rather than development. We recommend the Service review the learning needs analysis budget and processes, including how it is allocated and prioritised, to identify improvements.

Recommendation 11: Talent development is predominantly centred on course delivery and an inclusive interlinked talent management system is lacking. We recommend the Service should strengthen its approach by ensuring robust coaching, mentoring, performance management, secondment, networking and induction processes are embedded within the future leadership and management development framework.