Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has been congratulated for its performance following a recent inspection into its effectiveness, efficiency and how it looks after its people.

In a report released today, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), graded the service ‘good’, in all areas, noting it had improved considerably since its first inspection in July 2018.

It was also recognised for being 'outstanding' at promoting the right culture and values and has developed a talent management process.

A spokesperson for HMICFRS said: “This is our third inspection of fire and rescue services in England.

“We first inspected Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service in July 2018, publishing a report with our findings in December 2018 on the service’s effectiveness and efficiency and how it looks after its people.

“Our second inspection, in autumn 2020, considered how the service was responding to the pandemic.

“This inspection considers for a second time the service’s effectiveness, efficiency and people.”

The expected graded judgement, or benchmark, for all fire and rescue services is ‘good’ and is based on policy, practice or performance that meet pre-defined grading criteria, which are informed by any relevant national operational guidance or standards.

Following the inspection, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service was found to be performing exceptionally well and graded the service as follows:

  • 'good’ at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks;
  • ‘good’ at efficiently keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks; and
  • ‘good’ at looking after its people.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services, Matt Parr, said: “I congratulate Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service on its excellent performance across all three areas of our assessment.

"Since its last inspection in 2018, it has improved in almost all areas.

“Importantly for the public, the service is good at understanding and preventing fires and other risks, as well as good at protecting people and responding to fires and other emergencies, and major and multi-agency incidents.

"It has improved consultation about its community plan.

“The service is outstanding at promoting the right culture and values and has developed a talent management process.

"It has a good understanding of its future financial challenges and has identified savings and investment opportunities

“We look forward to seeing the results of further improvements at our next inspection.”

In its last inspection, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service was rated as good across all three areas of assessment.

The inspection of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service was carried out in conjunction with inspections of the 43 other services across the country, and the report is one of 15 released in this first phase of inspections, with the remaining 28 due to be published at later dates.

Lancashire's Chief Fire Officer, Justin Johnston, said: “I am really proud of our results in the latest inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

"Since our previous inspection, there has been so much change; both inside the service with staff changes but also externally and how we operate following the coronavirus pandemic.

“As a service we noticed that the inspection programme had matured since our first inspection, so to achieve the same results and for the report to highlight that good progress has been made over the four years, reflects the efforts of all our staff from across the service.

"We will now look to build on the strengths identified in the report and continue to improve as we strive to be the best we can be.

“Last year, it was an honour to be named as Emergency Service of the Year at the FIRE Magazine’s awards ceremony in London and I am glad that this report highlights that we continue to be one of the best equipped, best trained and most professional fire and rescue services in the country.”

The positive inspection rating comes as the HMICFRS said that urgent change is needed to improve the performance of some other fire services in parts of England, with “far more needed to be done to reduce risks to public safety”.

The watchdog also raised concerns about a “toxic” culture in some fire services across the country. 

Inspectors found Gloucestershire’s fire service – which was put into special measures earlier this month – needed to “urgently improve” amid serious concerns about its ability to keep people safe.

London Fire Brigade needed to “improve in several important areas and has not made enough progress since its last inspection”.

The service in Essex was told it needed to “continue working to improve” while there were concerns that standards in Staffordshire had “deteriorated” in a number of areas.

And the West Sussex service had “improved markedly” but still had “areas that needed attention”.

Inspector of fire and rescue services Roy Wilsher said: “We have continued to see a general positive shift in services prioritising protection.

“The sector needs to continue this focus so the public can experience long-term safety benefits. This must include sustained Government funding to make sure the number of competent fire protection staff continues to increase.

“However, our second round of inspections has continued to identify issues that need urgent attention.

“It’s troubling that some services have failed to act on the causes of concern we issued in 2018 and 2019.

“Worryingly, too many services don’t prioritise fire prevention activity enough – this is crucial for public safety.”