Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is performing exceptionally well and has been recognised as ‘outstanding’ for promoting values and culture by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
The inspection assessed how effectively and efficiently Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service prevents, protects the public against and responds to fires.
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.
“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.”
As well as being rated ‘outstanding’ for culture and values, the service was rated as ‘good’ in the other 10 categories and there were no areas that ‘require improvement.’ The results mirror those of the service’s first full inspection in 2018, with the new report highlighting that the service has improved in almost all areas since then.
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 full report is available on the HMICFRS website [opens in a new tab].