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Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2023–2025: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service

14 August 2025 Fire & Rescue Inspection 2 causes for concern 41 areas for improvement
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National — applies to all forces

Causes for concern

2
Concern Open The service should develop a system that brings together workforce, succession and training plans at a service level that clearly supports its CRMP and: • will account for the people, skills and capabilities it needs, both now and in the future; • includes processes to make sure its current and future recruitment and promotion activity support the requirements of workforce and succession plans and the CRMP; and • makes sure there is central oversight of all recruitment activity to make sure it is co-ordinated to meet workforce, capability and succession planning needs.
Concern Open The service needs to improve its mobilisation system

Areas for improvement

41
AFI The service should make sure it understands what resource is needed to mitigate or reduce the risks and threats to the community, both now and in the future.
AFI The service should make sure it participates in a programme of cross-border exercises, with learning from them obtained and shared.
AFI The service should assure itself it understands what resources are reasonably required to meet its foreseeable risk and make sure it has the necessary staff available to achieve this.
AFI The service should make sure it develops and implements a forward-looking programme of cross-border exercises.
AFI The service should make sure it has an effective method to share fire survival guidance information with multiple callers and that it has a dedicated communication link in place.
AFI The service needs to show a clear rationale for the resources allocated between prevention, protection and response activities; this should reflect, and be consistent with, the risks and priorities set out in its safety plan.
AFI The service should have effective measures in place to assure itself that its workforce is productive and that their time is used as efficiently and effectively as possible to meet the priorities in the safety plan.
AFI The service needs to improve how it allocates resources to meet its 2020–25 safety plan priorities
AFI The service needs to do more to understand how wholetime firefighters use their time
AFI The service should do more to make sure its workforce is as productive as possible.
AFI The service needs to assure itself that it is making the most of opportunities to improve workforce productivity and develop future capacity through the use of innovation, including technology.
AFI The service should ensure that all risk and safety-critical information has been read and understood by staff.
AFI The service should make sure it has the capacity and capability to consistently manage transformation and change.
AFI The service should assure itself that senior managers are visible and demonstrate service values through their behaviours.
AFI The service should monitor and actively manage secondary employment contracts, including dual and secondary contracts, to make sure working hours aren’t exceeded.
AFI The service needs to continue to build a strong culture of challenge.
AFI The service needs to make sure it monitors and actively manages the working hours of those with dual or secondary contracts as well as those with outside employment.
AFI The service needs to do more to improve the way it considers its future needs and succession planning.
AFI The service should review its succession planning to make sure that it has effective arrangements in place to manage staff turnover while continuing to provide its core service to the public.
AFI The service needs to improve how it oversees all workforce training and skills
AFI The service should make sure staff understand the value of positive action and having a more diverse workforce.
AFI The service needs to know what resource it needs to manage risk
AFI The service should improve communications between staff and senior managers, so questions and feedback receive prompt and appropriate responses.
AFI The service should make sure it has robust processes in place to undertake equality impact assessments and review any actions agreed as a result.
AFI The service needs to improve communication between senior managers and staff so questions and feedback receive a prompt response.
AFI The service needs to build confidence in processes to report bullying, harassment and discrimination
AFI The service needs to do more to diversify the workforce
AFI The service needs to be consistent in its use of positive action when recruiting to all staff roles to help diversify the workforce.
AFI The service needs to continue its work to improve understanding of its workforce demographic
AFI The service needs to do more to make sure actions from equality analysis are completed
AFI The service should make sure PIAs are completed to a consistent quality.
AFI The service should make sure the identification and development of high-potential staff is clearly linked to future leadership needs at all levels of the organisation.
AFI The service should make sure it meets the targets it sets for its risk-based inspection programme.
AFI The service should make sure its processes for promoting staff are consistent and fair across all roles.
AFI The service needs to do more to diversify leadership
AFI The service needs to encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds into middle and senior-level positions.
AFI The service should consider putting in place more formal arrangements to identify its future leadership requirements at all levels and support members of staff to become senior leaders.
AFI The service should make sure it effectively addresses the burden of false alarms.
AFI The service needs to do more to respond to statutory consultations on time
AFI The service should develop an action plan, which it regularly reviews, to make sure that: • its mobilisation system is effective, or has effective mitigating actions in place, so it doesn’t result in the public receiving a slower response to emergencies; • it has strategic oversight arrangements in place and that any faults are recorded regularly and escalated to senior leaders where necessary; and • fire control staff are updated regularly on work to resolve the issues.
AFI The service should assure itself it understands what resources it reasonably requires to meet its foreseeable risk; it should make sure all its required fire engines can be sufficiently resourced.