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

How effective is the Service in the WSDA at working in partnership with others to improve community safety outcomes?

117. An effective Fire and Rescue Service will work in partnership with communities and others in the public, private and third sectors to ensure community wellbeing and to improve community safety outcomes. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s overall effectiveness within the WSDA is judged to be Good.

118. The main purpose of the SFRS, as defined by the Scottish Government in the Fire and Rescue Framework 2022⁽⁷⁾, ‘is to work in partnership with communities and others in the public, private and third sectors, on prevention, protection and response, to improve the safety and wellbeing of people throughout Scotland.’ In our fieldwork across all six LSO areas, as well as interviewing local management teams, we observed Partnership meetings and we also interviewed LA Chief Executives, Scrutiny Chairs, Resilience Chairs, Senior Police Scotland Officers and selected partners from the Third Sector. In our opinion the Service is perceived universally as a very valued and effective partner.

119. There is a legislative requirement in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 for Community Planning Partners (CPP) to jointly develop a local plan aimed at improving the quality of life for the people experiencing the greatest inequality with LA areas. There is strong evidence that the Service is complying with its statutory duty and LSO management teams are playing an active part in each LA CPP strategic group as well as contributing capacity and resources to sub meetings and initiatives. Some examples of partners that WSDA staff worked with include British Red Cross, Scottish Water, Mountain Rescue, Scottish Canals, Glasgow Humane Society, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Nith Inshore Lifeboat, Mugdock Park and Loch Lomond Park Rangers etc. There are too many to mention all, but some of the initiatives included vulnerable people referral pathways, Fire Skills Training, community gardens, apiaries, human trafficking awareness, falls training and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training.

120. It is fully accepted that the Service is a statutory partner within community planning and as such it is required to be fully immersed in partnerships. It was noted that throughout the WSDA there is a large volume of work being done at all levels. Staff in the WSDA should be commended on the time and effort that is being invested in these relationships and the capacity and resources being used to deliver improvements to the community. That said, it is worth noting that from our observation and feedback given, we judged that the Service’s current investment in partnership work may not be balanced with the investment of capacity required for other Service priorities. This is compounded by the fact that it is challenging to measure the return on investment from participation and attendance at many of the meetings and investment of resources to many of the initiatives. At a time when there is a focus on capacity within the Service, we would highlight the need to evaluate and evidence investment in partnership work against the consequential added value for the Service and the communities it serves.

Recommendation 19: We recommend that the Service should review its current partnership commitment within the WSDA to gauge its investment in capacity and resources versus the added value to outcomes realised by the Service and the communities it serves.

121. Co-location is a key deliverable of the Scottish Emergency Service National Collaboration Strategy (SESNCS) of which the SFRS is a member. The Service is also an active member of the Joint Asset Sharing Group (JASG) with Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, and Scottish Futures Trust. A key aspect of the JASG work is the Emergency Services’ Co-Location Programme which promotes and supports the sharing of space. Although based within the WSDA, the DACO has no direct control over Co-location. Examples of the partners sharing SFRS property in the WSDA include Police Scotland, Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), Mountain Rescue, Apex Scotland and Blood Bikes. Some partners we spoke to were keen to explore further asset sharing opportunities where appropriate and the Service should welcome this.

122. The Service works in partnership with others to assess risk within the community, produces plans and makes preparation to respond to emergencies when required. The Service has responsibilities under the CCA 2004 to work in partnership with other organisations, through the West of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership (WoSRRP) and compile a Community Risk Register (CRR). The CRR is the result of risk assessments carried out by the partnership members, to identify the likely risks in the area and rate them in terms of their potential impact and likelihood of occurring. The results of these assessments are used to inform the WoSRRP and produce agreed and effective multi-agency plans and procedures. The CRR considers eight potential generic risks within the area, describes possible consequences, outlines what the WoSRRP members are doing, and also what the public can do themselves to mitigate risk.

123. WoSRRP activity is further sub-divided into six Local Resilience Partnership (LRP) areas; Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire, Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and West. The partnerships don’t precisely match the LSO area boundaries, but the crossover is managed locally between the teams. We found strong evidence that the WSDA and LSO management teams are very active within these partnerships and are considered a valued member of that community. This activity is supported and enhanced well, by the involvement of a national cadre of Civil Contingency Officers (CCO) who are managed by the central Preparedness Function.

124. The SFRS maintains a register of community based assets, the CAR. The development of the CAR was an outcome of a recommendation from an independent review of water rescue capability in Scotland, carried out by Paddy Tomkins QPM in 2009. The community assets listed on the register are available to the WSDA, on request, in order to provide assistance to the Service at an incident. We found that there was awareness of the CAR amongst firefighters and what resources were available. We found evidence that the CAR had been considered at incidents and that resources had been requested, although this was limited. OC staff had a working knowledge of the CAR and were able to confirm that it is infrequently used.