Training of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's retained duty system personnel: HMFSI inspection report

We are grateful to the Board of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT), managers and members of staff from Response and Resilience (R&R), Service Delivery (SD), Training and Employee Development (TED), Health, Safety and Wellbeing (HS&W) and all other members of staff who provided us with information and contributed constructively to interviews. We also thank Education Scotland for its professional assistance.

The Inspection team members were:

Simon Routh-Jones QFSM, Chief Inspector
Robert Scott QFSM, Associate Inspector
Graeme Fraser, Assistant Inspector
Andrew Thomas, Assistant Inspector
Martin Riach, Inspection Officer (seconded from the SFRS)

A Quality Assurance review of the report was provided by Brian McKenzie, Assistant Inspector.

All members of the inspection team contributed to the development of this report and the quality assurance review provided a professional challenge to the contents, assumptions and conclusions made. However, the Chief Inspector takes sole responsibility for the report, its contents and conclusions.

Our report reflects the circumstance at the time of our visits and interviews which were initially undertaken between January and September 2018 and then between August and October 2019. The SFRS is continuing to change and evolve. Consequently material changes may have occurred since then.

This report was originally due to be published in January 2019, but prior to this date the SFRS commenced a training review (which included the training of RDS firefighters). As a consequence it was agreed by HMFSI and the Service to put our inspection on hold and delay the publication of the report until the outcome of the Service's review. However, following some findings from other inspection fieldwork by the Inspectorate, the Chief Inspector, with the agreement of the Chief Officer of the SFRS, decided in late 2019 to publish this report.

This Report was laid before the Scottish Parliament by HM Chief Inspector of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service under section 43C(5) of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 SG/2020/36.

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Email HMFSI@gov.scot