22-05-2025
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service responds to report
That's the view of Fin Monahan, chief fire officer at South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said after His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) shared their report into the findings of an inspection they carried out of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service in November 2024.
This is the first time this has been done in Wales, and used the HMICFRS inspection regime applied elsewhere in the UK.
Addressing colleagues yesterday, Mr Monahan said: 'The report is a hard read.
'The main areas for us to improve in the report are understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies and protecting the public through fire regulations.
'We appreciate the feedback from colleagues that informed the report, and we thank the inspection team for the independent clarity they have given across 11 areas covering efficiency, effectiveness and people.
'I welcome this report, this is the first time we have been exposed to this deep inspection regime. Let's remember a lot of time has elapsed since the inspection. It began before my arrival and concluded during my second week in the Service; it is a snapshot in time from six months ago. Much has changed since then.
'I would like to reassure you. We have a robust plan for dealing with these recommendations in the form of our overarching strategy, which is a first for this service. It has 60 work strands and now guides the strategic plan and all other activities in this Service. We have already moved out on much of this work.'
The Commissioners for South Wales FRA said they welcomed the report.
'This work builds on the earlier reports by the Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor to the Welsh government and the Fenella Morris KC review.
'This report provides a solid assessment of performance against a comprehensive range of factors that are commonly assessed against in the rest of the UK Fire and Rescue Services. We are pleased that, since the inspection in late 2024 that a considerable amount of progress has been made in addressing the recommendations in the report.
'One of the commissioners, Carl Foulkes, chairs the service improvement board which continues to monitor performance on progress and delivery every six weeks.
'We look forward to HMICFRS's revisit in the next 12-18 months and we are confident in the rate and level of progress which is being made in delivering those outcomes.'
Further background information on progress on improvements being delivered is available on South Wales Fire and Rescue.
