Critical reports prompt new fire service committee

Shropshire's fire service is set to make a huge amount of information available to the public for the first time, in response to two critical inspection reports.

A new committee on Wednesday heard data about actions taken to rectify issues identified by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), including the reports, was to be placed on its website.

In November 2024, HMIC identified that the fire service required "improvement" in six key areas, and was "inadequate" at managing its resources.

Some of the issues had not been adequately tackled since a previous investigation, the inspectors concluded. The new committee has been set up in response to the HMIC's reports.

At the first meeting of Shropshire & Wrekin Fire & Rescue Authority's performance and scrutiny committee, chief fire officer Simon Hardiman admitted the organisation had "sat on its laurels" after the first inspection.

"The organisation thought that it had proved itself after the first inspection and was surprised when it did not," Hardiman said.

He added the organisation had now changed its attitude to inspections and welcomes them, as well as saying it was seeking to be "transparent with our public".

Area manager Scott Hurford, said he "foresees" the new information – including new data about individual fire stations – being made live in "about eight weeks".

The meeting at Shrewsbury Fire Station was shown details of everything the service was doing to tackle some 248 individual actions needed in order to rectify 30 areas deemed needing improvement.

Members were told "scrutiny is a new function for the fire authority" as they were presented with a live dashboard of information.

Hardiman said the dashboard removed the problem with traditional committee reports often containing information that was one month old by the time members saw it.

The new committee was joined for the first time by three new independent members Robin Bennett, Yasser Khan, and Justine Vaughan, as approved by the fire authority.

In response committee member, councillor Susan Coleman, said she thought having three independent members made the committee "top heavy".

"I do not feel we need to have that much external input, perhaps I am wrong," she said.

The service is set to be reinspected in the autumn.

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