Fire and resilience

Equal opportunities and diversity in the fire and rescue service

Valuing and promoting equality and diversity are central to the effectiveness of the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) in England. The ability of the FRS to protect the public through fire prevention, fire protection and emergency response depends on understanding and gaining the support of the diverse communities they serve, and planning and delivering services to take account of their needs.

Fire and Rescue Service Equality and Diversity Strategy 2008-2018

The Strategy, which was published on 20 May 2008, sets out a vision for the FRS and the goals which must be met by 2018 to achieve this vision. It sets out the FRS's commitment to ensuring that equality and diversity are fully integrated into all aspects of the FRS. It requires actions in five priority areas -

  • leadership
  • accountability
  • service delivery
  • employment practice; and
  • evaluation and dissemination of good practice.

Communities and Local Government is demonstrating its commitment to the Strategy by providing a total of £5m to drive forward progress on equality and diversity. A copy of the Strategy is available for download free of charge from the link below.

To provide additional support and encouragement to make the necessary improvement in workforce diversity at all levels, Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda MP announced on 2 April 2008 that a graduate entry scheme and a high potential scheme should be developed. Discussions with stakeholders to develop such a scheme are in their early stages.

Find out more about career opportunities in the fire and rescue service via the link on the right hand of this page, entitled 'Careers in the fire and rescue service'.

Guidance

Communities and Local Government will be producing a series of Guidance Notes to assist fire and rescue services with their responsibilities in respect of the Strategy. We expect to publish guidance on Equality Knowledge Bank, Staff Appraisal Systems and Demonstrating Fairness: The Collection and Collation of Statistical Evidence in Summer 2008 and these will be available to download from this page.

In addition, the Integrated Risk Management Planning Steering Group, a stakeholder body with membership drawn from a number of key representatives of the fire and resilience community and industry, will be publishing guidance on mainstreaming equality and diversity in developing Integrated Risk Management Plans (IRMP). We expect this guidance to be available in Summer 2008 for download from these pages.

There are also a number of Fire and Rescue Circulars relating to equality and diversity issues. You will find these elsewhere on this website - see link above right to access the FRS Circular pages.

Recent relevant circulars are:

Equality Awards 2008

The Equality Awards Scheme, jointly sponsored by Communities and Local Government, the Chief Fire Officers' Association and the Local Government Association, aims to encourage the development and sharing of good practice; support the promotion of equality and diversity across the Fire and Rescue Service; raise awareness about the issues and celebrate achievement.

The Scheme is open to all staff in Fire and Rescue Services and Authorities and Elected Members.

The 2008 Awards were presented at the 'Equality, Diversity and the Fire and Rescue Service - Making the Difference' conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London on 28 May 2008.

Legislation

As public bodies, all Fire and Rescue Authorities have both general and specific legal duties to promote equality of opportunity and eliminate discrimination for service users and employees. Brief summaries of the key equalities legislation can be found in the Annex to the Fire and Rescue Service Equality and Diversity Strategy 2008-2018 .

Our commitment

Significant progress has been made by the FRS on improving service delivery on diverse communities and on community engagement. However, equality and diversity have yet to be embedded within all policies, procedures and practices and across all functions, from employment provisions to procurement and across all aspects of FRS service delivery.

There is still a long way to go. Currently, there is only one female chief fire officer, and none from minority ethnic communities. Latest Fire and Rescue statistics show minority ethnic staff form just 3.2 per cent of all staff; women make up just 3.1 per cent of operational firefighters. This compares to the police where 5 per cent are from minority ethnic groups and 22 per cent are women. In the prison service 5.7 per cent of staff are from minority ethnic groups and 21.9 per cent are women.

We are committed to bringing about real, radical, lasting change so that every FRS delivers an effective service to everyone in the community and treats all their staff with fairness, dignity and respect.

Further information

For more information about equality and diversity in the Service, please contact the Fire and Rescue Service Development Division on 020 7944 5698, 020 7944 8142 or 020 7944 5707.

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