Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service running well but areas must improve

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service was found to be providing a good service

A fire and rescue service is operating well but it still must improve in some areas, inspectors said.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service was rated good for its effectiveness, efficiency and dealing with people.

A report found it has a "very positive working culture", in which staff feel valued and listened to.

But it also found the service narrowly missed its own response targets and that it must go further to increase the diversity of its staff.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found the service reacted "positively and proactively" to national recommendations made following the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2018.

Rob MacDougall, the fire service's chief fire officer, said: "To gain three grades of good is a massive achievement, particularly with the many challenges of Covid-19.

"As a learning organisation, we welcome independent inspection and despite our strong performance, the Inspectorate has helped us identify areas for further improvement which will feed into our development and delivery plans."

Inspectors said while the service is "good at looking after its people", it must take a "consistent approach" in managing their performance.

It said not all staff had specific or individual objectives or had their performance assessed in the last year.

The service set a target of reaching incidents within 11 minutes on 80% of occasions and within 14 minutes on 95% of occasions.

But it reached 76.7% within 11 minutes and 88.6% within 14 minutes in 2020/21.

Currently, 12.7% of the service's workforce is made up of women.

A total of 3.4% of staff are from ethnic minority backgrounds - and 9.2% in Oxfordshire's population are - but the HMICFRS said "equality, diversity and inclusion are part of everything the service does and its staff understand their role in promoting it".