Publications and reports
Welcome to our corporate publications and reports section.
Every year we publish several key documents relating to our plans, policies and performance; here you can find out information about our governance, our future plans, how we conduct our business through to reports regarding inspection and assurance.
Listed below is a brief synopsis of each of our current core publications and the links opposite will take you to PDFs of the full documents.
Corporate Governance Framework
The Governance Framework (PDF, 1.1 MB) articulates the organisations vision, strategic regulatory compliance, accountability, effective decision-making, transparency, clarity of purpose and ownership amongst stakeholders.
Governance Analysis and Action Plan
The Governance Analysis and Action Plan identifies where areas require improvement and development and monitors achievement ensuring continual improvement in the delivery of an efficient, effective, economic and ethical fire and rescue service.
Corporate Risk Register
The Corporate Risk Register highlights risks that face the organisation and clearly indicates measures put in place to mitigate those risks.
Community Risk Management Plan
The Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) is an assessment of local risks to life and how effectively resources are used in response to those risks, whilst at the same time providing value for money to the local taxpayer.
The IRMP is produced on a three yearly basis and thus at times there may be two plans available to view, the current ‘live’ plan and the proposed draft plan for the forthcoming three year period.
Statement of Assurance
The annual Statement of Assurance covers governance, financial and operational matters. The statement demonstrates how the Fire and Rescue Authority meets its legal obligations and how as a Service, we are delivering against our stated objectives in the current Integrated Risk Management Plan.
HMICFRS Inspection Report
His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently assess the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services – in the public interest. Their report provides authoritative information to allow the public to compare the performance of your fire and rescue service against others. The evidence provided is used to drive improvements in the services we provide to the public.
GFRS was inspected by its governing body HMICFRS in November 2023 and following the publication of our full report we were required to submit a high-level action plan in response to the cause of concern recommendations on protecting the public through fire regulation, promoting the right values and culture and ensuring fairness and promoting diversity.
Our high-level action plan was submitted to HMICFRS on 14th June 2024, with additional internal plans being created to support delivery. We are proud of the progress we have made so far. But, equally, we are passionate about continuing to grow and improve our service, with the dedicated staff we have working here. The delivery of our Transformation Programme continues to be governed through our Improvements Board, and we will provide quarterly progress updates against the plan's activity.
Improvement Board Update
The Improvement Board met on Friday 4th October 2024 with attendance from internal senior leaders and external partners. Agenda items included the Transformation Programme structure, Transformation Programme highlight and ratification reports, Staff Network updates and the People Plan data dashboard.
The Transformation Programme highlight reports provided an overview of progress against each Cause of Concern (CoC).
A ratification report is a detailed breakdown of activity completed against the cause of concern and provides assurance to the Board that GFRS have fully completed work to address the recommendation.
Protecting the public through fire regulation
The delivery team has made great progress with their activity across their CoC and Areas for Improvement (AFI) since the inspection in November 2023. The Protection team presented a ratification report for CoC 3.1, nine months early, as they are assured, they have completed the activity and met critical success factors. The remaining CoC's and AFI's have activities to complete that focus on evaluation of processes, the embedding of quality assurance practice, collaboration or communication with partners. All are likely to be completed ahead of their scheduled completion date.
Promoting the right values and culture
The delivery team has made good progress with their activity across their CoCs and AFIs since the inspection in November 2023. The People and Organisational Development team, supported by the Transformation team, have completed activity that provides foundations for delivery assurance, implementing the quantitative dashboards and qualitative "Your GFRS" framework, as well as communicating the improvement plan publication internally and externally.
The majority of activity for this area is in the implementation phase or is on target for delivery. There is one activity that is overdue, "distributing 'People Plan on a page' directly to all staff from CFO". This has been a deliberate change to allow the scope to include additional opportunity to deliver further key messages to staff e.g. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion objectives. The revised delivery date will be the end of October 2024.
Ensuring fairness and promoting delivery
The delivery team has made good progress with their activity across their CoCs and AFIs since the inspection in November 2023. The People and Organisational Development team are progressing an educational campaign on the importance of staff diversity data. One activity has resolved issues with system barriers in the short term by utilising alternative applications, before GFRS moves to the new One SAP system.
HMICFRS Spotlight Report on Culture & Values - GFRS Response
At the end of March 2023, the HMICFRS published a report on values and culture within fire & rescue services. The report contained evidence that had been gathered following inspection of all 44 services in England. Also contained within the report were 35 recommendations for action. Some of these were in the control of other national bodies but the majority were for individual services to address. GFRS have been working on these recommendations since publication and our response can be found here.
Productivity and Efficiency Plan 2025-2026
A copy of our Productivity and Efficiency Plan can be found here.
Scale of Charges
Under Section 18A of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 fire authorities may charge for non-emergency services, as long as they do not make any profit.
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service (GFRS) does not charge for extinguishing fires, protection of life and property in the event of a fire or for the provision of emergency medical assistance. Charges are applied for special services such as copies of fire reports, repeat occurrence lift release, spillages and leaks, supply of water for non-emergency purposes and use of equipment.
Details of our Scale of Charges can be found here and details of how to make a payment can be found here.
Independent Review – reports on historical (1991- 2018) claims of racism and bullying
At the end of 2023 the Chief Fire Officer, Mark Preece commissioned an independent review to provide a platform for those not previously listened to, making sure they had the opportunity to share their experiences. The service received the final report on Thursday 7 November 2024. The independent report authors (West Midlands Employers) heard from 40 current and former members of staff and analysed over 4,500 documents. The Independent Review Report and response statement can be found here.