Commissioner welcomes first North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue inspection report

The report rates three overall areas of the service, which are; effectiveness, efficiency and people.

The service were rated as good for effectiveness and requires improvement for efficient and people.

Commenting on the inspection report, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan, said:

“This is a very helpful report, and comes at a good time as we work towards restoring the service’s finances, and look ahead to the future.  Fundamentally, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue does a good job in keeping the public safe, so I am pleased that has been recognised. However, some of the detail of the report makes concerning reading – for example it describes an urban focus around prevention and mitigating risk to the public. The service also clearly needs to increase the number of visits made to people in their homes and to ensure the full range of safety advice is provided.

“However, in the past 12 months, we have made good progress. I have recruited a new senior leadership team in Chief Fire Officer, Andrew Brodie and his deputy, Jonathan Foster. The Finance Working Group that I established has been able to reduce the budget shortfalls and we have had our first open recruitment for firefighters in ten years. There is clearly a lot to do, but I’m confident we are in a much better place than 12 months ago and that we will be in a good position to develop the service in the future. The biggest hurdle in our way at present is money and I urge the government to respond positively to the clear feedback provided on it’s budget consultation, as soon as possible.”