This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Scottish Fire and Rescue Services Cultural Audit Survey 2005
20/10/2006
The findings of the first ever comprehensive National Cultural Audit Survey for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services are published today.
The survey of all staff was conducted in Autumn 2005 on behalf of the eight fire and rescue services and HM Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland.
The findings cover four main areas - morale, opportunities, equality and diversity, and management and policies - and include:
- 61 per cent of employees reported that they are satisfied in their job, while 24 per cent are dissatisfied
- 42 per cent felt that everyone has fair and equal access to promotion, while 34 per cent felt this is not the case
- An overwhelming majority (87 per cent) accepted that it is their responsibility, along with other employees, to promote equality and diversity policies effectively in the Fire Service
- 25 per cent had attended an equality/diversity course in the previous year
- Almost one half (48 per cent) felt that their Fire Service encourages training and personal development, but on many other issues concerning the management of SFRS more employees were dissatisfied than satisfied
Jeff Ord, HM Chief Inspector of Fire Services for Scotland, said:
"Scotland has taken the lead in undertaking this review and, it has to be said, at a particularly difficult time given that there was a period of almost three years of industrial unrest immediately prior to this review.
"The temptation may have been to allow issues to settle and morale to recover, however all stakeholders agreed to proceed with the review and act upon the results.
"The review and its findings are just the beginning of what is obviously a considerable challenge to address cultural and organisational issues.
"I am confident that this survey has galvanised the commitment of all stakeholder organisations towards early and sustainable improvement, thus ensuring that the public's expectation of an impartial, tolerant and compassionate service is secured."
Several Fire and Rescue Services have already begun to formulate action plans based on their local findings, and arrangements are now underway to produce a national action plan to be issued to the services in the very near future, following consultation with relevant stakeholders.
There is also a commitment to undertake a similar survey within three years, to measure progress and the effectiveness of the action plan.
Chief Fire Officer Brian Allaway, chair of the Chief Fire Officers Association in Scotland (CFOA(S)) said:
"The findings will be used to inform the priority setting of individual Fire and Rescue Services.
"CFOA(S) hopes that the anticipated national action plan will also complement the plans already being put in place to deal with issues identified by each of Scotland's Fire and Rescue Services.
"Whilst there are considerable challenges ahead I believe that this is an example of sound collaboration between the eight Fire and Rescue Services in Scotland co-ordinated by Chief Fire Officer Danny O'Donnell and the Chief Inspector of Fire Services."
The survey was undertaken by Opinion Research Services, which sent questionnaires to all 8,073 staff, of whom 3,407 (42%) replied.
Copies of the National Cultural Audit Survey report are available at: www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2006/10/19110023
Work towards agreeing a national action plan will be led by the Service Delivery Advisory Forum and the Strategic Advisory Forum, which involve all the main stakeholders, including employers, chief officers, diversity specialists and trade union representatives.
The action plan is expected to be finalised by early 2007. Progress against that plan will be monitored by HMCIFS, both through local inspections and at a national level. These will be reported to both Scottish Ministers and the Parliament, through the HMCIFS Annual report.