Fire chief in Shropshire vows continued action against bullying and harassment in wake of national report

The report on culture and values within said that were issues in every fire service in the country but Shropshire was not mentioned in the report.

Simon Hardiman, the chief fire officer at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service welcomed the "shocking disappointing" report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabularies and Fire and Rescue Services.

Simon said: “We welcome the release of HMICFRS Culture and Values report and fully accept its findings - as shocking and disappointing as they are. It is clear there is still work to be done around culture within the fire sector across the country and we are committed to making those improvements.

“Within the report there are 35 recommendations for all fire and rescue service’s nationally, but I am pleased to say that several of these are already in progress within SFRS following extensive and ongoing work that we have been undertaking to continuously improve our culture.

“We are keen to continue to develop our positive culture, which was recognised and rated ‘Good’ following our HMICFRS inspection in late 2021. That being said we accept that the report stated there were issues in every service and even one incident of bullying is too many, however, I am confident that here in Shropshire we have a progressive and uplifting culture.

“We always welcome opportunities to learn and are committed to embedding a culture which is not only positive, welcoming and inclusive, but where people, both internally and externally, feel empowered to raise any issues, and confident that the Service will act accordingly to these reports.”