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Chief Fire Advisor challenge: slay the diversity dragon! |
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Jagtar Singh and Wayne McCollin – two experienced BME officersfrom the Service – firmly believe that equality and diversity is still a major issue for the Fire Service. They have written an open letter to Sir Ken Knight, the Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor in waiting, asking what will his action plan be if he is to see the dragon that is the Service’s resistor to change finally slain?
Dear Sir Ken,
We welcome you to your new role and very much hope that you will be able to build on the diversity work that has been started, and the work that many fire and rescue services are committed to. Hopefully we will see some new energy and commitment matched by real change that benefits the communities we serve and all employees of the Fire and Rescue Service. We very much hope that you will be able to build on your personal experiences and achievements in London Fire Brigade and the West Midlands Fire Service. Although we could have made a number of surveys, reviews and reports the basis of this letter, our main point of reference is the most recent wholesale scrutiny of the Fire and Rescue Service published in July 2006. In response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee on the Fire and Rescue Service request for evidence on equality and diversity, we compiled a significant submission highlighting a number of areas that we believed the Service needed to address in order to meet the demands of a modern FRS and a multicultural community.
Strong Leadership Call
The hope was that we could help the leadership of the Fire Service to understand the real and tangible benefits of equality and diversity (ie, the business case) and also to awake it from its cosy position of acceptance and slumber. The fact some senior managers still see equality and diversity as only a HR issue is a clear indication of the failure of our leaders to see the significance of how equality and diversity impacts on all we do and on the service we deliver to our communities. Having considered all the submissions, the Select Committee on equality and diversity concluded: ‘We are disappointed and dismayed at the lack of progress that has been made on diversity within the FRS and particularly at the Government’s half-hearted and ineffective leadership on the issue’. The Select Committee also highlighted concerns that had been expressed by Professor Bain in his report: ‘Personnel policy, procedures and practices in the Fire Service give cause for concern. Despite clear policies from management and the FBU in favor of diversity, in practice only lip-service is paid to it. Harassment and bullying are still too prevalent. The leadership must recognise that urgent action is required’. Our own response had focused on the need for strong, clear leadership. Sadly, we have only seen a shift of roles and responsibilities for equality and diversity, with those who had responsibility at the time of the Select Committee review now no longer carrying the burden, but little evidence of renewed leadership.
Diversity Champions
The Diversity Happens Board has now been replaced by a new Project Board, and a shift within the Chief Fire Officers’ Association has seen one of the champions on diversity, CFO Doug Mackay, being replaced at a point where continuity was finally being realised. Consistency and continuity have been cited as been two of the greater influencing factors in the success of equality interventions. For the message to be believed, where history suggests differently, it has to be consistent and true. We support CFOA in taking diversity up to board level, but would wish it to be a permanent position for someone who would commit more than one year to the role. We fear that a short tenure will lead to a dilution of the work that CFO Mackay progressed for over four years with consistency, commitment, and dedication. We can only conclude that time will tell if these changes will make a difference, but our early observations are that the Project Board has not yet communicated its ambitions and objectives to the Service. We are uncertain how we are to measure success – success that would be directly attributable to the Project Board. We are certain that we or the Service do not need more talking shops. We do need people and practices that can deliver real change. After all, the equality and diversity journey we are on is not a new one. It is a journey that we have been on for over 25 years (the length of our careers). With all the twists, turns, and detours that the Service has chosen to take through wavering focus and commitment, is it not about time we had a clear road map to achievement of our journey’s end? Or are we fated to be forever in search of a destination on an ever-shifting horizon, with the odd oasis of good practice to take comfort in? As was said earlier in this piece, there is already a good understanding of the pitfalls and the checkpoints along the route. What we need to know now is, what is the vision?
When will we know we are at the journey’s end? How will we recognise and use the beneficial things we encounter along the way and the milestones that mark out progress on the journey? Who will map the progress? Who will support those who falter along the route? With regard to our other recommendations, these were accepted by the Select Committee and supported by the Commission for Racial Equality, whose own submission made many similar or complementary observations. Following publication of the Select Committee findings, the DCLG made extensive written responses on behalf of the Service, outlining work in progress and committing to change.
However, we now have concerns that some of the issues featured in the response have been firmly kicked into the long grass. It is our contention that there is clearly a need to search for evidence of success, and map the obvious achievements in order that we can be judged by our staff and our communities on equality and diversity on the basis of outcomes.
Select Committee Findings
Before asking you to consider the headings to frame your action plan for change, we would like to pose a number of questions and offer further observations as to what we see as the issues 18 months on from the Select Committee report. Our observations are based on the conclusions and recommendations of the SC report. The Select Committee recommended that the government immediately:
• Establish support groups for the Diversity Happens forum. To our knowledge no new groups have been set up since the report was published and only cosmetic changes have been made. The changes that were being asked for are still needed
• Reappoint a national adviser of equality and diversity for the FRS. No implementation, and no evidence of who is leading on this issue. No explanation can be made as to why this has been so difficult to implement in the time that has now elapsed
• Implement the long-promised new selection tests for firefighters. Completed. Some FRAs have been using these tests for over 12 months and the time is right to ask, what impact have the changes made to the success rates of women and BME applicants? When will CLG be carrying out an audit or review of this project?
• Conduct a thorough review of its diversity policy and initiatives relating to the Fire and Rescue Service.We are unable to find any evidence that this has been actioned or who is responsible for it. Government have committed to carry out a review of equality as a follow on to the thematic review. How many of the recommendations of the FACE report have been completed by government?How many have been completed by FRAs?
• Publish and promulgate a nationwide strategy for promoting diversity within the Fire and Rescue Service.Work has started and we are confident that once this is published it will support the FRS.
Pressing Questions
The questions we pose are:
• Does the Minister for Fire have the ultimate responsibility in taking on this issue and how does it differ from your role?
• Who do you believe is responsible for the failures that have been well documented now by the Thematic Review, Bain and the Select Committee?
• What is your response to the recommendations set out in the Select Committee report?
• When will we see the ‘equality and diversity champion’ post filled?
• When will a full and frank audit that builds on current knowledge and published reports of CLG and FRAs be carried out?
• What do you see to be the priorities for you in the short, medium and long-term in respect of equality and diversity?
• How will you measure success regarding your achievements on equality and diversity in 12 months, two years and five years time? When will we get the new employment target issued?
• As a very small minority of BME executive managers in the Service, there is real concern that there is no pool of middle and senior managers to draw on as we come close to the end of our careers. (By contrast, the Service has seen its first female CFO and there are a plethora of other women in viable positions to join or succeed her).
Having been willing role models for others to follow, it strikes us that there are barriers or mechanisms that have been counter to the emergence of obvious BME successors. What will be your plan to address this particular challenge?
In conclusion, we believe that the Fire Service needs to wake up to the proven benefits of equality and diversity as articulated in the business case. We need to be able to measure these and celebrate, or appropriately register, when we hit key milestones. We believe that with a new Minister, a new Fire Advisor and a new CFOA President we have the ideal opportunity to establish a leadership base that is collectively strong enough to provide the direction that the Fire Service needs to meet the wide ranging expectations of all of our stakeholders.
If nothing else, we should not fail to meet our legal obligations as we have in the past and still do in some areas. With the right mix of vision, leadership and commitment we could make that shift in attitude and culture we have long aspired to. As two experienced black officers who would like to see the stereotypical image of the Fire Service change in our lifetimes and hopefully during your tenure of this new post. We wish to support you and are willing to meet and discuss publicly and privately the needs of the FRS on this issue.
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