Memorandum by the FireWorks Project (FRS
62)
The FireWorks project wishes to submit the following
findings and recommendations relating to equality and diversity
within the Fire & Rescue Service:
(i) FireWorks for Equality in the Fire
Service—Executive Summary, published for the FireWorks
Final Conference, 12-13 December 2005, Homerton College Cambridge.
(ii) Synopsis: Equality and Diversity—The
Practitioners Role, by Judy Foster UNISON and guest researcher,
Anglia Ruskin University, FireWorks.
These documents are available on request
from the Committee Office.
We believe our report will be a milestone in
reporting and identifying issues that face the service in meeting
its and the communities' aspirations for a Fire & Rescue Service
that reflects the diversity of the communities it serves.
Our report not only builds on previous reports
on diversity but also provides practical tools that will support
all stakeholders in making a contribution. What is needed now
is ownership of the recommendations. We hope the select committee
can support FireWorks in embedding the recommendations of this
project.
As for many public sector bodies the McPherson
inquiry was a watershed and a catalyst for change. The Fire &
Rescue Service carried out its own investigation commissioning
three thematic reviews in 1998 and in 1999 and a further review
in 2001 Bridging the gap. These reports have been reviewed as
an integral part of the literature review of the FireWorks report.
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