Fire and Rescue Service

Background

The States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service (SJFRS) sits within the Department for Justice and Home Affairs (JHA).  It has a relatively stable projected annual budget and workforce.

The Chief Fire Officer’s legal duties are set out under Article 4 of the Fire & Rescue Service (Jersey) Law 2011.

SJFRS is responsible for a broad range of statutory response activities, which include firefighting, road traffic collisions, hazardous materials, height and entrapment rescues, search, medical co-response and police assistance. It responds to around 1,100 emergencies each year. It prevents fires and other emergencies through a risk-based programme of ‘Safe and Well’ visits for older and vulnerable people and community events and also runs several preventative campaigns throughout the year, including delivery of workplace fire safety training courses.  SJFRS also protects people, infrastructure and the environment in higher risk settings through the enforcement of legislation and fire engineering, issuing and renewing fire certificates.

The SJFRS Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) Refresh for 2025 to 2026 identifies the key aims of SJFRS.

Scope

The audit will evaluate how well SJFRS uses its resources to manage risk, and to ensure it delivers an efficient, effective and economic service.

It will extend to:

• the core SJFRS structure, including management of retained firefighters; and
• key partnership agreements and governance arrangements including arrangements with the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs and within the States of Jersey.

The audit will consider how the Chief Fire Officer is responding to the Fire Standards and National Operational Guidance, but it will not provide an assessment of SJFRS against the relevant Fire Standards.

Approach

This audit will use a:

• result-oriented approach (is the SJFRS meeting the States’ objectives and ambitions?); and
• system-oriented approach (are robust systems / processes in place for the SJFRS to support performance and value for money?).

The audit will commence with an initial documentation request. The findings of the document review will be followed up by interviews with key officers and potentially with other stakeholders.

The audit will include benchmarking costs and service performance against relevant comparable fire and rescue services as agreed with key officers.

The review will commence in October 2025. The detailed work will be undertaken by affiliates engaged by the C&AG.

Audit Criteria

The relative performance of SJFRS will be assessed using criteria I have developed from recognised best practices adapted to be proportionate and relevant to the Jersey context.