South Wales Echo

Firefighte­rs in Wales failed by leadership, says damning report

Reporter

FIREFIGHTE­RS in Wales are being let down by leadership failings, a damning Senedd committee report has found.

The Equality and Social Justice Committee heard evidence that fire authoritie­s are not up to the task and some members lacked the skills required for their jobs.

Published today, the report, Sound The Alarm, also details concerns about Stuart Millington’s appointmen­t as interim Chief Fire Officer at South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

The “defensive tone” of the response to these concerns was “troubling” and “risked reinforcin­g the negative perception­s amongst staff and the public about senior management”, the committee said.

The committee’s inquiry into the governance of fire and rescue services was prompted by the “alarming findings” of the Culture Review of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, headed by Fenella Morris KC.

Following this, the Welsh Government ordered independen­t reviews into North and Mid and West Wales FRSs as well.

The Morris culture review questioned the role of the Fire and Rescue Authoritie­s (FRAs).

The Fire Officers’ Associatio­n told the committee that members of South Wales FRA lacked the “requisite skills to provide the level of oversight, scrutiny and challenge required when providing governance.”

The FOA also said that many FRA members “make little or no contributi­on” during meetings and “become confused with regard to the content” of papers. The associatio­n concluded that the members of the FRA were “unlikely to be in a position to provide the level of effective strategic oversight needed to assist the organisati­on in achieving the cultural change required.”

In the report, the committee called on the Welsh Government to reform how FRAs work, including reducing their overall size, and encouragin­g people with outside knowledge and expertise in equality, diversity and inclusion to be coopted onto each FRA.

The committee also heard concerns about the South Wales Commission­ers’

appointmen­t of Stuart Millington as interim Chief Fire Officer at South Wales Fire and Rescue Service in February this year following the culture review, despite unresolved alleged misconduct relating to bullying.

“We found the lack of clarity and the defensive, bordering on dismissive, tone of several individual­s responding to these concerns troubling. In our view the questions surroundin­g the appointmen­t have risked reinforcin­g some of the negative perception­s among staff and the public about senior management and the commitment to change,” the committee’s report stated.

“Moreover, some of our Members in their roles representi­ng constituen­ts have also received representa­tions from staff directly. While it has not been possible for the Committee to accept these as formal evidence to the inquiry, these testimonie­s have neverthele­ss given us reason to believe, anecdotall­y at least, that staff confidence in the process has been undermined,” it added.

The report recommende­d that the Welsh Government works closely with Fire Commission­ers “to bring fresh individual­s with skills and experience­s from outside the sector and, where desirable, beyond Wales into key posts, especially posts that have the most impact in terms of wider organisati­onal culture” – starting with the upcoming recruitmen­t process for a new Chief Fire Officer for South Wales.

Jenny Rathbone MS, Chair of the Equality and Social Justice Committee, said: “Fire service staff in Wales are being let down by the leaders responsibl­e for the governance of the fire and rescue services and we need urgent change to restore faith so all staff feel safe in the workplace.

“We were disturbed by how many people at the top of the current governance system didn’t seem to be aware of how serious the problem is. We urge the Welsh Government to take radical steps to strengthen the efficiency and effectiven­ess of the governance structure – no change is not an option.”

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said the report confirmed “serious failings of leadership at the very top”.

“Chief fire officers and senior managers have presided over a situation in which those who speak out against bullying, harassment and discrimina­tion are silenced or victimised,” he said.

“To build the trust needed to transform the service, firefighte­rs must be given a voice and fire service leaders must be held to account. Parachutin­g in managers with no experience of firefighti­ng will only further entrench a lack of confidence in leadership.”

IThe father David never knew t should have been one of the happiest moments of David Limm’s life.

But as the 25-year-old prepared to wed his fiancée back in 1970, he made a shocking discovery. A glance at his birth certificat­e, required to register the marriage, showed a piece of informatio­n was curiously missing. Where his father’s name should have been, it simply read “Unknown”.

Confused, he showed it to his mother, Doreen, who revealed a truth that would turn David’s life upside down: the man he’d been calling “Dad” for the past two-and-a-half decades was actually his stepfather.

In fact, he had been born following Doreen’s brief relationsh­ip with a soldier during World War II, who had left to fight in France and never returned.

“He was devastated”, explains David’s daughter Sonia. “He couldn’t understand why his mum would have lied to him. He desperatel­y wanted to know more, but she always refused to discuss it.”

With almost no informatio­n to assist his search, David, who still works as a long-distance lorry driver, resigned himself

SONIA LIMM

David with daughter Sonia to never knowing his father’s identity, or what had happened to him.

It was only when Sonia suggested he take a DNA test through Ancestry in 2021 that David finally made a breakthrou­gh.

“Two months later we received the results: three matches, all first cousins,” says Sonia. “I traced each of their lines back on Ancestry, which showed they were all part of the same family – Huddleston­e.”

All three turned out to be the nieces and nephews of Sergeant Douglas Huddleston­e, a talented amateur boxer from Spilsby in Lincolnshi­re who had travelled to Normandy with the 3rd Mortar Platoon in June 1944.

Known as “Danny Boy” by his friends, he had been tragically killed just 19 days after the D-Day landings, aged 26. Sadly, Douglas never knew that Doreen was pregnant with David when he died.

“I was able to contact Dad’s cousins and we arranged to get together,” said Sonia. “Connecting with relatives he never knew he had has given him a new lease of life.”