The changing nature and role of audit and inspection in the assurance regime for fire and rescue services in England

In the UK, external audit and inspection of public services are an important part of the public safety and assurance regime that informs government and the public about whether services are being economically, efficiently and effectively delivered, and that individuals and communities are safe, secure, and resilient. This paper explores the recent history of the external audit and inspection regimes in England, and in particular the central role that audit and inspections have played in the public assurance framework for Fire and Rescue Services. Fire and Rescue Services are a vital emergency service and one that is almost universally provided across the globe. In the UK, like all other public services, since 2010 they have been subjected to long-term policies of austerity-localism (Lowndes and Pratchett 2012), de-regulation (LGA 2015) and local public audit reform (Murphy et al 2023). They have also been severely criticized following public inquiries into major disasters such as the Grenfell Tower Fire (Hackett 2018, Moore-Bick 2019, Moore-Blick et al 2024) and the Manchester Arena Terrorist attack (Kerslake 2017, Saunders 2022, 2023a, 2023b), and long-term emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Murphy and Lakoma 2023). This paper will describe how the external audit and inspection of Fire and Rescue Services in England has evolved and changed in terms of their purposes and objectives since the turn of the century and reflect upon variations in the nature of inspections in England. The paper will use this recent history to evaluate the current regime in England and the extent of assurance that the services currently provide to the public, to key stakeholders, and to the government. It will identify potential improvements to both audit and inspections within a future assurance regime.