Abstract
The chapter takes an historical developmental approach. It starts with a commentary on the concepts of equality and diversity, equal opportunities and equality of outcome. It then briefly explores the emergence of equality policy and management between 1965 and the Macpherson report of 1999.
The section that follows focuses on the period of major legislative, regulatory and policy development between 2000 and 2010. The introduction of the Equality Standard for Local Government and its use by fire and rescue services was discussed and detailed. During engagement with ESLG, FRS produced a range of outputs; particularly a wide range of policy documents relating to both service delivery and employment to the setting of equality targets in both areas. Twelve out of forty seven FRS sought external assessment of their ESLG achievements.
The last section of the chapter then examines what has happened during the more recent periods of Coalition and Conservative government after 2010 when ESLG was replaced by a dedicated fire service equality framework that was subject to peer review and assessment rather than external validation. The detailed regulatory regimes of the previous decade were replaced by ‘light touch’ oversight. The targets set for positive equality action in service delivery have been followed through by many FRS both in the way that risk assessment has taken on some features of equality impact assessment and in the way FRS have taken up or created equality oriented initiatives and partnership projects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The author was part of the team that developed the Equality Standard for Local Government.
- 2.
These were Best Value Performance Indicators 2a and 2b.
- 3.
This FRS was ahead of the equality curve because the ‘at risk’ categories that were identified would have been covered by the range of protected characteristics defined by the 2010 Equality Act.
- 4.
For comparative purposes, DCLG divided FRS into five family groups on the basis of variation in population concentrations and geographical diversity.
- 5.
It must be emphasised that this is a judgement based on a limited qualitative assessment. Further more detailed research is required to find out if quality of service matches quality of documentation.
- 6.
Personal communication with responsible FRS officers and access to unpublished documents
- 7.
This information was obtained when the author and colleagues were conducting an equality assessment for the GLA in 2004. The aim for both BME groups and women was to approach London population proportions. The original policy documents are no longer available to the author.
References
Arneson, R. (2015). Equality of opportunity, the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (summer 2015 edition), Stanford: Stanford.
Audit Commission. (2005). Fire and rescue comprehensive performance assessment: Merseyside fire and rescue authority. London: Audit Commission.
Bagilhole, B. (1993). Managing to be fair: Implementing equal opportunities in a local authority. Local Government Studies, 19(2), 163–175.
Bagilhole, B. (1997). Equal opportunities and social policy. London: Longman.
Bain G., Lyons M., & Young M. (2002). The future of the fire service; reducing risks saving lives: The independent review of the Fire Service London TSO.
Clarke, J. (2016). Beyond authority: Public value, innovation and entrepreneurship in a UK fire and rescue service. In J. Liddle (Ed.), New perspectives on research, policy & practice in public entrepreneurship (pp. 213–236). Bradford: Emerald.
Clarke, J., & Kaleem, N. (2010). Equality, vulnerability, risk and service delivery: Equality improvement in fire and rescue services. International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management, 4(2), 13–22.
Clarke, J., & Speeden, S. (2001). Then and now: Change for the better? A review of 25 years work by the Commission for Racial Equality, London: Commission for Racial Equality Cleveland Fire Brigade Equality Mark Level 3 Assessment and Validation Report, unpublished.
Collier, R. (1998). Equality in managing service delivery. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Commission for Racial Equality. (1995). Racial equality means quality. London: Commission for Racial Equality.
Commission for Racial Equality. (2006). Memorandum by the Commission for Racial Equality. London: HMG.
Daniel, W. W. (1968). Racial discrimination in England: Based on the PEP report. London: Penguin.
DCLG. (2006). Equality and diversity matters, examples of good practice to promote equality and diversity in the fire and rescue service. London: DCLG.
DCLG. (2008). Fire and rescue service equality and diversity strategy 2008 to 2018. Wetherby: Communities and Local Government Publications.
DCLG. (2009a). Final evaluation of the home fire risk check grant and fire prevention grant programmes. London: DCLG.
DCLG. (2009b). Review of fire and rescue service response times, fire research series 1. London: DCLG.
DIALOG. (2001). Equality standard for local government. London: DIALOG.
DIALOG. (2006). Equality standard for local government (revised). London: DIALOG.
DTLR. (2001). Toward diversity II commitment to cultural change: The second fire service equal opportunities action plan. London: Department of Transport Local Government and the Regions.
Fire Brigades Union. (2006). Firefighter magazine, Kingston-upon-Thames.
Greater Manchester FRS. (2016). http://www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/about_us /equality_and_diversity/gmfrs-workforce-profile/.
Hepple, B. A., Coussey, M., & Choudhury, T. (2000). Equality, a new framework: Report of the independent review of the enforcement of UK anti-discrimination legislation. Oxford: Hart.
Home Office. (1999). Equality and fairness in the fire service. London: Home Office.
Home Office. (2000). Towards diversity promoting cultural change: Fire service equality action plan. London: Home Office.
House of Commons. (2006). Communities and local government committee fire and rescue service fourth report of session 2005–06. London: HMG.
Improvement and Development Agency. (2009). Equality framework for local government. London: IDeA.
Kandola, R., Fullerton, J., & Ahmed, Y. (1995). Managing diversity: Succeeding where equal opportunities have failed. Equal Opportunities Review, 50, 31–36.
LFEPA. (2015). Employment monitoring data and publication of results for 2013/14. London: LFEPA.
Local Government Association. (2012). Fire and rescue service equality framework and peer challenge toolkit. London: LGA.
Local Government Association. (2016). http://www.local.gov.uk/peer-challenges/-/journal_content/56/10180/3510141/ARTICLE.
Macpherson, W. (1999). The Stephen Lawrence inquiry, cm. 4262-I. London: TSO.
Mid and West Wales Wales FRS Annual Equality Report 1st April 2012 to 31 March 2013, Mid and West Wales FRS: Knighton.
Miles, R. (1982). Racism and migrant labour. London: Routledge, Chapman & Hall.
Neckles, L. (2015). The effectiveness of the race and disability public sector equality duties as positive legal duties and legal accountability tools, PhD, Edgehill University.
Ross, R., & Schneider, R. (1992). From equality to diversity: Business case for equal opportunity. London: Pitman.
Stonewall. (2016). Top 100 employers: The Stonewall equality index. London: Stonewall.
Thornton, P., & Lunt, N. (1993). Employment for disabled people social obligation or individual responsibility? Social policy reports, no 2, Social Policy Research Unit, York: University of York.
Tyne and Wear FRS. (2016). http://www.twfire.gov.uk/recruitment/firefighters/positive-action-events/#.WAnH9OArLIU.
UK Fire Resources Group. (2014). http://www.fireservice.co.uk/recruitment/physical.
Waters, A. (2009). Positive action in firefighter recruitment, Networking Women in the Fire Service.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Clarke, J. (2018). The Use of Equality and Equality Frameworks by Fire and Rescue Services. In: Murphy, P., Greenhalgh, K. (eds) Fire and Rescue Services. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62155-5_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62155-5_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62153-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62155-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)