Concerns have been raised at City Hall over the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) attempts to improve its culture, after a 2022 review found that the organisation was “institutionally misogynist and racist”.
The London Assembly on Wednesday warned that the Brigade’s Professional Standards Unit (PSU) - an arms-length body established to uphold high standards within the LFB - lacks sufficient independence and has also been unable to handle complaints “in a timely fashion”.
Hina Bokhari, chair of the Assembly’s fire committee, said the “delays in resolving complaints have had a real impact on the wellbeing of staff on both sides of these complaints”.
The committee’s new report this week looks at the rate of progress made by the LFB since Nazir Afzal concluded in his 2022 review that the Brigade was “institutionally misogynist and racist”.
Ms Bokhari said she and her colleagues recognise “the substantial amount of work that has been done to address misconduct since the Independent Culture Review”, adding that the LFB’s commissioner, Andy Roe, “recognises the need to prioritise culture change and that there are no quick fixes to ensure a healthy workplace”.
The Liberal Democrat assembly member also said however that “the volume of work being handled by the PSU is evidence both that the cultural issues are being tackled – but also that they have not gone away”.
The committee’s report warns: “The independence of the PSU needs to be revisited. We are concerned that this may end up being perceived as simply “HR rebranded”. We encourage LFB to explore alternative structures and processes that would allow for greater independence.”
Ms Bokhari said: “We have heard from a number of firefighters, a small sample of whom spoke to committee members about serious instances and patterns of alleged misconduct and about their lack of faith in procedures to address these issues.”
She added that some of these firefighters had “shared personal experiences that were at times traumatic and disturbing”.
The report also concludes that the Government should make fire brigades a regulated profession, arguing that without such regulation, and under current employment law, staff dismissed by one brigade can simply move to another brigade, with no way of sharing misconduct data between them.
Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan told the Standard on Thursday: “We’ll read carefully the report from the Assembly, who have clearly spent time looking into this and will make sure we respond accordingly.
“I would say to those thinking about becoming a firefighter, it’s a great profession. The fire service in London has changed hugely since before [Nazir Afzal’s 2022 report], and so I’m sure the Assembly will also find good things in terms of the progress we’ve made, and that’s recognised by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), in terms of their conclusions just a few months ago.”
Commissioner Roe said: “I am pleased the committee has recognised the progress that has been made in improving our culture. However, changing workplace culture takes time, and there is more for us to do. We are not complacent, and we remain focussed on driving the right culture and behaviours at LFB.
“A great deal of work has taken place over the last three years – including the largest leadership programme in the Brigade’s history focussing on values and behaviours, and establishing a Professional Standards Unit, which is the first of its kind in the sector.
“Our progress has been validated by HMICFRS. The Inspectorate conducted a full inspection of LFB in 2024, which lasted 10 weeks and met with hundreds of our people; its report recognised the improvements in our culture.”
He added: “Our Professional Standards Unit will continue to evolve and adapt to the volume of cases and issues it is managing. The PSU has been in place for just over a year. It has been contacted over 400 times, demonstrating growing levels of confidence in this approach.
“We note that, during its investigation, and in its own words, the committee met with a “very small self-selecting group” of LFB employees. While those experiences and views are valid and important, this is in contrast to the comprehensive approach of the HMICFRS. Therefore, the available data does not support all the committee’s statements about the PSU.
“We will now digest the report in full and formally respond to the committee in due course.”
