Strategic Goal 2: We will improve fire safety in the buildings people live and work in

This goal is focused on our statutory role to enforce fire and building safety regulations. We deliver this fire protection duty alongside our risk-based inspection programme (RBIP), which ensures we focus our resources on the highest risk premises.

Over the life of the CRMP 2025-28, we will continue to refine our riskbased inspection methodology and embed improved ways of working, including working with the Buildings Safety Regulator, to maximise the effectiveness of our regulated activities. At the same time, we aim to increase our focus on engagement and education within the business community, to improve their understanding of and compliance with fire safety legislation.

We will continue to drive improvements in productivity and ensure we have a sustainable delivery model which is fully compliant with relevant fire standards.

During 2025-26, our key objectives were to:

• Embed updates made to our risk-based inspection policy, including aligning our work within the Joint Audit and Inspection Team to our assessment of risk.
• Review the resource requirements to deliver an effective fire protection capability and develop costed proposals for any improvements identified.
• Deliver Fire Safety training and continuous professional development for all warranted fire safety officers.
• Develop an updated methodology and strategy to deal with unwanted fire signals.
• Improve the quality and availability of performance data, through better data governance and reporting, to drive productivity improvements.
• Support and develop the approach with East Midlands Combined County Authority to facilitate the Remediation Acceleration Plan in buildings over 11 metres.
• Complete 1,100 fire safety audits, targeting high-risk buildings.
• Complete 1,650 Business Safety Checks across the county.
• Respond promptly to all building and licensing consultations, providing feedback within 15 days.
• Participate in the NFCC working group to develop the methodology and strategy for dealing with unwanted fire signals.
• Undertake at least 500 proactive engagements with businesses to promote fire safety.
• Ensure 85% of watches have at least one warranted officer for fire safety.

During 2025/26:

• We embedded our datadriven Risk-Based Inspection Programme (RBIP), ensuring that the highest-risk premises were inspected within appropriate timescales and in accordance with our revised methodology. This has been a key area of focus since the 2023 HMICFRS inspection, which identified it as an Area for Improvement.

  To provide independent assurance we commissioned Nottingham Trent University Business School to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the programme. The evaluation concluded that our RBIP is underpinned by a robust, intelligence-led methodology and provided substantial assurance regarding its effectiveness. The review also identified several opportunities for enhancement, which will inform and support the continued development of our inspection approach in the years ahead.
• We reviewed the team’s structure and resourcing. Using additional funding from government grants and through collaborative work with the East Midlands Combined County Authority, we increased the size of the inspection team and improved its distribution across the county. This ensures we can meet rising demand and focus on tall, cladded buildings and our role in keeping our communities safe.

• We delivered fire safety training and continuous professional development to our warranted Fire Safety Officers, ensuring they maintained the knowledge and skills required to carry out their regulatory responsibilities effectively.

  Our Fire Safety Inspectors continued to provide Business Safety Check training to operational Crew and Watch Managers, strengthening fire safety capability across the organisation. As a result, 98.5% of frontline watches now have at least one officer qualified to undertake fire safety activities, enhancing our ability to support businesses and communities through prevention, protection and education.

• We have continued to work hard to reduce the number of attendances we make to properties where fire alarms are reported as sounding. Following investigation, many of these are classified as false alarms, specifically where no evidence of a fire is present. We classify these types of calls as Unwanted Fire Signals (UwFS). In recent years, Nottinghamshire has experienced significant growth in the number of highrise residential developments. This has led to an increase in the installation and use of automatic fire alarm systems across the county. At the same time, national guidance has placed greater emphasis on the protection of higher-risk buildings, resulting in enhanced fire detection and alarm provision within these premises.

  These developments have contributed to an increase in the number of unwanted fire signals attended by the Service and reflects a wider national trend experienced by many fire and rescue services.

  The Service continues to work proactively with responsible persons, building owners and managers to better understand the causes of unwanted fire signals and identify opportunities to reduce their occurrence and operational impact.

  We also participate in NFCC working groups to develop the methodology and strategy for dealing with unwanted fire signals and the impact they have on fire and rescue services.

• We have improved the quality, availability and governance of Fire Protection data. Improved data, and making better use of it, has helped us to identify both where our resources can have the greatest impact and monitor our performance more effectively.

  These improvements enable further development of our Risk-Based Inspection Programme, enabling focused activity on the highest-risk premises while improving productivity and the effectiveness of our Fire Protection work.

  We have continued to work with the East Midlands Combined County Authority to facilitate the delivery of the Local Remediation Acceleration Plan for appropriate residential buildings and support the Building Safety Regulator in its work to ensure that new and existing high-rise residential buildings provide a safe environment for residents and visitors. As part of this commitment, the Service is working collaboratively with regional fire and rescue service colleagues and the Building Safety Regulator to support the implementation of the new building safety regulations.

  In addition, we continue to work closely with partners at Nottingham City Council and the East Midlands Combined County Authority to inspect, audit and, where necessary, enforce standards in residential accommodation that presents an increased risk to occupants, particularly buildings affected by unsafe cladding.

  Our collaborative approach promotes more effective and joined-up regulation, enabling joint inspections and coordinated interventions with our partners.

  Where appropriate, our enforcement powers under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 are used to secure the highest possible standards of compliance and help keep residents safe

  .
• We exceeded our target by completing 1,101 full fire safety audits and 38 short fire safety audits.
• Our operational staff delivered 1,744 Business Safety Checks exceeding our target of 1,650. Of these, 88 required further intervention by Fire Safety Inspectors.
• We completed 735 statutory building consultations with a further 201 follow up consultations, achieving a 99.3% response rate within our target of 15 days.
• We responded to 380 statutory consultations on licensing applications with other licensing authorities.
• We delivered 442 proactive business engagements to promote fire safety.
• We conducted 12 shadow inspections in support of staff who are training as Fire Safety Advisers.
• We successfully prosecuted one business for compliance breaches under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
• We have continued to work alongside our partners as part of the Joint Audit and Inspection Team to inspect fire safety compliance in high-risk residential buildings.

Other highlights

Our Protection activity is focused on keeping people safe in buildings that are regulated under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and the Building Safety Act 2022. This statutory legislation relates to non-domestic premises which includes business premises, hospitals and care homes, high-rise buildings and student accommodation blocks.

Business education and engagement

As part of our statutory duty to educate and advise businesses, our business support team have used a range of activities and methods to engage with local businesses to provide guidance, support and advice on fire safety matters.

During 2025/26, we trialled a new care sector initiative, delivering seminars for care home managers. This enabled us to provide tailored fire safety advice to support improved compliance and awareness of our auditing process. Across three events held countywide, we offered support to 107 businesses and provided information packs to help them complete a Fire Risk Assessment.

We have supported the wider business community through a mixture of online workshops, local authority initiatives, partnership events and direct enquiries. This has resulted in 442 direct business engagements being delivered. We continue to provide advice to companies who have business premises within more than one fire and rescue service area through the Primary Authority Scheme.

Fire Safety Inspections

Our Protection department is responsible for inspecting and auditing compliance in nondomestic premises as part of our statutory duty.

We work with landlords, business owners and those with responsibility for the management of non-domestic premises to ensure that they comply with fire safety regulations designed to keep the public safe from fire. Our inspectors provide advice, educate and, where necessary, issue advisory and statutory enforcement notices to make sure buildings are managed and maintained in line with the law. To maintain public confidence in our work, all fire safety staff adhere to the National Fire Chiefs Council Competence Framework for Fire Safety Regulators. This gives assurance that our officers meet a consistent, sectorrecognised minimum standard of competence.

During 2025/26, we created a new Fire Engineering Manager role and a dedicated fire safety trainer post. Together, these roles strengthen our ability to advise on the most complex building developments across the county and provide additional guidance, support and the continual, professional development for operational staff undertaking lower-risk fire safety inspections.

Consultations

We have continued to fulfil our duty as a statutory consultee for fire safety in new developments as part of the building control process. Our work has continued to improve fire safety standards across the county in nondomestic premises as we engage and consult with other regulators including Environmental Health, Health and Safety Executive, Nottinghamshire Police, Care Quality Commission, Ofsted and The Food Standards Agency.

We form part of the consultation process for all planning applications, including those aligned to the development of Battery Energy Storage Sites (BESS) across our county.

Collaboration

Since the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 became law in January 2023, we have continued to provide support to businesses regarding the implementation of the new legislation. The legislation was implemented to improve the safety in high-rise residential buildings and provide safety critical information about the buildings to the fire and rescue service.

We actively support the National Fire Sprinkler Network and British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association to help promote and provide guidance on the installation or retrofitting of sprinkler systems. We continue to provide “Sprinkler Saves” reports for premises in Nottinghamshire which are shared with local MPs, National Fire Chiefs Council & All- Party Parliamentary Group (Fire & Rescue) to raise awareness and produce evidence of their effectiveness. We continue to advocate for their installation within student accommodation and other premises.

The team has continued its strong collaboration relationships and has worked alongside the Police, HMRC, Gangmasters, Modern Slavery and Licensing teams, providing fire safety input and guidance in a number of pre-planned joint regulatory interventions