An action plan aimed at tackling Warwickshire's troubled fire service has been endorsed by cabinet members of the county council.

An inspection was carried out by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services in the autumn and ten of the 11 areas were given a 'requires improvement' grading.

In relation to preventing fires and other risks, Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service (WFRS) was graded as inadequate.

Three causes of concern were flagged up by the inspectors – one in protection, one in prevention and one in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion. A cause of concern is defined as a serious, critical, or systemic shortcoming in a fire service's practice, policy or performance.

In her report, inspector Wendy Williams explained: "We are disappointed that the service has not made the progress we expected since our 2018 inspection.

"We identified three causes of concern:

- The service hasn't got better at detecting who are the people most at risk from fire and doing prevention work with them to reduce the risk posed to them;

- The service hasn't done enough since 2018 to identify high-risk premises; and

- Although the service has tried to improve diversity and inclusion since our 2018 inspection, its approach to this has made its staff disengage.

"Moreover, in our last inspection we found the service's ICT systems were unreliable. Regrettably, the service still hasn't improved them and this is hindering its work.

"We also found that parts of the service don't have enough trained people to do the work needed. This means that the service can't work towards achieving its priorities."

WFRS bosses have drawn up an action plan and as part of the new county council budget which was approved earlier this month, £1.55m was allocated over the next two years to fund the improvements.

It is expected that there will be a further visit by inspectors later this month when they will check on the progress being made.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse (Lib Dem, Eastlands) suggested that councillors could play their part in helping the fire service.

He told the meeting: "I didn't know if there was an opportunity to develop something with elected members across Warwickshire – when it comes to protection work. We can always get messages out there."

Council leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe (Con, Stour and the Vale) said: "I think that's a valuable step in the right direction. More and more, community and members within their community have a very big role to play and we have seen that in the past two years."