Those of you who have been employed within the RDS for the past 8 years will be only too aware of the often quoted term ‘modernisation’ and how it applies to the FRS.

Many of you will also be aware of the Bain Report, the joint RFU/APU survey and Conference in December 2003 and the ODPM review of the recruitment and retention challenges facing the Retained Duty System in 2004, which resulted in the publication of a report in February 2005. It might be fair to question why following all of these major pieces of work there are still so many challenges facing the RDS?

The retained review team (task and finish group) of which the RFU has been involved since the very beginning has now evolved into a new entity, the CFOA RDS Working Group Chaired by Frank Duffield (Humberside FRS).

Part of the work now being undertaken involves carrying out another survey. A number of stakeholders including Communities and Local Government (CLG), the Scottish Fire and Rescue Advisory Unit/Scottish Resilience, and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service have jointly commissioned Employment Research and Consulting/ICM to the survey focusing specifically on issues relating to the Retained Duty System, which will take around 6 months to carry out.

The RFU has supported ODPM, CLG and the variants of the Retained Review Team for all this time because we consistently believe that the RDS as a duty system has in the past, and will in the future continue to provide a massive contribution to the safety of the community. To continue to do so it is vital that the challenges it (RDS) faces are identified and resolved in a timely manner.

Therefore, when you as individuals receive a copy of the questionnaire, we would stress the importance of the survey and urge you to take the time to complete and return it. It is important to emphasise that your contribution will be treated in the strictest confidence and your identity along with your FRS, will not be revealed. This is a rare opportunity to ‘tell it how it is’ from your perspective, not forgetting that unless issues which you see as important are highlighted they will never be resolved, so there is much to be gained by having your say.

We will keep you updated of developments as and when they happen via the RFU website.

Yours sincerely

John Barton
National General Secretary