Fantastic news for the Isle of Wight Fire Service. Three cheers for all involved. Ed
The Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service, part of the Isle of Wight Council, has won the British Quality Foundation’s prestigious Southern England Excellence Award.
The announcement was made at the 2010 UK Excellence Award ceremony held on Thursday 21st October in London – this is the British Quality Foundation’s premier event of the year, which attracts many of the UK’s most prominent business leaders.
The award was open to any organisation in the South or East of England (including London) and honours organisations that actively pursue and measure a comprehensive approach to performance improvement. The Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service was one of three finalists and competed against high performing organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors.
Dramatic improvement
A five-day on site assessment was carried out in June by a team of experienced and qualified European Foundation for Quality Management assessors who interviewed and held focus groups with internal and external stakeholders. The British Quality Foundation’s assessment panel met later in the year to agree the finalists for the award.
The Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has made dramatic performance improvement over recent years. In 2005 it received a ‘poor’ rating under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment by the Audit Commission. The service is committed to continuous improvement and through its Fire Service Modernisation project it is striving to become a more modern, responsive and efficient fire service through changing working arrangements and refurbishing and replacing many fire stations.
Awards galore
The Fire and Rescue Service has already been named as ‘Fire Service of the Year’ at an awards ceremony organised by Improvement and Efficiency South East earlier in the year and achieving the Southern England Excellence Award confirms the outstanding achievements delivered.
Paul Street, Chief Fire Officer, said: “We are delighted to receive the British Quality Foundation’s Southern England Excellence Award as it recognises the efforts and dedication of all of our staff in driving forward service improvements. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without the support of council members and senior council officers who have been instrumental in delivering changes to produce an effective and modern fire and rescue service to be proud of.”
Cllr Barry Abraham, Isle of Wight Council Cabinet Member for Fire and Community Safety, said: “This prestigious award is testament to the work we have carried out over recent years to create a modern fire service fit for the Island’s needs. I am very proud of our achievements and our officers who have delivered these improvements.”
