Huw Jakeway apologised and said he intended to retire from the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service as it was “time for a change in leadership”.
The inquest led by Fenella Morris KC found there were serious deficiencies in the service, which included poor communication, insufficient role modelling by senior managers and a lack of transparency in recruitment and promotion, which led to accusations of nepotism.
It also identified toleration of problematic behaviours, including sexual harassment, negative assumptions about women, domestic abuse and physical aggression outside of work.
Investigators interviewed 150 people after the report was commissioned by the service following an investigation in December 2022. It had been brought to the attention that two firemen had been allowed to keep their jobs despite sexually harassing and abusing women.
It also found just 8% of operational service staff are female while only 17 members of staff self-identified as being BAME and 12 identified as LGBT+.
There was a “boys’ club” within the service, especially among senior managers, who were also criticised for taking a ski trip to Italy shortly before Wales went into the first Covid-19 lockdown.
There were also examples highlighted of extremely offensive comments and grossly inappropriate material shared within private WhatsApp groups and on social media.
Examples of racism were cited, including racist abuse at a Chinese restaurant.
In an open letter, Mr Jakeway responded to the findings saying:
“For those who have had negative experiences of the service, I am profoundly sorry.
“There is no place for inappropriate behaviour within South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
“I have had the privilege of serving as the chief fire officer for over 12 years, where I have been entrusted to lead our service through many challenges and changes, such as austerity, a global public health pandemic, personal tragedy and significant emergency incidents that have tested us.
“I have always led with mutual respect, inclusivity, pride and passion.
“Now is time for a change in leadership and yesterday I informed the fire authority of my intention to retire.
“The appointment process for the next chief fire officer will not detract from or delay the work to address the recommendations.
“The next chief fire officer will have an opportunity to set their vision for the service and a long-term plan to address the recommendations and findings of the independent culture review.”
Joyce Watson MS for Mid and west Wales, who has taken a leading role in campaigns to tackle violence against women in Wales, said:
“I am deeply disappointed by the failures identified within this report.
“I have worked with South Wales Fire and Rescue Service for many years as part of the White Ribbon campaign to tackle violence against women.
“This is yet another example of organisations not having adequate training and structures to protect people from sexual abuse and exploitation in their workplace.
“There have been too many examples – from police forces, the WRU, to the NHS – where staff and members of the public have been endangered by complacent and unsafe cultures.
“All large bodies need to look at their procedures to tackle abuse. And anyone found guilty should be sacked, not moved to continue their behaviour elsewhere within organisations.
“Emergency services operate through public trust – they visit people in their homes – so change needs to be both real and evident. These failings let down all the good men in the service who would never dream of acting in this way, as suspicion falls on the whole body.
“This should never happen again.”
