More police and crime commissioners take on responsibility for fire and rescue
Three more police and crime commissioners (PCCs) have been handed responsibility for local fire and rescue services, the Home Secretary has confirmed.
The PCCs in question are:
- John Campion, PCC for West Mercia
- Matthew Ellis, PCC for Staffordshire
- Jason Ablewhite, PCC for Cambridgeshire
They will join Roger Hirst of Essex, who became the country’s first police, fire and crime commissioner in October 2017.
Under the Policing and Crime Act 2017, PCCs can submit a proposal to the Home Secretary to take on governance of a fire and rescue authority where a local case is made.
The Home Office said each PCC had identified a number of collaborative opportunities through the new governance structure. “These include shared estate and back office functions and closer alignment on prevention and resource deployment.”
As the relevant local authorities in each PCC’s area did not support the transfer of governance, the Home Secretary commissioned independent assessments of each proposal in November 2017.
These assessments were carried out by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), which provided the Home Secretary with its opinion as to whether the statutory tests set out in the Act had been met. In doing so, CIPFA sought the views of the local police force, fire service and local authorities.
The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, said she was satisfied the proposals demonstrated that a transfer of governance would be in the interests of the local economy, efficiency and effectiveness, without having an adverse effect upon public safety.