Consultation on statutory duty requiring emergency services to collaborate

Ministers have launched a consultation on measures aimed at increasing collaboration between the police, fire service and ambulance service.

The proposals include the introduction of a new statutory duty on all three emergency services “to look at opportunities to work with one another better to improve efficiency and effectiveness”.

The consultation paper reveals that this duty is intended to be broad to allow for local discretion in how it is implemented so that the emergency services themselves can decide how best to collaborate for the benefit of their communities.

“However, there would be a clear duty on local emergency services to consider opportunities for collaboration, where these could improve efficiency and effectiveness. It is important to note that this duty to collaborate should not be considered a burden to the emergency services – it is about seeking efficiencies,” the paper insisted.

Other measures – trailed by the Prime Minister in a speech last week – include:

• Enabling Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on the duties and responsibilities of fire and rescue authorities (FRAs), where a local case is made.
• Where a PCC takes on the responsibilities of a FRA, allowing them to create a single employer for police and fire staff so it is easier for them to share back office functions and streamline management.
• Enabling a PCC to be represented on their local FRA in areas where they do not take on the responsibility for fire and rescue services.
• Abolishing the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and giving the Mayor or London direct responsibility for the fire and rescue service in London, as will be the case for the new Mayor of Greater Manchester.
• Improving joint working between PCCs and NHS ambulance foundation trusts by encouraging trusts to consider PCC representation on their council of governors.

The consultation paper, Enabling closer working between the emergency services, can be viewed here. It runs until 23 October 2015.

“Although there are many good examples locally of joint working between the emergency services, the overall picture remains patchy and much more can be done to improve taxpayer value for money and the service to communities,” the Government said.

It noted that the majority of fire and police boundaries were already co-terminus. “Whilst this could have led to joint estates, over half of police stations in England are separate but within 1km of a fire station,” it said.

Mike Penning, Minister for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Victims, said: “It simply doesn’t make sense for emergency services to have different premises, different back offices and different IT systems when their work is so closely related and they often share the same boundaries.

“Directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners are accountable to the people they serve and uniquely placed to improve the way the emergency services are delivered at a local level, and we propose enabling them to take responsibility for the fire and rescue service where a local case is made.

“As a former firefighter and now Minister for Policing, I know from first-hand experience how well the police and fire service can work together. We believe that better joint working can strengthen the emergency services and deliver significant savings and benefits for the public. This is about smarter working, reducing the cost of back office functions and freeing up the time of front-line staff.”

Minister for Communities and Resilience, Mark Francois, said: “With the number of fires continuing to fall each year, locally-led collaboration across blue light services can benefit everyone by freeing up front-line staff, investing in fire prevention programmes and allowing for faster response times when incidents do occur - saving lives and saving taxpayers’ money.

“We want to remove any bureaucratic barriers to joint working and allow local leaders to make the arrangements that work best for them. But our first priority will always be public safety and people can be assured that when they call 999 they will get the response they need.”

The Government stressed that the proposals did not alter the important distinction between operational policing and firefighting.

“The law preventing a member of a police force from being a firefighter will remain in place and there is no intention to give firefighters the power of arrest,” it said.

Central government funding for the two organisations will continue to remain separate, as will council tax precepts, “maintaining transparency for local taxpayers about how their taxes are spent on local services”.