Mr Hirst’s proposal was submitted following a public
consultation and endorsement from all three top tier
local authorities in the area. He is now set to become
the first Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in October
2017.
Through the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the government
has introduced a range of measures to drive greater
collaboration between emergency services, enabling
services to share best practice and become more efficient
and effective. This includes enabling PCCs to take on
governance of fire and rescue services where a local case
is made.
Since coming into post in 2012, PCCs have brought clear
local transparency and accountability to police forces
and their performance, as well as ensuring communities
have a stronger voice in local policing. PCCs will be
able to bring this same level of accountability to fire
and rescue services which will help the continuous
improvement of the service.
It will also help to encourage greater collaboration
between police and fire services in Essex, including the
sharing of back office functions and premises. This will
enable the two services to work more effectively together
to protect the public and secure best value for money.
The important distinction between operational policing
and fire-fighting will still be maintained.
Speaking at Essex Fire and Rescue headquarters today, the
Minister for Policing and Fire said:
It’s great to see Essex taking the lead in this field
and bringing forward a proposal which has support from
local authorities across the county and from many of
the public.
I want to see our emergency services continue to drive
closer collaboration to encourage joint working, the
sharing of best practice and more innovative thinking.
Having a directly accountable leader overseeing
policing and fire will help both services enhance their
effectiveness, maximise available resources, boost
local resilience and improve the services delivered to
the public. I’m really looking forward to seeing the
benefits this will bring to the local area.
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex, , said:
The people of Essex deserve to have the best possible
emergency services. By bringing together the governance
of the Essex Police and Essex County Fire and Rescue
Service we can support closer working and make
investment decisions that will bring even bigger
benefits in the future.
By ensuring a more joined-up response to incidents,
providing crime and fire prevention advice, creating
community safety hubs, and sharing buildings we can
improve how we work and generate significant savings
which can then be reinvested back into front line
services.
Essex has always been an innovative and forward
thinking county as shown by the support we have
received for this proposal. Together we can do more to
improve the service we give to the public and help keep
people safe.
A number of other PCCs are currently developing business
cases or exploring options for the future governance of
fire and rescue services.
In 2016/17, the Home Office awarded £1 million from the
Police Transformation Fund to nine PCCs for their work in
developing business cases to take on the additional
responsibility for the governance of fire and rescue in
their area.
