Agenda item

John Wright, Senior Policy Adviser, presented the consultation on ‘Enabling closer working between the Emergency Services’. John explained the consultation and drew the committee’s attention to the sixteen questions outlined in paragraph 11 and the expected LGA response.

In the discussion which followed the following points were raised:

·         Members were of the view that the Fire and Rescue service has greater synergy with the health and wellbeing agenda as opposed to law enforcement and that the proposal to place FRSs under the governance of the PCC would risk the Fire and Rescue service being subsumed into the Police Force rather than continuing as equal partners.

·         Some members drew attention to the fact that the report did not fully take into account the fundamental differences between the Fire and Police services.

·         Members acknowledged that it was important to make the distinction between collaboration and governance, as collaboration between the Fire and Rescue service and other bodies was happening anyway and welcomed.

·         Members agreed that the response to the consultation should avoid negativity.  The FRS has a positive story to tell.

·         There was some discussion about governance of the FRS in areas where power had/was being devolved to an elected mayor.

·         There was broad agreement that some regions might want to bring the PCC into the governance framework of the FRS. In these circumstances local communities should be supported to make a decision one way or the other and a decision should not be forced on them by the Government. 

Decisions

·         Members agreed to include the main points of the above discussion in the report to be submitted to the LGA.

·         Members agreed on how the LGA’s response to the consultation should progress, and also agreed the timeline for response.

Actions

·         Officers to draft a positive response for agreement by FSMC lead members, discussion at the Fire Commission on 20 October and subsequent submission no later than the deadline of 23 October 2015.