Optimise Public Safety

Jamie Grierson writes:

Theresa May risks “turning the clock back 140 years” with discredited plans for police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to take over fire authorities, the head of the firefighters’ union has warned.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said May’s proposals to give PCCs responsibilities for fire and rescue had not been tested and had no support from either of the emergency services involved. 

The home secretary has previously said allowing PCCs to take over fire and rescue authorities would “provide direct, democratic accountability in fire as we now have in policing”. 

Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Wrack said: “I think the claim by Theresa May that this improves local accountability is just nonsense.

“The police and crime commissioners, as everyone knows, were elected on a local turnout of about 15% that makes them less democratic than local councils, which are generally currently what runs the fire and rescue service across the UK so that claim is completely unsustainable.” 

Wrack said a model of combining police and fire services had already been attempted in Britain in 1870 and was discredited. 

“We had police-fire services in Britain – they were discredited from about 1870 so Theresa May plans to clock back about 140 years in this.

“The models around the world don’t reflect what’s being proposed here. This model hasn’t been tested. The consultation has been rushed; there’s no evidence been produced.

“There’s no support for it in fire, there’s no support for it in the police, apart from one or two police and crime commissioners.” 

Wrack’s comments come after his union posted strong criticism of the proposals on its website. A statement said: 

“Enabling PCCs to govern fire and rescue services will neither deliver economic, efficient or effective emergency services nor optimise public safety.

“On the contrary, these proposals threaten to damage the well-earned trust of the public in firefighters, hamper innovation and will lead to the fragmentation of emergency services delivery across the UK.” 

PCCs “do not bring any skills or expertise” to the service and some have an “unfortunate record for ill-judged interference in operational matters”, it added. 

May said fire services have poor procurement, IT systems and buildings management. 

“I look at the fire and rescue service and I see the need for many of the same reforms that I started in policing five years ago: better local accountability, more transparency and a relentless focus on efficiency,” May said. 

“So, while I continue to finish the job of reform in policing, I am also determined to properly kick start the job of reform in fire.” 

The home secretary added: 

“I am struck by the fact the fire and rescue service doesn’t have an independent inspectorate and does not routinely publish data on performance. Local people need these things to hold their local public services to account. 

“And from my experience fire has the same problems as policing in terms of poor procurement, ICT and management of buildings. I’d like to bring the same collaborative approach we’re seeing in policing to fire services, too.

“But, at the same time, I think fire and rescue services have things to teach the police, too. The extraordinary success of firefighters’ preventative work has hugely reduced the number of fires and saved countless lives. “I want to police to focus on prevention to achieve the same results in regard to crime.”

All three emergency services will be forced to look at ways to work together to improve efficiency, including through sharing administration systems to cut costs.