Fire and rescue services are operating in a very different world from the one they served as little as 10 years ago. In the last decade the number of call outs and incidents has nearly halved; deaths from fires in the home are now at an all-time low and yet expenditure and fire-fighter numbers have remained broadly the same.
This new context requires a new type of fire service. Sir Ken Knight’s ‘Facing the Future’ review, published last year, set out a compelling argument for fast and radical transformation in the delivery of fire and rescue services. Sir Ken was clear about the potential he saw for greater collaboration with the other blue light services and there is no doubt that we are seeing a noticeable shift by the emergency services towards greater partnership working. This is reflected by the winning bids for the Fire Transformation Fund that I announced recently, and also in Tuesday’s publication of a report into greater collaboration by the Emergency Services Collaboration Working Group.
As I said to the Fire Sector Summit earlier this week, I recognise this is not easy to achieve - the 3 services operate independently of one another and are structured very differently. The benefits however are obvious. They are not just financial - although ensuring that services are delivered cost-effectively is of critical importance it is also about delivering improved services to the public. That is why we have a duty to make this work. The public rightly expect that their safety is paramount in anything to do with the emergency services.
This collaboration has already started happening in many areas. For instance, my department’s funding of over £450,000 has supported Lincolnshire fire and rescue services Joint Ambulance Conveyance Project, run jointly with East Midlands Ambulance Service and Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Service, where on-call fire-fighters respond to medical emergencies. This helps to speed up the transport of patients to hospital whilst ensuring the highest level of clinical intervention possible. It will have a real and important impact on people’s lives, supporting better recovery and improved chances of survival for patients.
Also, in Norfolk there is a shared fire/police station in Sheringham, accommodating a number of emergency service teams: local ambulance crews, On-Call firefighters, the neighbourhood policing team and the coastguard. This has increased efficiencies from joint procurement, and reduced the costs of property management and utilities.
This is exactly the sort of innovation that is needed across the public sector. These projects, and others who were successful in bidding for the Fire Transformation Fund, will be sending me regular updates on how their projects are progressing and I will also be asking them to share their progress with other authorities, via their websites
In a time of reduced public spending it is even more important than ever to think about collaborative working and leadership with other emergency and public services and government has set the scene by offering support, commitment and resources.
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