Enabling Closer Working Between the Emergency Services
On 26 January 2016, the government published ‘Enabling Closer Working Between the Emergency Services’.
The government issued a consultation on 11 September 2015 seeking views in relation to its proposals to increase collaboration between the emergency services. The recent publication provides a summary of the 318 consultation responses and the government’s proposals.
The government, whilst recognising the crucial and distinct frontline roles undertaken by the police, fire and rescue and ambulances services is committed to achieving further collaboration between the blue light services.
There has already been some collaboration between the emergency services, considerable in some areas but to date any collaboration that has taken place has been on a voluntary basis. In order to further the collaborative working achieved to date, the government will introduce legislation which places a statutory duty on the emergency services to collaborate.
Examples of Existing Collaboration
During recent years a number of emergency services have made significant strides in collaboration in order to increase efficiency, drive down costs and provide improved public services.
Some examples of collaborative projects:
- re-training Police Community Support Officers as retained fire-fighters in North Devon to provide additional fire cover.
- joint command and control centres at various locations in England and Wales.
- co-response teams where firefighters work alongside the ambulance service to deliver emergency medical support and transport.
- sharing of premises, including stations and training centres, particularly the police and fire services.
- joint procurement processes and sharing back office functions such as HR, IT, and finance.
Proposed Legislation
The government intends to legislate to:
- impose a broad duty on all three emergency services to collaborate in order to improve efficiency or effectiveness
- allow Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on responsibility for fire and rescue services if agreed locally
- enable PCCs to create a single employer for police and fire personnel
- enable PCCs who have not become responsible for fire and rescue services in a particular area to have representation and voting rights on the local Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) (where the FRA agrees) and
- in London, abolish the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and give the Mayor direct responsibility
The measures will only apply in England.
The new statutory duty will be high level and allow local discretion in implementation to ensure that any collaboration will benefit the community. There was significant support for the imposition of a duty to help further drive sharing and reduce duplication from the consultation responses. Although some respondents considered such a duty to be unnecessary given the existing level of collaboration between services. The statutory duty will apply only to emergency services but the government encourages wider collaboration with other bodies, for example, local government.
The government considers that enabling PCC’s to take on responsibility for fire and rescue services will further reform joint working initiatives with police services. Where local agreement is reached and where it is in the interests of economy or public safety, the PCC can take on responsibility for a fire and rescue service. The government will set out a process for enabling the PCC to assume governance and will include a requirement that fire and rescue authorities provide all necessary information. Where the parties do not agree on whether or not the PCC should assume governance, a determination will be made by the Secretary of State and implementation would be via secondary legislation.
The government believes that sharing back office functions will be assisted by the police and fire and rescue services being employed by one single employer, whereby the PCC is accountable for both services. However, the government has stated that the distinction between operational policing and firefighting would remain. The process for creation of a single employer will be the same as for transferring governance to the PCC as set out above where it is determined locally that it is appropriate to take this additional step at the same time or subsequent to a transfer of governance.
It is proposed that in single model employers a ‘chief officer’ will employ all fire and police personnel. It would be necessary for the post holder to hold the rank of chief constable due to legislative requirements and it is proposed the post of chief constable will become known as chief officer. The government intends to develop pathways to enable senior fire officers access to relevant policing qualifications necessary to hold the role of chief officer. This particular proposal is controversial as it envisages a chief officer leading an organisation which includes a service that she or he has no operational experience within.
In areas where there has been no changes in governance, the government will legislate to enable a PCC to be represented and vote on the Fire Authority where the PCC has made clear the reasons for seeking to join the Fire Authority and the Fire Authority agrees. The government considers PCC representation will facilitate the PCC’s ability to identify areas for collaboration and achieve a greater understanding of fire and rescue issues. There will be no requirement for ambulance services to permit a PCC to be represented and vote but in the general interests of collaboration this is a matter that ambulance services should consider.
Next Steps and Key Considerations
The measures will undoubtedly have a significant range of legal implications.
In particular, the creation of a single employer will invoke a number of employment law issues potentially including TUPE, the issues associated with staff working under a variety of terms and conditions and the practical difficulties and risk of harmonising terms and conditions, redundancy, industrial relations and data protection. It is of course unknown how the measures will be received and how much impact they will have, both in terms of risk and on workforce morale.
Given the far reaching implications of the measures, it will be prudent for all the emergency services to consider the potential reach of the creation of a single employer in readiness for collaborative discussions with neighbouring services and organisations.
In addition, given that the most contentious proposal to date appears to be the appointment of a Chief Officer. This will require careful and sensitive recruitment processes with clear and transparent communications in order to avoid reputational damage and minimise risk.
The primary focus of the legislation is on collaboration between the police and fire services. However, given the pressures faced by the ambulance service collaboration leads should think wider than the legislative duty.
At the outset of any collaborative project an organisation should consider the following factors:
- the role of each service involved in the collaboration and the apportionment of risk.
- early communication and engagement with the public, staff and unions.
- the need to delegate authority, for example, in shared procurement exercises who will be responsible for the process?
- scoping out and documenting the implementation process of the project carefully.
Given the government’s view that significant benefits could be achieved by, the police and fire and rescue services in particular, sharing premises, back office functions, HR, IT and procurement services it is advisable for all emergency services to undertake a full and further review of its property portfolio and organisational structure and consider both the practical and legal implications of collaboration.
VWV can provide legal advice on all aspects of collaborative projects ranging from the sale of surplus property to ensuring compliance with employment related issues as a result and are experienced in advising fire and police services.
Please contact Allison Cook on 0117 314 5466.
Please share this article if you think it will be of interest to a colleague. If you have been sent this article from a colleague, please subscribe to future law briefs so that you are kept up to date.