North Yorkshire PCC takes responsibility for Fire and Rescue Service

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for North Yorkshire Julia Mulligan’s proposal to take on responsibility for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has today been approved by the Home Secretary.

The PCC is set to join Roger Hirst of Essex, who became the country’s first police, fire and crime commissioner in October 2017, alongside other PCCs who have had their proposals to take on responsibility for their local fire and rescue services approved. These include Stephen Mold, PCC for Northamptonshire, John Campion, PCC for West Mercia, Matthew Ellis, PCC for Staffordshire, and Jason Ablewhite, PCC for Cambridgeshire.

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.

Before submitting her proposal, PCC Julia Mulligan was required to undertake local consultation, considering the views of the public and relevant local stakeholders. As the relevant local authorities in the area did not support the transfer of governance, the Home Secretary commissioned an independent assessment of the PCC’s proposal in November 2017.

The Home Secretary carefully considered the contents of the proposals, consultation materials, the views and representations made by statutory consultees and the PCC responses to them, together with the conclusions of the independent assessment.
The Home Secretary was satisfied the proposals demonstrated that a transfer of governance would be in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, without having an adverse effect upon public safety. In the interests of transparency, and in line with the provisions of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the independent assessment has today been published.