A consultation on a new Fire and Rescue National Framework has been launched by the Fire and Rescue Minister Bob Neill. The consultation seeks views on freeing fire and rescue authorities to tailor their services to meet local needs whilst meeting the wider needs of national resilience.

This more localist approach builds on the approach of the coalition government in ending the regionalisation of the Fire Service and dismantling regional government in England. The government has already announced that fire and rescue authorities no longer have to work through Regional Management Boards, and they have stopped the forced regionalisation of fire control rooms through the termination of FireControl.

Launching the National Framework consultation Bob Neill said: "The draft National Framework marks a key milestone to reset the relationship between fire and rescue authorities and central government.

"We know that fire and rescue authorities, not Whitehall, are best placed to decide what their communities need. Government must get out of their way and allow them to get on with their vital job of keeping our communities safe."

The government is committed to all public services meeting the needs of their communities and the priorities in the draft National Framework are for fire and rescue authorities to:

  • Identify and assess the full range of fire and rescue related risks their area faces, make provision for prevention and protection activities and to respond to incidents appropriately
  • Work in partnership with their communities and a wide range of partners locally and nationally to deliver their service and
  • Be accountable to communities for the service they provide.

 

Posted December 16th, 2011 at 1025 by Andrew. Comment by emailing: andrew.lynch@pavpub.com