hollandFormer Lancashire and Bedfordshire CFO and Institution of Fire Engineers chairman Peter Holland CBE has been appointed as the government's new Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser.

Fire Minister Brandon Lewis announced that Mr Holland will succeed Sir Ken Knight in the role from January 28.

As chief fire adviser, he will provide professional advice and support to senior officials and ministers on a range of matters including fire policy, national resilience, fire safety, and the inspection of Crown premises.

Upon being appointed, Mr Holland said: “I am honoured to be joining the department in this important role and am looking forward to bringing my experience in fire and rescue to help support and shape the government’s agenda for what is a vital and life-saving public service.”

In addition to being IFE Chairman and a two-time former CFO, during his 40 year fire and rescue career Mr Holland has served from frontline firefighting, to senior management to being President of the Chief Fire Officer's Association.

Commenting on the appointment the Fire Minister said: “I am delighted that Peter will be joining us in January. Fire and rescue authorities deliver incredibly important local services and play a vital role in national resilience.

"Peter’s appointment is crucial to helping them do this as well as supporting key policies such as the decentralisation of power from Whitehall, promoting local accountability and transparency and helping fire and rescue authorities be as efficient as possible.

"I would like to pay tribute to the fantastic work done by Sir Ken Knight who in his time as Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser has done so much to ensure that we have fire and rescue services that are the envy of the world, including, most recently, an enormous contribution to the resilience planning for the Olympics. I am sure that Peter will continue the exceptional work that Sir Ken has done."

Posted 22/01/2013 by richard.hook@pavpub.com