The lonely 10 per cent: why so few police, fire and crime commissioners?

Why so few police, fire and crime commissioners?

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The lonely ten per cent:

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FIRE Correspondent Catherine Levin looks at the progress Police and Crime Commissioners have made in taking on fire governance and finds it is a long and tricky road with few reaching the final destination

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t has always been hard to describe how fire and rescue services are governed as there are so many different models. It is easy in police: there are 43 police forces in England and Wales and they each have a Police and Crime Commissioner who is the employer and the scrutiny comes from the independent police and crime panel. Not so in fire. In fact, it is even more complex than ever.

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Fire Governance Complexity Part of the complexity is the ability of Police and Crime Commissioners to take on fire and rescue service governance. This means, in simple terms that instead of having a fire and rescue authority as the legal entity responsible for delivering the fire and rescue service functions, the Police and Crime Commissioner takes on that role. It is a bit mad to think that one person can take on the role that in some areas of the country is undertaken by authorities comprising over 50 members.

The big change came about because of political doctrine. The doctrine says that if someone is elected to do a specific job they are better than people who were elected but not to do that specific job.

Let us unpack that with an example. In “Anywhere FRA” there are 50 members drawn from three local authorities than make up “Anywhere FRA”, politically balanced to reflect the political make up of those authorities. Each member is elected in their own right to represent their local area and when they become a councillor they take on

various briefs such as planning or housing. They can also become a member of the FRA. No one in local authority elections is elected by the public to sit on the FRA. The government decided it was not keen on this arrangement and through the Policing and Crime Act added a bit in there that said Police and Crime Commissioners could, where a local business case was consulted on and the case could be made (more on that later), put that case to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State would take a look and where it looked good could agree to the change in governance so that the police and crime commissioner could become the fire and rescue authority.

Let us just go back to the bit that says those who are elected to do a specific job are better placed than those who are not. Police and Crime Commissioner elections first took place in 2012 and the turnout was a mere 15 per cent; by 2016 it rose to just 26 per cent. This is hardly evidence of an enthusiastic public endorsement and even makes local council elections look good when they reach about a 35 per cent turnout.

This argument seems to have faded over time and there is little interest in going over what is now old ground. It is worth pointing out though that given police and crime commissioners have not faced their respective publics since the change in legislation allowing them to take on fire governance, no one has actually been elected to govern fire.

So that is why we now have four police, fire and crime commissioners. One of the reasons the number is still low

“Part of the complexity is the ability of police and crime commissioners to take on fire and rescue service governance” 16 | February 2019 | www.fire–magazine.com

Government & Politics

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Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners Let us take a quick tour through the some of the PCCs who have been on the fire governance journey, starting with Essex. Conservative Roger Hirst said early on when the government was looking at this as part of the Policing and Crime Bill that he wanted to use the provisions – this was no surprise, as Essex County Fire and Rescue Service had been in poor shape for some time. Essex Fire and Rescue Authority commissioned Irene Lucas to carry out an independent cultural review that was published in September 2015; she described the culture of the service as ‘toxic’ and that it was a ‘failing organisation’. Similarly over in Northamptonshire the county council was in financial straits, so much so that it will be split into two new unitary authorities.

For North Yorkshire and Staffordshire, there does not seem to have been such an acute reason for change.

Staffordshire’s Matthew Ellis looked to have a fairly smooth ride through the process but Julia Mulligan in North Yorkshire faced substantial opposition from York Council and North Yorkshire County Council who made up the now defunct North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

There is a new temporary CFO in place now, so it will be interesting to watch how newly promoted Andrew Brodie takes to North Yorkshire.

Opposition from existing fire and rescue authorities has been a continuing theme throughout the next group of PCCs. Hertfordshire’s David Lloyd tried to make the case for taking fire out of Hertfordshire County Council and got as far as submitting his case for change to the Secretary of State in August 2017. The County Council was strongly against the change and after a year of waiting for a decision, he gave up and said he would try to work with the council instead.

It is much worse in Cambridgeshire and in West Mercia with both PCCs waiting for the outcome of a Judicial Review that has been brought by the respective fire and rescue authorities against the Secretary of State who had approved both business cases. It is hard to get detail on what is happening with both of these, suffice to say that at last year’s LGA Fire Conference, the strong words that came from lead members from Shropshire and Hereford and Worcestershire fire and rescue authorities suggest they will fight this to the bitter end.

And in Gloucestershire, PCC Martin Surl – the only independent in this bunch – has just completed the consultation on his business case for the second time.

He paused the process when he faced considerable opposition from Gloucestershire County Council. He said that if collaboration did not improve he would return; it did not, the CFO resigned and so he restarted the process.

There are a few PCCs who took a brief look at fire governance, some going so far as to commission local business cases but not much further. Lancashire’s Clive Grunshaw is the only Labour PCC to consider fire governance and has said he is not going to progress it for

now. Given Lancashire’s excellent inspection report, it is unlikely there is a case for change in the foreseeable future.

That whistle stop tour brings the total number of PCCs who have shown varying degrees of interest in taking on fire governance to a grand total of 15. Some of the other PCCs have joined fire and rescue authorities in either a voting or observer capacity. Not all will be in a position to go down this road as they are already bound up in some flavour of mayoral arrangement (London, Greater Manchester and soon to be West Midlands). And for some like Avon, it is just too geographically tricky to make it all work out.

This all seems a bit technical, a nerdy side corner of Fire and Rescue Service business but really, it is not. It is important how fire and rescue services are governed; the strategic leadership matters because it is where the decisions are made about how funding is spent, where the priorities lie and how the service improves. At a time when HMICFRS is starting to share the outcomes of the first inspections in 12 years, understanding what motivates those in charge is more important than ever.

To find out more and hear from some of the PFCCs and PCCs cited in this article, go along to the NFCC’s conference on PCCs and Fire Governance on March 28 at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

To book a place visit: https://cfoaservices.co.uk/

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is because it is hard work to get there, costs a fair bit and takes a lot of time. Generating enthusiasm with the public to talk about who should run fire and rescue services is not the kind of thing that many people would stop to chat about on the high street.

Four police, fire and crime commissioners: Essex

Roger Hirst

October 2017

Staffordshire

Matthew Ellis

August 2018

North Yorkshire

Julia Mulligan

November 2018

Northamptonshire Stephen Mold

January 2019

One Police and Crime Commissioner still looking at fire governance: Gloucestershire

Martin Surl

Second consultation completed December 2018

Two judicial reviews: Cambridgeshire Jason Ablewhite Cambridgeshire FRA vs Secretary of State – ongoing West Mercia

John Campion

Hereford & Worcester FRA and Shropshire FRA vs Secretary of State – ongoing

Eight considered change but dropped out: Devon and Cornwall

Alison Hernandez

Hertfordshire

David Lloyd

Norfolk

Lorne Green

Suffolk

Tim Passmore

Sussex

Katy Bourne

Thames Valley

Anthony Stansfield

Surrey

David Munroe

Lancashire

Clive Grunshaw

There are 39 police forces in England, 15 have considered taking on fire governance, that is 38 per cent. Ten per cent of police and crime commissioners have changed to become police, fire and crime commissioners. www.fire–magazine.com | February 2019 | 17