Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department uses to decide on proposals from Police and Crime Commissioners to take over Fire and Rescue Services.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 introduced measures enabling PCCs to submit proposals to the Secretary of State to take on responsibility for the governance of fire and rescue in their area. The Secretary of State can only give effect to such a proposal where it appears to him that the transfer of responsibility would be in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, or public safety. The Secretary of State cannot give effect to a proposal where he thinks it would have an adverse effect on public safety.

If in response to a consultation a relevant local authority indicates that it does not support the PCC’s proposal, the Secretary of State would be required to obtain, and have regard to, an independent assessment of the proposal and the PCC’s consultation documents.