Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the business cases put forward by five police and crime commissioners to take on the functions of fire and rescue authorities under the Policing and Crime Act 2017 comply with the guidance issued by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioner Chief Executives which Her Majesty’s Government commissioned for the drawing up of such business cases.

We welcome the guidance that has been developed by the Association of Police and Crime Chief Executives (APACE) which helpfully covers a number of issues a PCC will need to consider when developing and consulting on their business case for fire governance, including the statutory tests the business case is required to meet, the manner in which local consultation should be carried out, its duration, and arrangements the PCC should make to publish their response to the consultation. Whilst the guidance is neither statutory nor subject to any Parliamentary procedure, the Government expects PCCs to take it in to account and the guidance has been shared with all PCCs by APACE. It is for PCCs to determine locally how to best use the guidance and demonstrate how their case meets the statutory tests.