Blue light services ‘can work successfully together’
Blue light services can work together successfully, says the APCC representative on the Emergency Services Collaboration Working Group.
The working group, which comprises senior leaders from across the emergency services and will act as a national driver for innovation and best practice, recently published an overview report giving the most accurate picture yet of the current collaborative projects between blue light services in England and Wales. The report was compiled and produced by central Government with key APCC involvement.
David Lloyd, the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner who represents the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) on the group and is chairing an Emergency Services Collaboration Workshop at today’s Partnership Summit said: “This excellent report gives a thorough national picture of the collaboration projects that exist between the emergency services today.
“There are many innovative schemes included in the report which show how the blue light services can work successfully together in order to improve the services they provide to the public while ensuring value for the taxpayers’ pound.
“I am particularly pleased to see the myriad of different ways police forces up and down the country are working closely with their partner organisations to meet the challenging financial environment they find themselves in.
“By reporting on and sharing the details of these projects, we can learn how similar schemes can benefit similar organisations in different parts of the UK.”
The working group was formed in September this year with funding from three Government departments in order to support and drive closer working between the emergency services and as a means to share best practice among services and their governing authorities.
This overview report, called ‘Emergency Services Collaboration – The Current Picture’, provides a baseline for the working group to commission research into those areas of collaboration that appear to provide the potential for improving services.
The research will provide a firm evidence base for those services wishing to pursue their own transformational projects and for future policy development.
The overview report can be found here