Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Plan 2019-2021: A Safer Northamptonshire

The creation of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire (PFCC) was finalised when the responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Service was transferred from the County Council on the 1st of January 2019. This was made possible by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire (Fire and Rescue Authority) Order 2018 which represented one of the biggest changes to the delivery of emergency services in the county.

The PFCC  now holds the Chief Fire Officer to account in the same way as the Chief Constable. The day-to-day business of the Fire Service remains the responsibility of the Chief Fire Officer and his team, however the PFCC works closely with the chief officers of both services to look at how they can collaborate and work together to improve the frontline services.

The PFCC is also responsible for setting the Council Tax precept for the Fire and Rescue Service, appointing, suspending or dismissing the Chief Fire Officer, approving a pay policy statement prepared for the purpose of section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 and approving arrangements to enter into a reinforcement scheme under section 13 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004

In addition to this, PFCCs are also required to prepare and publish a Fire and Rescue Plan  in accordance with the Fire and Rescue National Framework and that it should set out the authority’s priorities and objectives, for the period covered by the document, in connection with the discharge of the authority’s functions.

As part of our statutory duty, we regularly produce a Community Risk Management plan which considers the foreseeable risks within the county and outlines how we plan to mitigate these through our resources. This is one of three key documents which provide strategic direction for the service, alongside the Commissioner’s Police, Fire and Crime plan  and Fire25; the Chief Fire Officers vision for the service for 2025