The Prime Minister has confirmed that Ministerial responsibility for the Fire and Rescue Services will move to the Home Office and come under local MP, Mike Penning’s portfolio. Mike now becomes the Minister of State for Policing, Fire, Criminal Justice and Victims.

The move is part of the Government’s commitment to closer working between the police and fire service who already work closely together at local level across the country.

Mike Penning said:
“As a former firefighter and now as policing minister, I know first-hand how well these services can work together. I have a huge respect for the men and women who work in our emergency services and I believe by working more closely together and reducing the costs of back office functions we can free up more time for front-line staff.

“This move will benefit both services and they will be able to learn best practice from each other, for instance police forces have undertaken major reforms over the past five years and the fire and rescue services have been very successful fire prevention work which will be a valuable source of reference for the police.”

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