Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Northamptonshire Stephen Mold’s proposal to take on responsibility for Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue service has today been approved by the Home Secretary, marking an important step in the government’s drive to see police and fire collaborate further and faster to benefit their local communities.

He is now set to join Roger Hirst of Essex, who became the country’s first police, fire and crime commissioner in October 2017, alongside the three other PCCs who have recently had their proposals to take on responsibility for their local fire and rescue services approved. These are John Campion, PCC for West Mercia, Matthew Ellis, PCC for Staffordshire, and Jason Ablewhite, PCC for Cambridgeshire.

Through the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the government has introduced a range of measures to drive greater collaboration between emergency services, enabling services to share best practice and become more efficient and effective. This includes enabling PCCs to take on governance of fire and rescue services where a local case is made.

Before submitting his proposal, the PCC was required to undertake local consultation, considering the views of the public and relevant local stakeholders. Northamptonshire County Council agreed to the PCC’s proposal and the consultation showed high levels of local support from the public and the Fire and Rescue Service.

The Home Secretary carefully reviewed the PCC’s proposal, the results of the consultation and the PCC’s responses to the views expressed when making a decision.

Considering all available evidence, the Home Secretary was of the view that the proposal demonstrated that a transfer of governance would be in the interests of the local economy, efficiency and effectiveness, without having an adverse effect upon public safety.

Elaine Woodburn, of GRAHAM Construction, pictured left, and LLWR’s Cath Giel with team members celebrate their Considerate Constructors Scheme Gold award.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, has today (11 April 2018) announced details of an independent review of the processes and procedures that underpin the Ministry’s governance of the business rates system.

The review will be led by former Director General for Public Services at Her Majesty’s Treasury, Andrew Hudson. Andrew has also previously held the position of chief executive of the Valuation Office Agency, as well as having worked in local government and has significant experience of working at the interface of policy and operations.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, said:

As we move towards local government retaining 75% of locally collected business rates, it is vital that the business rates retention system operates as smoothly as possible. This review, led by an independent expert in this field, will ensure robust processes across the board.

Speaking at the CYBER UK Conference in Manchester, the Home Secretary announced that as part of a £9 million fund, law enforcement’s response will be bolstered to tackle those who use the anonymity of the online space for illegal activities such as the selling of firearms, drugs, malware and people.

More than £5 million will also be used to support the police to establish dedicated cyber crime units to investigate and pursue cyber criminals at a regional and local level.

The funding is part of £50 million of newly allocated money to ensure police and prosecutors have the capabilities they need to tackle cyber crime at a national, regional and local level during 2018/2019.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:

The world of cyber is fast-developing and we need a fast-developing response to match. One that recognises that it is the responsibility of everyone in the UK to fight the evolving threat.

That’s why today I’m pleased to announce that we will be investing over £50 million over the next year to bolster cyber capabilities within law enforcement at a national, regional and local level.

We need to make sure we stay not just at pace but steps ahead of those who seek to exploit the possibilities of modern technology, and I am determined that this Government will continue to tighten the net.

A proportion of the £50 million will be used to develop a new national training programme for police and the wider criminal justice system, sponsored by the National Police Chiefs Council. This will equip them with the tools to properly investigate and prosecute cases of cyber crime, including those relating to the dark web.

The Cyber Aware campaign, a cross-Government initiative, will also receive a further £3 million of funding for 2018/2019 to educate the public and businesses with the latest advice on how to protect themselves from cyber crime.

Following the 2017 terror attacks which targeted crowded places, the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) and Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) launched a £1 million competition on 27 July 2017 to develop innovative approaches to improving crowd resilience.

We are holding a collaboration event to highlight these innovative ideas to suppliers already delivering solutions in the following areas within the crowded places supply chain :

• CCTV hardware
• CCTV software/video analytics
• Thermal imaging camera systems
• Managed Service Providers providing systems integration and/or buildings system management
• Event management companies
• Marketing companies

This is a unique opportunity to discuss collaboration on the five funded projects that are eligible for further Government funding.

To register

If you would like to register your Expression of Interest to attend the event in London on Thursday 3 May 2018, please note that you will need to provide a statement on your registration form regarding which capability your organisation already provides and where it is being delivered, or whether your organisation could offer benefit to the funded projects.

Registration deadline

The deadline for this Expression of Interest is Friday 27 April at 5pm. The DASA team will contact you to let you know whether you’ve been selected to attend.