Police, fire and ambulance services should share control rooms, says Penning

Home Office minister Mike Penning has advised that emergency services such as the police, fire and ambulance services should share control rooms to improve their response to 999 calls.

The proposals are part of an overall drive to encourage the three services to work more closely. The measures also include allowing police and crime commissioners to oversee local fire brigades.

Currently, the police, fire and ambulance services operate in more or less separate control centres. When a caller rings 999, they are directed to tell the operator which service they require.

Penning believes a ‘statutory duty’ should be introduced to enforce shared control rooms, claiming the collaboration would drive ‘smarter working’.

He said: “It simply doesn't make sense for emergency services to have different premises, different back offices and different IT systems when their work is so closely related and they often share the same boundaries.”

However, when the suggestion was made last year, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) argued that such a merger would be dangerous. An FBU spokesperson said: "It is still our professional opinion that the plans to have PCCs (police crime commissioners) take over responsibility for fire and rescues services are a mistake.

"PCC takeover of fire and rescue is a costly experiment with no guarantee for success."

Penning contended: “We believe that better joint working can strengthen the emergency services, deliver significant savings and produce benefits for the public.

"Strong leadership will be required to drive greater efficiencies and improved outcomes. Directly elected police and crime commissioners are clearly accountable to the public and have a strong incentive to pursue ambitious reform and deliver value for money."