Research points way to better Blue Light collaboration

The adoption of more shared back offices, co-located control rooms and joint Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are just some of the ways police forces can collaborate with other Blue Light services to provide a more efficient and effective public service, a report has confirmed.

Research commissioned by the Emergency Services Collaboration Working Group (ESCWG) and conducted by the universities of Nottingham, Birmingham and West Scotland has identified the factors involved in positive collaborations and examined the main barriers to increasing the scope and speed of collaboration between emergency services across England and Wales.

The report includes examples of collaboration projects from across England and Wales, such as those in Northamptonshire, Hampshire, Lincolnshire, South Wales and Gwent, and identified how services can work together to improve delivery.

It found while there is no single model of collaboration, it is driven by both efficiency and effectiveness and by the need to save money.

Collaboration would be given further momentum if it was linked to KPIs, which could cover issues like response times, public confidence, capital expenditure, crime and detection rates and cost savings.

The report also identified drivers of successful collaboration: the implementation of shared operational staff; development of shared command structures; more integrated local and national governance structures; more direction from central government; the adoption of one merged local budget; and an increase in joint training programmes.

However, it criticised ‘patchy’ collaboration across England and Wales, which it put down to a number of factors, including:

•The current focus of collaboration should not be confined to emergency response, control and back office functions;

•There are different government funding structures and cycles available to Blue Light services that are seen as inhibiting effective collaboration;

•The mandates, governance regimes and organisational structures of these services continue to be barriers to progress;

•There must be a balance between protecting terms and conditions of individual staff and delivering safe, effective and efficient public services; and

•Current legislation was in some cases a barrier to collaboration.

The possible devolution of Welsh policing was also highlighted as a potential barrier to collaboration.

Hertfordshire police and crime commissioner (PCC) David Lloyd, whose office oversees the ESCWG, said the research highlights the potential for further collaboration across the country.

“It is clear from the report there is strong public support for the emergency services working closer together,” he said. “By further supporting local services to develop collaboration and breaking down the barriers and professional silos that unfortunately still exist in some places, the next government now has an opportunity to help deliver more joined-up working between the emergency services.”

However, Martin Flaherty, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), said while the research shows how much work is already going into joint-working initiatives across the three emergency services, it is important to remember that each has different objectives.

“The ambulance service is first and foremost an intrinsic part of the NHS providing a wide range of clinical services, meaning in reality there are actually relatively few crossovers in frontline services between ourselves, fire and rescue and the police,” he said.

President of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) Peter Dartford said: “We want to work with our Blue Light partners to improve outcomes in health, education, crime and disorder and economic development and we know that the public wants us to cooperate to deliver these services.”

The ESCWG will use the research to work with government following the general election to identify how greater collaboration between services in England and Wales can be delivered.