A legal perspective bluelight consultation

摘要

The government's consultation paper, Enabling closer working between the emergency services, is an attempt to formalise the push towards collaboration between emergency services that has been evolving organically between ambulance, fire and police organisations. Most of this has been played out against a background of financial pressures and for ambulance trusts, ever increasing service demands. While the consultation paper is in broad terms aimed at all three emergency services, most of the specific provisions that would have widespread governance changes relate to the operation of fire and police services. The consultation recognises the increase in demand on ambulance services, while the role of fire services, and to a lesser extent police services, have been evolving due to changing demands and a greater focus on public protection and assisting those who are at risk or vulnerable.