PETER McCall officially became Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) at the weekend, taking on the governance responsibility for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS).

The transfer follows the government announcement that Cumbria would be divided into two unitary authorities from April 2023.

This meant that the governance responsibility of CFRS had to change, as it sat with Cumbria County Council which ceased to exist on April 1.

Cumbria is the fifth county to introduce a PFCC, following Essex, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and North Yorkshire. 

Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall, said: "I have been the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria since 2016, holding the chief constable to account for delivering effective policing for the county.

"My role within CFRS will mirror this – essentially my main role is to get the best possible resource to deliver the service and I am delighted to have been able to secure only this week an additional £2m from government for much needed capital funding to help us improve the service.

"In the short term, I want this to be a seamless transfer that should not affect service delivery and it should not be to the detriment of staff or residents.

"It is important to note that responsibility for operational decisions will remain firmly with the chief fire officer and his staff," he said. 

For Cumbria’s chief fire officer, John Beard, who has been in the fire service for 32 years and serving in Cumbria for the past five, the main message to the public is that 'the service won't change'. 

"This is a change in governance, a change in the way I'm held to account and the way the organisation is governed in terms of public accountability. 

"In the short-term, the public won't see any change at all. 

"In the medium and longer term, it probably gives us opportunities to collaborate with more emergency service partners and to make our back office and neighbouring functions more efficient, which will mean we can continue to invest in frontline delivery service," he said. 

The move to a PFCC was one which the Fire Brigades Union criticised originally as they believed it could possibly lead to the closure of fire stations, due to cuts to the fire and rescue service budget.

"The station closures mentioned by the FBU previously, have been mentioned historically in Cumbria for the last seven years - it's not new information.  

"We will continue to monitor and review our frontline response model to make sure we deliver the best possible services to Cumbria. 

"At the moment, our current four-year plan doesn't include scope for things like station closures," John said.