Rebuilding the Fire and Rescue Services

Contemporary reforms of the fire and rescue service result from two excoriating reports from the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee that demonstrated the inadequacy of contemporary policy, service delivery and public assurance for fire and rescue services in England.  This book focuses on the key reforms proposed by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary in response to these reports and critically examines the new National Framework and the new external Inspectorate that were created as a result. Rebuilding the Fire and Rescue Services will prove invaluable for both academics and practitioners in order to build a more efficient and effective performance regime for this essential emergency service. It demonstrates the context, the parameters, the agencies and the inter-relationships that operate within the areas of policy development, service delivery and public assurance in the service. It shows how the new national framework and the new inspectorate can be improved. Most of all it shows the need for robust data and intelligence at both the national and local levels.

The authors have produced a small tour de force that combines comprehensive knowledge of performance management, a holistic systemic perspective, and real affinity for the fire and rescue services and the improvement of services to the public., This is an instant, knowledgeable and very practical response to some of the most urgent contemporary issues facing the management of fire and rescue services. It effortlessly transcends policy and practice with clear practical and realistic recommendations for improving this vital public service., In the best tradition of Emerald Points, this book has clear implications and lessons for policy development, the delivery of fire and rescue services and the assurance that the sector owes to the public. It should be compulsory reading for senior civil servants, chief fire officers and their regulatory colleagues., This book provides a comprehensive understanding of performance management and adopts a critical friend perspective that epitomises the best of such a position: a rigorous critical analysis of the sector with constructive advice on how to improve.

Pete Murphy is Professor of Public Policy and Management at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Katarzyna Lakoma is a Research Associate and PhD student at Nottingham Trent University, UK.Peter Eckersley is Senior Research Fellow at Nottingham Trent University and Research Associate at the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany. Russ Glennon is Reader in Public Management and Strategy at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.