Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 21 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 requires the Secretary of State to prepare a Fire and Rescue National Framework for fire and rescue authorities in England. Fire and rescue authorities must have regard to the Framework in carrying out their functions.

Article 2 of this Order, which applies in relation to fire and rescue authorities in England only, substitutes the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England (“the Framework”) for the 2008/11 Framework.

The principal differences are that the Framework:

(1)

requires fire and rescue authorities to work with their communities to identify and protect them from all foreseeable risk and to prevent incidents from occurring;

(2)

requires greater transparency, accountability and community involvement in the production of integrated risk management plans;

(3)

requires fire and rescue authorities to collaborate with other fire and rescue authorities, other emergency services, wider Category 1 and 2 responders^f1 and Local Resilience Forums^f2 to ensure interoperability;

(4)

requires fire and rescue authorities and the Government to work together through the Fire and Rescue Strategic Resilience Board^f3 to support discussions and decision making in relation to national resilience;

(5)

gives greater priority to fire and rescue authorities working collectively and in partnership with their community and a wide range of partners locally and nationally;

(6)

requires fire and rescue authorities to have arrangements in place to ensure that their decisions are open to scrutiny;

(7)

requires fire and rescue authorities to make their communities aware of how they can access data and information on their performance;

(8)

requires fires and rescue authorities to provide assurance on financial, governance and operational matters through an annual statement of assurance; and

(9)

has an open ended duration.

Copies of the Framework may be obtained on the Department for Communities and Local Government website: http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire/nationalframework/.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the public, private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: See Schedule 1 to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (2004 c. 36).
f2: See regulation 4(4)(b) of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/2042), as substituted by regulation 4 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/624).
f3: See paragraphs 1.27 – 1.28 of the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England.