The Home Secretary in a Statement on 16th March entitled “Concluding Part One of the Police and Crime Commissioner Review” states that a consultative White Paper on fire services reform will be published later this year

The Statement says "The White Paper will be used to set out our reform agenda in further detail and explore the review proposals on fire governance which include:

Consulting on whether to mandate the transfer of fire and rescue functions to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner model across England where boundaries are coterminous, unless there is an option to transfer fire governance directly to an elected Mayor.

Consulting on how to address coterminosity challenges, including in the south-west.

Legislating to create operational independence for chief fire officers and to clearly separate and delineate strategic and operational planning for fire and rescue.

Considering options to clarify the legal entities within the PFCC model".

The RSN will, of course, respond to the White Paper when published from a rural perspective and will consult relevant members in preparing that response.