From today, the way decisions are made about the Brigade and how we are held to account will change.
The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) has now been abolished and replaced by the London Fire Commissioner . Decisions previously made by LFEPA will be now be made by the London Fire Commissioner , the Mayor of London and a new Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience. The last LFEPA Chair and Assembly Member Fiona Twycross has been confirmed as the new Deputy Mayor.
The Mayor will reserve, or require prior consultation on, certain London Fire Brigade decisions to either himself or the new Deputy Mayor , including decision where significant public funds are required and other matters such as approval of the Brigade’s four year London Safety Plan.
What will the new process for making formal decisions be?
1. Reports for decision will be taken to a Commissioner’s Board
2. The Commissioner’s Board will discuss and agree final recommendations
3. The London Fire Commissioner will then a final decision based on recommendations from the Commissioner’s Board, unless:
4. The Mayor directs that reports should go to him or the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience. If that is the case, final recommendations will still come back to the London Fire Commissioner for publication and formal decision.
5. Once the formal decision is made by the London Fire Commissioner, the decision and the reports supporting it will be published on the decisions pages of the London Fire Brigade website.
6. As now, a forward programme of decisions to be made will be published on the website, which will give five full days' notice of decisions due to be made.
A new City Hall Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning (FREP) Committee will also now exist to hold the London Fire Commissioner, Mayor of London and Deputy Mayor to account. London Assembly Member and long serving LFEPA member Susan Hall has been announced as the first Chair of this new committee.
The London Fire Brigade logo will continue to represent the Brigade , but will also represent the London Fire Commissioner as the Authority for London.
LFEPA was a functional body of the Greater London Authority (GLA). It was established under the Greater London Authority Act 1999.