The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) is a membership body which represents area managers and above. The Council itself which meets quarterly is made up of the
chief fire officer
Chief fire officer (CFO), formerly often just chief officer, is the highest rank in the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. There are currently 50 chief fire officers serving in the United Kingdom in charge of the local authority fire ...
s of the
fire services in the United Kingdom
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
Emergency cover is provided by over fifty agencies. These are officially known as a ...
. It replaced the Fire and Rescue Service Council. The National Fire Chiefs Council is a committee of National Fire Chiefs Council Limited (formerly Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) which is a registered charity and company. National Fire Chiefs Council Limited has a board of trustees which ensures appropriate governance and have oversight of the trading activities. Trustees have been selected to represent the range of governance models in place across the FRS: The current chair of NFCC i
Mark Hardingham
Structure
The National Fire Chiefs Council is a committee of National Fire Chiefs Council Limited, which remains the legal entity behind the NFCC.
The council meets quarterly and is led by the NFCC chair. Each fire and rescue service is represented on the council, either through their chief fire officer or a nominated deputy, and each service has one vote. Other people may attend meetings as observers.
Committees
The NFCC operates various Committees:
*COVID Committee (Phil Garrigan, Merseyside)
*Finance (Ben Ansell – Dorset & Wiltshire)
*Operations (Chris Lowther – Tyne & Wear)
*Prevention (Neil Odin - Hampshire)
*Protection and business safety (Gavin Tomlinson – Derbyshire)
*Sector resource and improvement (Chris Strickland – Cambridge)
*Workforce (Ann Millington – Kent)
Funding
NFCC is funded through subscriptions, known as "professional partnership fees", payable by the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. These are calculated using a formula based on the size of community each fire and rescue service covers.
Chair
The NFCC is led by a full-time chair, Mark Hardingham.
Hardingham is the second Chair of the NFCC, and was previously
chief fire officer
Chief fire officer (CFO), formerly often just chief officer, is the highest rank in the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. There are currently 50 chief fire officers serving in the United Kingdom in charge of the local authority fire ...
of
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, England. It was formed in 1948 as the Suffolk & Ipswich Fire Service, before changing after the 1974 Local Government R ...
.
The chair is paid a salary and allowance for vehicle costs, and other travel and subsistence payments.
The Chair's performance is managed by a performance Ccmmittee, which holds them to account for the delivery of NFCC's annual plan. The committee comprises four members of the NFCC, and an independent member.
The chair is supported by a chief operating officer (COO). The COO oversees the day-to-day management of the organisation and oversees the governance arrangements for NFCC and the Board of Trustees. Various fire and rescue services provide services in support of the NFCC: support services by
West Midlands Fire Service
West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) is the fire and rescue service for the metropolitan county of West Midlands, England. The service is the second largest in England, after London Fire Brigade. The service has 38 fire stations, with a blended f ...
, a Central Programme Office by
London Fire Brigade
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...
, and National Resilience management by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
Two unpaid Vice Chairs support and advise the Chair.
Work
The NFCC describes itself as "the professional voice of the UK fire and rescue service", and is responsible for improvement and development of the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom.
The aims of the NFCC are to:
*Strengthen the professional/operational leadership of the Fire and Rescue Service
*Improve national co-ordination
*Reduce duplication; increase efficiency
*Support local service delivery
*Provide increased influence for Fire and Rescue Authorities and their services
References
External links
*
{{UK fire service
Fire and rescue in the United Kingdom
NFCC
The PFF National Challenge Cup is an annual semi-professional Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in men's domestic Football in Pakistan, Pakistani football within the Pakistan football league syste ...
2015 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 2015
Professional associations based in the United Kingdom