Three police and crime commissioners have been approved to take control of fire and rescue services in their areas, the home secretary Amber Rudd has announced.

The three commissioners are John Campion, PCC for West Mercia, Matthew Ellis, PPC for Staffordshire and Jason Ablewhite, PCC for Cambridgeshire.

“In their proposals, each PCC has identified a number of collaborative opportunities through the new governance structure,” the Home Office said.  

“These include shared estate and back office functions and closer alignment on prevention and resource deployment.”

The latest three will join Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst, who became England’s first police, fire and crime commissioner in October last year.  

The government announced PCCs would be able to take over responsibility for local fire and rescue services in January 2016.

The Home Secretary said she was satisfied that the proposals showed that a transfer of governance would be in the interests of the local economy, efficiency and effectiveness, without having an adverse effect on public safety.

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