More can be done to help emergency services in Wales work together to save money and reduce local response times.
That is the finding from a report from Audit Wales, which examines whether emergency services are working more closely together to make better use of resources in Wales.
The report found that collaborative working between blue light services, which currently employs over 20,000 people, is slowly on the rise but change is needed to meet the growing demand from government policy and legislation.
Areas such as estates, co-location of services, fleet management and workforce have seen examples of collaborative working, but the report concluded that the overall scale of activity has been limited.
Audit Wales has therefore listed recommendations to help the Joint Emergency Services Group (JESG), which consists of senior leaders from blue light services, maximise opportunities to make better use of resources.
Data sharing protocols and training, reviews of workstream plans including project management arrangements, and establishing targets to demonstrate value for money are all among the audit's recommendations.
Key facts from the audit also revealed that:
- The annual budget to run the emergency services in Wales is over £1b.
- In 2020-21, blue light emergency services spent £71m improving assets and upgrading equipment.
- In that same year, the police had £658m for services, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust had £211m and the fire and rescue services had £156m.
- At the end of March 2021, emergency services in Wales had £151m in reserves.
- Welsh emergency services and emergency responders operate from 684 different buildings. Of this number, 47 (7%) are co-located (where two or more organisations share facilities), while 541 (79%) are stations.
Where services do not need to collaborate with each other, the report stated that different lines of accountability can also influence the extent and pace of joint working.
It also highlighted that plans to identify further opportunities by the Strategic Collaboration Board, set up by the JESG, are not enough to drive change forward.
Clear priorities were still needed to be identified in some areas and project work has not yet been fully costed.
It added that the Group have also yet to agree how it will judge the impact and value for money of collaborative working.
Auditor General Adrian Crompton said: "“The emergency services have a long history of working collaboratively and they continue to help keep people in Wales safe. Their innovative partnership initiatives have saved money, reduced local response times, and have contributed to protecting the public."
He added: "Despite this, the growing expectations of public policy and legislation mean they need to work together even more to make better use of their resources and truly maximise their impact.”
The report was conducted by Mr Crompton, the independent statutory external auditor of the devolved Welsh public sector.
He is responsible for the annual audit of the majority of the public money spent in Wales, including the £24 billion of funds that are voted on annually by the Welsh Parliament.
Elements of this funding are passed by the Welsh Government to the NHS in Wales (over £9 billion) and to local government (over £6 billion).
