Have your say on how fire and rescue service information is accessed

Last month, Home Secretary Theresa May set out her vision for the fire and rescue service in England.

One element is to bring greater transparency to the fire and rescue sector by publishing more service information to the public online, just as the Home Office has done with policing.

By making information more accessible, the public can compare fire and rescue services in England on issues such as performance, value for money and diversity, monitor trends over time and hold elected leaders to account.

The Home Office is currently considering how it can deliver this commitment and is keen to work with the public to develop proposals further.

It has opened an online survey which aims to understand what fire and rescue service material is currently viewed online, why it is viewed, and where this information is currently obtained from.

Additionally, the survey asks what other information could be published, and how it could be made more accessible.

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service is keen to help publicise this survey and would like to encourage as many people as possible across Merseyside to take part. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete, and it is open until 5pm on Friday, July 8.

You can take the survey here: http://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffice.gov.uk/s/onlinefrspublic_scmiu_kc/

Any information you provide will be stored on secure government networks and will not be processed outside those networks. It will be kept for a maximum of one year from the closing date.

The Home Office will only use the information for internal purposes and it will not be shared with anyone from outside government.

Useful links

Home Office news release, 24 May 2016: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-sets-out-radical-fire-and-rescue-reform-programme

Theresa May’s speech in full: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-speech-on-fire-reform

Submit News Contact us with your community, business or sport news. Phone 07581350321

Email ots@otsnews.co.uk

Facebook www.facebook.com/otsnews.co.uk

Twitter www.twitter.com/onthespot_news

Breaking local news as it happens, searchable archives with photographs, the ability to instantly comment on news articles – there are so many advantages to OTS (Onthespot) News.

If you want your news read locally online then send it to ots@otsnews.co.uk – relying only on the newspaper is to restrict yourself to an ever reducing audience.