Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential level of overlap of proposals for appointing Public Safety Commissioners in mayoralties with the position of Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime.

Where a mayor is responsible for Police and Crime Commissioner functions, they must appoint a Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, who works with them to oversee policing. Where mayors are also responsible for fire and rescue, they can delegate this to the DMPC. This means one individual can lead on policing and fire.

The Public Safety Commissioner (PSC) will be a new optional appointment, whose role would be to lead on the ‘public safety’ area of competence for a mayor, including matters beyond policing and fire. They could be delegated fire functions but not policing.

This gives mayors a choice on how to best deliver public safety in their area. They could delegate all their public safety functions to the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime or appoint a separate Public Safety Commissioner to manage non-policing functions, such as fire.