Case studies

Firefighters in Wigan have become ‘health champions’ in their local community. Thanks to specialist training they are able to use their contact with residents to promote healthy messages, give advice and signpost people to help. In total, they work with 20 different agencies.

West Midlands has made working with the most vulnerable people a key priority. The service’s 1,322 fire officers have been given public health training to support the people they come into contact with.

Firefighters in Merseyside are tackling social and health inequalities in the community by educating people about the benefits of fitness, healthy eating and living a healthy lifestyle.

The new Furness Peninsula Blue Light Hub will accommodate not only the fire and rescue service, police and ambulance, but also other Cumbria County Council departments.

When a report of a vulnerable missing person came through to police in Liverpool recently, they turned to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) to help them in their search.

Cornwall’s tri-service officer project, which has now been picked up by Durham and Darlington Fire And Rescue Service, is a forerunner of the closer working relationship that is likely to develop between fire and police.

Birmingham City Council and its partners have concentrated on mainstreaming Prevent across all relevant service areas and, in particular, in schools and has appointed a schools resilience adviser to help them address the Prevent agenda.

Greenwich has been working on this issue since 2012 and has used football as a medium to reach out to the local community. The project resulted in participants playing a friendly match against soldiers from Woolwich barracks where Lee Rigby was based when he was murdered. The council has also developed an interactive DVD for school children which is being rolled out nationally.

Leeds City Council recognised the need to offer more opportunities for people to take part in activities they enjoyed, and in particular, to make sport and leisure activities more accessible for people with a learning disability.

Buckinghamshire County Council has engaged in a range of community action activities, at different scales of investment to enable local priorities to be determined and better met.