Emergency services collaboration Demand on the emergency services
Crimes traditionally measured by the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales have fallen by a third since 20101. However, a College of Policing analysis of demands on policing (Estimating demand on the police service, College of Policing, 2015) found some evidence to suggest that an increasing amount of police time is directed towards public protection work such as managing high-risk offenders and protecting vulnerable victims. Such cases often require considerable police resource.
	Incidents attended by fire and rescue services in England have been on a long-term downward trend. Despite a small increase in 2015/16, the number of incidents in 2015/16 was 37% lower than a decade ago2. There has also been a long-term downward trend in fire-related deaths and casualties for many years, recently reaching historically low levels. Fire-related fatalities in accidental dwelling fires, which accounted for almost two-thirds of all fire-related fatalities, increased by 24 (14%) from 167 in 2014/15 to 191 in 2015/16[2]. This is a decrease of 15% over the last 10 years3. This could be attributed to a range of factors including fire prevention work, public awareness campaigns, standards to reduce flammability such as furniture regulations, and the growing prevalence of smoke alarm ownership in homes (rising from 8% ownership in 1998 to 88% working ownership in 2015/164).
	Conversely, there is increasing demand on the ambulance service. Total calls to the ambulance switchboard have increased by 30% from just over 8 million in 2011/12 to just over 10.5 million in 2015/16 (with over 6,500 more emergency calls every day) and emergency responses to the most urgent calls have increased by 33%.
	This changing profile of demand has led to a greater use of collaboration as a way to deliver services.