Scheme

Frontline Services Scheme

How do emergency services operate across the UK, from publicly funded responders to volunteer charities working together on the frontline to keep communities safe?

Allowing MPs to meet the unifrormed men and women working within in our communities. Helping to understand the realities, pressures, and operational challenges of frontline blue light and rescue services.

Scheme Lead

Jamie Anderson

CEO, Parliamentary Knowledge Foundation

Founder of PKF and lead for the Frontline Services Scheme.

Dates

2025/26

Advisory Committee

Jamie Ward

Anna Parry

Alison Trew

Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones

Helen Newton

Key Partners

Norwegian Fire and Rescue Academy

National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)

Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE)

Metropolitan Police

Volunteer Coastguard

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service

Greater Manchester Police

999 Call Centre

Constituency-Based Frontline Service

JESIP

Yorkshire Air Ambulance

St John Ambulance

University of North Norway

National Police Chiefs Council

National Police Coordination Centre

Counter Terrorism Policing

National Crime Agency

Scottish Mountain Rescue

Arctic Council

Great Western Air Ambulance

College of Policing

London Ambulance Service

London Fire Brigade

RNLI

Modules

Modules within this Scheme

MPs must complete a minimum percentage of modules to graduate from the Scheme.
After each completed module, PKF publishes a short summary report outlining key insights, evidence, and outcomes. These case studies help partners, Parliamentarians, and stakeholders understand the impact of each visit.

View All Modules

Regional Focus: The South West’s Combined Frontline Services

Centred around The Eden Project and the wider South West, this module looks at the frontline services in hard to reach areas or areas with a lack of infrastructure.

Mental Health on the Frontline

The mental health load on frontline services is now the single biggest factor in whether they stay in the job, with PTSD and burnout contributing to poor retention figures.

London Ambulance and 999 Call Centre

Emergency triage covers mental health, primary care, social care and end of life conversations alongside medical calls, with the service averaging close to 100,000 calls a day.

999 Control Centre

Joint Operational Decision Making

Joint operational decisions across fire, ambulance and police are made under live pressure, often within seconds, with no margin and no chance to rerun the call.

The National Police College

A residential visit to the College of Policing gives the Cohort the chance to spend time with officers at every level, from new recruits to senior leaders, as they share knowledge, develop, and train the next generation.

Major Events Incident War Game

Stadium and state occasion planning protects the country's most visible public events from terror, crowd control failure and hostile state activity, with reputational and human cost in the balance.

Parliamentary and Diplomatic Police

Neighbourhood policing, public order, counter terrorism and protection of Parliament itself all sit in one force in London, under unique political and operational pressures.

Charity-funded pre-hospital critical care is an essential part of UK emergency provision, reaching patients statutory services cannot, on a model the public may assume the state pays for.

Constituency Frontline Service Ride Alongs

The cohort will join shifts with local ambulance, police and fire & rescue crews in their respective constituencies to see how frontline services are carried out in reality.

Norwegian National Fire Academy and Norwegian Total Civil Defence Systems

As Norway redevelops its total defence model, what does one of the UK’s closest neighbours see as its immediate threats? How does this model—training directly for a career role—differ from the UK’s system and set-up?

Critical Incident Exercise

A large-scale incident forces police, fire and ambulance to make joint decisions, with communications and command centres tested under high pressure.

Moreton-in-Marsh

Fire Service College Residential

How do we train our firefighters? The cohort will visit the Fire Service College to see how recruits are prepared, how serving officers are developed, and what is changing in the calls the service now answers.

London Fire Brigade

A modern Fire Brigade handles much more than fires: building safety after Grenfell, road traffic collisions, water rescue, mental health response and an expanding prevention workload now sit in one service.

Most emergency response policy is built around the urban model, but remote and rural rescue is a different discipline entirely.

Lee-on-Solent; Poole

The UK has the longest coastline in Europe, and its citizens’ maritime and coastal safety is often the responsibility of volunteers and services running on donations, covering the full breadth of coastal rescue operations.

Mental Health on the Frontline

A visit to the UK's busiest lifeboat station, exploring the mental health pressures facing frontline responders and the realities of those working at the sharp end of the wider mental health crisis.

National Policing and Counterterrorism

A day with the UKs leading policing and security bodies, covering everything from counterterrorism and organised crime to the future of national policing.

Ryton, Warwickshire

College of Policing

Engaging with the key bodies responsible for shaping police leadership and holding forces to account across England and Wales.

London Ambuance Service

A visit to the largest ambulance service in the UK that serves nine million people, touring the site and learning about LAS' specialist teams.

Great Western Air Ambulance

Day out with frontline ambulance crews responding to real emergency calls, experiencing the pressures and life-saving work of paramedics across urban and rural communities.

Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire

Maritime Coastguard Agency

Visit to MCA coordination centre to see the Search and Rescue helicopter operations and the coordination of maritime emergencies in the UK and abroad.

Norwegian Frontline Services

Four day experience visiting the National Fire Academy in Norway, exploring a different way of preparing frontline services, as well as a trip to Tromsø to speak with the Arctic Council on preparedness.

Paddington Fire Station

London Fire Brigade Visit

Day experience exploring operational fire service delivery, examining incident response stages, ongoing firefighter training, risk management processes, and the specialist equipment supporting frontline emergency operations.

Energy Crisis Wargame

Immersive visit to the RNLI Lifeboat College, exploring operational readiness, volunteer training, and the challenges facing coastal rescue.

Scottish Mountain Rescue

Immersive visit to the RNLI Lifeboat College, exploring operational readiness, volunteer training, and the challenges facing coastal rescue.

RNLI College Visit

Immersive visit to the RNLI Lifeboat College, exploring operational readiness, volunteer training, and the challenges facing coastal rescue.

News & Insights

News, insights and updates from across our Schemes — keeping Parliamentarians, partners and the public informed about the Foundation’s work.

PKF Launches Frontline Services Scheme

PKF has launched the UK’s first structured parliamentary scheme focused on blue-light and emergency services.

Work With the Parliamentary Knowledge Foundation

Explore Schemes