Fire PRO

Membership development and training

Press Officer

The public relations and communications industry has for many years grappled with its reputation and worked hard to increase its professionalism.  It’s no accident that the Institute of Public Relations now has Chartered status, putting it on an equal footing as many other professions; raising standards.

Setting out and developing core competencies for all communications staff within central Government has been key to Alex Aiken’s role as the Executive Director for Government Communications. And as the cuts bite we are under increasing scrutiny as to our value; as FirePRO it is key that we help members with that challenge, helping us all to develop and agree key skills to enable us to meet the expected demands placed on us.

This work stream will review existing professional standards and competencies and see how we can use these, and if necessary supplement them for the FRS. It will also look at ways of demonstrating to senior officers the value, contribution and professionalism of communications within the FRS; and supporting them where required.

At the FirePRO conference many of the suggestions for this work stream were closely linked to member training; in particular for major incidents so this work stream will work very closely with the Member Development and Training work stream.

If you have any other suggestions and/or would like to join us we would love to hear from you.

Volunteers for this work stream so far are;

Michelle Atkinson, Tyne and Wear FRS
Bridget Aherne, Nottinghamshire FRS
Clare Robinson, Durham and Darlington FRS

To join us or forward your welcome suggestions and ideas, please contact Michelle Atkinson on 0191 444 1542 or email her at michelle.atkinson@twfire.gov.uk

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