National Headquarters
Level 12
80 The Terrace
PO Box 2133
Wel ington
New Zealand
Phone +64 4 496 3600
21 January 2021
John Luke
By email: [FYI request #14279 email]
Dear John
Information Request – Local Advisory Committees
I refer to your official information request dated 11 December 2020 asking for our plans for
appointing the remaining Local Advisory Committees (LACs) in 2021.
In June 2020 the Fire and Emergency Board established seven Local Advisory Committees
(LACs). They are located in Northland, Tairāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Chatham
Islands, West Coast and Otago. The LACs are established under the Fire and Emergency New
Zealand Act and their role is to provide advice, from a local perspective, to Fire and Emergency
on local values and priorities, risks and issues. LACs wil strengthen Fire and Emergency’s
engagement with local communities and help us plan for delivering services now and in the
future.
The first seven committees are up and running. Their initial focus has been on developing
workplans and identifying priority stakeholders for engagement in their communities.
Committee members have undertaken some introductory engagements with key stakeholders.
Deeper community engagement will begin early this year.
We wil be evaluating the establishment of the first seven LACs before setting up the
remaining LACs. The evaluation is planned for 2021 and we wil be incorporating the findings
from the evaluation into future plans for establishing LACs across the country.
Yours sincerely
Raewyn Bleakley
Deputy Chief Executive, Office of the Chief Executive