NORTH Yorkshire’s police and fire services have been given Government cash to help them work more closely together.

Home Office funding worth £20,000 has been secured following a successful bid from Julia Mulligan, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire.

Last month, Mrs Mulligan and John Fort, the chairman of North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority, announced the services would work more closely together and share some support functions to make savings.

Mrs Mulligan, said: “As other forces across the country are looking at pooling resources with other police forces, we have taken a different approach.

“Centralising policing into ever larger units might save money within the police service, but it completely ignores the opportunities to collaborate more widely and deeply with partners in our own backyards, and to support our local economies.”