Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of fire station closures on response times.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is the responsibility of each Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) to decide how each authority’s resources, including staff, are best deployed to meet core functions, including appropriate targets for local response times. Decisions are based on analysis of risk and local circumstances within local Community Risk Management Plans.
When considering proposals for changes to station provision, including potential closures, FRAs should assess the impact on response times as part of their overall assessment of community risk.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact in changes in the number of firefighters since 2010 on a) response times and b) risk to firefighters.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Decisions on how fire and rescue services are run, including the number and locations of fire stations and firefighter numbers, are for the local fire and rescue authority (FRA) and its Chief Fire Officer. FRAs are responsible for ensuring the needs and demands of their local community are met. They are responsible for directing their resources where they are needed most and in accordance with their Community Risk Management Plans (CRMPs).
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publishes statistics on fire and rescue service (FRS) workforce numbers, response times, and firefighter injuries. The full time equivalent (FTE) number of firefighters and the number of firefighter workplace injuries have both declined since 2010, whilst response times have increased. Correlations between statistics, either positive or negative, are not necessarily causal.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of firefighter numbers in (a) the UK and (b) Poole.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Decisions on how fire and rescue services are run, including the number and locations of fire stations and firefighter numbers, are for the local fire and rescue authority (FRA) and its Chief Fire Officer. FRAs are responsible for ensuring the needs and demands of their local community are met. They are responsible for directing their resources where they are needed most and in accordance with their Community Risk Management Plans (CRMPs).
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publishes statistics on fire and rescue service (FRS) workforce numbers, response times, and firefighter injuries. The full time equivalent (FTE) number of firefighters and the number of firefighter workplace injuries have both declined since 2010, whilst response times have increased. Correlations between statistics, either positive or negative, are not necessarily causal.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the FBU on funding for fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I meet regularly with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern.
The Government recognises that the current fire funding formula was designed over a decade ago. In line with responses to the principles of reform consultation in December 2024, the Government updated the fire and rescue relative needs formula by using the most up-to-date data available. We will work with the fire sector on a comprehensive review of the formula ahead of the next Spending Review and are currently engaging with the sector on this.
The 2026-2027 Funding Settlement marks the first multi-year funding Settlement for local government in 10 years, making available almost £1.9 billion in core spending power (CSP) for fire and rescue authorities. Fire and Rescue Services have had an additional £15 million funding secured since the provisional settlement, which will provide a minimum 3.8% increase in CSP for all standalone services, with some services seeing increases of over 7% in CSP.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of maternity pay in fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Setting fire pay and conditions, including setting a minimum national maternity entitlement, is the responsibility of employers and representative bodies, working through the National Joint Council.
The Government plays no role in setting firefighter pay.
I meet regularly with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has had discussions with the Fire Brigades Union on maternity pay in the fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Setting fire pay and conditions, including setting a minimum national maternity entitlement, is the responsibility of employers and representative bodies, working through the National Joint Council.
The Government plays no role in setting firefighter pay.
I meet regularly with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty for firefighters in England to respond to flooding events.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government. Fire and Rescue Authorities already have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. We recognise the interest in creating a statutory duty for flood response and my officials are working with DEFRA, as lead government department for flooding, to consider this and any wider implications.
MHCLG supports Fire and Rescue Authorities in responding to flood incidents by providing the sector with national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capabilities. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents. Additionally, DEFRA hold the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of teams or assets that voluntarily join the register and maintain availability for national deployment in England.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much local authorities across England have raised through the pavement licensing scheme in each year since its inception.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Central government sets fee caps for pavement licenses and licenses are directly administered by local authorities. Central government does not collect information on how much revenue local authorities have raised.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (i) systems and (ii) manpower capacity in local authorities to implement local government reorganisation; and if he will place a copy of those assessments in the Library.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils, as independent employers, are responsible for the management of their staff and undertaking workforce planning. As part of the local government reorganisation programme, local authorities were required to set out in their proposals how they would manage implementation, including their approach to systems, staffing and governance. The Government has considered this information as part of its assessment of proposals, including where decisions have already been taken, and continues to do so for proposals under consideration.
After decisions are taken on proposals, councils are required to put in place the necessary plans to implement the agreed proposal, including putting in place governance arrangements to oversee the delivery of implementation work.
We will continue to work actively with councils to support an effective transition, including providing support to ensure a smooth transfer of staff from councils that will be wound up to incoming new councils.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department will put forward proposals for increasing local government transparency under the next round of the UK National Action Plan for Open Government.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department keeps this issue under review. A wide range of mechanisms exist to ensure transparency and accountability of local authorities. The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires authorities to publish a range of information about their activities including spending, procurement and assets. Authorities are also required to produce annual accounts which are independently assured by an external auditor. The Ministry is working to improve transparency through reforms to the local audit system which will establish the Local Audit Office to oversee the system. The Local Outcomes Framework will provide outcomes based performance measurement against key national priorities delivered at the local level.