Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the Government spent on legal costs on the court case on reforms to firefighters pensions.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Following the Court of Appeal’s recent judgment which deemed transitional protection in the 2015 firefighters’ pension scheme to be unlawful, the claims will now be referred back to the Employment Tribunal for remedy. To date the legal costs for Government are in the region of £495,000.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to implement the recommendations in the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services on Fire and Rescue Service Inspections 2018/19.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office will give the inspectorate’s findings, and in particular the recommendations which have been made to Government, detailed consideration as we engage with sector leaders to continue to improve performance in fire and rescue services.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusion in the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services on Fire and Rescue Service Inspections that there are too few firefighters to meet the foreseeable fire risk.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Fire services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.3 billion in 2019/20.
Operational decisions are for each fire and rescue authority to make as part of the integrated risk management planning process, drawing on the professional advice of their Chief Fire Officer.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the findings in the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services’ on Fire and Rescue Service Inspections 2018/19, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the resources available to fire service inspection programmes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services has the resources it requires to deliver the fire and rescue services’ inspection programme.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of Suffolk Fire Service’s (a) fire engine crewing levels, (b) emergency response times, (c) delivery of training and (d) firefighter numbers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The independent inspection of Suffolk Fire Service is underway, led by HMICFRS with a final inspection report anticipated in December.
The specific issues in the question will all be considered as part of the inspection.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the day crewing plus duty system in place at Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
It is the responsibility of fire and rescue services to ensure that they organise their resources effectively to deliver their core functions across prevention, protection and response. This includes decisions relating to duty systems.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential implications the proposed cuts to Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service will have on the safety of the area that service covers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
It is the responsibility of each Fire and Rescue Authority to determine the resources required to deliver fire and rescue services to local communities.
In 2019/20, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority will receive £75.6 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 2.6% compared with 2018/19. In addition, at March 2018, the authority held £37.3 million in reserves, equivalent to 50.4% of core spending power
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of regional disparities in the preparedness of fire services to respond to high-rise fires.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Nothing is more important than keeping the public safe and the Government recognise the vital role firefighters continue to play in protecting communities. All fire and rescue services have a capability to fight high rise fires. Regular engagement takes place with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) which represents the fire and rescue sector to Government.
They are also required to have integrated risk management plans, which target resources to best protect their communities. Fire & Rescue Authorities have a statutory requirement to have mutual assistance arrangements in place to provide additional support in the event of a major incident occurring. This is augmented by Home Office supported national resilience capabilities.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work and will receive around £2.3 billion in 2019/20. Single purpose fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of 2.3% in cash terms in 2019/20 and an overall increase of 0.3% from 2015/16 to 2019/20.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to implement national standards for the pre-determined attendance of firefighters and fire engines for fires in high-rise blocks.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Decisions on crewing and attendance at incidents are for each Chief Fire Officer as part of their Integrated risk management plan, although Government has specifically asked Fire & Rescue Authorities to include the risk of high rise fires in their planning.
Asked by: Karen Lee (Labour - Lincoln)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fire and rescue services outside of London he has had discussions with on their preparedness for tackling high-rise fires.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Nothing is more important than keeping the public safe and the Government recognise the vital role firefighters continue to play in protecting communities. All fire and rescue services have a capability to fight high rise fires. Regular engagement takes place with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) which represents the fire and rescue sector to Government.
They are also required to have integrated risk management plans, which target resources to best protect their communities. Fire & Rescue Authorities have a statutory requirement to have mutual assistance arrangements in place to provide additional support in the event of a major incident occurring. This is augmented by Home Office supported national resilience capabilities.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work and will receive around £2.3 billion in 2019/20. Single purpose fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of 2.3% in cash terms in 2019/20 and an overall increase of 0.3% from 2015/16 to 2019/20.