Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require fire authorities to provide a full pension to fire fighters between the ages of 55 and 60 if they fail a fitness test due to no fault of their own and cannot be employed in another role within the fire service.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
It is not possible to introduce fitness regulations as part of the pension regulations in the absence of an agreed and universally applied national firefighter fitness standard in England. The statutory principles that we put in the Fire and Rescue National Framework for England came into force on 12 January. To underpin these, the National Employers have sought further discussion with the Fire Brigades Union in respect of additional guidance relating to the position already agreed in principle within the National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services. This discussion will be about the role fire authorities will take in supporting operational employees in maintaining their fitness. In addition, the National Employers are looking to discuss with the unions, guidance on the application of the factors set out in pension regulations for fire authority consideration in relation to Authority Initiated Early Retirement. Both approaches are expected to provide reassurance to operational employees that fire authorities will continue to treat their employees in a fair and consistent manner.
We will review the implementation of the National Framework principles in three years time and consider then whether further action is needed. In the meantime no firefighter will have to work beyond their current expected retirement date until 2022 at the earliest. Our expectation is that a firefighter of 55 or over who finds themselves in the situation of losing their fitness through no fault of their own, is subsequently unable to regain their fitness, and for whom there are no redeployment opportunities, should be offered an unreduced pension.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made in resolving the dispute with firefighters; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
After extensive consultation, and numerous changes, the Government laid the final regulations for the Firefighters Pension Scheme 2015 before Parliament on 28 October. This provides one of the best schemes in the public sector, with a firefighter who earns £29,000 and retires after a full career receiving a £19,000 a year pension at age 60, whilst ensuring that a greater proportion of firefighters are protected from the changes than any other large public service workforce. On the same day we published a consultation to put the key fitness principles onto a statutory footing through the Fire National Framework. These proposals underpin the fitness and capability processes that exist within individual fire and rescue authorities and complement the work being undertaken by the joint fitness group facilitated by the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Peter Holland. These reforms are fair to both to firefighters and taxpayers.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of firefighters between the age of 55 and 60 will fail the fitness test in each of the next five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
There are currently over 1,000 firefighters in the Service aged 55 or over, all of whom provide a valuable contribution to the fire service. The pension reforms protect those who are closest to their scheme’s Normal Pension Age and therefore no firefighter will need to work beyond their current scheme’s Normal Pension Age over the next five years. The Government commissioned report Normal Pension Age for Firefighters found that there was no reason why every firefighter who stayed physically active could not remain operational until age 60. The report can be found at http://www.clg.heywood.co.uk/node/658. There is no single fitness standard in fire and rescue authorities and Dr Williams' assessment was based on current practices amongst fire and rescue authorities.
On 28 October I published a consultation to put the key fitness principles onto a statutory footing through the Fire National Framework. These proposals underpin the fitness and capability processes that exist within individual fire and rescue authorities and complement the work being undertaken by the joint fitness group facilitated by the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Peter Holland. These important initiatives will help reassure firefighters that they will be appropriately supported throughout their career.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what new (a) fire pumps and (b) other equipment is being provided for Northamptonshire Fire Service; what recent assessment he has made of the overall performance of that service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Decisions on the provision of new fire pumps and other equipment are matters for the local fire and rescue authority.
However, Northamptonshire fire and rescue authority has successfully bid for £3.16 million from the £75 million Fire Transformation Fund to replace their current fire service incident command unit vehicle with a purpose built vehicle to be jointly crewed by police and fire staff. In addition, the funding will enable Northamptonshire to purchase joint rural response units. This funding will be made available in 2015-16.
Fire and rescue authorities are best placed to assess and manage their performance through the integrated risk management plan.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on the fire service, police service and ambulance service sharing the same buildings; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government supports and encourages fire and rescue authorities to share estates with the the police and ambulance services in cases where the opportunity to do so is locally identified. The recently announced £75 million fire transformation fund includes, for example, £4.5 million for new fire stations in Merseyside which will be shared with the police and ambulance service. Sharing estates can of course help drive efficiency savings and further collaboration between the emergency services.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made in resolving the dispute with firefighters; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
After extensive consultation, and numerous changes, the Government laid the final regulations for the Firefighters Pension Scheme 2015 before Parliament on 28 October. This provides one of the best schemes in the public sector, with a firefighter who earns £29,000 and retires after a full career receiving a £19,000 a year pension at age 60, whilst ensuring that a greater proportion of firefighters are protected from the changes than any other large public service workforce. On the same day we published a consultation to put the key fitness principles onto a statutory footing through the Fire National Framework. These proposals underpin the fitness and capability processes that exist within individual fire and rescue authorities and complement the work being undertaken by the joint fitness group facilitated by the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Peter Holland. These reforms are fair to both to firefighters and taxpayers.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of firefighters between the age of 55 and 60 will fail the fitness test in each of the next five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
There are currently over 1,000 firefighters in the Service aged 55 or over, all of whom provide a valuable contribution to the fire service. The pension reforms protect those who are closest to their scheme’s Normal Pension Age and therefore no firefighter will need to work beyond their current scheme’s Normal Pension Age over the next five years. The Government commissioned report Normal Pension Age for Firefighters found that there was no reason why every firefighter who stayed physically active could not remain operational until age 60. The report can be found at http://www.clg.heywood.co.uk/node/658. There is no single fitness standard in fire and rescue authorities and Dr Williams' assessment was based on current practices amongst fire and rescue authorities.
On 28 October I published a consultation to put the key fitness principles onto a statutory footing through the Fire National Framework. These proposals underpin the fitness and capability processes that exist within individual fire and rescue authorities and complement the work being undertaken by the joint fitness group facilitated by the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Peter Holland. These important initiatives will help reassure firefighters that they will be appropriately supported throughout their career.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what new (a) fire pumps and (b) other equipment is being provided for Northamptonshire Fire Service; what recent assessment he has made of the overall performance of that service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Decisions on the provision of new fire pumps and other equipment are matters for the local fire and rescue authority.
However, Northamptonshire fire and rescue authority has successfully bid for £3.16 million from the £75 million Fire Transformation Fund to replace their current fire service incident command unit vehicle with a purpose built vehicle to be jointly crewed by police and fire staff. In addition, the funding will enable Northamptonshire to purchase joint rural response units. This funding will be made available in 2015-16.
Fire and rescue authorities are best placed to assess and manage their performance through the integrated risk management plan.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, by what date he plans to announce whether the Rushden Lakes/Skew Bridge planning application has been accepted.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Secretary of State issued his decision on this case on 11 June. He has decided to grant planning permission for this development. A copy of the decision letter and the Inspector's report has been sent to my hon. friend and to other interested parties, and these documents are available on the GOV.UK website at:
https://www.gov.uk/planning-applications-called-in-decisions-and-recovered-appeals