Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on New Home Bonuses for district and borough councils; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
As part of the Spending Review, the Government committed to the continuation of the New Homes Bonus. We will consult on reforms to the New Homes Bonus, including means of sharpening the incentive to reward communities for additional homes. We will also explore reducing the length of payments from six years including an option for savings of at least £800 million to be returned to local government and used to fund vital services such as adult social care. Details of both reforms will be set out shortly. There are no plans to change the basis of allocations for 2016/17. The allocations for 2016/17 will be published alongside the provisional Local Government Settlement for that year.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what changes are planned for local government funding over the next five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Plans for local government funding will be set out shortly, alongside the publication of the provisional local government finance settlement for 2016-17.
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) whole-time and (b) part-time firefighters there were in (i) Northamptonshire and (ii) England in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The numbers of (a) whole-time and (b) retained duty system fire fighters in (i) Northamptonshire and (ii) England, as at the end of March in each of the last 10 years, are shown in the attached tables alongside the number of fire incidents attended:
Asked by: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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
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.