Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allocating funding to fire and rescue services to enable the recruitment of 5,000 additional frontline firefighters.

The Government is committed to ensuring that fire and rescue services have the resources and support they need to carry out their vital roles and to keep people safe.

Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.3 billion in 2021/22. Standalone fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of 2.6% in cash terms this year compared to 2020/21.

It is the responsibility of fire and rescue services to ensure that they have they have the appropriate number of firefighters to deliver their core functions across prevention, protection and response. There were 2,845 new firefighters in England in 2019/20, Equivalent to 8% of all firefighters.